Golf Club Atlas
GolfClubAtlas.com => Golf Course Architecture Discussion Group => Topic started by: Mike Sweeney on December 08, 2008, 09:21:41 AM
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From Rich's thread, this category appealed to me:
Rich said: The 30 funkiest--North Berwick, Tobacco Road, Painswick, etc.
I ask that for Czar Goodale, you tell specifics about why a course is worthy of a Goodale 30 Funkiest. In addition, I think a course needs to be confirmed by a second for a nomination.
Of Rich's nominations, I can confirm Tobacco Road. Not so sure about Painswick which I have never played, and I think Rich needs to spell out why Painswick should be on.
My nomination is for Yale for the following reasons:
1. 24% of the yardage (1550+ yards) is on the final three holes and you never see a par 5 till #16.
2. Bunker depth and shape on holes #2 and 8.
3. The roller coaster holes #8 and #10.
4. #10 green
5. #18 hole at Yale.
All above with maybe a question mark on #18 are in a good way, to the point where they would be great features to build on a replica course.
Do I hear a second for Yale?
Other nominations?
* Corrected to reflect the wishes of Czar Goodale.
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I'll nominate Lahinch:
the dell
klondyke
crossing fairways
blind tee shots
But the course is absolutely fantastic, fun and FUNKY.
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Mike
As for Painswick, 4557 yards of pure funk beloved by such luminaries as Henry Longhurst, Peter McEvoy, Tom Doak, Robin Hiseman, Paul Turner and Yours Truly.
As for Yale, one of the only two courses ever offered to me to play by Dr. Evil, and since the other one is highly valued by Pat Mucci, Yale must be seriously funky.
As to your criteria, great start, but I would try to express yourself without using the word "unique." All things in this world are unique, including the smiles of children and snowflakes, and even "Redans."
Merry Christmas
Rich
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I would certainly 2nd Painswick. All you need to know is that the only bunker on the course is near the practice green. Folks often go on about uniqueness, but Painswick is the real deal. I don't know of a course which can even remotely claim the funk of Painswick
Ciao
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Yes, Sean, and as I'm sure you know, the only reason they have a practice bunker at Painswick is so their players can prepare for away matches!
Rich
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Even a non-luminary can ring the bell for Painswick. A beer for anyone who can make a credible case that it shouldn't be at the top of the list.
Tobacco Road isn't far behind and might be first on a US-only list although I have to consider Annapolis GC a contender. A big difference between TR and Painswick is that at TR the funkiness was planned and built-in. At Painswick, it just fell into place. I can hear the founders saying to themselves, "Hey, here's some common land; let's try to fit a golf course on it so we can play and be home for supper." The fact that it's so much fun to play and that we continue to talk about it is really remarkable.
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I second Cruden Bay.
I call on Anthony Gray to propose.
Tell us how deeply a man can feel for a bumpy stretch of grass, so many miles from home.
Hold nothing back.
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We need more American courses in this, and I need Tommy Naccarato for my seconds....
1. Alhambra Muni
2. Debell
each could be called a Painswick of Southern California.
Interestingly we have few equivalents in NorCal... although Pacific Grove Muni comes close. I'd nominate Sawtooth on the St. John's GC, but if anyone other than me in here has played that I will likely die of shock. But Painswick has nothing on that home-made course carved out of a guy's walnut grove...
TH
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Nominate Kington.
Nominate Elie.
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Shiskine at Blackwaterfoot.
Stonehaven.
Dunaverty.
In that order...
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Nominate Kington.
Nominate Elie.
I 2nd Kington. The course is a beautiful mix of funk and hard nose strategy that will perplex anybody at times. Of course, the membership, views and price don't hurt.
Ciao
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Considering how many times I mention the place :
Am I the only GCA member that has played Craigie Hill ?
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My nomination would be Astoria Golf and Country Club. Certainly the funkiest course, in a good way, that I've ever played.
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Some Arizona entries:
1. Fred Enke - Tucson
2. Starr Pass - Tucson - shots up cliffs. A 320 yard par four over a mountain that usually requires a 150 yard blind shot to a 7 yard deep green that slopes away with a bunker in front.
Prestwick and Tot Hill Farm also must be in the running.
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Lincoln Park, San Francisco.
7 out of 9 holes on the back nine between 200 and 299 yards. And...have you seen the place? Lincoln's funkiness does not require justification. ;D
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Lincoln Park, San Francisco.
7 out of 9 holes on the back nine between 200 and 299 yards. And...have you seen the place? Lincoln's funkiness does not require justification. ;D
DUH!
Stupid of me not to think of that. THAT is our Painswick.
Seconded, thirded and fourthed. Great call, Matt.
TH
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I second Cruden Bay.
I call on Anthony Gray to propose.
Tell us how deeply a man can feel for a bumpy stretch of grass, so many miles from home.
Hold nothing back.
Tony....Thanks with great pleasure,
Cruden Bay was created by God. On the fun scale it is a 10+. A delightful blend of flavors. No holes mimic each other, only compliment each other.
Playing Cruden for the first time is like your very best Christmas as a child.
One great surprise after another.
Greated by the starter who is wearing a coat and tie with the course crest on the pocket, you know you are in for a wonderful experience.
The first hole has just enough bite to tell you to stay on guard and do not under estimate the subtle difficulties that lie ahead.
In the secound fairway you hear Old Tom wispering "Let's put the green up high on the bank".
The third is a great ego check. Do I feel lucky today.
The fourth takes you back in time with the view of the village. If only I could excape the demands on my life and wake up every morning in one of those flats. Oh yea what a wonderful hole also. It screams "Don't be short"
The fifth takes you on a your next journey thru the dunes. Am I the only person on earth you may ask.
The sixth. O the sixth. Daring you to cross the water in two. And also daring you to putt in two.
The seventh is the epitome of the term dog-leg. Nowhere will you find one finer.
The eighth. Hitting your tee ball into the abyss. The challenge infront of your face to tighten your shoe laces and rip it with all your might.
The nineth. Rising out of the abyss and trancending into the heavens to find the peace of wideopen spaces.
The tenth. rejecting the compulsion to stop golfing and to spend the rest of the day on the bench in perfect peace you grab you driver and launch your ball into the valley below. The view from the tee is one of the best surprises a golfer can recieve.
The eleventh. Just like a crusty old scotish man. Do not disturb.
The twelveth. As the hole takes you further out you start dreaming that there may be no end.
The thirteenth.Caution..Caution do not get too relaxed.
The fourteenth. Words cannot do it justice. So pure that it is unrepeatable. "Don't even try to copy me I'm one of a kind"
The fifteenth. Maybe the best of all. What surprise lurks around the corner.
Will it be joy or disapointment. RING THE BELL IN TRIUMPH.
The sixteenth. As a fisherman throws his net hoping for a catch you cast your ball over the hill for the catch of the day.
The seventeenth. Traveling thru the valley of St OLaf's waters on the souls of long ago vikings you are careful not to disturb. You steer clear of the burial mound and venture to the green.
And at last the final hole. From the tee you look uot at the great expanse that has just offered you the greatest golf adventure the world has to offer. You gaze at the dunes the gourse the castle knowing you have excaped the eyes of Dracula.
You putt out and thank the heavens for allowing your path to cross what is known to many as CRUDEN BAY.
Tony....I propose.
Anthony
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I remember Dollar as being pretty funky, but it's long, long ago and the memory does play tricks.
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And two in Wales - Bala and Ffestiniog.
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Funky, in a less than positive way...the majority of the front nine at Dismal River...my goodness what were they thinking...way too many blind shots, some of which are simply ridiculous, and I like blind shots.
Shame, because the back nine is quite pleasant.
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Claremont in Berkeley, CA is definitely a tid bit funky. The 7th hole crosses holes 4 and 5. I think it is a Par 69 and is under 6000.
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The Machrie must be considered. Blind shots galore!
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Claremont in Berkeley, CA is definitely a tid bit funky. The 7th hole crosses holes 4 and 5. I think it is a Par 69 and is under 6000.
Second that! Great call. There are crossing holes at Sequoyah also but it is nowhere near as funky as Claremont, which has funk even beyond the crossing holes.
TH
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If we're going to go with "bring the funk", even though its little known, gotta go with the Mountain Course at Cascades in Orem UT. I never played anything close to as freaky and funky as this course.
http://golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,36430.0.html
Edit:
I think Huck also forgot about another Bay area course that might fit here too.... Lake Chabot!!
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Delaware Park in Buffalo...boggles the mind and defies logic and rational explanation.
Pac Dunes...It's funky!
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Kalen - nah, I thought of Lake Chabot. If the standard is Lincoln Park barely making it - and I think it is - jeez, look at the UK courses these are compared to - then Lake Chabot doesn't merit mention. It's not that funky and it's funkiest hole is a par 6 in name only.
TH
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Kalen - nah, I thought of Lake Chabot. If the standard is Lincoln Park barely making it - and I think it is - jeez, look at the UK courses these are compared to - then Lake Chabot doesn't merit mention. It's not that funky and it's funkiest hole is a par 6 in name only.
TH
Tom,
You may well be right....probably alot closer to quirky as opposed to downright funky!! Good to hear you hadn't forgot about that one.
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Goat Hill on Shelter Island
7 out of 9 holes blind, 4 of 9 greens run away from you
pure magic
sloping greens that if stimped above 6 would be unplayable
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I nominate Victoria Golf Club, Victoria B.C. The holes compacted onto the peninsula out into the Juan de Fuca Straight are nothing if not funky.
Bob J
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Painswick Yes
North Berwick West Yes
Lost Canyons - No. Funk is probably the wrong word. Close to the right word though.
Down Under, what about Portsea (at least in its current state, pre-amendment). It's the closest that I can think of that contains a mix of class, quirk, interest and staying true to the land.
And, back in Scotland, what about Rich's home course?
James B
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The Island Club
Cruden Bay
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I would like to nominate Ocean Dunes in Oregon. Very tight and fun! Also love Cruden Bay, but was thinking about Siloth on Sollway, some very funky green sites tucked in the dunes.
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Nominations -
Cullen
The Dunes (Mornington)
Royal New Kent
St Enedoc
Nefyn & District (Original)
Pennard
Second
The Macrie
Astoria
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Some Arizona entries:
1. Fred Enke - Tucson
2. Starr Pass - Tucson - shots up cliffs. A 320 yard par four over a mountain that usually requires a 150 yard blind shot to a 7 yard deep green that slopes away with a bunker in front.
Prestwick and Tot Hill Farm also must be in the running.
I thought Starpass when I read funky, but just couldn't get past how bad I thought the course was.
In the name of funky, I'll give it a second for you ;)
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My computer bookmark for Golf Club Atlas is right above the teenage sluts website, so I inadvertently logged in. But as long as I am here, there is no reason not to sit down and be counted.
Somewhere in a box canyon above I-85 lies Saratoga CC - a place so far removed from the radar screen of the GCA intelligentsia that I would be willing to bet that not even America's Guest (read: Huckster) has managed to weasel his way past its mysterious portals.
This hidden zirconium in the Santa Cruz mountains reminds me of an obscure sub-chapter of Pink Floyd's Atom Heart Mother - a composition so esoteric and unusual, Waters and Gilmour titled it "Funky Dung."
Nine holes, two sets of tees with a par of 68. Minimum six degree pitch on each green, usually rolling at speeds to make Green Hills look like Sharp Park (insider Nor Cal reference). The golf course - aside from the par-3's - is a series of dogleg-left par-4's, featuring fairways so narrow that a two club-length drop from the short grass guarantees a lie in deep rough or out of bounds.
Saratoga is an enormously entertaining match-play venue because there is risk reward on every hole. Sadly, it takes more discipline than I bring to the game to pull a five-iron out on the tee of three par-4's; the penalty for bravado is a snowman or worse. Shooting 83 on a golf course of less than 4600 yards can be embarrassing for my bulbous, Brobdingnagian ego.
That is a real word. Look it up.
Royal St. Saratoga also has that annoying quality of seeming harder the more times you play it. Like Sambo, you don't get dizzy and turn to butter right away, but by the fourth circuit through the gauntlet, the fairways get narrower, the greens more terrifying and birdies more impossible.
Finally, in the final round of their Invitational, with the Stimp meter shrieking past 13 and climbing in the afternoon sun, abject terror finally sets in. Inevitably, just as the booze and sedatives begin to wear off on the final nine, a two-footer horseshoes out of the hole, sleds off the green and doesn't stop rolling until it reaches downtown Los Gatos.
This explains finishing 2nd four years in a row. My partner finally fired me for being Steve DeBerg. I played just well enough to lose at the end . . . . In truth, it is a relief not to suffer through 36 holes of hyperventilation over tap-ins any more.
The strange thing is that so invisible is this nasty little snake, that the only evidence the club exists at all can be found in wedding testimonials from brides and their filthy rich mothers.
Thus, I nominate Saratoga CC (CA) for inclusion in the Godale's Funkdelic 30. Certainly, if anyone with too much time on their hands ever assembled a list of the strangest nine-holers, this could take its place as the American version of an Irish Pitch & Putt.
We now return to our regularly scheduled program, Hotties in Heat.
Here is a Google link to the golf course:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=21990+prospect+road,+saratoga,+ca&sll=33.448263,-112.073821&sspn=1.326874,2.719116&g=phoenix,+az&ie=UTF8&ll=37.28346,-122.053438&spn=0.004943,0.010622&t=h&z=17&iwloc=addr
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I would nominate the Bayonet at Ft Ord
Especially in the days when the tree branches were allowed to exist all the way to the ground.
Like playing golf with giant Hoover vacuums pulling at your tee shots
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Pat,
Goodale said "funky," not idiotic.
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Nominations -
Cullen
The Dunes (Mornington)
Royal New Kent
St Enedoc
Nefyn & District (Original)
Pennard
Second
The Macrie
Astoria
I spose how folks are using the term in this thread, I would have to 2nd Pennard and St Enodoc. Though to be truthful, I think of these as good, honest lay of the land golf.
Ciao
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I would nominate Rye.
It is so quirky in places that you would almost have to have played it 3 or 4 times just to know where you are going.
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Nominate Kington.
Nominate Elie.
I'll second Elie - sixteen par 4s but everyone of them plays differently.
I'll nominate Shiskine - twelve holes of pure funk
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I wouldn't call my home course of Aberdour "funky," but playing it this past Sunday in a league match, with 18 winter greens and permafrost fairways and greens, when 4 players ranging in handicap from 0-6 hit a total of 5 GIR and had a total of 2 birdies, on a course measuring no more than 4,700 yards, it was as RosannaDannaPenna once said--"It's always something!"
Of course, since Winter Golf is defind by the 3-C's--camaraderie, competition and consumption--that something ain't bad.....
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I would nominate the Bayonet at Ft Ord
Especially in the days when the tree branches were allowed to exist all the way to the ground.
Like playing golf with giant Hoover vacuums pulling at your tee shots
I knew I liked you, Pat. I dug the long hair (that was you in the playing days, right?), dug what I thought was the attitude (from what I could tell from afar).
Now reading this... anyone who can nominate the old Bayonet as funky, well you are my kinda guy.
It was funky. It was also impossibly difficult, in an absolutely penal to the max way. Good god was it idiotic, as Gib says. But it was also the ultimate test of golf and while I usually hate stupidly penal courses, this one was just so PERFECT in this... well... god help me I did love it so.
Notice the past tense though - over the years the trees got massively cut back or cut down... it was emasculated... and recently they did a full renovation, ostensibly to improve conditions (which really didn't need improving), but also to make it more user-friendly as it transitions into becoming a resort - a hotel is being built on-site also.
Most will love the old course... I weep for what once was.
So SECONDED re the old Bayonet - that is if courses that no longer exist count for this. I cannot imagine that the new Bayonet will be funky, or unique, or lovable in any way shape or form.
And to Gib: GOOD TO HEAR FROM YOU MY FRIEND. But please, you sell me short. I am a tremendous slouch. But of course I have played Saratoga CC - and I shall second that as well. Well said. Fantastically well-said. ;D
TH
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I would nominate the Bayonet at Ft Ord
Especially in the days when the tree branches were allowed to exist all the way to the ground.
Like playing golf with giant Hoover vacuums pulling at your tee shots
I knew I liked you, Pat. I dug the long hair (that was you in the playing days, right?), dug what I thought was the attitude (from what I could tell from afar).
Now reading this... anyone who can nominate the old Bayonet as funky, well you are my kinda guy.
It was funky. It was also impossibly difficult, in an absolutely penal to the max way. Good god was it idiotic, as Gib says. But it was also the ultimate test of golf and while I usually hate stupidly penal courses, this one was just so PERFECT in this... well... god help me I did love it so.
Notice the past tense though - over the years the trees got massively cut back or cut down... it was emasculated... and recently they did a full renovation, ostensibly to improve conditions (which really didn't need improving), but also to make it more user-friendly as it transitions into becoming a resort - a hotel is being built on-site also.
Most will love the old course... I weep for what once was.
So SECONDED re the old Bayonet - that is if courses that no longer exist count for this. I cannot imagine that the new Bayonet will be funky, or unique, or lovable in any way shape or form.
And to Gib: GOOD TO HEAR FROM YOU MY FRIEND. But please, you sell me short. I am a tremendous slouch. But of course I have played Saratoga CC - and I shall second that as well. Well said. Fantastically well-said. ;D
TH
:D Ahh long hair, beard, said what I thought, YUP the TOUR loved me haha
New Bayonet matches the closed base, just a shell of what was
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Tom, you are too tough on the modern Bayonet, it still had more dogleg lefts than any course I have ever seen and those greens with the hidden breaks toward the bay, whew! I thought of Lake Chabot also. And Tom, I will second your DeBell, very funky, but I don't know about Alhambra, I must have missed something there.
How about Glenneagles International, nine holer in the middle of Funky Town?
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The par-3 course at Sutton Bay.
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As Slag Bandoon will recall, The Mad Russian in Milliken, Colorado is one funky course. Designed by a farmer (The Mad Russian himself) who owned the property, nearly every par 4 is driveable, many crossing fairways and greens the size and shape of VW bug roofs. Positively Painswickian!
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... and across the bridge we have our ski slope finish par 6 and drop kick blind par 3 Lake Chabot. Or does that qualify more as quirk :o
Lincoln Park, San Francisco.
7 out of 9 holes on the back nine between 200 and 299 yards. And...have you seen the place? Lincoln's funkiness does not require justification. ;D
DUH!
Stupid of me not to think of that. THAT is our Painswick.
Seconded, thirded and fourthed. Great call, Matt.
TH
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Tim,
I'm just seeing your post. Stealing your thunder on Lake Chabot ;D
My bad.
We're gonna have to meet someday. I'm one of those whack jobs that likes a tough course and it seems you're on the same page when it comes to course likes / dislikes.
Tom, you are too tough on the modern Bayonet, it still had more dogleg lefts than any course I have ever seen and those greens with the hidden breaks toward the bay, whew! I thought of Lake Chabot also. And Tom, I will second your DeBell, very funky, but I don't know about Alhambra, I must have missed something there.
How about Glenneagles Internatioal, nine holer in the middle of Funky Town?
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You guys have kinda sold me on Lake Chabot - as I said earlier to Kalen, I had considered it and ommitted it. I just do think the ski slope par 6 is a par 6 in name only given a guy like me can get pin-high in two (yes, I have, a few times)... but the drop shot hole is something... and the many road crossings... oh hell, I guess it can be considered. I just do think it pales to Lincoln Park, which has to be the standard around here.
And as for the modern Bayonet, hell I'm sure it still is something. But the old Bayonet was a 15 on the 1-10 funk scale. Pat Burke understands. ;D
I'm gonna see the full new Bayonet on 12/21. Expect murderous prose here on 12/22.
;D
A
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No mention of Prestwick yet?
Do the blind tee shots, the wrap around hotel dog-leg and the zaniest greens in the world make the Old Course "funky"?
I'm also not sure that Devil's Paintbrush is 100% funky, but some parts are and I always enjoy seeing it mentioned.
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Lakeside in LA? There are some funky elements there. Good funky though.
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I'll second Prestwick, Devil's Paintbrush (even though I only saw it half finished), and especially Nefyn & District, which is almost as funky as Painswick is.
Cullen, in the north of Scotland, is another must-include.
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Couldn't resist looking this up after the shoutout on the Shiskine thread....here's my New England division, where there are SO many candiates for this...
Northeast Harbor, ME...5600 yards of coolness, very old-school.
Cape Arundel's greens.
Va-Jo-Wa Golf Course in Aroostook County, ME
Hanover CC, NH...some wacky shots mainly surrounding the gully that passes through the course.
President's in Quincy, MA
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I shall steel myself for the vicious beating I'm certain to absorb after this post, but the pursuit of truth (my truth) is always my highest objective.
Pacific Dunes warrants inclusion on the list for its eccentric routing with only two par-4's on the back nine. There, I said it. Let the accusations of heresy commence.
Bodega Harbour GL certainly deserves a mention in the top 20 at least. The front nine is a nutty climb into the mountain fog, followed by a terrifying luge ride down narrow chutes, delivering the same kind of nausea-inducing sensation as that split second transition between the top of the roller coaster track and projectile vomiting.
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Gib - nah, I doubt you receive any beating for that - the eccentricity of the routing at PD has been mentioned many times in here. Most would agree with you.. but again most do see this as a GOOD thing.
And right on re Bodega as well.
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I shall steel myself for the vicious beating I'm certain to absorb after this post, but the pursuit of truth (my truth) is always my highest objective.
Pacific Dunes warrants inclusion on the list for its eccentric routing with only two par-4's on the back nine. There, I said it. Let the accusations of heresy commence.
The funny thing - to me - is that I didn't notice the eccentric routing as I played - it was only afterward, looking over the card in the pub. I guess that means it works for me. I think that was when I first tweaked to the idea that 36-36 two 3s/5s on each side was not the rigid standard.
It probably helps that I score best on 3s and 5s so an absence of 4s isn't going to be something that concerns me.
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As Slag Bandoon will recall, The Mad Russian in Milliken, Colorado is one funky course. Designed by a farmer (The Mad Russian himself) who owned the property, nearly every par 4 is driveable, many crossing fairways and greens the size and shape of VW bug roofs. Positively Painswickian!
I'd also nominate Dooks.
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Will,
I take your post to disclose that (a.) the pin was on the lower green at #9 and (b.) the wind was not blowing off the water.
The idea of standing on the lower back tee and trying to thread a three wood through that gun barrel into the teeth of the wind gives me shivers. After tapping in your hard fought double bogey, Doak rewards you with a four-iron to a thimble of sand and dirt clinging precariously to the edge of perdition.
I've not quite been able to muster the courage to start the ball towards Japan and hope it finds its way back to America.
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What's the little old nine hole course on the north end of Lake Otsego (Cooperstown is on the south end)? I took my son out there to play years ago when we spent a week in Cooperstown, after finding out how much it would cost the two of us to play the Leatherstocking course. ::)
Now I remember - it's Otsego Golf Club.
This little antique course was fun to play and really was a 19th Century golf course. The funk was prevalent and pervasive.
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Only two par 4's at Pac Dunes is easy to overlook because the course does not play as two seperate 9's. It does not return to the clubhouse at 9 and the back to back 3's are at the ocean which gets your attention.
Anthony
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Will,
I take your post to disclose that (a.) the pin was on the lower green at #9 and (b.) the wind was not blowing off the water.
The idea of standing on the lower back tee and trying to thread a three wood through that gun barrel into the teeth of the wind gives me shivers. After tapping in your hard fought double bogey, Doak rewards you with a four-iron to a thimble of sand and dirt clinging precariously to the edge of perdition.
I've not quite been able to muster the courage to start the ball towards Japan and hope it finds its way back to America.
Gib,
The more I think about it, the conditions were tough and the course may have beaten me up to a point where I didn't really care what the pars were. I almost always catch 9 with the high green, and almost always botch it.
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Little Marion in Marion MA - on the road to Kittansett - stone walls - crowned greens - Capt Thomas first endeavour.
Great way to spend a summer evening chasing daylight.
Bill - Otsega is pretty cool -
Gib - good to see you back.
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I'll second Hanover CC, although it doesn't have the ski jump anymore. :(
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Gib & other Nor Cal Golfers -
I would certainly consider De Laveaga, the muni in Santa Cruz, to be a contender for a funkiest list. The course used to be a par-72, measure less than 6,000 yards and have a slope over 130. There are red and/or white stakes VERY much in play on every hole.
I see the course is now a par-70, but the slopes from both the blue & white tees are still over 130. Distance from the blues is 6,100 yards and, from the whites, it is still under 5,800 yards.
DT
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David - Delaveaga remains deliciously funky. But it's positively normal compared to Spring Hills in Watsonville... that place is absoutely funkadelic.
;D
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Nice NorCal collection here guys. Makes me want to move back.
I second--or third--the opinion on PD. Awesome that it's not apparent until you look back at the card. 7 two shotters on the front, 2 on the back. Back to back par 3's to start the home nine. Alternating greens on one hole. 40 foot tall dunes framing a couple holes. A 440 yard par 4 that plays like 550 (number 13). A 540 yard par 5 that can play 450 (number 15). Quirky indeed. And the best public golf course in the country.
Bodega is very quirky. And, IMO, the worst excuse for a links course on the West Coast. Houses encroach, a par 5 that requires a mid iron off the tee and then a fairway wood to the layup area. Bunkers in front of greens that prevent ground game that it suggests by even calling itself links. Don't even bring up the 16-18 stretch, which might be the worst stretch of three holes in the Bay Area. They are proof that just being on the ocean isn't enough to make a course good.
De Laveaga was an interesting comparison to it's neighbor Pasatiempo in the same weekend. I actually thought it was one of the cooler muni's I have ever played. In fact, I think a great way to spend my retirement would be to have a share at Pasatiempo and play there during the week, and letting the daily fee players have it on the weekend while I go hit quirky De La.