Feelin' the love from 'Scotsman' journalist John Huggan...

[Jeffrey Prest]

His report on Machrie can be found at http://www.scotsman.com/news/john-huggan-restoring-a-masterpiece-1-3160200.

You'll note he passes on his best wishes in paragraph four.

Who's been upsetting him? Come on, show yourself...

[jeffwarne]

Well I may know WHO he's talking about, but I certainly have no idea WHAT he's talking about in that paragraph.

[Will MacEwen]

I lay even odds that a former GCAer provided the first two comments.

I won't name names, but he ties in golf, America and carts pretty quickly.

[jeffwarne]

It seems odd to take cheap shots at the "afficionados" who, in my experience, are the ONLY people who ever discuss the place.
I heard about The Machrie here and I don't think I've ever heard a bad word about from anyone on here (well other than the black water in the sinks and showers)
Would seem somewhat important to not alientate your core and sole supporters.

[Paul Gray]

Perhaps not so odd.......

We British have a long established habit of building up the underdog then, when a little power has come his or her way, promptly knocking him or her back. It's all part of a healthy, pluralistic scepticism to authority.

It's a complement really; it means the aficionados voice is no longer that of a despot band of fringe thinkers.  

[Ally Mcintosh]

I particularly liked this comment from John Garrity in his golf.com article after his visit to Mayo in July... Talking about his "Top 50" blog:

"Meanwhile, the No. 2 spot has been held just as assiduously by Ireland’s Carne Golf Links, an Eddie Hackett-designed gem on Mayo’s Atlantic coast. Carne’s second-place ranking has long been a puzzle to links lovers, or at least to those who remember that I proclaimed it “the world’s greatest golf course” in a 2003 Sports Illustrated feature. “You must be confused,” wrote a persistent nitpicker with GolfClubAtlas stickers on his steamer trunk -- as if confusion were a disqualifying attribute for a course critic."

[Thomas Dai]

I particularly liked this comment from John Garrity in his golf.com article after his visit to Mayo in July... Talking about his "Top 50" blog:
"Meanwhile, the No. 2 spot has been held just as assiduously by Ireland’s Carne Golf Links, an Eddie Hackett-designed gem on Mayo’s Atlantic coast. Carne’s second-place ranking has long been a puzzle to links lovers, or at least to those who remember that I proclaimed it “the world’s greatest golf course” in a 2003 Sports Illustrated feature. “You must be confused,” wrote a persistent nitpicker with GolfClubAtlas stickers on his steamer trunk -- as if confusion were a disqualifying attribute for a course critic."

Out of general interest I looked up the John Garrity/Golf.com Top-50 blog listing, which comprises -

T1. Askernish Old, South Uist Island, Scotland (Old Tom Morris, John Garrity, Gordon Irvine, Martin Ebert) 10.15
T1. Carne Golf Links, Belmullet, Ireland (Eddie Hackett, Jim Engh, Ally McIntosh) 9.85
3. Ailsa Course, Turnberry, Scotland (Mackenzie Ross) 9.74
4. Prairie Dunes Country Club, Hutchinson, Ks. (Perry Maxwell) 9.72
5. Castle Stuart Golf Links, Inverness, Scotland (Gil Hanse, Mark Parsinen) 9.71
6. Augusta National Golf Club, Augusta, Ga. (Alister MacKenzie, Bobby Jones) 10.31
7. Ballybunion Old, Ballybunion, Ireland (L.L. Hewson, James McKenna) 10.33
8. The European Club, Brittas Bay, Ireland (Pat Ruddy) 10.39
9. Pebble Beach Golf Links, Pebble Beach, Calif. (Jack Neville, Douglas Grant) 9.60
10. Royal Portrush Golf Club (Dunluce Links), County Antrim, N. Ireland (Harry Colt) 9.56
11. The Links at Fancourt, George, South Africa (Gary Player) 10.61
12. Interlachen Country Club, Edina, Minn. (Willie Watson) 10.63
13. Cypress Point Club, Pebble Beach, Calif. (Alister Mackenzie) 9.20
14. Seminole Golf Club, Juno Beach, Fla. (Donald Ross) 9.19
15. Poipu Bay Golf Course, Kauai, Hawaii (Robert Trent Jones, Jr.) 9.18
16. Old Course, St. Andrews, Scotland (God) 9.17
17. Royal Birkdale Golf Club, Southport, England (F.G. Hawtree, J.H. Taylor, F.W. Hawtree, Martin Hawtree) 9.15
18. Merion Golf Club, East Course, Ardmore, Pa. (Hugh Wilson) 9.14
19. Sand Hills Golf Club, Mullen, Neb. (Bill Coore, Ben Crenshaw) 9.13
20. The Golf Course at Sand Hollow Resort, Hurricane, Utah (John Fought) 10.90
21. Prestwick Golf Club, Prestwick, Scotland (Old Tom Morris) 9.09
22. Old Macdonald, Bandon, Ore. (Tom Doak, Jim Urbina) 10.97
23. Pasatiempo Golf Club, Santa Cruz, Calif. (Alister MacKenzie) 9.00
24. Cabot Links, Inverness, Nova Scotia (Rod Whitman) 11.03
25. New Richmond Golf Club, New Richmond, Wis. (Kidd, Herfort, Goldstrand) 8.91
26. Stanford University Golf Course, Stanford, Calif. (George C. Thomas Jr., William Bell) 8.88
27. Golf Club at Redlands Mesa, Grand Junction, Colo. (Jim Engh) 8.85
28. Kinghorn Municipal Golf Club, Kinghorn, Scotland (Old Tom Morris) 8.83
29. Royal County Down Golf Club, Newcastle, N. Ireland (George L. Baille, Old Tom Morris, George Combe, Harry Colt, Donald Steel) 11.20
30. Pine Needles Lodge and Golf Club, Southern Pines, N.C. (Donald Ross) 11.25
31. The Country Club, Brookline, Mass. (Club members, Willie Campbell, Rees Jones) 8.74
32. Mid Pines Inn and Golf Club, Southern Pines, N.C. (Donald Ross) 8.72
33. Balcomie Links, Crail, Scotland (Old Tom Morris) 8.70
34. Plantation Course, Kapalua, Maui, Hawaii (Bill Coore, Ben Crenshaw) 8.69
35. Machrihanish Golf Club, Machrihanish, Scotland (Charles Hunter, Old Tom Morris, J.H. Taylor, Guy Campbell) 11.50
36. Royal Dublin Golf Club, Bull Island, Ireland (Capt. William Bligh, Harry Colt, Martin Hawtree) 11.51
37. Philadelphia Cricket Club, Flourtown, Pa. (A.W. Tillinghast) 8.42
38. Medicine Hole Golf Course, Kildeer, N.D. (Jim Engh) 8.40
39. Royal Dornoch Golf Club, Dornoch, Scotland (Old Tom Morris, John Sutherland, Donald Ross) 8.39
40. Kingsbarns Golf Links, St. Andrews, Scotland (Mark Parsinen, Kyle Phillips) 11.65
41. Whispering Pines Golf Club, Trinity, Texas (Corby Robertson Jr., Chet Williams) 8.31
42. Hillcrest Country Club, Kansas City, Mo. (Donald Ross, Bill Amick, Tom Garrity) 8.30
43. Hallbrook Country Club, Leawood, Ks. (Tom Fazio) 8.29
44. Mission Hills Tournament Course, Rancho Mirage, Calif. (Desmond Muirhead) 8.28
45. University of Florida Golf Course, Gainesville, Fla. (Donald Ross, Bobby Weed) 8.25
46. Monterey Peninsula Country Club, Pebble Beach, Calif. (Bob Baldock, Jack Neville, Mike Strantz) 8.20
47. Augusta National Practice Range, Augusta, Ga. (Tom Fazio) 8.17
48. Streamsong Blue, Polk County, Fla. (Tom Doak) 8.16
49. St. Annes Old Links, St. Annes, England (George Lowe, Alex Herd) 8.15
50. Monroe Golf Club, Pittsford, N.Y. (Donald Ross) 8.09

All the best

[Mark_F]

Maybe they just don't have any women members - that's usually enough to set him off.

[Niall C]

Well, I'll stick my hand up as having made critical comment on some of his columns but not sure if it's specifically the likes of me that he's taking aim at as I think he's basically having a go at all of us for daring to be interested in golf course design, something that clearly only he's qualified to do.

True to form though, he has a pop at the R&A for ruining the game. Go get 'em John  

Niall

[Adam Lawrence]

Huggy's a stirrer, he likes winding people up. As anyone who reads his stuff regularly will know, his views are pretty much in line with a lot of the received wisdom around these parts. Good guy, and a terrific reporter. Anyone who can put this stuff into a national newspaper should be commended.

[Ken Fry]

Huggy's a stirrer, he likes winding people up. As anyone who reads his stuff regularly will know, his views are pretty much in line with a lot of the received wisdom around these parts. Good guy, and a terrific reporter. Anyone who can put this stuff into a national newspaper should be commended.

Adam,

While I have read John's stuff over the years, in this particular piece he comes across like a pompous ass.  His attempt at humor discredits the few good points he was attempting to make.

Ken

[Terry Lavin]

Here's the broadside:

Covered in the humps, bumps and “quirk” so beloved of those self-important and pretentious golf architecture geeks who endlessly disappear up their own backsides on various “specialist” websites and blogs, The Machrie is unashamedly old-fashioned. There are more than a few blind shots. The greens are typically a quaint mixture of dips, slopes and borrows. And many of the fairways resemble an unmade bed, so eccentric are their contours.

He is having a little fun, I suppose, but there is a good sized cadre of purist hobbyist gca nerds that makes for good fodder. You know the type: the fake golf Luddite carrying a quiver with a patchwork set of clubs, tramping over rumpled fairways in search of his ball, and happy to find that he still has an "option" to hit his shot even though it is fifty yards off the ideal line, and practically wetting himself when he has to hit the shot over a huge craggy dune. Ah, such quirk!  He breathlessly hits his shot, clips a tiny knob which redirects him magically on the green. Oh my, this is the game in its purest form. Then he slithers onto the hillock ridden green which he will happily four-putt. Par, after all, is a number!  He is on a journey, not playing a game.

This chap exists hereabouts. In plentiful numbers. Not, as Seinfeld famously observed, that there's anything wrong with that...