How to explain Golf Club Atlas...

[Daryl "Turboe" Boe]

I have learned over the years how I approach explaining Golf Club Atlas to someone who has never heard of it.  Depending on how I read their level of interest in architecture and golf in general I dumb down the answer so as to avoid the blank stares I got early on when trying to explain it to some people.  I always find it funny when I invariably explain GCA.com to someone early in a round of golf, and how often I find myself citing something from here several times later in the round.

I was thinking about this tonight because I had the great fortune to play with our own Greg Holland again today at his club GCC while up here in Greensboro on a business trip.  We were on the 7th hole when we asked the group behind us (two guys that Greg knew) if they would like to join us as we were waiting on the group in front of us a fair amount.  Introductions were done on the tee box as usual, when we got up to the green I was off to one side of the green chipping on when from the other side of the green I could barley overhear Greg say to one of the other guys "Oh, through an internet dating site..."   And I about peed my pants laughing because I instinctively knew one of them had quietly asked how he knew me.  And we proceeded to try to explain GCA.com to some non-believers.

It is hard to explain the friendships one makes through here to outsiders, the bond, and I think above all else the level of trust and faith in people you meet on here until they otherwise prove you wrong (and fortunately that isn't very often). I always remember years ago when Scott Burroughs was coming down to Greenville, SC one weekend and I wanted to host him out to my club.  However I had a commitment that wouldn't allow me to play with him on that particular Saturday am.  So without even a minutes hesitation I merely told him to show up for the 8am tee time and take my place in my normal 4 some.  I called the pro shop and sponsored him on, and mentioned to one of the guys that I had a guest who would be taking my space.  The following week when I showed up one of the guys was a little taken aback.  He said "let me get this straight, you put a guy you met through an internet chat room, whom you had never met and told him to come out and play golf with the three of us?"   When he put it like that it sounded kind of creepy, but I asked him "why was there a problem with him?"  And of course he said "No, he was a great guy, we had a great time, but I just found it a bit odd.  How did you know he wouldn't be some wierdo?"   I told him if you get to know someone for awhile on GCA.com you can pretty much rest assured that they are good people.  And besides if he turned out to be the exception to the rule at least it was you and not me out there with him.

Anyone else have an interesting experience with explaining our "odd" association, or advice on how you typically tell the story of GCA.com?

[Daryl "Turboe" Boe]

By the way it goes without saying, "Thanks to Greg for being a great host as always!"

[Mac Plumart]

This is always one of the strangest things to explain to people who don't know GCA.  And quite funny too.

I have no good answer on how to explain it to people.  Frankly, I try to avoid it and brush the question off with, 'oh we're just golfing buddies'.  But that gets weird when its the first time you've ever met...sometimes I go with the 'he's a friend of a friend.'

Now, if they've heard of GCA...different story...that means it is usually an architecture geek as well.  Fun times ahead.

[Bruce Wellmon]

I usually start by saying "I belong to 2 golf groups."
One is the SC Golf Course Ratings Panel.
              My 18 year old daughter refers to us as "The golf enthusiasts."
The other is GCA.
               She refers to us as "the golf geeks."
So when I leave home on a golf trip, she asks "are you going with the golf geeks or enthusiasts?"
Either way, it's a damn good group.    

[Bill Brightly]

That is NOTHING. Imagine me explaining to my buddies at the club that the 18 year Australian boy  (Michael Taylor) staying at my house for a week is someone I met on the internet...


Another time I am driving with my FBI agent friend on the way to Saucon Valley, and I tell him we have to stop on the way at a hotel to pick up our fourth: Jed Peters, who had just flown into the area from California. He asks how I met him. When I said on the internet, he almost choked on his coffee and said: "turn around, I need to get my piece!"

[Ronald Montesano]

Friends With Benefits?

[David_Elvins]

There is no way I would ever try to explain Golf Club Atlas.

If anyone ever asks how I know someone who is from GCA I just say "I know them through Mike Whitaker" as there is a 95% chance that he has played golf with them.

[Jeff Shelman]

Turboe,

It is funny that you posted this. When I drove down from CLT to meet you and tee it up at the Mill, my better half was so skeptical. I think the line was, 'you're driving two hours to play golf with some guy you met on the internet? Is this safe?'

Since I lived to tell about it, every time I meet someone off of her, she refers to it as a "golf blind date." And she refers to the site as the "internet golf dorks."

[Tommy Williamsen]

Then there is setting your son up with someone from GCA like I did with you Jeff and my son Erik.

Five years ago one of our members trusted his son with me for two weeks.  I took time off and we played everywhere from The Shenandoah Valley to the Ocean in MD and VA.  It was a great time and now consider both him and his Dad as friends.

I don't have to explain GCA because most of my friends Know I am a little strange anyway.  At least that's what my bishop thinks.

[Colin Macqueen]

Mac Plumart you piker!!
To deny GCA is akin to Peter's denials in the Garden of Gethsemane…when you hear the cock crow ye ken fine ye'll be in trouble!

Darryl,
My brothers and sister to this day are still staggered that I would fly into Scotland from Oz and within two days desert them to go and play golf with complete strangers met in an internet chartroom. I tell them that if they cannot understand it then it can't be explained!

Bill,
It wouldn't have helped your cause if you called Michael by his friendly nickname "Pup"!

Cheers Colin

[Jason Topp]

I've shortened my speech to "we met on the internet."  I've found other explanations are usually shortened by the listener to that explanation anyway.

[Ben Sims]

Explaining it yourself isn't the best part.  It's watching one of your non-GCA friends (who have now become unusually comfortable with my internet golf dating) try and explain it away. 

[David Davis]

This is a great post and it's too funny. I'm sure it goes a lot deeper into human psyche than we'd like to admit. Nearly all of us belong to golf clubs, yet I would be willing to bet that in your golf club, the golf geeks/nerds/dorks or whatever you want refer to them as just don't quite have the same level of appreciation for architecture as you might. Of course I can only talk about myself, however, in this entire country I'll bet there are less real enthusiasts than you can count on your fingers and toes (and that's not even accounting for those of you with more digits than the rest of us).

The inherent level of perceived safety on this site is very high, first of all, the percentage of psychopathic golf enthusiasts is luckily quite small, especially considering the average age of a golfer world wide is very high, (don't know the exact numbers), but in The Netherlands it's something like 55-60 years old. Golf is, less we forget a sport were ethics place a strong roll and camaraderie runs rampant.

Now start with that and imagine the extremely small percentage of people that actually want to waste their holidays and hard earned cash on traveling some place to golf, take all these points and work back down to GCA. Seriously, what's to distrust? In the very worst you run into someone who is outspoken and has strong opinions that you don't agree with. Big deal, you still have most likely one of the top things in your life that your passionate about in common. If you can't trust a GCA'er implicitly until proven otherwise. Who can you trust?

So why is it hard to explain? As a newbie I had recently my first experience while traveling back to Oregon. 12 hours to visit my family and old friends, I spent 25% of my time with people as a result of GCA. First time ever, how did I explain that to my parents who asked me how do you know these people. I said, through the internet, they are all part of an international online golf architecture group/society. Their answer,"oh, how nice, that must be great, what a great way to meet interesting people!"

And indeed it proved true. So how do you explain it, well, does it really matter? What are you trying to hide? If you are embarrassed to admit that you meet golfers from around the world with the same passion as you have on the internet, then you are better off to ask yourself this question..."what is it about me that has created a situation in which my ego is so fragile that anything I do that might be deemed different or unique brings the very thought of or risk of my not being accepted by my peers into question? Answer that and you will have the answer to a much more important question than how to explain Golf Club Atlas.

Sorry, certainly not trying to offend anyone and as much as I laughed at this excellent post it begs a serious underlying point. Since today is a rather special holiday in NL called Sinterklaas I'm using it to be philosophical and this was a great subject to start on.

Thanks Daryl

[Daryl "Turboe" Boe]

Personally I want to find out more about Sinterklaas?

Dont know much about it, but it apparently involves drinking Scotch (or other adult beverages) and partaking of mind altering drugs that put you into a heavily introspective mood.  And at least on the surface it sounds like a holiday I could get on board with...

I was intrigued by the name originally since it started with the word "Sinter" and I thought it was a holiday dedicated to honoring the gods of metallurgy and the art of sintering.  But then I figured there was no way they wouldnt have taught us about that in 4 years of Metallurgy in college, and I wouldn't be hearing about this mystical holiday for the first time here.  So then I surmised that it might have something to do with the relatively close phonetically Santa Claus.   But I still might be interested in celebrating it.

[David Davis]

Daryl,

You just made this holiday sound so much better than it actually is. I might just petition the cabinet for a change. It's only fair to provide you with the politically correct definition and my definition:

Here is the general one:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinterklaas

Basically the holiday, which after 20 years in Europe I still find strange, involves St. Nicolaas who get this, was fond of and very kind to children, however, I digress from that point to continue. He comes from Spain each year at the end of November on a steam boat full of his helpers and if the first part was not questionable enough, they are called Zwarte Piets, (Black Pete(s)) they are yes, white people, painted black, wearing afro wigs with red lipstick. Don't hate! I'm not making this up.

During the days after his arrival and leading up to the 5th of December which is the official holiday, the children put their shoes by the fireplace and sing songs each night in hope of receiving goodies in the morning in their shoes. Today the 5th of December is called Sinterklaas Feestje (St. Nicolaas Holiday) which includes Pakjes Avond (evening of presents). On this day Sinterklaas and his helpers (Zwarte Piets) sneak around the country at dusk and put burlap bags full of gifts outside the door of houses with children.

The entire 2 weeks or so period serves as a time when Dutch parents can blackmail their kids into behaving (for a change). They claim all kinds of Zwarte Piets are spying on them, such as Kijk Piet and Luster Piet (Pete that is spying on you and Pete that is listening to what you say).

Let's please not discuss the ethical and certainly not racially biased implications that you may or may not see in this tradition. That's better left for Facebook or mainstream media.

Now where is that bottle of Scotch my father left here? :-)

[Daryl "Turboe" Boe]

Daryl,

You just made this holiday sound so much better than it actually is. I might just petition the cabinet for a change. It's only fair to provide you with the politically correct definition and my definition:

Here is the general one:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinterklaas

Basically the holiday, which after 20 years in Europe I still find strange, involves St. Nicolaas who get this, was fond of and very kind to children, however, I digress from that point to continue. He comes from Spain each year at the end of November on a steam boat full of his helpers and if the first part was not questionable enough, they are called Zwarte Piets, (Black Pete(s)) they are yes, white people, painted black, wearing afro wigs with red lipstick. Don't hate! I'm not making this up.

During the days after his arrival and leading up to the 5th of December which is the official holiday, the children put their shoes by the fireplace and sing songs each night in hope of receiving goodies in the morning in their shoes. Today the 5th of December is called Sinterklaas Feestje (St. Nicolaas Holiday) which includes Pakjes Avond (evening of presents). On this day Sinterklaas and his helpers (Zwarte Piets) sneak around the country at dusk and put burlap bags full of gifts outside the door of houses with children.

The entire 2 weeks or so period serves as a time when Dutch parents can blackmail their kids into behaving (for a change). They claim all kinds of Zwarte Piets are spying on them, such as Kijk Piet and Luster Piet (Pete that is spying on you and Pete that is listening to what you say).

Let's please not discuss the ethical and certainly not racially biased implications that you may or may not see in this tradition. That's better left for Facebook or mainstream media.

Now where is that bottle of Scotch my father left here? :-)

I dont know David, but after reading that explanation I will rescind my comment from earlier that it apparently involves mind altering drugs, and will now state emphatically that it involves mind altering drugs.  That backstory is wild, and too cool. 

I used to really be into Santa when I was little and I never knew he had a place in Spain.  Does he spend most of the year there?  You see over here they taught me that he lived at the North Pole and they never once mentioned Spain, but that makes sense, I mean who would live at the North Pole by choice.  This is opening up a whole new vision for me.

[Jud_T]

There's no risk in teeing it up with anyone here, aside from getting or giving the proper amount of strokes on the first tee.  I'm reminded of the time when I went to spend time with my dad at the American Academy in Rome and I ran into one of my Art School professors.  At the time, I thought it was the most unbelievable coincidence possible.  Well when you think about it we all travel in the same circles, in this case golf geeks.  It's a self selected subculture.  It's not like picking up random hitchhikers.  The real risk is once you're off the course and the discussion and/or activity veers away from golf...

[Bill_McBride]

There's no risk in teeing it up with anyone here, aside from getting or giving the proper amount of strokes on the first tee.  I'm reminded of the time when I went to spend time with my dad at the American Academy in Rome and I ran into one of my Art School professors.  At the time, I thought it was the most unbelievable coincidence possible.  Well when you think about it we all travel in the same circles, in this case golf geeks.  It's a self selected subculture.  It's not like picking up random hitchhikers.  The real risk is once you're off the course and the discussion and/or activity veers away from golf...

It's interest you mention that "...we all travel in the same circles..."    Over the past few years, my wife and I met travelers in Buenos Aires and Florence who, it turned out after a few minutes of chatting, turned out to be good friends of people we know pretty well.  Small world stuff. 

[Mac Plumart]

Mac Plumart you piker!!
To deny GCA is akin to Peter's denials in the Garden of Gethsemane…when you hear the cock crow ye ken fine ye'll be in trouble!

Like David said, maybe I've got self-esteem issues. 

Cock-a-doodle-do!

 

[Paul Gray]

Just wanted to say thanks to all of you for your posts. This thread has proved particularly timely for me. As a newbie here I'm in the very early stages of trying to explain why I  value so highly the opinions of near strangers as to what does or doesn't make for good golf. So far I've managed to undiplomatically split people by simply explaining it's 'not like the sort of unintelligent nonsense you get on other golf sites.' This seems to either be embraced or met with something approaching fear. My wife is already referring to me "talking to the other weirdos!"

Particular thanks to Billy Brightly for reply #4. Your reference to the 18 year old boy you met on the internet had me in stitches.

[David Davis]

I dont know David, but after reading that explanation I will rescind my comment from earlier that it apparently involves mind altering drugs, and will now state emphatically that it involves mind altering drugs.  That backstory is wild, and too cool. 

I used to really be into Santa when I was little and I never knew he had a place in Spain.  Does he spend most of the year there?  You see over here they taught me that he lived at the North Pole and they never once mentioned Spain, but that makes sense, I mean who would live at the North Pole by choice.  This is opening up a whole new vision for me.

Daryl, if you are interested and in for a good laugh and have 15 minutes on your hands listen to this comedian (American) talk about this Dutch holiday, his facts are pretty well researched actually. Course he exaggerates a bit but it's funny and gives a good depiction of this holiday.

It starts off topic but he gets into it quickly. https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=NYdpte1W0vk

[Jud_T]

There is no explaining GCA.  One needs to discover it for onesself.  What you can do is get people to read it by forwarding them some relevant links to discussions or write-ups of courses they're familiar with or are considering for a trip etc...Once they get a taste they'll be jonesing for another fix and will "get it" on their own terms.  As Ken Kesey so aptly put it "Now, you're either on the bus or off the bus".

[Mark Saltzman]

When I was invited to stay gratis with an Irishman whom I had never met, had no idea how old he was, or what he looked like on the outer reaches of Long Island in a house he was renting and to which he gave me the access codes -- well, I was both appreciative and scared.

[Tony_Muldoon]

So I met Chris Kane as he arrived in GB&I for a year’s sabbatical from college. We played the Addington and he mentioned he was heading to Brora for an Open comp. It turned out the night before that was the last night of our family holiday in Dornoch and it seemed the most natural thing in the world to invite a fellow GCA enthusiast to sleep on the sofa.


Chris turned up a couple of weeks later  as planned and as I turned in that night my wife said

“So you’re going to sleep?”

I took a deep breath and asked if there was something wrong?

“How much thought did you put into asking some Australian Kid you met over the internet to come and stay in a house with your wife and teenage daughter while you SLEEP?”

To this day you guys are AKA ‘The Internet Axe Murders Club’ in our house.

[Eric Smith]

When I was invited to stay gratis with an Irishman whom I had never met, had no idea how old he was, or what he looked like on the outer reaches of Long Island in a house he was renting and to which he gave me the access codes -- well, I was both appreciative and scared.

Mark,

A young, single guy like yourself had best get to London asap for a stay at said Irishman's flat. I was over last weekend and my goodness...the number of beautiful women buzzing around his neighborhood was unreal! Is there anything sexier than a woman in a short black skirt and leggings? I think not. And don't forget to bring your camera - there are some good looking golf courses around there as well.

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