[Matt Schoolfield]

I have this conversation with friends pretty regularly. I would rather play one great course five times in a row instead of play five different courses, because I like to "get to know" a course. This seems to be a pretty minority view for my friends, who are trying to play all the best courses they can, and would much rather play five different great courses.

I think there is a difference in a visitor's experience, a resort experience, and a member's experience. I just want to know if you all see a difference between these, and if so, what attributes do you want in each type of course experience?

[Ben Sims]

I have this conversation with friends pretty regularly. I would rather play one great course five times in a row instead of play five different courses, because I like to "get to know" a course. This seems to be a pretty minority view for my friends, who are trying to play all the best courses they can, and would much rather play five different great courses.

I think there is a difference in a visitor's experience, a resort experience, and a member's experience. I just want to know if you all see a difference between these, and if so, what attributes do you want in each type of course experience?

A good friend and I talked about this very thing this morning. I’ll take it a step further and talk about your local course vs one you visit or join as a national/intl member.


In my local course I’m much more apt to want something demure, gentle, and subtle. I can learn it over time and it doesn’t beat me up if I don’t. In a national or international club, if I’m getting in a plane to see it, it better be cool. It better have bigger features and more variance from the small and big moments.


As far as the specific example in your OP, it’s really hard to change people’s mind, but I agree with you. The reason it’s hard to change people’s mind is because they may not ever return to Scotland or Oregon or Wisconsin. So they have to see it all. I’d much rather be an intl member and play four or five rounds at a place in lieu of playing five different courses. Hard to explain that logic to people but yeah, I agree.

[Joe_Tucholski]

I have this conversation with friends pretty regularly. I would rather play one great course five times in a row instead of play five different courses, because I like to "get to know" a course. This seems to be a pretty minority view for my friends, who are trying to play all the best courses they can, and would much rather play five different great courses.

I think there is a difference in a visitor's experience, a resort experience, and a member's experience. I just want to know if you all see a difference between these, and if so, what attributes do you want in each type of course experience?

Not accounting for reality (cost and ability) if given the option to play NGLA, Shinnecock, Sebonack, Friarshead and Maidstone vs five rounds on one of them I'm picking the five different courses vs one 5x.  I totally agree that playing one course multiple times is likely a better experience, but the reality is I've never played, and probably never will play a single one of those courses so the chance to play 5 is something I don't think I could pass up.  When going to the UK/Ireland my trips now include playing one course a number of times with just a few other one offs, but that's because I've made the trips circling the islands playing a new course or two every day.


To answer the question since I have limited time, resources and connections the factors I utilize to decide where I'm playing are who with, proximity, value, quality, pace of play and does it provide the ability to detach from the daily grind.


When playing with a friend I rarely see the course doesn't matter very much (I don't have friends who would be willing to pay $500+ for a round of golf).


For a home course I need to be able to play early on the weekends, walk at a reasonable pace and it needs to provide a setting that I can detach from the daily grind.  Other things that matter are proximity to home, quality and value.


For an away course quality and value are the things that I use to make my decision on where to play.


Admittedly quality is a hard thing to assess before visiting and value is hard thing to quantify.

[Brian Finn]

I have this conversation with friends pretty regularly. I would rather play one great course five times in a row instead of play five different courses, because I like to "get to know" a course. This seems to be a pretty minority view for my friends, who are trying to play all the best courses they can, and would much rather play five different great courses.

For some of us, this is an evolution from the 'many 1 time' to the '1 many times.'  I have spent much of my adult life trying to see many different courses, first where I lived (NY-CA-OH-NC), then where I vacationed, and ultimately in targeted areas, most notably GB&I.  I've never gone so far as to set a specific goal of seeing X number of courses, or even simply maximizing the number, but variety (and most of the time, quality) was (and to some extent still is) the goal.  I love seeing great courses that are new to me.

Like so many here, I had numerous experiences where I wish I had at least one more round on certain courses, so I started to build in 2 to 4 rounds on certain courses as part of my trip planning (whenever possible).  At the same time, I was fortunate to be invited back to a handful of great courses, affording me the opportunity to play 5, 10, even 20 rounds, and gradually realized that a few of the US courses that I hold in the highest regard are those I have played the most, which obviously isn't coincidence. Spending the last 8 years as a member at a very good home course also added significantly to my shift along this spectrum.  More and more, I love seeing the same course many times.

My current plans still include seeing plenty of new courses, but I sincerely hope to join a great course in the US that is close enough that I can play it pretty regularly.  I also intend to begin re-visiting certain favorite links for several days each, eventually choosing one where I will spend a couple of months per year, only occasionally venturing out to see something new. 

[Carl Johnson]

As Brian has just pointed out, isn't proximity to one's home something one would look for in a home course?  A good course near your home for a reasonable (for you) price?  I'd say a 30 minute drive is the maximum I'd stand for.

[Matt Schoolfield]

isn't proximity to one's home something one would look for in a home course?

I mean architectural features and themes. Do people here think different architectural features and themes suit courses differently for: home member course, distant member course, course to visit, resort to visit.

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