OT: Unique Experiences

[Joel_Stewart]

There’s a lot of unique experiences in golf. Some with the people you meet or play with, others with the grandeur of places you play.


In late April I played Augusta for the first time and was really taken back by the entire facility. We had probably a two hour tour of the administration building, the press center (which is incredible), Berkmans place, the tunnels around the facility and the media and social media buildings which are across the street. We stayed in the Butler cabin which to my surprise is 8 bedrooms and rivals a Four Seasons Hotel and then dinner which probably would receive a Michelin star if reviewed. Yes we received a tour of the wine cellar which was smaller then I expected but I live in California. Augusta doesn’t have one sommelier they have two. The amount of Screaming Eagle is astonishing. We also received a tour of another cellar under the clubhouse. This cellar which you view through a glass wall is of all the green jackets. There’s two video presentation’s of the history of the jacket and another on how they are made. It’s an amazing experience that takes multiple days and there’s a surprise around every turn.

[Carl Rogers]

Winning 2005 Golf Magazine Armchair Architect Contest judged by TD & spending 3 days with him, Brian Slawnick & Brian Schneider at the ill fated Bay of Dreams.

[Michael Chadwick]

In late April I played Augusta for the first time and was really taken back by the entire facility. We had probably a two hour tour of the administration building, the press center (which is incredible), Berkmans place, the tunnels around the facility and the media and social media buildings which are across the street. We stayed in the Butler cabin which to my surprise is 8 bedrooms and rivals a Four Seasons Hotel and then dinner which probably would receive a Michelin star if reviewed. Yes we received a tour of the wine cellar which was smaller then I expected but I live in California. Augusta doesn’t have one sommelier they have two. The amount of Screaming Eagle is astonishing. We also received a tour of another cellar under the clubhouse. This cellar which you view through a glass wall is of all the green jackets. There’s two video presentation’s of the history of the jacket and another on how they are made. It’s an amazing experience that takes multiple days and there’s a surprise around every turn.

Fascinating details, Joel, thanks. Hard to imagine there's a better time to have that experience than in the immediate wake of the tournament.

[Cal Carlisle]

I’ll add my Augusta experience to the mix. I guess what makes mine unique is that I volunteered at The Masters for nine years.
 
As a “thank you” for working the tournament, the club invites volunteers and vendors back the week before Memorial Day weekend to play a round of golf (Play Day). 
 
You’re given a tee time about a month before Play Day. When you get there the first thing everyone does is go to the main tournament pro shop building (not the real pro shop) where they are selling all the leftover stuff from the tournament for 50% off. Mind you, this was back when the current driving range was still a parking lot so it wasn’t like you had to walk very far to unload everything you just purchased.
 
You’d check in and then go hit some balls at the range. At this point you could do one of two things, you could go over to the par 3 Course and take a quick spin around before your tee time, or you could get on a list to slide into an open tee time on the main course that was earlier. I always opted for the latter because play stacked up as the day wore on, so the earlier you got out, the better.
 
There was typically a huge crowd hanging out on the first tee or putting on the practice green which ratcheted up the first tee nerves by a factor of five. When you get on the first tee and you feel like a teenage kid about to get lucky for the very first time. You can’t believe you’re actually doing this. “Just get it out there at least 200 yards.” That was goal. No piss missiles, or dubbed shots. Not in front of all these people.
 
The tee shot went off without a hitch and away we went. I should add that due to volume this was solely a golf cart affair, a unique experience for Augusta in itself. I’m not a cart guy, but for the volume of golfers, it was an absolute necessity.
 
I don’t know how fast the greens were relative to the tournament, but I found myself subconsciously hitting every putt a couple of clicks softer than I thought I should and I did fine.
 
You get done with your round and they have a nice spread for lunch served out near the oak tree. With your round finished you could tour the facilities which I found incredibly interesting. My favorite part was going up into the Crow’s Nest.
 
You could play the Par three course as much as you wanted, i.e. until you ran out of golf balls. And that’s exactly what I did.
 
 It’s my belief that The Masters is by far the best fan experience in professional sports. It is always interesting to see the incremental improvements made each year. Concession tents becoming structures with fans. Porta potties evolving into buildings with actual plumbing. Upon returning in May? All gone.

[Stewart Abramson]

One of my most unique, happy and memorable golf experiences was a trip to Colorado and Nebraska about ten years ago. I was the unaccompanied guest of a former poster on this site at Ballyneal. We had never met and the only advice/caution he gave me was “Don’t be an A-hole” The only other golfer at Ballyneal that weekend was also a GCA poster.  I basically had the course to myself for two days. I shared dinners with the then owner/founder of the club, exchanging golf and Grateful Dead concert stories; got a very helpful swing tip from the pro; and met the chef. After a twilight round, I called my host in Chicago to tell him that when I reached the fourth tee, which sits atop one of the highest points on the course with a vista that continues forever, to tell him that I was in golf Nirvana. He was in his car with his wife and asked me to repeat that for her and we all just laughed. From Holyoke, I was off for my 90-mile drive on a pitch-dark moonless night to Lake McConaughy for a stay and play at Bayside. At some point after exiting Interstate 80 the road to Bayside was closed for repair and my GPS couldn’t figure out an alternate route. After finding many a dead end, and driving down some long unpaved roads only to pull up to a farmhouse, I decided to go back through blockade and venture on the closed road. After about 15 minutes I finally saw a car coming toward me, flashed my lights to stop him and asked for directions. I was told by the guy (who reminded me of Carl Spackler and shouldn’t have been driving) I had just passed the entrance to Bayside and to back up, keeping an eye out for a gap in the post & rail fence, and that I could still make the party hosted by a Nebraska State Legislator in Cabin 4 if I hurried. At least I had that going for me, which was nice 😊
 
Another favorite and very unique, happy and memorable golf experience was the Halloween golf party at Wolf Point in 2017 where I had the pleasure of meeting Mike N,  Don M and many other really nice people from this site, had the rare opportunity to play Wolf Point, see an air show overhead as we played, and win a sleeve of Wolf Point logo golf balls for my Halloween costume (I had no chance of winning anything for actually playing golf.)

Wolf Point #4 tee camel 811



Wolf Point airshow 2017

Wolf Point #10 ghost flying from flag



SA as Bushwood golfer pre Halloween flight to Texas 2017

[Paul Jones]

I had quite a few great memories at Wolf Point, but nothing beat the charity tournament we had quite a few years ago to support a local family. We had dinner the night before at the owner's restaurant and picked teams, I was caption of one team and Sam M was the captain of the other.  All money went to family who lost everything in a fire. 


The next day we did Ryder Cup type matches with no range finders and no yardages on the course.  I was playing against Nuzzo and would always ask how far and he would give me the same answer about 125 yards no matter if the distance was 50 yards or 250 yards :-).  The food was great, the golf was great, but the company and the cause was incredible.  My wife even had hats made to give away for an additional donation to the family.  I think we had people from 5 different countries and many different states. 


Don and team made sure we had lots of beer and great food throughout the course.  I miss that place !!!

[Ian Mackenzie]

Just last week I had one of these.


Was in Bordeaux  and Saint Emilion in SW France and, after 3 nights in the village, my wife and I stayed at Grand Saint Emilionais GC - a Tom Doak design.


arrived at the club at 7:00 pm and (we knew) it was closed. Checked into our cottage, grabbed a 7 iron and walked the course by ourselves. I was blown away.


Bordeaux wine country with no one in sight and zero outside noises on a TD course in June.
No fertilizers or chemicals used on the course. seemed all natural.


we walked up 18 at around 9:15 with plenty of light.
Wish I was smart enough to post pics as these are worth seeing.

[David_Tepper]

I was a walking scorer on Thursday afternoon last year at the US Women's Open at the Olympic Club. It was the first time I had ever done anything like that. The amount of information the scorers had to record for each of the 3 players in their group on each hole was comprehensive, far beyond just the score they made on each hole.

All went well thru the first 10 holes. Then, on the 11th hole, one of the players in the group, who was -3 and on the first page of the leaderboard, made a quadruple bogey 9. As you might imagine, that caused a bit of commotion in the scorer's tent and on the Golf Channel. I think it was the only quad-bogey made by any player during the entire tournament.

Meanwhile, one of the other players in the group, who was -1 thru 10 holes, birdied #11, #12 and #14 to move on to the first page of the leaderboard.

It was an exciting stretch of holes and a memorable afternoon.

 
   

[David Whitmer]

As mentioned by a few gents already, a day having lunch in the R&A clubhouse, then playing The Old Course, then having drinks in the R&A clubhouse made for one of the best days.


Played two rounds at Muirfield one magnificent day in early May, and during the afternoon alternate shot match we were the only four people on the golf course. This was two months before the 2013 Open.


Stayed and played at Ardfin last month. There were six in our party, and we were the only six guests on the property. That was an unbelievable experience...nothing but first class golf, accommodations, and service.


Maybe 25 years ago I was a club pro and was in a back room of our pro shop. All of a sudden I heard a voice talking and thought "That sounds an awful lot like Tom Watson...what the hell?" Sure enough, he was there with the club's developer, looking at an adjacent property. It was a treat to meet him...he was a total gentleman. Strange, the random things that sometimes cross your path.

[David Kelly]

As mentioned by a few gents already, a day having lunch in the R&A clubhouse, then playing The Old Course, then having drinks in the R&A clubhouse made for one of the best days.

A great memory for me as well. Golf on The Old Course (5 birdies, a triple on 17 kept me from a career best) followed by lunch and drinks in the R&A clubhouse courtesy of the much missed Bob Huntley. He told me they stopped the practice of unaccompanied guests for lunch soon after.  Not because of us...probably.


Others have mentioned similar experiences but I have a few great memories of being the only group all day on some of the greatest golf courses in the world, including a memorable 54 hole day at Morfontaine where they told us how to lock up after we left.

[Sam Morrow]

I had quite a few great memories at Wolf Point, but nothing beat the charity tournament we had quite a few years ago to support a local family. We had dinner the night before at the owner's restaurant and picked teams, I was caption of one team and Sam M was the captain of the other.  All money went to family who lost everything in a fire. 


The next day we did Ryder Cup type matches with no range finders and no yardages on the course.  I was playing against Nuzzo and would always ask how far and he would give me the same answer about 125 yards no matter if the distance was 50 yards or 250 yards :-).  The food was great, the golf was great, but the company and the cause was incredible.  My wife even had hats made to give away for an additional donation to the family.  I think we had people from 5 different countries and many different states. 


Don and team made sure we had lots of beer and great food throughout the course.  I miss that place !!!

Every person I picked was for access purposes. When you don't win your team forgets you.

[Jim Lipstate]

Most memorable for me was playing TOC late on a summer evening. Rained all day until about 4 PM when the clouds parted in time for our 4:45 tee time. As we walked to the 18th tee box our wives joined us. The entire town and R&A clubhouse was bathed in a brilliant golden hue as the sun was settling behind us. The walk and requisite picture on the Swilken bridge was glorious.

[mike_beene]

One night years ago couldn’t sleep in St. Andrews so went out in middle of night and spent an hour in the Valley of Sin just thinking about things.

[Tim Leahy]

One night years ago couldn’t sleep in St. Andrews so went out in middle of night and spent an hour in the Valley of Sin just thinking about things.

Deep, brother.

[Mark Smolens]

One night years ago couldn’t sleep in St. Andrews so went out in middle of night and spent an hour in the Valley of Sin just thinking about things.

As I recall, Steve Salmen has an even better story about time well spent in the Road Hole bunker one night 

[Bill Crane]

Probably my most unique golf experience was playing the reversible William Flynn designed Picantico Hills course on the Rockefeller estate "Kykuit" in Tarrytown, NY.  No doubt I have posted about this in the past.

After lunch with a client, my host who is a family member suggested we play golf since I had made the comment that my home club - Springdale, was redesigned by Flynn in 1926 and he was eager to show me the course.

The first tee is near the clubhouse with the hole playing down the hill and back up on the second, after our tee shots on the third the clouds parted revealing the most astounding view of the Hudson River looking up a big bend in the river.   

Making the turn after nine requires playing back down the hole just finished.

My host suggested that I try his Hickory clubs and I took him up on his offer and played the back with the "Hicks".   The 18th is a distinct par three and after enough swings with the old clubs I was able to hit a solid shot to the middle of the green, and sink the putt for birdie.

This was probably over twenty years ago, long before the Loop.   I gather it is being marginal maintained now, although a quick look on Maps reveals some of the bunkers with newer white sand - so maybe there is hope that this unusual gem will live on.

[corey miller]

The Rockefeller Family are very strong environmentalists and they have rightfully nuked the golf course.

[hhuffines]

I’m lucky to have quite a few, but two that stand out in terms of architecture were playing the original routing at Banff with a certain Morissette (thank you Ben!) and also playing Kingsley Club with Mike DeVries (thanks Bart!)


My wife and I stayed at Gleneagles a few years ago and the staff thought I was a writer, not a rater😂😂😂.
The halfway house lady stayed late out there to meet me😳. As I approached the 18th tee, a crowd of about 50 made their way out to the fairway. As I tried to figure what to do, a four plane dog fight took place overhead.  Some rich guy had purchased the show for his birthday.

[Greg Hohman]

Last month I visited Kykuit. By chance, there was a small exhibit in the carriage house about the family and golf. Before I write anything here, I will double check The Nature Faker to determine if the exhibit presented new info. Also trying to obtain History of The Pocantico Hills Golf Course by Steven C. Rockefeller, Jr.

I second Bill's use of astounding here and staggering elsewhere to describe the views. A word for the topography of the golf course: hilly!

OT: I knew the place has art, but so much and of such high quality! Astounding. Staggering. The attention to detail was very impressive. Our docent compared the (relative) restraint of Kykuit with the grandeur of Biltmore, suggesting they are representative of differing family temperaments. I am not qualified to comment on that. Nelson's mother was a founder of MOMA and he collected modern art in a big way. A huge Miro in the drawing room of a 1913 home! The list goes on. And yet I could see the docent's point. This property is the most beautiful place I have been.

[PCCraig]

One night years ago couldn’t sleep in St. Andrews so went out in middle of night and spent an hour in the Valley of Sin just thinking about things.

As I recall, Steve Salmen has an even better story about time well spent in the Road Hole bunker one night 

This might be the best golf course architecture nerd story of all time!

[cary lichtenstein]

Playing with Greg Norman, Sam Snead, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus, Raymond Floyd in pro-ams


Playing unique hole at Cypress, Pebble, Yale, and so many more.


zlunch at National, staying at the 1708 House, meeting so many members of so many course all over the world.

[mike_beene]

Strange that you refreshed this. My part of the “nerd” story is something I think about often. Something about pictures of the R and A, with people who have now passed on, give me a peaceful feeling. It is a shame Ben Hogan never saw St. Andrews. I believe it would have softened his exterior. Golf, GCA and the law run together in my mind, in some indescribable deep fashion. I understand the nerd element to this. Thanks for reminding me!

[David_Tepper]

Francesco Molinari & his family lived next door to us for about 4-6 months on Jackson Street in San Francisco over the summer of 2020. The funny thing is he did not play in the PGA Championship held at Harding Park that year.

I only had a chance to speak with him briefly a couple of times. After experiencing a cool, foggy & windy summer in San Francisco, Francesco & family departed to Los Angeles.

[Wayne_Kozun]

I played in the Canadian Open Pro Am about a decade ago and Rory Sabbatini was the pro.  During the pro am he and his ex-wife were (@FormerMrsSabo) were having a public spat on Twitter.

[Mark Pearce]

A few weeks ago I played in a golf day at the Berkshire.  As we played the 2nd we saw a four ball on the 16th green including a short old bloke dressed all in black who looked like, as one of the players in my groups said "that bloke, the one that always dresses in black".  As we hit our tee shots on 3, one of our group (Giles Payne, sometime of this parish and a regular BUDAite) blocked his into the trees on the right.  He turned round and received a playing lesson from Gary Player, who proceeded to have  a chat with us before playing on up 17.