Who is our most powerful advocate (primarily British question, but not wholly)

[Mark_Rowlinson]

Having been around the fringes of GCA for many years, I have noticed trends in golf course thinking.


There used to be the perennial ranking questions of Ganton, Sunningdale Old and Woodhall Spa. R Dornoch used to do battle with St Andrews Old and Muirfield. In Ireland, Portmarnock, Ballybunion Old and Lahinch took precedence. There was nowhere in Wales.


Now we acknowledge the Welshpools, Kingtons, Delamere Forests and Broras. Who has done most to make us aware of the geuine merits of these places. I'm going to say two people, Ran Morrissett and Sean Arble.


Ran's reviews tend to be of really top courses, but he's been to Reddish Vale and found it stunning. Sean hasn't been everywhere, but pretty well everywhere, and he has found great pleasure in a lot of what we might consider secondary courses. Between them they haven't left much territory uncovered. I find the detail of coverage very good.


Obviously there a lot of other reviewers, not just American, whose opinion I am interested to learn. I'm not going to mention names, but they are all very worthy for many reasons, including those who contradict each other.


Here I come to the awkward question, who else should we include in our list of powerful advocates?


Then, who should we consider to review the best courses of Europe to put them on an equal footing with those of GB and I? Are they better (Hamburger, Morfontaine, El Saler) or not quite what they are cracked up to be (Bremen Garstedt, Hilversum, San Lorenzo).

[Duncan Cheslett]

Before Ran Morrissett and Sean Arble...



...there was Mark Rowlinson!



Who else should be on our list of advocates?  Look no further.

[jeffwarne]

Before Ran Morrissett and Sean Arble...








...there was Mark Rowlinson!






Who else should be on our list of advocates?  Look no further.

Exactly what I was going to post!


Mark Rowlinson has a vast personal knowledge and database of so many hidden gems in the UK.
I have used his archived writing and reviews (and correspondence with him) many times to plan my travels, or just to while away another cold winter night-while planning trips that may never happen.

In addition to the ones Mark posted (Sean A.-great pictures, Ran-great everything!)  Tom Doak (and James Finnergan though not here) were my early resources for UK/Ireland trips.

[Tommy Williamsen]

Mark I second Duncan's nomination as one who brought "secondary" clubs to our attention. Before we spent that week together playing some of them, including the wild ride we took at Bull Bay, I used your book on Golf in England and Wales. It was invaluable. The Delamere Forests, Reddish Vales, Prestburys, and Cavendishes of the the world are just gems.


Both Ran and Sean have added to our knowledge and for one am grateful.

[Pete Lavallee]

The one time I met Mark at the Buda at Painswick I congratulated him on his contributions to GCA. He quite convincingly responded: What have I done? Well how about opening our eyes to the great wealth of golf that the U.K. has to offer


Three Cheers for Mark!

[Sean_A]

Very kind of you to mention me Mark, but you are the first I read on this site doing tours or bits n' bobs with any consistency.  It was you who steered me toward the courses not far from where you live...including Reddish Vale and Prestbury....and most especially Welshpool....such a brilliant course that deserves far more recognition.   

I spose P Turner was another chap I read early on, but to a lesser degree.  I wish more people did tours, but I think the concept is running out of steam with videos and blogs taking over.  Still, I wish I had the pix for another 40 or so courses, but they were on a site (can't even remember the name) which disappeared long ago. 

I didn't really read Ran's profiles because when I joined there were maybe a dozen or so posted of GB&I courses...which was and remains my main focus. The profile which stood out was Seascale because I hadn't read much about until then. These days Ran is unquestionably the the most powerful advocate of GB&I golf on GCA.com.

Before GCA.com (I first looked at the site in search of info on Painswick in 2004!), I relied heavily on D Steel, F Pennink, P Dickinson, World Atlas of Golf, B Darwin and J Finegan when planning trips back in the 90s.  It really wasn't until I hit upon Kington (by complete accident in a club match...imagine just happening upon Kington!) in 1999 that I started to really feel like there were probably tons of great courses out there that I didn't know much about....this after yearly visits partly for golf since 1991.  I still haven't found my way to all the courses I want to see...thankfully.

Ciao

[Duncan Cheslett]

I have particular reason to be thankful to Mark in setting me on my way to enjoying golf courses in a different way to the mainstream of golfers.


I first came across Mark in 2010 when, after a lifetime of flirting interest with golf, I decided that the time was right actually to take up the game properly and to join a club. I had just passed my 50th birthday.


I found on Amazon a copy of a book from 1994, entitled "Golf Courses of Cheshire" by a chap called Mark Rowlinson. Here Mark describes in some detail every course existing in the county at that time.


I tracked Mark down and emailed him, soliciting his views on which local courses I might look at with a view to membership. Typically, his courteous reply was nearly as long and detailed as his original book! He had recently taken Sean Arble to Reddish Vale and linked me to the tours of the course that he and Sean had posted on GCA.


In short measure I joined both Reddish Vale and GCA.


Mark's first line about Reddish Vale in his book went as follows;

"Reddish Vale presents me with a dilemma. Is it my duty to share my thoughts with others, or can I keep the place to myself?"

Mark has for many years been doing exactly that - sharing his thoughts on the less celebrated but wonderful courses of the land with others - for which we all can be very thankful.


I would have taken up golf without meeting Mark Rowlinson, but my experience of this great game would have inevitably been very different and far less rewarding.


We just need to get the old bugger back playing! 

[Richard Fisher]

Amidst this warm salvo, can I put in a word for a book Mark co-authored with the Conwy professional Peter Lees entitled Golf Courses of North Wales published by Sigma in 1997? This is probably more of a rarity than the Golfer's Guide to England and Wales, and has an even more splendid array of the fun, the unknown and the quirky (as well as the more obvious North Wales destinations, given appropriate recognition). Even Homer nods from time to time and for me the one abiding curiosity of the Golfer's Guide itself is the inclusion of (say) Goring and Streatley and the omission of Huntercombe - but that's just one of the idiosyncratic things that make it such a distinctive and enjoyable handbook, with the strongest personal voice since Frank Pennink's Golfer's Companion.

[Garland Bayley]

Mark obviously has provided a wealth of information.

Jeff Warne also provides great information much more limited from Mark's due to time and travel.

[Thomas Dai]

All those named and quite a few others as well have done a bunch of terrific photo-tours over the years and long may they continue to record and spread the knowledge base of courses and architecture etc.
Well done and many, many thanks to you all.
Atb

[Rich Goodale]

For me, it was and is Ran.  He took me to this website in 2000 when I was trolling for Brora and found out that I was not the only wingnut that knew of and loved the place.  After that, Paul Turner's incredible post on Painswick, Noel Freeman's love for Deal, Niall Carlton's opening up of Silloth and Gailes to me,  and FBD who got me finally to play Leven, and James Boon for showing me Notts, and Jon Wigget for creating and loving Brahan, and Mark R. for giving credit to the middle-England courses that needed a bit of love and tlc.


Thanks to all.