I played in an inter-club event yesterday in Sydney, and after the golf, while having a few beers, talk turned to great golf courses.
A bloke sitting opposite me chimed in and said, "there's a great website you all should take a look at, it's called golf club atlas..."
I said I was familiar with the site and he excitedly asked me: "Do you know Ran Morrissett?"
Turns out this guy works in IT and got to know Ran quite well when GMBF was living in Sydney.
He told me how they were discussing golf one day and Ran said he was a member at Newcastle GC 2hrs up the motorway. The bloke had never heard of it, so Ran took him to see it.
He said that was a EUREKA! moment and he got hooked on great golf courses, and has sought out the likes of Pasatiempo while on trips overseas.
He dreams of visiting Pine Valley and is looking at organising a trip to the US around the Crump Cup so he can see it in the flesh. When he is having trouble getting to sleep at night he passes the time by playing Pine Valley in his mind - the visualisations fuelled by the pics and discussions on GCA.
Another guy at the table was talking about why he enjoys the maintenance meld of links courses, but also understands why parkland and tropical courses have a different reality and have to do things slightly differently.
It's often said on GCA that the things we like and the beliefs we hold are limited to "1500 or so wingnuts" and that no one else sees the golfing world the way we do.
While the pool may still be relatively small, it's nice to discover sometimes that there ARE people out there who care about great golf, meaningful architecture and the way the game has traditionally been played.