Golf Club Atlas
GolfClubAtlas.com => Golf Course Architecture Discussion Group => Topic started by: mike_malone on December 06, 2004, 01:02:40 PM
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The walk up the hill away from the clubhouse of NGLA was a great and new way for me to begin a round. I could "feel" the terrain I was about to play.
The sign at Bethpage Black about "highly skilled" put me on notice to try to bring my "A" game and pressured the opening tee shot.
The bridge on my home course that is 75 yards+ long and has a 50 foot drop under it always affects my desire to "not be right" on the tee shot since it means I can't "walk the bridge" and need to ignominiously walk down the hill to hit my second shot, while players from the adjoining holes "smirk".
Any such "peripherals" you can think of? How do they affect your golf?
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Some of these are not on the course. The two large smoke stacks in Dublin that are in the background of courses nearby provide a contrast to the linksland of Portmarnock and Royal Dublin(to name two). They also can provide an aiming guide.
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Mike:
I think these effect one's golf experience big time, either positive or negative. Thankfully one tends to remember the positives more... I can cite the cart drive to the range, and then over to the course, at Sand Hills as something that builds anticipation fantastically as you can't see the course at all through all of that... Something about all the tourists around the first tees at TOC and Pebble that really get the blood pumping... man countless visuals... who doesn't get inspired by the walk from 15 green to 16 tee at Cypress, then the way that oh-s0-famous hole pops into majestic view as you emerge from the trees.. I could go on and on. And all of this matters, damn right it does.
TH
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A sign near the first tee of the Fairlawn Country Club in Poland, Maine list the rules.
One of them is that you should be wearing a shirt.
This serves to remind me that noone I get paired up with is going to be impressed with anything that I do, say, wear, or pull out of my golf bag.
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Mike:
How about the presence of Mt. Rundle at Banff? I know, I know, it was better under the old configuration. Even so, I still get goosebumps on holes 1-3, the drive into the parking lot, from my hotel room, and from the Calgary airport... ;)
Pete
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One more then I'm out...the ringing church bells while teeing off on the first at Pinehurst #2. Tell me that doesn't get your heart singing on the first tee.
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how about a course in Harrisburg, PA, where you come the the par 3 tenth and it is a downhill hole with the Three Mile Island towers in the near distance only a few miles away. Quite a tough shot...
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The warnings on the first tee on various desert courses NOT to look for your ball in the desert due to rattlesnakes.
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Never been there, but I would expect the smells from the local plant might make a round at the courses in Hershey, PA a very enjoyable experience....no matter how well you are playing.
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Brian, you are correct about Hershey, but it doesn't smack you in the face until the 5th hole, the par three with the old Hershey Mansion behind the green. A very fun course.
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All the trailer parks that seem to abound around some of the great links courses in Scotland and Ireland. One I remember the most is the one at Ballybunion, along with the graveyard by the first tee.
AG there are similar warnings along the gullies at Torry Pines. They are one thing I remember from my college days there along with the views down to Black's Beach :D. I always meant to bring binoculars with me when I played there.
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What about the driveway into Winged Foot for the first time? Is there a more exciting experience? The minute you walk through the breeze way, you know you are really there. My favorite place in the world to sit is on that covered patio overlooking 11e, 18e, 9w, 18w, and if you strain your neck 10w. Talk about getting your juices flowing! :o
Also, Wistling Straits, the thought that first came into my mind when I stepped through the club house was DAMN! The poor conditioning that resulted in no shotmaking oppurtunities whatsoever, in conjunction with my usga handicap rules 90 (from the tips, tips) the course itself was some what of a let down. My dad and I, agreed that we were glad we played it, but decided we never wanted to subject ourselves to that sort of torture again. However, I returned a couple of days later, just to look around, and give Herb smore' of my money(for those shirts with the unwearably gianormous logo) and my dad and looked at each other wishing we were out there again. I came to find out later that we hit it at the worst time of the year. If you ever have a buddy who is on an ego trip about his golf game, take him to Whistling in late June, right before they sprinkle a little napalm on the rough. Has anyone else had similar experience out there? I saw phil hitting woods out of the rough. When I was there, if you missed the fairway by 8 feet you were in the unnavigable cabbage with no chance, no chance! I swear they match their greensfee revenue that time of year with beer sales on the back nine alone. That is the only way to have fun out there. Though, after about six of em' in the sun, I did par the last three.
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All the trailer parks that seem to abound around some of the great links courses in Scotland and Ireland. One I remember the most is the one at Ballybunion, along with the graveyard by the first tee.
AG there are similar warnings along the gullies at Torry Pines. They are one thing I remember from my college days there along with the views down to Black's Beach :D. I always meant to bring binoculars with me when I played there.
I think Black's Beach would be DQ'd from this thread; it would be far more than an "interesting peripheral"! :)
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Similar to what Tom mentioned, the drive from mthe clubhouse, through the par 3 course to the 1st tee at Sutton Bay certainly builds anticipation. However, that sense of excitement was overshadowed by exhiliration as I prepared to hit approach shot to the 1st green, with the stunning Lake Oahe making its introduction to the round.
TK
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The Red Rocks of Sedona at Seven Canyons. Simply beautiful...and distracting.
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Walking through the clubhouse at East Lake, looking at replicas of Bobby Jone's trophies for the US Am, British Am, US Open, and Open Championship - that was a "peripheral" that most definitely affected my golf experience. East Lake is a great course in it's own right, but the historical perspective makes playing at East Lake truly special.
AD
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I rely on my Matt Ward-Ron Popeil Golf Rater's Gadget Pocket Calculator--the same people that brought you the Pocket Fisherman.
The Matt Ward-Ron Popeil Golf Rater's Gadget Pocket Calculator allows me to punch-in all of the numbers from the course I'm playing, which are then transmitted via cell phone technology to a caddy shack in New Jersey where Matt can calculate them via his magic formulas for strength of golfer, exhibiton of strength (off of the tee), lack of putting ability. They are then multiplied by the amount of visits per year and then cubed for the amount of trips made each year.
It also allows you to enter contact information, slope rating, course rating, distance from the tips and other pertinent data that comprise the award-winning Matt Ward formula of rating golf courses for not one, not two but three major and nationally known publications. He then sends results back to you in less then five seconds later!
(rumor in fact has it that Matt will be a major player in deciding next years BCS rankings)
If the Matt Ward Pocket Calculator by Ron Popeil isn't an instant sure fire success please keep the included free issue of New Jersey Golfer as Matt and Ron's compliments.
Buy it now, and Matt and Ron will include the Matt Ward Guide To Five-Star Dining an award-winning guide to the finest restaurants where you can learn to eat good and well, and then skip the bill and the tip!
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Mike,
Your view of the start of NGLA is much different from mine.. I am just praying to GOD on the 1st tee I don't snap hook one into the clubhouse. Then hoping I don't take out a window on the windmill the next hole. After that I am in the clear until the 18th. LMAO!
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The drive into caledonia was pretty cool, as was the 18th hole from the 2nd shot til when I lost my ball in front of a gaggle of on-lookers. I wish I had been the guy who I watched hit it to 5 feet.
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The R&A Clubhouse and the townspeople hanging around the fences (and history hanging heavily everywhere-not sure if that qualifies as a peripheral though the alliteration was kinda fun) make the opening tee shot on the Old Course far more difficult and nervy then it should really be. Let's face it, is there really an easier opening shot anywhere in golf, but has your stomach doing summersaults and your extremities kinda numb?
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Teeing off the first tee at TOC never has really fazed me. I was actually more bothered by trying to execute a chip from left of the 18th green, at the worst possible angle across the top of the Valley of Sin to a flag placed behind it. Even though I doubt they were really paying any of the golfers any particular attention, in the back of my mind I felt like everyone standing along the railing watching knew I was chipping for eagle and silently laughed to themselves "aye...drive for show, putt for dough" while I proceeded to take four to get down for a bogey 5.
Though I didn't think about it while I was taking dead aim at the pin on #17, since I was staying in town at the Rusacks for several days afterward, I often took advantage of my proximity to stand on the road behind the 17th green watching numerous groups play in, and was quite conscious of just how close to the green that really is -- us bystanders were as little as 20 feet from the flag! I'm sure I'll be thinking about that next time I play there. I'll just have to tell myself it is my one chance to use the gallery as a backstop as the pros do on a weekly basis. What exactly are the liability laws over there, anyway? I might need to update my insurance policy before my next visit ;D
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Teeing off the first tee at TOC never has really fazed me. I was actually more bothered by trying to execute a chip from left of the 18th green, at the worst possible angle across the top of the Valley of Sin to a flag placed behind it.
Doug, then you must not have a romantic (not in the Valentine's Day sense) bone in your body! :) Or perhaps I am overly-sentimental.
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The stretch Limo that picks you up at the hotel and takes you out to Shadow Creek 8)
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Can you imagine a peripheral that affects golfers more than the opening tee shot from the back tees at Merion's #1 at lunchtime? There're loads of people sitting there eating within about five steps of you and although your back is turned to them you certainly are aware of how everything quiets down behind you just before you take the club back. I've often wondered what the reaction would've been if a guy like Trevino teeing off in the final round of the US Open and a millisecond before taking the club back didn't just cut a really loud one instead and then just started his whole preshot routine over again without even bothering to turn and acknowledge those lunchers with a sort of "Oh, by the way, I do know you're all right there behind me and I'm sorry about that!" Or alternatively, Lee could've said; "Sorry about that but at least you're all lucky we have a left to right wind on this hole today! :)
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Carts on paths with GPS finders are the worse peripherals.
I also hate the peripheral picture girl found on the first tee at courses in Myrtle Beach. For those of you who haven't come in contact with this peripheral she can be found waiting on the first tee to take your picture (action shot and group shot (no money shots though)). Then she meets you at the 9th and tries to sell you the picture.
Also the peripheral that is the old retired guy that waits at par three's in Myrtle Beach and Hilton Head. He has some type of bet for you to hit the green and double your money at the pro shop. As you drive off in the cart with GPS he gives you complimentary admission coupons to every gentlemans club within 50 miles.
The best peripheral are views of the sea.
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Walking from #5 green to #6 tee at The Creek. The rest of the course unfolds below you running down to the sound, and the Long Island Sound and across to Westchester & Fairfield spread out over the horizon. It's a wonderful affect. It doesn't hurt that you are about to tee off on one of the great holes of the western hemisphere.
I'd say for hole quality and peripherals, you can't beat Creek #6.
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If you are not from St. Louis, there is a rather good public course called Gateway National (on the east side of the river). One of the more pricey public courses around.
To get there, you drive through East St. Louis (think about that scene in Nat'l Lampoons Vacation), and, if you miss the turn, you find yourself in the wonderful town of Brooklyn (a place that is thought to be nasty when you are there at 2 am for a bachelor party). Yet, once you get to the course, you are mostly isolated (due to the utter lack of development and activity in that part of town) and you quickly forget all about the ride in. During the round, you have a fantastic view of the St. Louis skyline and, the occasional roar from the NASCAR track next door.
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Steve - Pretty contradictory description -
"mostly isolated...NASCAR track next door"
And the oxymoron -
"St. Louis skyline"
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Steve - Pretty contradictory description -
"mostly isolated...NASCAR track next door"
And the oxymoron -
"St. Louis skyline"
Well..... the track only has a couple of main events ;D - a Busch race and a truck race, plus a drag race. You also get the occasional practice around the oval. Effectively, it only impacts golf infrequently. However, other than that, there is nothing around. No industry, insignificant traffic, just an abondoned building (or 2) in close proximity.
Now, admitedly, I am a bit partisan, but St. Louis has a pretty distinctive skyline - not as expansive as a NY or Chi, but the Arch makes is pretty unique. See -
http://store1.yimg.com/I/wackyplanetshop_1823_5414637
http://www.builtstlouis.net/skyline2.html