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Michael Whitaker

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Your Top 5 Most Pleasant Surprises
« on: May 10, 2013, 12:52:50 PM »
I had a conversation with another GCA'er recently about which courses had given us the biggest positive surprise when we first visited them. Here are mine:

Dooks (Ireland)
Sleepy Hollow (New York)
Silloth (England)
Sand Hollow (Utah)
Royal Cinque Ports (England)

What are your top surprises?
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Mac Plumart

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Re: Your Top 5 Most Pleasant Surprises
« Reply #1 on: May 10, 2013, 12:58:56 PM »
Crail Balcomie
Rivermont
Wexford Plantation
Dismal River
Trump Bedmimster
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Sportsman/Adventure loving golfer.

Bruce Wellmon

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Re: Your Top 5 Most Pleasant Surprises
« Reply #2 on: May 10, 2013, 01:04:41 PM »
Hope Valley (NC)
Aiken Golf Club (SC)
Wexford (SC)
Rivermont (Ga)
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Sean_A

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Your Top 5 Most Pleasant Surprises
« Reply #3 on: May 10, 2013, 01:10:38 PM »
Tough to pick 5, but here goes

Pennard
Cavendish
Castletown
Cleeve Cloud
Lederach

Ciao
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Mark Pritchett

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Your Top 5 Most Pleasant Surprises
« Reply #4 on: May 10, 2013, 01:44:09 PM »
Idle Hour (Macon, Georgia)
Spring Creek Ranch
Pikewood National
Southampton 
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Mark McKeever

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Re: Your Top 5 Most Pleasant Surprises
« Reply #5 on: May 10, 2013, 01:58:54 PM »
1. Eastward Ho! CC (Mass.)  Fowler
2. Charles River CC (Mass.) Ross
3. St. Georges GC (LI, NY) Emmet
4. CC of Scranton (PA) Travis
5. Morris County GC (NJ) Raynor

A nice spread on the architects too!
MM
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"Dude, he's a total d***"

Jason Thurman

  • Karma: +1/-0
Re: Your Top 5 Most Pleasant Surprises
« Reply #6 on: May 10, 2013, 01:59:33 PM »
Prairie Club (Dunes) - I really wasn't sure what to expect. I was blown away. It's in my personal Top 2.
Erin Hills - I thought I'd probably like it but not love it. I loved it.
Idle Hour (Lexington, KY) - I knew it was good, but had no idea it would be as good as it is.
Dark Horse (Auburn, CA) - About as much fun as any course I've played.
Waveland (Des Moines, IA) - I expected a dump. It's actually a really cool course on a fantastic property, even if it does need a bit of napalm. And I guess it is a dump as far as conditioning is concerned. But I loved playing there when I was working in Iowa and would love to see it with a bigger conditioning budget and a lot of jungle vegetation clearing.
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Mark McKeever

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Your Top 5 Most Pleasant Surprises
« Reply #7 on: May 10, 2013, 02:08:30 PM »
1. Newport National GC
2. The Cardinal Club
3. Reunion Resort-Watson
4. Chambers Bay GC
5. Fiddlers Elbow GC

Sincerely,
Brian Colbert
« Last Edit: May 10, 2013, 02:29:00 PM by Mark McKeever »
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"Dude, he's a total d***"

Brian Colbert

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Your Top 5 Most Pleasant Surprises
« Reply #8 on: May 10, 2013, 03:07:58 PM »
Quote from: Mark McKeever on May 10, 2013, 02:08:30 PM
1. Newport National GC
2. The Cardinal Club
3. Reunion Resort-Watson
4. Chambers Bay GC
5. Fiddlers Elbow GC

Sincerely,
Brian Colbert



Ill have your head on a stick by the end of tomorrow for the act of slander you have perpetrated against me!
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hhuffines

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Your Top 5 Most Pleasant Surprises
« Reply #9 on: May 10, 2013, 03:15:47 PM »
North Berwick (Wow!)
Littlestone
County Louth
Roaring Gap
Boone Golf Club (NC)

Thanks... Hart

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Cory Lewis

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Your Top 5 Most Pleasant Surprises
« Reply #10 on: May 10, 2013, 03:26:43 PM »
Hope Valley
Meadow Club
Moraine
Hyannisport
Tain
« Last Edit: May 10, 2013, 05:57:20 PM by Cory Lewis »
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Steve Kupfer

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Your Top 5 Most Pleasant Surprises
« Reply #11 on: May 10, 2013, 03:28:35 PM »
Mid Ocean
Skokie GC
Rancho Santa Fe GC
Red Tail (MA)
Erin Hills
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rjsimper

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Your Top 5 Most Pleasant Surprises
« Reply #12 on: May 10, 2013, 04:01:51 PM »
TPC Sawgrass (really a great design...thought it would be a gimmick)
Winged Foot East (thought it would just be boring, tree lined, long)
Prairie Dunes (thought it would be narrow puckerball all day)
Alamance CC (so much fun around the greens)
Luana Hills/Royal Hawaiian (not sure there's a more beautiful inland course)
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Jim Tang

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Your Top 5 Most Pleasant Surprises
« Reply #13 on: May 10, 2013, 04:03:35 PM »
Greywalls
Crooked Stick
Black Sheep
Dooks
Old Works
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Mike Hendren

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Your Top 5 Most Pleasant Surprises
« Reply #14 on: May 10, 2013, 04:14:08 PM »
Turtle Point - Alabama
Blue Mound - Wisconsin
Idle Hour - Kentucky
Carnoustie - Neither ugly nor brutal
Aiken - South Carolina

Simper, good call on TPC-Sawgrass.  I loved it.
« Last Edit: May 10, 2013, 04:15:39 PM by Michael_Hendren »
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Jud_T

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Your Top 5 Most Pleasant Surprises
« Reply #15 on: May 10, 2013, 04:26:18 PM »
Kingsley
Harrison Hills
Kingswood GC (NH)
Tamarack CC (CT)
Spring Valley (WI)
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Golf is a game. We play it. Somewhere along the way we took the fun out of it and charged a premium to be punished.- - Ron Sirak

Mac Plumart

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Your Top 5 Most Pleasant Surprises
« Reply #16 on: May 10, 2013, 04:39:15 PM »
Mark...can you speak on Pikewood National? 


Jud...when was the first time you played Kingsley?  Did you know much about it before that round?  Feelings while playing it?
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Sportsman/Adventure loving golfer.

Andy Troeger

Re: Your Top 5 Most Pleasant Surprises
« Reply #17 on: May 10, 2013, 04:44:30 PM »
Wolf Run
Tullymore
Ravenna
La Quinta Mountain
NCR South
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Jason Topp

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Your Top 5 Most Pleasant Surprises
« Reply #18 on: May 10, 2013, 04:47:57 PM »
1.  Pasatiempo - I played it in the early 90's to save money during a visit to Monterey.  That was a surprise!
2.  Pecan Valley (NLE) - I caught the course when it was in good condition due to a USGA event or something like that.  I was not expecting a lot but it was very good at that time. 
3.  Woodlands - walked on during an afternoon when my kids were at the zoo.  I was bowled over by the bunkering and the interesting holes such as the 4th and 15th. 
4.  Black Mesa - I had high expectations and it exceeded them.  Much better than Paa Ko Ridge but at least some rankings have the order reversed.
5.  May River - not what I have come to expect from Nicklaus courses.  I have typically found them boring or very difficult.  Since that time I have played some others that were very good so a Nicklaus design now means to me that the course will be in great condition and the design could fit anywhere within a wide spectrum. 
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Jason Topp

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Your Top 5 Most Pleasant Surprises
« Reply #19 on: May 10, 2013, 04:49:30 PM »
As a bonus I would add Lundin Links but I am not sure whether that is due to the quality of the course or how much fun I had playing in my first BUDA. 
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Tony_Muldoon

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Re: Your Top 5 Most Pleasant Surprises
« Reply #20 on: May 10, 2013, 04:58:43 PM »
Dooks
Ellie
Formby
Pennard
Royal Worlington

Other contenders.
Portsalon
The New course
Littlestone
Wallasey
Portrush valley
Ballybunion Cashen
Seascale
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Jud_T

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Your Top 5 Most Pleasant Surprises
« Reply #21 on: May 10, 2013, 05:19:00 PM »
Quote from: Mac Plumart on May 10, 2013, 04:39:15 PM

Jud...when was the first time you played Kingsley?  Did you know much about it before that round?  Feelings while playing it?

The pro at Lost Dunes had told me I had to check Kingsley out.  I think I had noticed it on the Golfweek rankings. I'm not even sure if I was even lurking here yet, my memory's fuzzy at my advanced age and weight, so I didn't really know what to expect beyond the photos on their website.  When a buddy and I were attending the PGA at Oakland Hills (August 2008) we flew up for the day to play the course and were completely blown away by the sheer scale of the place, the routing, the playing surface as well as the unpretentious all golf atmosphere.  I joined the following season.
« Last Edit: May 10, 2013, 05:23:38 PM by Jud T »
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Golf is a game. We play it. Somewhere along the way we took the fun out of it and charged a premium to be punished.- - Ron Sirak

David_Tepper

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Re: Your Top 5 Most Pleasant Surprises
« Reply #22 on: May 10, 2013, 05:23:23 PM »
St. Endoc!
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Eric Smith

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Your Top 5 Most Pleasant Surprises
« Reply #23 on: May 10, 2013, 05:24:01 PM »
Renaissance Club
Dismal River
Pennard
Machrihanish Dunes
JC Jones
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David_Elvins

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Re: Your Top 5 Most Pleasant Surprises
« Reply #24 on: May 10, 2013, 06:13:49 PM »
Pelican Waters
Garden City
Port Fairy
Burnham and Berrow
Pebble Beach
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