I laughed when I read Mac’s depiction of the average American golfer’s view of TOC. That was exactly my experience when I mentioned I had just played it to a friend. He had grown up playing typical American courses here in Idaho. Decent player, avid golfer. Many years ago his job sent him to Europe where he played TOC with some clients. Rather like Scott Hoch and Sam Snead, he said something like “have you ever seen such a mess?” I laughed, slapped him on the back, and asked “too cheap to hire a caddie?” Bingo!
One of my first thoughts after playing TOC was that “ignorance was bliss” to some extent. Not knowing what perils are out there your first time around and just hitting it where your caddie tells you to hit it makes it easier to enjoy yourself and, ironically, score decently. To this day, after my one play, I still believe it would take me a dozen rounds, under a variety of conditions, to understand how to play it reasonably well.
I’ve said this on here before: we did what someone suggested and walked the course on Sunday before our Monday round. When we got out to the 14th tee, we sat on bench for about ten minutes and tried to figure out how to play that hole into about a 25 mph head wind. We left with no real answers. The next day, with the wind reversed 180 degrees (downwind) and about the same velocity, it was an easy two shots to the green on the par 5, even for a hack like me. Fascinating. Perhaps to a lesser degree, the same applies to the entire course.