[Chip Gaskins]

Good stuff.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203716204577018084162212086.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLE_Video_second

[Ronald Montesano]

Ain't it the truth? It happened to me at TOC...since then, I tend (not 100%) to handle the big ones well by keeping bogie firmly in site. I don't make a lot of birdies, but I tend (not 100%) to avoid the big numbers. For me, the end number trumps the one hole of potential glory/probable disaster.

[Joel_Stewart]

Agree mostly but it can go both ways.  I broke 80 my first time playing Pine Valley but when I went to Crystal Downs barely broke 100?

Growing up on a muni I could get it around pretty good but I still remember playing my first country club and I shot a million.

Like the game itself it's about controlling your emotions and playing within yourself.

[Ran Morrissett]

September, 1991.

It was a day like any other day, except for the fact that the four golfing Morrissetts were standing on the 8th tee at Pebble and Dad had just hit it close at the 7th (don't ask about the putt). He then hit a nice soft fade off the 8th tee to the perfect spot from which to approach the famous angled green. Lo and behold, the ball came off the club face perfectly, landing within ten feet of the hole, before rolling to the back edge of the 8th green. What a walk around the cliff that was for dear Dad!

Before stroking the birdie putt, Dad proclaimed - with confidence - that he was going to make the twenty footer. Upon hearing that, the brows of the Morrissett brothers furrowed and we rapidly became worried as MacKenzie's green features a tremendous amount of back to front tilt, as you know. Courage and boldness of heart was NOT what was required here.

Sure enough, Dad's first putt took off like a bat out of a cave  . He was proudly staring it down ala Nicklaus on the 71st in 1986 at Augusta. Unfortunately, as the ball roared past the hole, no hint had yet to emerge of it slowing down. Eventually, of course, it finally lost pace and the subsequent par putt (way back up the hill now) looked like it was rolling through mud (either that, or the ball was square). Sadly, it never had a chance, so I raced to the scene of the crime, quickly conceding the lengthy bogey putt to a crest fallen father (whom we still loved nonetheless!).

It was the one and only time that at least one Morrissett didn't break 90 when we played a course (ANGC from the tips, Shinnecock in a 30 mph wind, Muirfield in a 40mph wind that saw John putt off the 7th green into a bunker, etc.). Fifteen plus years of dreams and strategizing came crashing down that day.

Weather conditions that day at Pebble? Calm, with no wind.

Cheers!

[PCCraig]

Great story! Read it this morning and enjoyed it very much.

Perhaps the best way to play and feel a golf course for the first time is to forget stroke play and play a match with a buddy if possible.

[Patrick_Mucci]

Ran,

It was a nice article.

How fortunate you are to be able to play golf with your dad and brothers, especially at such great venues.

You have no idea how I wish I could play with my dad, brother and sons.

Would you do me a favor and rank, in order of ability, including female members of your family, what the golfing pecking order is,

I'd like to know your relative position in the Morrissett Totem Pole of Golf  

Thanks

[cary lichtenstein]

Agree mostly but it can go both ways.  I broke 80 my first time playing Pine Valley but when I went to Crystal Downs barely broke 100?

Growing up on a muni I could get it around pretty good but I still remember playing my first country club and I shot a million.

Like the game itself it's about controlling your emotions and playing within yourself.

Exactly what happened to me. Broke 80 at Pine Valley and at Crystal Down had howling wind and my swing came unglued. I never really had a bad round at Pebble and I played that alot. Sometimes we would play in am andthen have a bottle of Dom Perigon at the 19th hole and go out and play nine more, I never shot a good 9 after sitting for 90 min at lunch. Would always tighten up. My nemisis on the front 9 was the old par 3 5th hole. Since I always started my shot out to the right, that hold was very tight for me. 8 never gave me trouble except the putting. 9 was the toughest hole to par on the front, maybe on the whole course. All in all, Pebble was actually very scoring friendly in Mid Octobter when we went there. The weather was nearly always good, could be a little chilly, but not bundled up.

[Ian Andrew]

My favourite day of golf was watching my father shoot 40 on the back nine at County Down. I may have had a better card that day but after a while I was far more interested in what was unfolding since he was 74 years old and I knew this was our last major golf trip together. I think I played very well because I was far more invested in his day than mine.

[Mike_Trenham]

My father on our road trips to see new courses would play match where I got 1/2 stroke per hole (no holes halfed).  My handicap was ~7-10 and he is a golf professional with a strong game. 

We had some good matches but he won easily most of the time as it is rare for me to play decent my first time on a course.

A family friend Ivan Morris taught me that on the road especially in Ireland you keep score Good/Mediocre/Forget so a good round may be 10/7/2 a bad round 3/9/6.

[Ran Morrissett]

To answer Pat’s inquiry, the Morrissett Pecking Order has varied over time. For simplicity sake, it can be broken down as follows:

THE FORMATIVE YEARS (1970-1984)
1. Dad
2. Ran
3. Bill
4. John -  In 1979, at the age of 9, John breaks fifty for the first time and it occurs on the back nine at Harbour Town.

THE GLORY YEARS (1985-1998)
1. Ran - From being selected to the All-State Preparatory Golf team in 1985 to my WITNESSED 69 at Yeamans in 1998 from the back, these were the Golden Years, vaguely resembling Tiger’s run from 1997 to 2008.
2. Dad
3. John
4. Bill

The GOLFCLUBATLAS.COM YEARS (1999-Present)
1. Bill - My years of careful tutelage finally pay off.
2. John - My years of careful tutelage finally pay off.
3. Dad
4. Mom - a sly appearance but she probably hit as many fairways last year as I did, depite her not playing 
5. Ran - Though now considered One of Golf’s Most Beloved Figures, the delicate balance between a flying left knee and a flying right elbow no longer seems in harmony. Backed up by shaky putting, the only person I now seem able to beat on a regular basis is, alas, Pat Mucci. 

Cheers,

[Terry Lavin]

Chip,

I've never played Peeble.

[Dan Kelly]

I had much the same experience as Mr. Morrissett in my one play at No. 8.

Hit a beauty to the green.

Uh-oh. Above the hole.

Second putt longer than first.

I didn't concede my own bogey putt.

So far as I can remember, anyway.

[Chip Gaskins]

Terry

Sorry about that.  Fixed...at least in the first post.

[Garland Bayley]

...

Perhaps the best way to play and feel a golf course for the first time is to forget stroke play and play a match with a buddy if possible.

Yesireee! A GRUDGE MATCH is the way to go!

[Steve Lang]

  FOR TOC I also recommend the sunday walk around, taking in the museum, shops, the church ruins, and infiltrating the R&A building as far as possible, checking out the himalayas and the beach... catching some food and drink and coming back in the morning for golf..

a charmed 77 was the perfect cap to the visit!

[Carl Johnson]

Back to the point of the WSJ arrticle, which I thank Mr. Gaskins for posting.  There are a couple of points that strike home, from my personal experience.  With friends, I've made a number of trips from the USA to play the famous and some not so famous courses in Scotland and Ireland.  I'm an older guy and my golfing skills are not great, but it's fun for me to have a first-hand look at these courses, to play on them the best I can, and try to enjoy the total experience.  For me, that involves, in addtion to the four or so hours on the course, trying to get a little flavor of the club, interact with locals, golfers and others, and see some of the local sights.

Here's what I find a little odd.  We've (four or eight) always played some sort of team competition involving match play or a modified Stapleford.  Yet, when we finish and settle up, winning or losing as much as ten dollars, pounds or Euros, most of the others turn to their "medal" scores: "I shot a 77 [on TOC]," or "I was one over [on Royal Portrush]."  Of course, they weren't.  These may be the scores they'd post for handicap purposes if playing in the US, but they are not their true medal play scores, what with picking up and taking a double bogey max, conceded putts, first tee muligans, etc.  In 30 to 40 rounds, I've never pretended to record a medal score on the card.  On the other hand, I've never challenged those that do.  It makes no difference to me, and if they are happy with their "medal play" score, so be it.  But it does not always work out that way.  Sometimes their "medal play" score isn't so hot -- they are crushed -- even though they may have won the match.  As I said I find this a little odd.  It's not something that I think adds to the experience.

Another odd thing happened last trip, with a different group of guys, totally hyper after having planned the trip for nine months, and the first British golf outing for many of them.  What to do after the round?  Have a drink in the golf club's bar?  No, get some booze at the liquor store and have drinks in a hotel room.  After dinner, go to a pub for some local entertainment?  No, go back to the hotel room and drink more liquor store booze.  That left me an outsider, venturing out alone on my own.

I know I'm talking to the choir here.  I'm not telling you anything, other than my personal experiences, which are certainly not unique.  The discussion point: how have you dealt with with interpersonal relations in these kinds of situations?  I've not been particularly successful.

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