"Survivor" Revisited: Great Golfing Regions (preamble)

[THuckaby2]

Bob:

That matters greatly to me, also.  I'd never pick any US East coast or Midwest locale, for the exact same reason, and even the UK and Ireland get downgraded for such...

But for the purposes of this, I gather we are to assume the weather genie makes all things equal.  How this effects the worth of the exercise, well... no comment!

TH

[Mike Benham]

And Monterey can stand on its own - go ahead and give greater SF area Pasatiempo even.

Give Monterey Pasatiempo which gives it Pebble, CPC, MPCC and Pasa ...

SF would then be SFGC, O Club, Cal Club and Lake Merced ... maybe even Meadow Club ...

[THuckaby2]

Mike:

Understood.  So maybe the finals pit our two locals against each other?

I'll still take Monterey, btw.  But not by all that much.  

TH

[Mike Hendren]

Sorry for being a wise-acre

I am convicted that one cannot beat the one-two punch of Pebble Beach and Cypress Point based on personal observation, or alternatively The National and Shinnecock based on faith unseen.  Then again, I am not all that well-traveled.  Why not use one-two punch, or top five within a ___ miles radius?  As the crow flies, I would throw in The Old Course (out of respect, I refuse to use its acronym - kinda like Xmas) and North Berwick (Muirfield for you stuffy purests).

Regards,

Mike

[allysmith]

Highland Scotland is my winner.

Nairn
Dornoch
Elgin
Moray
Forres
Inverness

In addition to the above a new course is being built at Dalfaber by MacDonald Hotels. The course is designed by Dave Thomas design and constructed by McIntosh Plant. It runs through ancient forests, along side the River Spey and sits in the shadow of the Cairngorm Mountains. This will be one of the most spectacular and challenging courses I have ever seen.

[Mike Benham]

Understood.  So maybe the finals pit our two locals against each other?

I'll still take Monterey, btw.  But not by all that much.  

Those 2 in the finals would be great, it will go into a shootout (Go SCU Mens Soccer ...) and the tiebreaker will be Pacific Grove ...

[Craig Disher]

Bob:

That matters greatly to me, also.  I'd never pick any US East coast or Midwest locale, for the exact same reason, and even the UK and Ireland get downgraded for such...

TH

Don't downgrade the UK too much; can't speak for Ireland. Yesterday I checked the weather in London and it was 52 - far better than the 45 with high winds here in the mid-Atlantic. SE England is playable all year - virtually no freezing - with the only limitation being light in mid-winter. The "fixtures" books for most clubs have events scheduled every day of the year. I'd say the winter weather is no worse than N. Cal.

[THuckaby2]

Craig:

Got it - thanks.  Maybe it's all the Dickensian snow-covered scenes I've read and seen that give me the wrong impression...

TH

[Dan Kelly]

You didn't forget Northern Idaho, did you?

[ForkaB]

I played in shirtsleeves on Sunday in Fife, and can expect to be able to play almost everyday if you stick to the coastal courses.  The daylight hours begin to pinch into playing time around now, but you get to play from 5am to 10pm in the summer.  It's better winter golf than SF-Monterey, IMHO, which gets pretty boggy from Nov-Mar, in my experience.  Sorry, Bob!

[Rick Shefchik]

If there's going to be any point to this exercise, weather has to be factored out -- or factored in, as in, "assumijng optimal weather conditions," rather than including the full range of seasons.

Otherwise, as much as I love Sandhills, what kind of a golfer is going to choose a 5-month season?

Living in the Twin Cities, I think you could quite seriously lay out a menu of Interlachen, Hazeltine, White Bear Yacht Club, Somerset, Woodhill, Minikahda, Spring Hill, StoneRidge, Troy Burne, The Wilds and a few other personal favorites and qualify for a slot in Darren's "Survivor" bracket -- but not if weather is an issue. Michigan, Ohio, Westchester County and several others might as well pack it in, too.

[hpembroke]

A lot of talk going about regions with no-one focussing in on the eventual winner.  Mr Huntley mentioned it in passing, but the Melbourne Sandbelt has to be the greatest golf region in the world, hands down.  I guess it doesnt get any mention since most in here havent been lucky enough to go down there, but I was lucky enough to spend some time playing most courses there a few years back and every course is incredible and there are so many so close together.  The weather is great, the people are great and the food and beer is great, all important ingredients when determining a "golf region".

No region can match up to these:
Royal Melbourne West
Royal Melbourne East
Kingston Heath
Metropolitan
Huntingdale
Commonwealth (while it last given a recent thread)
Woodlands
Victoria
Peninsula North
Peninsula South
Long Island

[RJ_Daley]

DArren, this goes in the category of "no good deed goes unpunished".  You are two pages into this and we don't even have the rules or criteria down.  That may take another 10pages.  This reminds me of the ratings threads, all over the map (sort of a pun there).  Your attempt to create the game is well intentioned and a way to while away the cold dark hours of winter for those of us not so well positioned like Monterey Penn., but a cacaphony from the peanut gallery will probably prevent you from actually completing the game.

Someone IM me when we actually start playing...

[stovepipe]

Golfing bliss,  for me it has got to be in the States, west coast California, (well theres no east coast Calif is there?)
Fly into L.A. Quick 18 around Pebble, 18 around Spy, then another 18 around Cypress, then have a spot of lunch.

Reading some of the comments, it seems you have forgot to mention the courses in and around Liverpool u.k.

 courses such as, Royal Lytham & St annes, Hillside, Southport & Ainsdale, Fleetwood, Hoylake, Birkdale. There is a great Golfing holiday to be had, and all these Great courses are no more than 45 miles apart.

At £20 per night b & b you cant go wrong

[Darren_Kilfara]

Guys, save the value judgements for later, OK? This topic is about parameters, not one's actual picks.

Re: the Liverpool area, I'd definitely considered that, but wasn't sure how to name it. ("Lancashire"?) I was waiting for better minds to inform me of it...

RJ, I'm enjoying the jumble of ideas at the moment - I don't need a consensus at this instant. Does anyone else like Rich's auction idea? (Rich, how would that work, exactly?)

DK

[Bob_Huntley]

Hpembroke,

Everything factored in, quality and quantity of wonderful golf, affordability, weather, attitude of the clubs and their members, then the Melbourne Sandbelt beats out my beloved Monterey Peninsula.

[Tiger_Bernhardt]

Bob, that hurts for I was just getting ready to chime in for the Monterey Pen. I will defer to you though. Also, availability of public golf or at least some level of access. Many can be a member of one club in an area, but few are members of 3 or 4 in the same area.

[tonyt]

Agreed re: Melbourne.

In a region with a one hour drive from one end to the other (sandbelt/Mornington Peninsula), the 15th best course would beat the 10th best course in any other region on the planet, hands down.

And including the private clubs, 10 out of the 15 would cost less than $US40 to play!

[Dan Kelly]

Not to be rude, but ...

Well, to be rude: Can't you guys READ?

We haven't even figured out who's ON the island, and you're already kickin' 'em off!

Or am I the one who missed something?

DK II

[hpembroke]

Mr Huntley,

I wholeheartedly agree with you and thank you for making that statement publically in comparison to your home region, quite a statement.

I feel once this Survivor thing gets going The Sandbelt may suffer an unfortunate fate due to the fact that not many have been there and will not be able to vouch for its quality and therfore will fall short purely based on a numbers game.  Sad really.  Similar to the latest GD rankings I suspect.

Mr Kelly,

All part of the fun and discussion.  This is GCA, nothing makes sense.

[Rick Shefchik]

Shivas -- Agreed. There are few things I enjoy more than squeezing in those last few holes at 9:45 p.m. in late June.

The problem is, you can take that only so far. I'm sure our friends in Canada, Alaska, Iceland and Finland would trade a month or two of midnight golf for Monterey's 12 months of golf.

[Steve_ Shaffer]

How about Cabo in Mexico?

Cabo del Sol Ocean & Desert
Palmilla
ElDorado
Cabo Real
Querencia

All within minutes of each other.

Steve

[ChasLawler]

John V mentioned Pete Dye Golf Club - maybe there should be a "Virginias Mountain" region with PDGC, The Homestead - Cascades and The Greenbrier - Old White and Greenbrier Course.
Dye, Flynn, Macdonald and Raynor...not too bad.

[stovepipe]

Darren, uumm am i a bit dim or something   Because i have lost the plot on this subject, are we doing a head to head straight knock-out,   i.e. say St Andrews versus Muirfield? and the best course statisticaly in the area goes on to challenge another regeon? Am i a LAMA or what?

By the way Liverpool is in Merseyside, (Hoylake, Birkdale,)
Lancs, (the others.)

[JNC Lyon]

It is too bad no one plays golf in Upstate New York, which presents a strong list of unknown gems.

A short list of Ross Courses:

OHCC (East and West)
Monroe
CC Rochester
CC Buffalo
BrookLea
Teugega
Chatauqua (spelling?)
Thendara
Mark Twain

Other Golden Age Classic Unknowns:
Park CC (Alison)
Wolfert's Roost (Tillie)
Yahnundasis (Travis)
Stafford (Travis)
Malone (Wilkinson)
 
Some Modern Gems:
Durand Eastman and Midvale (Trent Jones circa 1930)
Crag Burn (modern Jones)
Shennendoah (Rick Smith)

This beats out South Africa, Mexico and Michigan for sure.