GCA Homework Assignments

[George Pazin]

Well, it's that wonderful time of the year for us trapped in the Northeast - all talk, no golf. Before we start getting sidetracked with more political BS, BCS BS, Super Bowl BS, I'd thought I'd offer the following as homework assignments to any and all of the wonderful golfclubatlas posters:

You may choose to do either (or both!) of the following:

1) Write a thoughtful profile of your home course. While it needn't necessarily follow Ran's excellent format, I can hardly think of a better one. Please offer some meat to your profile, not just statements like "18 is a wonderful challenging closer", etc. If you are concerned about getting inundated with requests to play your prestigious club, perhaps you could write your review under a pen name.

2) Choose a topic for an Opinion Piece that is outside of the normal perceived position you might ordinarily take. Some examples:

- Dave M could write a piece on a wonderful long par 4 that he would relish playing on a daily basis!

- Matt W could write a piece on the ten best par 3s under 135 yards! (Not a list, a piece!!)

- Shivas could write a piece on great drive and pitch par 4s!

- Tommy could write a piece on a Rees or Faz course that he really loves!

I think you are getting the gist of what I'm saying. I think it's a great intellectual exercise to try to analyze the flip side of what one might ordinarily think.

If you have already submitted an Opinion Piece or Home Course profile, you are exempt from this assignment (but that needn't stop you from offering more should you choose to do so).

The rest of you, if you don't complete your assignment, I will be stopping by your house and taking away your GCA t shirt - remember, I know where you live!!!

Have fun - I look forward to reading everyone's work.

[Scott_Burroughs]

George,

It's been brought up before, but it's a great idea.  I've aleady toyed with doing a MHC profile on, uh, MHC.  I took my oldest daughter out for a ride and took pictures of the back nine - but they didn't turn out well (it was the camera and the lighting ).  Need to get a better camera and try again.

Of course, I expect the same from you, George.  You may not be a member anywhere, but how about the course you most frequent in the Pittsburgh area?  

[THuckaby2]

Whew!  I'm exempt.  Although on the other hand, it would be great to see you George, as you came out here to take back my t-shirt....  

Tom "Rancho del Pueblo" Huckaby

ps - I got a pretty damn good digital camera for Christmas... now I just need some internet space and the world may come to know and love my real home course, Santa Teresa... that's my real assignment for 2004...

[TEPaul]

George:

Not a bad excercise at all. It reminds me of my grade school debating class when you're given a position to debate which you may not personally agree with. The idea, obviously is to do your best to make a case anyway.

Being a real advocate of Max Behr and his philosophy of Nature's part in architecture and his lifelong philosophy of the "Natural School of architecture" perhaps I'll try to make a case why Nature or a natural look in golf architecture is ultimately not important to a golfer's enjoyment of the "game" of golf at all. Perhaps I'll try to make a case why golf should not be considered a "sport" and only a man-made "game".

[Dan Kelly]

The title of my essay:

"There Just Aren't Enough Really Private Courses Anymore, Darn It!"

[George Pazin]

Scott -

I'm working on my profile of the highly regarded North Park Municipal GC even as we post....

I, too, received a digital camera for Christmas. My silly wife thinks I'm going to use it on our impending newborn!

[THuckaby2]

I, too, received a digital camera for Christmas. My silly wife thinks I'm going to use it on our impending newborn!

These women just don't understand priorities, do they, George?  

I wish this dg would allow for pics to simply be attached... I have some darn good ones from a familiar course I play last Sunday... oh well.... George, check your email.

TH

[Dan King]

I ain't got no home
No place to roam
I ain't got no home
No place to roam
I'm a lonely boy
I ain't got a home

I got a voice
And I love to sing
I can sing like a girl
And I can sing like a frog
I'm a lonely boy
I ain't got a home

Me and the Frogman ain't got no home. I played a total of nine holes of golf in 2003 -- at a course in Reno and I don't even remember the name of the course. If I were a resolution-type guy I'd make a N.Y. resolution to play more.

Surrounded by all these Gods (I knew you guys when you were mere mortals) maybe I'll just set a goal for senior membership this year.

How about a piece on how we should all take our time on the course -- stop, smell and watch the flowers grow? Maybe a piece on how every piece of land in the world is suitable for golf given sufficient budget.

Congratulations on the upcoming little chipper George. Is it a Ben Hogan or Babe Zaharias Pazin?

Dan King

"Give me a man with big hands and big feet and no brain and I'll make a golfer out of him."
  --Walter Hagen

[George Pazin]

Congratulations on the upcoming little chipper George. Is it a Ben Hogan or Babe Zaharias Pazin?

Don't know, don't wanna know - didn't think it was "fair"...

Just hoping for a disposition more like Huck's than Patrick's.

And in that vein, I am exercising my right as originator of the thread to grant a special exemption to the Huckster on his very exemption, and demand that he produce a piece highly critical of a golf course!

(Just kidding - I'd prefer only positive opinion pieces.)

[THuckaby2]

And in that vein, I am exercising my right as originator of the thread to grant a special exemption to the Huckster on his very exemption, and demand that he produce a piece highly critical of a golf course!

Oh man, now THAT is sure going against nature... I'm gonna have to find that first course I don't like!  

Hmmm... there is one... actually one place with two courses... but Tommy's already ripped it to shreds many times already in here - the infamous Industry Hills down in SoCal.  Oh, I believe I could criticize that bastion of overly severe overpriced golf.  

And Dan, one doesn't need to play to have a home course, not if one lives on one anyway.  Just what is all that grass out your window at The Villages?  

TH

[Dan King]

Tom Huckaby writes:
And Dan, one doesn't need to play to have a home course, not if one lives on one anyway.  Just what is all that grass out your window at The Villages?

Dude, is golf what all those old folks are doing outside my window? I've seen them jettin' around in their carts past the window but thought it was some sort of race. I could never figure out why they'd get out now and then and swing some sort of gardening equipment.

I've reached my 46th year and I'm now a member of this course and can bring guests out. I no longer need an old fart to get me on the course now that I am one myself.

How about once the weather clears you come out and re-introduce me to this silly game? I think it's some amount in the teens for guests to play. We can shock them all by walking the course. Any other locals interested in checking out senior golf in East San José?

Dan King

"It does look like a very good exercise. But what is the little white ball for?"
 --Ulysses S. Grant (after watching a beginner swing several times without making contact with the ball)

[THuckaby2]

 

Well said and well jousted, Dan.

And hey, you know me - you say the word and I'll be there, marital permission pending.  And yeah, we will shock the world by walking.

TH

[Craig_Rokke]

George-
We Pennsylvanians may not be as trapped as you think.....
The mercury is going to be in pretty comfortable range Sat and Sun.

As for me, if I my groveling skills are successful, I will entrust
my 3  3-and-unders to the wife, and escape the asylum for a Sun round.

Congrats on the upcoming baby. Good luck!

[Scott_Burroughs]

now I just need some internet space

Tom,

If you have a home ISP, you most likely have access to a make personal web page.

[Evan Fleisher]

TH,

Like Scott said above, you home ISP should provide you with somewhere between 5-10MB of space which will work very nicely for posting pics...I have Mediacom cable internet service here at home, and they provide me with ample space to host two small business websites (not for selling, jusr for "show") and space for LOTS of golf pics...check out your situation, it may prove to be just what you need.


TH and GP,

I too got a new "toy" over the holiday season...our family gift to ourselves this year was a new Sony digital video camera...and my gift to myself was a nice handy little compact tripod...and my wife and kids thought this was for videotaping the kids around the house.  Yeah, right!  

[Norbert P]

 George, I wrote a report on the beauty and blessings of the future ubiquity of astroturf golf courses...
... but my cat ate it.

[Mike Hendren]

Before I write a My Home Course article this year about Rolling Hills Country Club in Ripley, Tennessee, I wanted to check to insure that no one else in the Treehouse was already working on a profile.  

If I don't hear from anyone, I'll take the digital camera home this summer after the bermuda greens up and will focus on the 295 yards reverse redan sevemtj and the famous finisher - the par four ninth "mule hole."

Happy New Year.

Mike

[Dan King]

Shivas writes:
Now, I'm dying to know -- has anybody on this board ever seen or played it?  Personally, I don't know if I could ever pry myself away from all the square dancing fun to squeeze in 18 holes before my 4:30 pm dinner reservation.

Next time you are in NorCal we'll get an early tee time giving us a chance to nap prior to the 4:00 early-bird specials in the dining room. Maybe we could even squeeze in some bocce before lights out at 7:00.

I see it most every day. I live near the 13th tee. This morning is was rather frosty, but on a nice day I sit outside with a nice cigar, a glass of scotch and a good book waiting for some of the older golfing babes to come by. Tuesdays is ladies' day at the Villages and for some reason every year they seem to look younger.

I used to play the course semi-regularly. My Dad and I tried to play together once a week. I haven't played it much since he died in 2000. Now that I am old enough I am officially a member and I'm thinking I might play it more often this year.

It isn't a great course, but I like it, lots of sentimental value for me. I'd rather play here than the much more upscale, nearby Silver Creek.

While it is in the middle of housing, the housing rarely infringes on the golf. Eight holes are down reasonably wide housing corridors, but 10 of them have no housing on them at all.

They've been working on the course the last few years. They are taking it slowly, fixing up two holes every year. Last year it was the 13th and 14th holes. They put some attractive bunkers on the left side of both fairways, I'm guessing to discourage golfers from playing down the left, close to the housing. They also fixed up the tees and greens. They've lost a number of trees lately which is nice. Because of the work they have been doing some holes drain much better than others.

Dan King

You can golf first thing in the morning. I've noticed for men my age, more and more of the important things happen at that time of the day: golf, heart attacks, delivery of the Wall Street Journal, and intermittently -- erections and bowel movements.
 --P.J. O'Rourke (Men's Journal, 1992)

[Dan King]

Huck and I earlier in this thread were talking about the NorCal Villages, also a retirement community, also big on square dancing and early-bird specials.

Dan King

From birth to age 18, a girl needs good parents from 18 to 35 she needs good looks, from 35 to 55 she needs a good personality and from55 on she needs cash.
 --Sophie Tucker

[George Pazin]

2 more things:

1)  I left out one of the most important segments of homework assignments. I'd reallly like to read some pieces by the architects/builders/developers/supers/etc. who populate the board. I know some bozos out there always jump in with BS about self promotion, but I would love to read the thinking behind even a single hole designed by one of our posters. Maybe there's something out there, even a little nuance, that you're particularly proud of. So write a piece, or start a thread. As an example, Forrest wrote a book on routing golf courses that I am really looking forward to reading someday soon, but in the meantime, I'd love to hear him dissect on of his recent projects. Or maybe even dissect someone else's project!

2) I think people are misunderstanding the second assignment a little. I am not asking you to do anything you wouldn't do, I'm asking you to do something the rest of us wouldn't expect. Let's face it, many of us have had our views stereotyped, for good or bad, and yet we all proclaim to be unbiased, objective, that we evaluate each course based on its individual merits, etc. This is your chance to show it.

Shivas, I don't doubt you like drive and pitch holes, but you have to admit, that's not what someone would take away from reading your posts.

Tom Paul has many times professed a love of the natural look on a golf course. Yet, a few years ago, I read a terrific post of his on why he feels the less natural look of NGLA works. I probably still have it saved on one of my other computers. Pat M would foolishly (and incorrectly, IMO) label this as hypocritical, but I view this as the sort of thing that makes the discussion on this site fascinating.

I started this thread somewhat light heartedly, but I'm damn serious about wanting to read some thought provoking stuff. Get cracking.

[ed_getka]

Dan,
  I would love to get together for some golf when you are ready to venture out. Besides, you need to get ready to golf at KP III. Happy New Year!