GCA's Next 50 section has been replaced by 147 Custodians of the Game

[Ran Morrissett]

 'Below is a list of 147 courses where the game, as I enjoy it, is celebrated.'

That’s the first line, so it’s my list and the attitude of “Your list should reflect my personal preferences” is not a convincing path for meaningful discussion. There are 30,000 courses in the world and I have drawn attention to 147. Favorites of mine didn’t make the list and I am still grumpy that I ‘published’ without finding room for #148, Holston Hills. So much Ross, so few spots!

Everybody drones on and on about how important “infinite variety” is when it comes to golf course design. Isn’t a list that includes courses ranging from an honesty box at Isle of Harris to the seemingly impenetrable confines of Chicago Golf Club, and everything in between, a tribute to same kind of variety in our golf places?

Since when have private associations been a problem in free societies? Freedom of association is a right that’s high up the list, at least to me.

Since when is every golfer who was ever born entitled to play every golf course ever built, without earning the right to be invited as a guest, if not a member?

If you want a list of courses accessible to everybody in the world, you won’t have a list of the courses that best exemplify what’s good about the game. Sorry, but that’s not my fault.

Best,


PS A shout to Kyle Harris for actually reading the preamble, which explains the absence of Bethpage and Prairie Dunes. Tara Iti doesn't make it because the idea of being forced to take a caddie in NZ is abhorrent.

PPS For those of you that enjoy the list, it is largely due to the lack of Steve Lapper's input. 

[Doug Wright]

Great list Ran, and your preface and the summaries themselves are worth the price of admission. There are a number of courses on this list I’ve never heard of or heard discussed much or at all on GCA.com, and I’d love to hear more (or visit them). Certainly thought and discussion provoking as George P suggests above. Speaking of which, I’m shocked—shocked—that CommonGround didn’t make this list. It ticks each of the 8 criteria you list. However, this is a quibble, and your new list is a valuable addition to the site. Your “Next Fifty”, while interesting, never garnered much attention from the viewers....

[Mark Mammel]

I like the concept behind the 147. It's about time someone decided to break out of the current mold of listing the most exclusive, the most manicured, the longest and the most ridiculous as somehow to be admired and imitated. I won't restate Ran's qualifiers for this list except to say a walk on a great golf course begs to be repeated. Having grown up playing Prairie Dunes, I understand the issue that kept it off the list, wonderful though it is. Perhaps if the long grass there were more like the gorse in Scotland, where any attempt to find a ball will likely result in blood loss, it might be different! I would encourage Ran's return to Dornoch- it would be interesting to see how it looks today to one who was there when it was a journey to find.

[Sean_A]

Ran

I applaud all your efforts and respect you as a true custodian of the game.  All you say is very true and I am sure that nobody is suggesting that private associations is an issue.  At least from my perspective, one of the most important golf custodial responsibilities is to encourage people to play the game so future generations can hopefully enjoy the greatness of golf just as many of us do today.  The game is far more important than any great individual or great course.  I would suggest that many clubs listed are more engaged as custodians for their memberships and the courses.  However, I do not wish to belittle this approach for without interesting courses the game is only a shadow of what it is meant to be.  I think many are merely suggesting that perhaps your criteria omitted a very important aspect of custodianship.

Ciao

[Ran Morrissett]

Mark,

Prairie Dunes and Cruden Bay didn't make the cut because of emails that I have received indicating brutal playing conditions. I haven't seen either in 5+ years but I get g-o-b-s of emails and receive daily feedback on how courses play around the world. Assuming I respect the source, I 'file' the information away in my pumpkin head.

With C & C at the helm, I know the fairways at PD are sufficient in width and the greens are AAA+ but if one person in a group of four starts spraying it, the experience dwindles for the whole group. The control burns are an art form but head down, looking for balls is a deal killer and the gunch at PD is a different beast than wispy fescue elsewhere.

For instance, Sean Arble will tell you that I pulled my drive (a fact that wasn't covered by ESPN for some mysterious reason  ) wildly left on the 1st at Old Minch, yet, I still found it quick smart. Courses with fescue that looks cool, adds texture, BUT you don't have to spend time looking for balls = candidate for the list.

Stoatin Brae had a real chance to make the list but its thick fescue made me hesitate. Like Douglas MacArthur, I shall return - and I really think GCA should have a fall gathering there in 2019.

Best,

[Sean_A]

Ran

One of the great privileges of living in the UK is the opportunity to play courses over and over...in all seasons and weather.  Your visit to Minch Old was during an exceptional weather period (driest period since 1976!).  From tee to green one couldn't have hoped for better conditions.  We won't talk about the greens   

Ciao

[Jeff Schley]

I like the concept behind the 147. It's about time someone decided to break out of the current mold of listing the most exclusive, the most manicured, the longest and the most ridiculous as somehow to be admired and imitated. I won't restate Ran's qualifiers for this list except to say a walk on a great golf course begs to be repeated. Having grown up playing Prairie Dunes, I understand the issue that kept it off the list, wonderful though it is. Perhaps if the long grass there were more like the gorse in Scotland, where any attempt to find a ball will likely result in blood loss, it might be different! I would encourage Ran's return to Dornoch- it would be interesting to see how it looks today to one who was there when it was a journey to find.

We were advised to play all tall grass as a lateral hazard as apparently many members do as well, due to it being a needle in the haystack and rattlesnakes.  One you want to find the other you don't.  So drop and play on.

[Peter Pallotta]

There's a book to be written someday, "The Idea of the Golf Course", treading some of the same ground that Haultain and Behr and Murphy did, but instead of starting (as they did) with the metaphysics and only coincidentally touching on the material/physical fields of play it would be solidly rooted in the golf courses themselves and 'build up' from there. Ran's list, and the rationales and value systems that it reflects, would be a great place to start. I'd imagine many here would find it pretentious claptrap, but when I read between the lines of Ran's initial posts (and remember how many hundreds of thousands of threads this site/subject has engendered over the years), it seems clear to me that for many of us golf and specifically golf course architecture contains a 'meaning' and a 'message' both, and ones that (sometimes, if only rarely) are trans-personal in nature.
Peter       

[Ran Morrissett]

Sean,

Please collaborate what happened at Old Minch re: my wife.

A non-golfer, she was so compelled by the relaxed atmosphere and beauty of the place, that she started to … gasp ….  PLAY! After a few mis-fires, she started to nail it too, yes?

I am not saying this was a good turn of events for either the game or me  … but give Old Minch (and Cabot where it happened a few years ago) credit. Like every other course on this list, if someone is lucky to find themselves there, don't be shocked to see interest form.

Best,

[Sean_A]

Sean,

Please collaborate what happened at Old Minch re: my wife.

A non-golfer, she was so compelled by the relaxed atmosphere and beauty of the place, that she started to … gasp ….  PLAY! After a few mis-fires, she started to nail it too, yes?

I am not saying this was a good turn of events for either the game or me  … but give Old Minch (and Cabot where it happened a few years ago) credit. Like every other course on this list, if someone is lucky to find themselves there, don't be shocked to see interest form.

Best,

Ran

For sure, once she stopped her dancing follow-through, the Mrs was hitting it more pure than us!  I will also confirm that she was compelled to do headstands/cartwheels. 



I haven't spoken to many non-gca folks who have played Minch Old.  Besides you, the other recent GCAer to receive his Minch Old badge was T Kelly, who works with Doc Hiseman.  I am sure he was impressed by the course. 

Ciao

[mark chalfant]

Ran,


When I read the first paragraph of your preface, the names Franklin Hills and Saint Louis County Club sprung to mind. I was not sure that you had played that beauty on Inkster Road where I caddied long ago. Also great to see Culver and Wykagyl  on the list.


I agree the Country Club (Cleveland) deserves its lofty ranking, but its one spot too low in Flynn land,  because the famous Long Island   "Flynn" course has  2 or 3 Raynor holes, does it not  ?


Your perceptive take on Pebble Beach is refreshingly spot on. I love Dismal River Red but  I am not sure that #8 there is a half par  hole.
Thank you for your great effort on the 147.  I need to zip  over to El Saler and Prout's Neck  in 2019 !

[James Brown]

Best summary is Brora:  “When people dream of playing golf in Scotland, this is what they are thinking of, even if they don’t know it.“


[/color]Pure wisdom.

[James Brown]

This is a wonderful new feature and I especially like the ability to add courses over the years and change the list as needed.


My questions marks are Pebble and WeKoPa. I know you are able to walk and carry at Pebble, but I question how many really do so. Nevermind that the rest of the vibe of the place is at odds with the "custodian" vibe Ran wishes to champion. It's quite busy, ungodly expensive, hard to get on unless you're a guest at the even more ungodly expensive resort, etc. It's a nice walk, but it's so far gone from being the kind of place where you feel like you can go out and play golf (or play 36!) that to include it here seems very strange indeed.


WeKoPa is perhaps a little closer to the ideal, though in 10 years and probably 25 rounds I've played there I've seen, I think, one other person walking. To be fair, I haven't been walking in all of those rounds, only the ones during the cooler season. I recall when they opened, they made more of an effort at making walking an option. They even had push carts by the first tee. Those haven't been around for some time now, that I've seen. They aren't offering a different rate for walkers or anything of that sort either. Desert Forest seems to have a better walking culture, from my limited experience there. On the other hand, that's a private club and I like the idea of pushing a public course when possible, and WeKoPa is a significantly more playable course as it is much wider. Again, in the end, I love WKP, I think any visitor to Phoenix should check it out as among the best possible examples of what desert golf can be, but it is still very much resort golf that defaults to guys meeting you at the bag drop and sticking your bag on a cart because cartball is the default assumption. I find it hard to believe it's top 147 custodian of the values championed here, as good as the course and the walk is.

Pebble is easy to get on as a walk on. 

[Matthew Petersen]

This is a wonderful new feature and I especially like the ability to add courses over the years and change the list as needed.


My questions marks are Pebble and WeKoPa. I know you are able to walk and carry at Pebble, but I question how many really do so. Nevermind that the rest of the vibe of the place is at odds with the "custodian" vibe Ran wishes to champion. It's quite busy, ungodly expensive, hard to get on unless you're a guest at the even more ungodly expensive resort, etc. It's a nice walk, but it's so far gone from being the kind of place where you feel like you can go out and play golf (or play 36!) that to include it here seems very strange indeed.


WeKoPa is perhaps a little closer to the ideal, though in 10 years and probably 25 rounds I've played there I've seen, I think, one other person walking. To be fair, I haven't been walking in all of those rounds, only the ones during the cooler season. I recall when they opened, they made more of an effort at making walking an option. They even had push carts by the first tee. Those haven't been around for some time now, that I've seen. They aren't offering a different rate for walkers or anything of that sort either. Desert Forest seems to have a better walking culture, from my limited experience there. On the other hand, that's a private club and I like the idea of pushing a public course when possible, and WeKoPa is a significantly more playable course as it is much wider. Again, in the end, I love WKP, I think any visitor to Phoenix should check it out as among the best possible examples of what desert golf can be, but it is still very much resort golf that defaults to guys meeting you at the bag drop and sticking your bag on a cart because cartball is the default assumption. I find it hard to believe it's top 147 custodian of the values championed here, as good as the course and the walk is.

Pebble is easy to get on as a walk on.

Yeah, I didn't mean it in the respect that you can't find a tee time. I meant more in respect of how difficult they make it. Wait until the day before and see what's available is not a very generous policy.


But that's not really Ran's concern, and I can respect that. (My quibble really is more with suspicions about how many people actually walk and carry there plus the cart paths.) But from the perspective of the course alone I can't quibble with including it, I think I like it much more than most here.

[Peter Pallotta]

I keep rolling this around in my head, the important symbolism of the '147 custodians' instead of 'the next 50'. And I also keep coming back to Ran's stated focus on 'what genuinely matters'.
Powerful concept (and question) that, if we take it seriously: what genuinely matters.
Ran's list of criteria/qualities is a good one, and plus it's *his*, so that's that.
For me, I wonder: should the courses also be custodians of the land itself?
As my old Italian grandfather said when I complimented him one year on a particularly bountiful vegetable garden: "I wasn't feeling well this spring, and so I said to God, 'If you'd like a good crop this year you'll have to do even more of the work than usual' -- and He did! After all, it's not my land, it's God's. A thousand people have lived on this land before me, and a thousand will live on it after I'm gone. All God asks me to do is to take good care of it during my time here."
That sure seems like a true custodian's attitude -- even though my grandfather would never have even heard that word, let alone used it to describe himself. 
And that sure seems to me to be one of the things that genuinely matters:
Build a course with the land as you find it, and then maintain the land as if you're its caretaker and not its owner.
And then leave room for God to do the rest.
I'd bet you'd have one heck of a great field of play, and for a very long time.
P

[Rob Rigg]

Fascinating food for thought and a list to try to tick the box on - Thanks Ran!
Still need to get you out to Astoria so you can experience a candidate for 148 (although many of the fuddy duddy's take a cart because they don't quite have a Scottish constitution for 8 months of the year). It's definitely FAF (Fun as F!) even if it doesn't have the pedigree of some of the others on the list. Such a fun walk and inspires a trip from the 18th green right back to the 1st tee.
Some of the places on the list are cathedrals while others are a local church where many of us attend "golf mass" on a weekly basis.

Playing Chicago Golf and having a 17 year old HS caddie from the neighborhood reminded me of growing up in Toronto and lugging bags at Rosedale during the summer. Exclusive, but providing an amazing opportunity for kids to learn about the game and life while making a couple of bucks. It was a round I'll never forget on several levels.

[Richard Fisher]

Any 'custodian' selection that includes Huntercombe and Harlech and Porthcawl is 100% fine by me (obviously 100% biased response). And, to answer Sean's question, I have had the pleasure of a game at Minch Old, a single round on my own in 1986. Which I remember with great clarity, much as Henry Longhurst (to cite another quotable authority) remembered a game at Thetford in the early 1930s: writing after WW2 he observed that 'It is fifteen years since I played at Thetford and they will pardon me for saying that it was never in outstanding order in those days - due, as now, to lack of money. Nevertheless the memory of playing there stays happily with me, while that of dozens of other courses, doubtless in better condition, has long since faded'. Minch Old emphatically has the same effect. And nobody was even doing cartwheels the day I was there.

[Ally Mcintosh]

The list is a lovely one and I don’t think there can be much arguing about the GB&I entries. It is clearly somewhat subjective but all the entries are courses that capture the essence of the game.


Clearly I could be subjective too and differ slightly in my opinion (the one add I’d really like to see is Ganton) but that is far from the point.

[Robin_Hiseman]

I do hope that Ran might one day experience Mulranny, on the Atlantic Coast, in Ireland. It has everything he enjoyed about the Isle of Harris, but is actually a decent quality 9-hole course too. A heavenly, peaceful, simple place to enjoy golf.

[Tony_Muldoon]

Yes to both the above to suggestions
 
Ganton is not only better course (best inland in GB&I?) and a proper club where people play 36 holes fast. Refreshments come in the form of “Ganton Cake” which just has to be sampled to be believed. Woodhall is a P&P which attracts a lot of 4 ball visitor play.
 
 
Mulranny Yes indeed. Am planning a sentimental journey next year and Mulranny is top of my list of Irish courses to return to. Everything about the place whispers Honesty.

[Mark Pearce]

A list of 147 international courses that includes Elie, Silloth and Goswick?  Brilliant.


Anyone wanting to find out why Goswick makes the list should attend next year's BUDA!

[Jerry Kluger]

The list isn't what is important it is the concept behind it of what makes golf great and how so many people are losing sight of that and how it is making golf less fun. It does make you realize how many "under the radar" courses meet these attributes yet are overlooked by so many golfers as they travel to Scotland, Ireland or wherever. 

[Thomas Dai]

I do hope that Ran might one day experience Mulranny, on the Atlantic Coast, in Ireland. It has everything he enjoyed about the Isle of Harris, but is actually a decent quality 9-hole course too. A heavenly, peaceful, simple place to enjoy golf.

+1 x 100%
Definitely a course Ran (and all others) needs to visit.......along with Welshpool!
And a great place for cartwheels too.
Atb

[Thomas Dai]

A non-golfer, she was so compelled by the relaxed atmosphere and beauty of the place, that she started to … gasp ….  PLAY! After a few mis-fires, she started to nail it too, yes?



I haven't spoken to many non-gca folks who have played Minch Old.  Besides you, the other recent GCAer to receive his Minch Old badge was T Kelly, who works with Doc Hiseman.  I am sure he was impressed by the course. 
Ciao

Ran,

Glad you got back the next day and had the time to play the course rather than than just view it.
I can confirm that the previous day a certain cartwheeler was so taken by Minch’ Old and the area in general that she happened to mention she’d take up the game if she lived nearby! For a non-golfer that’s some recommendation.


As to other visitors, I have taken many folks to Minch’ Old over the years and every one has been enthralled by the course and the place to the extent that they still mention it in discussions, correspondence etc and have taken other folks there themselves. Not just very fine golf but a special aura as well.


I’m not sure though to what extent the club, the members and the organisation that runs the Common realise what a special place they have.

Atb

[Tom_Doak]

The list isn't what is important it is the concept behind it of what makes golf great and how so many people are losing sight of that and how it is making golf less fun. It does make you realize how many "under the radar" courses meet these attributes yet are overlooked by so many golfers as they travel to Scotland, Ireland or wherever.

Yes.  We reviewed 300+ courses in Britain & Ireland for The Confidential Guide and there wouldn't be too many of them that did NOT exhibit the sensibilities inherent in Ran's list.  The same ethos is on display across New Zealand (except at perhaps 3-5 modern designs), Canada, France*, and Sri Lanka (!!), which only has five courses but three of which would be totally at home in Scotland.


By contrast, in most other countries it is rare to stumble across such a place; golf is much more commercial.  By Peter's standard of being stewards of the land, there have been many atrocities committed in the past 30-40 years in the name (but not the spirit) of golf.  And American designers and consultants have been the prime movers of most of them, not just at home but around the globe.


* It is no coincidence that the site of this year's Ryder Cup is one of the few courses in France which lacks this ethos.