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PCCraig

  • Karma: +0/-0
As of this morning there have been roughly 55,000 topics and 1,300,000 posts posted to the Golf Club Atlas discussion board.

Currently, there is a thread going that asks what "The Top 25 Courses You Want To Play" are. Predictably most listed are well-known and ranked golf courses. Threads like that bore the living daylights out of me as most just regurgitate the same courses over and over. Personally, I'm tired of talking about these much discussed courses, could care less if someone wants to play Sand Hills slightly more than they want to play Seminole, and would love to talk about something new.

Specifically, let's talk about golf courses that have NEVER been mentioned on this discussion board. Use the search function on the top right portion of the page to search in a course's name...if it comes up, it's ineligible to be talked about on this thread. 

Let's hear about the courses you grew up playing, the neglected muni courses, good courses with no history and bad courses with an interesting history, courses with a couple good holes and courses with no good holes...whatever, it's all good here as so long as its never been discussed on Golf Club Atlas! 
H.P.S.

Thomas Dai

  • Karma: +0/-0
Westray GC - Orkney Isles, UK - and here it is - http://binged.it/1sjJGFU

atb

K. Krahenbuhl

  • Karma: +0/-0
Would be interested to hear about the current setup at Makena.  I haven't played there in years and I assume the recent changes have been significant.

Joey Chase

  • Karma: +0/-0
Thomas

That place looks wild!   I don't see too many greens, looks extremely basic, but probably fun.

I was going to say North Shore Golf Club in Menasha, WI  but it was brought up once or twice a while back.  Great course restored by Renaissance a few years back.  They have one of the best green keepers around in Scott Schaller.  It is a classic parkland course with several fantastic greens featuring tightly cut surrounds, that run off the surfaces.  

PCCraig

  • Karma: +0/-0
Westray GC - Orkney Isles, UK - and here it is - http://binged.it/1sjJGFU

atb

Thomas,

What a setting for golf!:


You've played there, I presume?
H.P.S.

Ally Mcintosh

  • Karma: +0/-0
Achill Golf Club.

A 9 hole Irish links course in Mayo on Achill Island, further west than Mulranny... It's not as good as Mulranny but it runs along a huge beach and has the odd thing going on.

I suspect Peper & Campbell missed this one. They missed Spanish Point as well I think. And maybe Rush.

http://www.achillgolf.com/
http://www.spanishpointgolfing.com/
http://www.rushgolfclub.com/

None of these are in the same league as Corballis... But that has been mentioned once or twice...

Thomas Dai

  • Karma: +0/-0
Great photo. Golf as it should be - I wonder if they argue over green and lush versus firm and fast and brown!!! :)

No I haven't played Westray but a mate from many years ago came from Orkney and mentioned it to me.

Here's another -

Sola GC - actually Sola Golfklubb - SW of Stavanger in Norway, close to the airport - http://www.solagk.no/1045407/

Here it is - http://binged.it/1sjLJtz

I haven't played it either and the only reason I know of it is because a mate played there.

I do though recall being in that area in the mid-1980's and seeing some nice duneland, which I guess is the duneland you can see on the satmap, just to the west of the course, the airport would I imagine have been smaller then, and thinking to myself, "that could be a location for a golf course".

atb

Brad Tufts

  • Karma: +0/-0
How about one that's only been mentioned by me?

http://www.vajowa.com/

The course near my parents' place in Northern Maine...homemade golf, one 9 built in the 50s/60s over farmland, the other built in the 70s/80s cut through the woods.  Walkable, but I wouldn't recommend it.  Minimal irrigation except for the greens...just good, rugged fun with the common occurence of an unfair bounce or 5 in each round.  Some great half-par holes though....2(520 straight downhill), 3 (290), 6 (280), 7 (110), 8 (500), 9 (440), 13 (465 par 5), 18 (525 down a mountain!)....6200y total, par 72.  I'm a scratch and I have played it maybe 75 times, and I have broken par twice, on back-to-back days a few months ago.

Here's my picasa photo-tour from 2008.... https://picasaweb.google.com/114651692063570065963/VaJoWaGC
« Last Edit: November 06, 2014, 12:12:20 PM by Brad Tufts »
So I jump ship in Hong Kong....

David_Tepper

  • Karma: +0/-0
Has the Ashburn GC (Halifax, Nova Scotia) ever been discussed? The "Old" is a Stanley Thompson design in Halifax proper and the "New" is a Geoff Cornish design about 20 miles outside of the city.

www.ashburngolfclub.com   

Ronald Montesano

  • Karma: +0/-0
Coming in 2024
~Elmira Country Club
~Soaring Eagles
~Bonavista
~Indian Hills
~Maybe some more!!

Mark McKeever

  • Karma: +0/-0
Bass Rocks GC in Nothestern MA.  Very little if any discussion anywhere on GCA.

Mark
Best MGA showers - Bayonne

"Dude, he's a total d***"

Jason Thurman

  • Karma: +1/-0
Pat, I agree with you. I've tried started a few threads this year to examine holes on courses that, literally, had never previously been mentioned on the site. The response has been lukewarm, but I do like a chance to hear about places I haven't already been.

One of the nice things about the first volume of the new Confidential Guide is that the Gourmet Choice section features some courses that I've heard very little about aside from their names. I'd love to discuss more indepth some of the courses in Ireland, for instance, that aren't nearly as publicized as the big private courses in the US with plenty of name recognition.

There is another course not far from my hometown with some of the craziest golf I've ever seen. It's a pure 1 on a 10 point scale, but some of the architecture has to be seen to be believed. I plan to start a thread on it as soon as I have time to stop by and take a few photos, but I'll hold off on mentioning it by name so that it continues to meet the requirement of never having been mentioned on the site before.
"There will always be haters. That’s just the way it is. Hating dudes marry hating women and have hating ass kids." - Evan Turner

Some of y'all have never been called out in bold green font and it really shows.

Chris DeToro

  • Karma: +0/-0
Golf Club Nahetal near Bad Kreuznach Germany.  There's just so little written about golf in Europe outside of places like Morfontaine, but Nahetal is a secluded course with a lot of solid holes.  It's very walkable, scenic despite not being in the mountains and fun to play.

Ian Andrew

  • Karma: +0/-0
Has the Ashburn GC (Halifax, Nova Scotia) ever been discussed? The "Old" is a Stanley Thompson design in Halifax proper and the "New" is a Geoff Cornish design about 20 miles outside of the city.

www.ashburngolfclub.com   


David,

I can likely do a bang up job on that one since I've researched the history in detail, have the Thompson plan (at least I think I do) and have lots of photos I can share. I'll settle into that at some point soon. I did the same for Lookout Point a few years back and it seemed to be well received.

I'll need some time to work first, I burned an entire day with the Capilano routing question.
With every golf development bubble, the end was unexpected and brutal....

Michael Moore

  • Karma: +0/-0
Metaphor is social and shares the table with the objects it intertwines and the attitudes it reconciles. Opinion, like the Michelin inspector, dines alone. - Adam Gopnik, The Table Comes First

Dan Kelly

  • Karma: +0/-0
Pat --

There are four courses in the "Greater Park Rapids" (Minnesota) area that I have enjoyed playing during family vacations there:

Three 18-hole courses -- none of which will make anyone's list of the greats, but all of which have multiple holes well worth your time:

Tianna Country Club (Walker)

Blueberry Pines GC (Menagha)

Headwaters GC (Park Rapids)

And my sentimental favorite:

Brookside (a 9-hole, par-29 or -30 ... I think, though the longest hole is just about 200 yards long ... course at Brookside Resort). It's the purest sort of homemade, rolling-farmland course, with absolutely no "shaping" and greens the size of a typical living room. There's one bunker ... and it's nowhere near anything. The first is a dogleg par-3. The 9th green, in amongst the pines, is almost incapable of growing grass. It's watered by walking sprinklers at the ends of long hoses. Pure fun -- and the site of my daughter's first holes. One of these days, I should do a photo tour...

In the meantime, here are two pictures of Rose's first hole, ever:






Dan
« Last Edit: November 06, 2014, 01:00:39 PM by Dan Kelly »
"There's no money in doing less." -- Joe Hancock, 11/25/2010
"Rankings are silly and subjective..." -- Tom Doak, 3/12/2016

David_Tepper

  • Karma: +0/-0
"I can likely do a bang up job on that one since I've researched the history in detail, have the Thompson plan (at least I think I do) and have lots of photos I can share. I'll settle into that at some point soon. I did the same for Lookout Point a few years back and it seemed to be well received.

I'll need some time to work first, I burned an entire day with the Capilano routing question."


Ian A. -

Please don't go out of the way on my behalf. I played the Ashburn New Course once 23 years ago and have never seen the Old Course. I can't say for sure there is anything on either course of great value gca-wise, but I am curious.

I recall the New course was on TV hosting a Web.com tour event a couple of months ago.
   
DT
« Last Edit: November 06, 2014, 01:29:01 PM by David_Tepper »

Jud_T

  • Karma: +0/-0
I think I'm the only one who's mentioned Kingswood GC in Wolfboro, NH.  An old Ross with some well utilized elevation changes that appears very original.  I was just looking for a round on vacation a few years back and was pleasantly surprised by what I found.  Well worth stopping by if you're in the area.
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

J_ Crisham

  • Karma: +0/-0
My five under the radar courses are:
            West Bend CC- Langford on the front nine, Moe , Larry, and Curly on the back nine
            Cedar Rapids CC- Ross design,a very nice layout that Prichard is finishing up a restoration on
            Davenport CC- Alllison design that is being restored by Forse? Shockingly good piece of terrain for the Midwest
            Elgin CC- too bad it gets so little mention in Chicago
            TPC Deere Run- fun, modern design by DA Weibring- site of John Deere Classic

Ian Mackenzie

  • Karma: +0/-0
Well, OK...

The course on which I played during my teens has never been mentioned here yet has some very interesting lineage. It is a wee 9-holer in central New Jersey and it was built in 1890 by the famed Scot John Reid, called (by some) "the father of American Golf".

The Lawrenceville Golf Club measures 2852 yards, Par 35 with a 113/35 rating and a second set of tees to make an 18 hole course. Has one stunning hole - the par 4 4th hole.
Measures ~ 357 yards.

Tee shot needs to 240-260 tops before a creek. Bunker left at 220, bunker right at 230.
Hole turns subtlety left up a hill, over the water and angles away from the player so that a well-struck drive down the right side has a full view and opening into the green on player's left.

Well-bunkered green that slants from front to back best served by hitting a low shot that bounces short and releases onto the green. I have not set foot on this course in close to 30 years but fond memories are plenty. No photos exist that I know of....

Yes, course still exists today.

On the short par 4 8th hole, I was playing a match and there is a pond in front of the tee. I topped my drive and ias t was screaming into the water, it hit the back of a surface-drifting turtle and shot up into the air and landed safely on the other side.


Bill_McBride

  • Karma: +0/-0
Has the Ashburn GC (Halifax, Nova Scotia) ever been discussed? The "Old" is a Stanley Thompson design in Halifax proper and the "New" is a Geoff Cornish design about 20 miles outside of the city.

www.ashburngolfclub.com   


David,

I can likely do a bang up job on that one since I've researched the history in detail, have the Thompson plan (at least I think I do) and have lots of photos I can share. I'll settle into that at some point soon. I did the same for Lookout Point a few years back and it seemed to be well received.

I'll need some time to work first, I burned an entire day with the Capilano routing question.

And don't think we didn't appreciate it!   ;D

Sven Nilsen

  • Karma: +0/-0
Well, OK...

The course on which I played during my teens has never been mentioned here yet has some very interesting lineage. It is a wee 9-holer in central New Jersey and it was built in 1890 by the famed Scot John Reid, called (by some) "the father of American Golf".

The Lawrenceville Golf Club measures 2852 yards, Par 35 with a 113/35 rating and a second set of tees to make an 18 hole course. Has one stunning hole - the par 4 4th hole.
Measures ~ 357 yards.

Tee shot needs to 240-260 tops before a creek. Bunker left at 220, bunker right at 230.
Hole turns subtlety left up a hill, over the water and angles away from the player so that a well-struck drive down the right side has a full view and opening into the green on player's left.

Well-bunkered green that slants from front to back best served by hitting a low shot that bounces short and releases onto the green. I have not set foot on this course in close to 30 years but fond memories are plenty. No photos exist that I know of....

Yes, course still exists today.

On the short par 4 8th hole, I was playing a match and there is a pond in front of the tee. I topped my drive and ias t was screaming into the water, it hit the back of a surface-drifting turtle and shot up into the air and landed safely on the other side.



Ian:

Just to avoid confusion, Lawrenceville was not built by the same John Reid associated with St. Andrew's in NY, who is dubbed The Father of American Golf.  It does date to 1890, but it was worked on in 1895 by John "Jack" Reid, a Scottish pro who had is hands on a few other courses in the Mid-Atlantic around that time.

Sven
"As much as we have learned about the history of golf architecture in the last ten plus years, I'm convinced we have only scratched the surface."  A GCA Poster

"There's the golf hole; play it any way you please." Donald Ross

Ian Mackenzie

  • Karma: +0/-0
Well, OK...

The course on which I played during my teens has never been mentioned here yet has some very interesting lineage. It is a wee 9-holer in central New Jersey and it was built in 1890 by the famed Scot John Reid, called (by some) "the father of American Golf".

The Lawrenceville Golf Club measures 2852 yards, Par 35 with a 113/35 rating and a second set of tees to make an 18 hole course. Has one stunning hole - the par 4 4th hole.
Measures ~ 357 yards.

Tee shot needs to 240-260 tops before a creek. Bunker left at 220, bunker right at 230.
Hole turns subtlety left up a hill, over the water and angles away from the player so that a well-struck drive down the right side has a full view and opening into the green on player's left.

Well-bunkered green that slants from front to back best served by hitting a low shot that bounces short and releases onto the green. I have not set foot on this course in close to 30 years but fond memories are plenty. No photos exist that I know of....

Yes, course still exists today.

On the short par 4 8th hole, I was playing a match and there is a pond in front of the tee. I topped my drive and ias t was screaming into the water, it hit the back of a surface-drifting turtle and shot up into the air and landed safely on the other side.



Ian:

Just to avoid confusion, Lawrenceville was not built by the same John Reid associated with St. Andrew's in NY, who is dubbed The Father of American Golf.  It does date to 1890, but it was worked on in 1895 by John "Jack" Reid, a Scottish pro who had is hands on a few other courses in the Mid-Atlantic around that time.

Sven

Sven - solid info, thanks.

I just googled the course and then it listed architect as " Scottish-born  John Reid in 1890." Further Googling lead me to my incorrect info. Thanks for the clarification.
Interesting for sure.

Cheers,
Ian

David_Tepper

  • Karma: +0/-0
I can't recall ever seeing the Herbert Barker-designed Rumson CC in New Jersey being discussed here. Looks like the course is undergoing a Tripp Davis restoration/renovation.

http://www.nj.com/monmouth/index.ssf/2014/04/historic_rumson_country_club_to_get_a_facelift_return_to_its_roots.html

Sven Nilsen

  • Karma: +0/-0
I can't recall ever seeing the Herbert Barker-designed Rumson CC in New Jersey being discussed here. Looks like the course is undergoing a Tripp Davis restoration/renovation.

http://www.nj.com/monmouth/index.ssf/2014/04/historic_rumson_country_club_to_get_a_facelift_return_to_its_roots.html

First result from the search function, Jim's thread from a few year's ago.

http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,46681.0.html
"As much as we have learned about the history of golf architecture in the last ten plus years, I'm convinced we have only scratched the surface."  A GCA Poster

"There's the golf hole; play it any way you please." Donald Ross