"This is the coolest place I've ever been!"

[Tommy Williamsen]

19,740 feet atop Mt. Kilimanjaro.

Oh, you meant golf?

Old MacDonald.

You climb it? Wow. I wanted to do it, but I fear it won't happen.

[Garland Bayley]

19,740 feet atop Mt. Kilimanjaro.

Oh, you meant golf?

Old MacDonald.

You climb it? Wow. I wanted to do it, but I fear it won't happen.

You should have done it 50 years ago like I did. I attended a "we climbed Kilimanjaro" presentation at the local library 25 years ago. They probably were chagrined when they learned they went 2/3 the way up by car compared to what I did back in the day.

[Chris Hughes]

#12 at The Men's Club with a shirt on the line... 

[Ally Mcintosh]

I don’t know. There are a lot of cool places to be standing because you consider yourself lucky to be playing x,y,z great course.


But for me, it’s more about serenity and beauty of landscape as I look out from the course. Any places that make me feel at peace.


Just sitting down and breathing in the surroundings at Cruit Island is hard to beat.

[Tim Leahy]

7th and 18th tee's on Pebble Beach are hard to beat.



This won't be popular but I still remember standing on the 3rd tee on Torrey Pines South on just a beautiful day. The ocean was flat as a pond and my thought was wow, it doesn't get much better than this.

+1
Adding the 18th tee at Kapalua Plantation.

[Richard Fisher]

To Ally's point


6th tee at Westward Ho!
9th green at Brancaster

[Jeff_Brauer]

So exclaimed my son on the sixth hole of Somerset CC in MN. I feel that way about most of the Raynor courses. There is just a feel to them that is unique. Part of it is the clubs at which he designed have an old-world feel. They are some of the best clubs in the country. If I had to pick one designer to play the rest of my life, it might be he.


Where is your coolest place? For me, it was the Alps/Punchbowl at Fishers.

Tommy,


I had a similar experience the first time I played Shoreacres.  Same holes, but in such a dramatic setting following ravines that dump into Lake Michigan.  I was a first year architect at the time and had never seen a Seth Raynor course and was blown away by how it looked.


A similar but not as "best" oriented, there are many courses where you realize that the course will be something special right from the clubhouse or entry drive.  Crystal Downs is in that category.  Whatever course of Mike Young's east of Atlanta I toured with him (Longshadow?)  TOC, of course, Royal County Down, and many others, also of course. 


The fun thing is that several great courses do not give that image, with more of a low key first hole, and that several not great courses may give you that feeling and then disappoint.

[Ted Sturges]

Yeamans Hall Club...all of it.  From the front gate, to the dirt road, to that dirt road crossing the first fairway, to the clubhouse, to the grand live oak trees, to an amazing routing, to the best set of Raynor greens ever.  I'm biased as a member.  Most guests I take there all think it is one of the coolest places to hang out in all of golf.


TS

[Tommy Williamsen]

Yeamans Hall Club...all of it.  From the front gate, to the dirt road, to that dirt road crossing the first fairway, to the clubhouse, to the grand live oak trees, to an amazing routing, to the best set of Raynor greens ever.  I'm biased as a member.  Most guests I take there all think it is one of the coolest places to hang out in all of golf.


TS

I have been to YH only once, but I agree about the drive. It was just understated elegance.

[Paul Rudovsky]

I think it is places where you feel you are in a cocoon...and stepped back in time 100 years or more.  For sure Yeamans dose that in spades...others are:


Myopia Hunt
Brookline
Chicago Golf
National
Shinnie
San Francisco GC
Newport
dozens of places in GB&I led by TOC, Prestwick, N Berwick


etc etc

[Kalen Braley]

There are no golf courses that make my top 10 of coolest places I've ever been.

But for golf, its the back 9 at Pasatiempo.  Just a master class in routing and such a neat/cool way how they were all pieced together including the confluence of 10 green, 11 tee, 12 green, 13 tee, 16 green, and 17 tee.

[Ira Fishman]

Kalen makes a great point about Pasatiempo.


From a gca perspective, I would add:


--the 4th fairway at Woking
--the approach in on the Road Hole
--the 7, 8, and 9 loop at CPC


From a just cool place on a golf course, I second the 11th at Ballybunion and the 16th at CPC, but would add:


--the walk up 7 at Old Mac
--the back tee at 16 at Primland
--the walk from 14 to 15 at Crail Balcomie


Ira

[david h. carroll]

cresting the hill at Old Town's 4th hole....the vista is out of this world with movement, texture and scale.

[Ben Sims]

I’m with Kalen, perhaps only one or two golf courses make the coolest places I’ve ever been list.


Moments (places in concert with time and company) seem better than places.

[Bruce Katona]

Tim Leahy:

+2 on 18 @ Kapalua with the sun beginning to set over west Maui, with a Mai Tai waiting on the veranda.


..........and seeing the sun rise at the top of Haleakala.


Same trip; different day.

[Kevin_Reilly]

Many great mentions above, but as a "coolest place" spot, it is hard to top behind the second green at Sand Hills. 

[Pete_Pittock]

I'll confidently wager that a number of Kalen's coolest places are the result of off-roading adventure.


My spot was not (yet) on a golf course was at the south end of what became the 13th at Pacific Dunes. Now it is the driftwood fashioned (Dan King) bench at the 14th tee. The lava rough at Mana Lani is also beholding.


in the process of planning for a trip to Antelope Canyon. Images are spectacular.

[Ronald Montesano]

Equal opportunity Cooler

Every place I get to play some golf, with every friend or stranger, is the coolest place.

[Rob Marshall]

7th and 18th tee's on Pebble Beach are hard to beat.



This won't be popular but I still remember standing on the 3rd tee on Torrey Pines South on just a beautiful day. The ocean was flat as a pond and my thought was wow, it doesn't get much better than this.

+1
Adding the 18th tee at Kapalua Plantation.

Kapalua has some amazing views

[Mike Hendren]

Many great mentions above, but as a "coolest place" spot, it is hard to top behind the second green at Sand Hills.

I thought of that spot as well.  But my favorite was sitting on a bench in the darkness with a cup of coffee waiting on The Old Course starter to arrive.  I didn’t need to see what lay ahead - I was there and I knew.

[Tony_Muldoon]

Walking down to the 14th green in NBWL gets me every time.
But then two holes later you are looking down 17 and the sun hits Bass Rock...

[Thomas Dai]

To date Mulranny and Carne take some beating.
Atb

[PCCraig]

The coolest place in golf is the VFW-esque clubhouse at the Charleston Muni. 

[JohnVDB]

On May 8, 1995 my wife and I were playing Dornoch. It was my second time and her first.  It was a sunny day and we had nobody around us.


We got to the top of the hill in the middle of the 8th fairway and as we looked down on the 8th green, a piper started playing up in Embo.


It was the 50th anniversary of the end of the war in Europe, I got chills.


I already loved Dornoch, but it was the day I knew I wanted to be a member.

[Kevin_Reilly]

Many great mentions above, but as a "coolest place" spot, it is hard to top behind the second green at Sand Hills.

I thought of that spot as well.  But my favorite was sitting on a bench in the darkness with a cup of coffee waiting on The Old Course starter to arrive.  I didn’t need to see what lay ahead - I was there and I knew.

Still on my bucket list!  And a toast to Bill Mc after.