Time/Enthusiasm for a Course

[Jim Hoak]

Why does our enthusiasm for a course change over time as we play it?  Sometimes up, sometimes down.  What are the factors that cause us to change our opinion?  Examples?

[Dan Kelly]

Up: varying tee locations, varying hole locations, varying shot demands, varying winds


Down: pretty much the same of all of the above, time after time after time


Variety is the spice of golf -- especially when you're playing "the same course" most of the time.

[Jim Hoak]

Let me try to answer my own question as I see it--I think that when we first play a course, we usually react to the setting, the aesthetics, the beauty or lack there of in the surrounds.  But I think as we play the course over a period of time, we come to see the architecture better, see the flaws, the defects, or the subtleties in the playability of the course.  We see holes that no longer impress us as good holes--or some that we come to understand and appreciate over time.
If true, first reactions are a poor gauge of a course.  What does this say about raters who rate a course after one playing?

[Jason Topp]

I like Tom Doak's decription of the 12th at North Berwick in Anatomy of a Golf Course - a hole that doglegs left around a bunker to a green that sloped from left to right.  Here is the gist - a player hits his tee ball right and realizes he faces a very difficult angle for an approach shot.  He gets closer and closer to the corner bunker each day and has a better and better angle until he finally goes in the bunker and disaster ensues.  Starting the next day the process repeats. 
Courses that grow on me have an abundence of those sorts of decisions .  Such courses become more interesting with each play because the best approach to them varies greatly depending on the wind, course conditions, one's confidence, the status of a match and a million other variables.

[Brad Tufts]

I feel like my opinion of a course does not change much over time.


Repeated play opens more nuances for many courses, and for some it does not.


Usually one play gives me a pretty good idea if that would happen, even if I might not play it again for a while or ever.


I suppose broadening your golf course experience might devalue a long-held opinion of a course you played primarily before your "awakening."  Once you thought the local country club course was the end-all, but then you played some of the world's greats, and you might realize your first few highly-held courses are only middling...

[Jason Topp]

I feel like my opinion of a course does not change much over time.

I am the opposite.  I find I like courses better or worse with each round.  The difference may be small each time but a good course gets better with repeat exposure.

[Ryan Coles]

Why does our enthusiasm for a course change over time as we play it?  Sometimes up, sometimes down.  What are the factors that cause us to change our opinion?  Examples?

For shallow, puerile reasons.

The weather. Pace of play. How we played. Who we played with. How much we paid. How smooth the journey.

Anything but architecture sadly.

[Mac Plumart]

For me, it is almost entirely dependent on the architecture.  I'd say the biggest reason for continuing to love playing a course are interesting and dynamic greens.  Change the pin location, change the way to play the hole.


But also, interesting tee to green challenges that offer a variety of ways to attack a hole (again, this aspect of design is really brought to life with the dynamic greens I highlighted above).


If a course doesn't have this, I'll still probably enjoy playing there...because I like playing golf.  But to be truly enthusiastic about playing each and every round, the above characteristics are needed for me.

[Sean_A]

My enthusiasm can increase or wane for course mainly based on presentation, maintenance and conditioning. These are the elements which will put a shine on any good design.  That said, if the club charges too much for a game I am not at all enthusiastic regardless of the architecture etc.


Ciao