Golf Club Atlas
GolfClubAtlas.com => Golf Course Architecture Discussion Group => Topic started by: Jeff_Brauer on August 10, 2010, 09:30:08 PM
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I mentioned this on another thread but perhaps a bit of happy talk around here is just what's needed....
What is your golfing highlight, the one you might have them etch on your tombstone?
I have two holes in one, but somehow don't rank them up there. Still seems like luck.
I beat Steve Elkington out of $5 at an opening, which I think is pretty cool, and have played with a lot of pros and celebs over the years. If Tim Pawlenty ever gets to be Prez, then playing with him might be my best moment, even if it takes a few years to become so.
Maybe the best overall moment occurred in the first Vegas Pro Am in 1983, I went for 18 in two (as part of a team, with another ball in play it made sense) and hit the front wall of the green, bouncing back in the water. The highlight was hearing the crowds in the bleachers moan and groan in response to my near miss.
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Mine is walking 18 holes for the first time, but my 5 iron that found the hole last week for eagle is up there pretty high as well!! 8)
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8) ;D 8)
still to come
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Coaching my old high school to the girls' state finals in the program's fifth year of existence. My first two years we finished last in more than half our events, so winning the city championship, conference championship, and advancing to state and finishing 12th (out of about 400 schools in the state) was better than anything I'll ever do hitting the ball myself.
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1. I played the Old Course in 1984 with my older son when he was only 12. Just the two of us and our caddy.
2. Played Sand Hills with my younger son.
2. Played 5 consecutive holes at Holston Hills in 14 strokes..... TOTAL.
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Caddying for the big boys.
ARG
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Seeing Augusta for the first time was pretty sweet. However, it would probably have something to do with playing with my kids.
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Caddying for the big boys.
ARG
Details please or give us a story about one specific loop that comes to mind.
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Caddying for the big boys.
ARG
Details please...
Pictures in the morning.
A
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Its funny how most of my playing highlights don't come from tournament play, but friendly games, with interesting people in interesting places... one example...
For my interview with Mr. Doak for his summer internship program, we played the 10 preview holes of Old Macdonald. Starting on #3 the opening tee shot was from sand behind 2 green over the sahara bunker. Probably the least accomplished player in the group, I stepped up and pumped it straight over the tree, almost all the way down the slope. The only picture I took the whole day was of the tree atop the dune with my cell phone. It stayed as my wallpaper until I inevitably destroyed it.
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Mine is walking 18 holes for the first time, but my 5 iron that found the hole last week for eagle is up there pretty high as well!! 8)
Congrats on the eagle. I've never holed one out from the fairway. Maybe some day...
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To borrow a term from CBS and the Final Four, my "One Shining Moment" was a weekend in Nashville at the Legends Club years ago. I shot under par for the first and only time on Saturday on the North course (71), and followed it up with a 77 on the South course Sunday with 3 birdies and a curling 30 footer for eagle on the last hole (my first eagle on a par 5). I was just thinking about that weekend a few weeks ago.
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I beat Tiger in one round in a college tournament a few weeks after he won his 2nd Amateur. No need to ask about the other two rounds.
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I talk about my first hole in one on my birthday most often, Master's sunday this year, called my family from the course and they were excited too, because they told me they couldn't beat that for a birthday gift LOL!
How about 66 from the green tees at Bandon Trails? I think it is still the course record from those tees. Thanks
http://lowround.co/or/bandon/bandon-trails-course-golf-course-541-347-4380
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Winning the Father-Son tournament at my club with my 14 yr. old son on Father's Day 5 years ago. It was way cool.
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There have been lots for me but here is a cool one. Growing up my dad and I played golf six days a week together (usually playing 36 on Saturday and Sunday). When I went to college I didn't think anything about not being able to play as much golf with my dad. My freshman year I came home sometime in late October and my dad and I went out to play right away. The first 5 holes we didn't say a word to each other. On the 5th green we looked at each other and we both had a recognition that all was right with the world again. It was a very special moment for me and my dad.
After college I started working for my family so I saw my dad every day and we played a lot of golf together again. About 18 months ago he and my mom retired and moved to Pinehurst. I really miss playing golf with during the week as I now play most of my golf alone (I'm pretty young and my friends can't drop what they're doing and leave work at a moments notice). But it makes the times I go to Pinehurst to play with my dad that much more special.
Almost all of my golf highlights involve my dad somehow. We've gone to Scotland 3 times (one trip just the two of us) and Ireland once. He caddied for me in the city championship when I shot a course record the first day, he caddied for me in the Mid-Am at Bandon Dunes, and others.
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Playing Pine Valley and having a caddie for the first time in my life and getting Rocky. As I have said before, it has been downhill ever since for all other caddies I have had.
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Actual playing-wise: I started with five consecutive 3s once at my home club near Sydney. Four birdies and a par. To this day I have no idea what happened with my swing or my head or anything else. It just all went right. I ended up shooting 70. I was playing off 10, then. Wasn't a bad way to break into single figures, in any case!
More abstract: Standing up on the 7th tee at Dornoch for the first time this May, looking over the course and across the firth thinking how far I had come - both in distance and in my life's journey - in 18 short months, to places I never dreamt I would reach.
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Playing golf with my father and ten year old brother in Jos Nigeria the week before he died on that golf course.
All three of us had a great time many happy memories of that day and I remember my father’s game was improving as he won easily.
For me, achieving my fist Par 4 all those years ago.
Melvyn
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Playing TOC with my dad and a member. After taking the members advice on how to play the 12th and actually doing what he suggested, reached the green and made the 25' foot eagle putt.
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Golfing wise it was a round where I had a hole-in-one, an eagle, and 4 consecutive birdies on the front nine to shoot 27 (par 35). Followed up with a 35 on the back nine with a bogey. I closed my match play opponent out at 11, set the ameature course record and remained sober enough to drive home.
On a professional level I would have to say that having Pete Dye repeatedly call me a "Dumb Ass" has been a highlight I relish, even if he calls everyone a dumb ass. Actually playing 18 holes with Pete & Alice was quite memorable, especially because Wonder Boy Tom Doak was in the 5-some.
I still choke up a bit when I remember my father weeping in joy after the Denver Post Senior Tournament of Champions. He felt his son had come a long way from a goat ranch course in the Sand Hills of Nebraska to being an assistant superintendent at a TPC course. Man that was a long time ago.
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What makes this such a great game is that so many of us have great of memories of our fathers/sons tied to it. There really isn't any other sporting activity that can be enjoyed until one of the other can't physically do it. I'm taking my son out to play this weekend.
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From barely being able to break 80 as a junior in high school to making my college team as a walk-on.
Family grudge matches between my dad, brother and I.
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Making a double eagle at Bass River on Cape Cod. It was nearly 40-years ago but I can still visualiize the hole and the shot, a four-iron. It was a good shot but I wasn't sure where it finished. Searched around the green for the ball before checking the hole. Such joy!
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Mine, so far, has turned out to be beating a guy named Brett Wetterich in a head-to-head high school match when we were seniors, when we both played well. Brett has gone on to play and win on the PGA Tour and be a Ryder Cupper. We played a 9-hole match, and he shot a 33 and got beat by my 32. I still have the scorecard! Steve Kline no doubt played alot of golf against Brett also...I'm sure he remembers how good he was around the Cincinnati area growing up.
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I have two so far I think
1. My experience at Ballyneal....the 63 holes I played there were the most fun I have ever had playing this game. Driving up the road and ver the dunes, seeing the chop hills for the first time was an incredible feeling. The landscape absolutely took my breath away, as did the course itself. I still think about it almost daily.
2. Playing a round of golf with my Dad out in CO at Bear Dance. Just an amazing afternoon, hardly anyone out on the course and we just had a blast. Golf has brought my Dad and me a lot closer and I'm very thankful for that!
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i love these threads as i really enjoy reading other people special moments on the golf course and what the game means to them.
mine are:
1:Playing St Andrews Old course with my Dad in April this year. They had a few grandstands already built which made it even more enjoyable. The golf was so so but enjoping the round with my dad was great. My Mum and Fiance were on a bench outside the Jigger Inn watching us play 17. I hit a three iron for my second, carried the green and holded the 20ft putt for birdie. To do it with the three most important people in my life watching and to be able to share it with them was and remains very special. Although i am sure they are bored of hearing the story. ;D ;D ;D
2: breaking 80 for the first time at the Ocean Course Kiawah was a great day.
3: Any round at Deal is a highlight too.
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Reading all the father and son highlights, I can't wait until my first (and only) newborn gets old enough to play...
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Wow....too many to mention, so stream of consciousness on the candidates....
Improving HS scoring average from 53.5 freshman year to 37.5 senior year....winning my HS conference tournament...setting a school team tourney scoring record at Middlebury...rounds in the 60s in a college tourney, a Mass Amateur, and a club championship...a round at Cypress Point in 2007...shooting even par at Pebble Beach in 2008...witnessing my dad win a car with a hole-in-one...my own hole-in-one in 2008 at chechessee....slam-dunking a SW for eagle in a tourney to win $450....two eagles on consecutive holes in Idaho...shooting a 5-under 67 earlier this year at Wachusett....shooting 66 in May at Tedesco with my dad and his two friends playing along....playing Shinnecock last fall...3 trips overseas for golf!
I've seen and done alot in my 15-20 years of golf...and it's the possibility in each round of doing something to make the above list that makes golf so great.
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Reading all the father and son highlights, I can't wait until my first (and only) newborn gets old enough to play...
I'm right there with you. I hope my 7 month old will grow to love the game as much as I do. If so, I believe that my golfing highlights are in front of me.
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Mine, so far, has turned out to be beating a guy named Brett Wetterich in a head-to-head high school match when we were seniors, when we both played well. Brett has gone on to play and win on the PGA Tour and be a Ryder Cupper. We played a 9-hole match, and he shot a 33 and got beat by my 32. I still have the scorecard! Steve Kline no doubt played alot of golf against Brett also...I'm sure he remembers how good he was around the Cincinnati area growing up.
I did play some golf against Brett. He was a year ahead of me. I distinctly remember how ridiculously far he hit with a persimmon driver and balata ball (somewhere in the 290-300 yard range). He took a mighty lash. I remember lots of talent but someone who didn't seem too bright. Although I was really shocked when I saw his name on a tour leaderboard the first time.
David - where did you go to school?
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1982 - first official round of golf...putted from well off the green (out of rough) into the cup for a birdie 2 on my second hole ever
1985 - 60 foot birdie putt on 14th green at BB to win a lot of money
1988 - only player in that year's NEAC to make birdie on the 175 yard 4th hole of New Seabury at Cape Cod - which was darn near impossible given both the temp and wind in the low 40s with sno-flurries on the water. I'm told the stroke average for the hole was over 5.5. I had to wait nearly 40 minutes on the tee box as competitor after competitor went into the carry marsh that required a 250 yard driver hit. Before long the play became to play 70 yards right of the hole where you could carry the marsh with a wood. When my turn came, I was stiff, cold and discouraged...the conditions were eating me up, I was +8 through three holes and in the days before good weather gear, I was encased in sweaters and jackets like the michelin man. somehow I cracked my best persimmon driver that went about 280 but the wind pushed back onto the green. I sank the 40 foot putt birdie. All coaches and players who witnessed it, say it was the single greatest stroke sequence played in any tournament in the history of golf. Hyperbole for sure, but I'll take it.
2004 - a beautiful controlled 74 on my favorite course (the one I'll never name) I've had three scores lower than that, but it was the best I ever played. My partners played superbly as well and we had a great match. If my experience of golf was like that more often, I'd be a little handsomer.
cheers
vk
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This is almost too hard for me which means I have been blessed. I am sure many other feel the same.
Instead I will say what I did a few nights ago. I had been wokring crazy hours for months (still am!!), the girlfriend was on my case and I am trying to buy my first house. It was all too much!!
At 8pm I grabbed my bag, drove to the gate by the 6th tee at North Berwick and let myself in to what always seems like the secret garden. I got hit with an empty golf course, a gentle Westerley breeze and my favourite view in golf. Westerdunes sands all the way down to Fidra. I played 6, 7, 12, 13, 14, 15, then from the 16th tee to 3rd green, then 4 and 5 to finish. One last look at Fidra before going back through the gate, locking it and going for a fish supper. Now that is my idea of stress relief.
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Mine, so far, has turned out to be beating a guy named Brett Wetterich in a head-to-head high school match when we were seniors, when we both played well. Brett has gone on to play and win on the PGA Tour and be a Ryder Cupper. We played a 9-hole match, and he shot a 33 and got beat by my 32. I still have the scorecard! Steve Kline no doubt played alot of golf against Brett also...I'm sure he remembers how good he was around the Cincinnati area growing up.
I did play some golf against Brett. He was a year ahead of me. I distinctly remember how ridiculously far he hit with a persimmon driver and balata ball (somewhere in the 290-300 yard range). He took a mighty lash. I remember lots of talent but someone who didn't seem too bright. Although I was really shocked when I saw his name on a tour leaderboard the first time.
David - where did you go to school?
I went to Elder; graduated in 1991. I played quite a bit against St. Xavier guys such as Dan Ryan, Ron Wolterman, Joe Albers, and Pete Kelly. Brett is my age...I played against him in junior golf and such. However, he was held back a year, and thus he was Oak Hills 1992. We won the GCL in golf my senior year (fall of 1990), and that is still the last time Elder won the GCL in golf...we're not exactly a golf powerhouse!
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For me, at least this year, it had to be winning the B flight at the inaugural Yucca this year at Ballyneal. I must admit to having mixed emotions as I may be the only person not invited back next year since the win came at the expense of my most gracious host! ;D
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As a round - I had an eight footer on the 10th to go 8 under (missed it then had two doubles later so finished -4) I was 3 hcp at the time and it was my first and only 29 for 9 holes.
As a tournament I think 4th in a windy county championship beats any win: 74-76-76-73. Won 3 club champs. Only once finished under par for 36 holes.
4 holes in one on holes over 120 yards or 17 holes in one counting par 3 courses, about 15 other holed fairway shots but never an albatross, holed a 7 iron at the 17th once in a close game to win a match. Twice holed full shots at an 18th.
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"golfing highlight" implies playing highlight. I can't really point to one personal highlight. I'm just not that good of a player. Never had an ace. Never shot par over 18 holes, not even close... only shot 79 a handful of times, etc.
"golf highlight" implies more of a process to me. A highlight was the process of trying to develope a golf course/club (even though it failed to come to fruition) getting into the finaincial model and marketting the shareholder aspects, as well as the design process on a specific piece of land - working with an archie, and studying all that I could about golf design (starting from scratch) and then studying course and turf management. All that as a hobbiest or amatuer if you will, never to become a pro or expert on any of it. But, the process was a series of highlights and enlightenment, with many rich encounters of golf people of all disciplines and walks of likfe along the way.
I'm still travelling that path in a far more relaxed, 'take it as it comes' process of golf highlights. I expect more highlights will come as the process goes on, with nothing too momentus of import that it will require a ranking system of specific events. 8)
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Shooting 67 in my club championship. It was the only sub-par round of the event too and our club has some very good players.
My highlight still has not come yet as I can't wait to watch my kids play.
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More abstract: Standing up on the 7th tee at Dornoch for the first time this May, looking over the course and across the firth thinking how far I had come - both in distance and in my life's journey - in 18 short months, to places I never dreamt I would reach.
I second Dornoch, for me the entirety of it all, 54 holes in 30 hours on two perfect days - the entire round of the Tuesday evening "twilight" special where my best friend and I had the course to ourselves for 18 holes. On the ninth tee that night, I told myself, "you'll never be farther away from it all than this".
Honorable mentions would be: the 20 footer I made on the 18th green to break par for 18 holes my first (and only) time, holing out from a terrible lie for a birdie 3 on the 14th at Cruden Bay, and the 30-footer I made on the 18th to halve the best match I ever had with the same friend as above.
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Best day for me so far has been the Inniscrone outing day:
- shared a round with Jamie Slonis, Geoff Childs and Brad Miller, all 3 great guys (and Jamie somehow managed to carry me to a victory), enjoyed lunch with Gil discussing the course with the group afterward;
- walked Applebrook with those who stuck around, listening to Gil and Jim Wagner was awesome
- then dinner at Gil's with an even smaller crew, finishing up by sitting on Gil's deck, listening to Gil, Ran, Pat M and Tom P swap stories.
Best two days:
Hanging with the big red head for a couple days, playing Don's course and then Rawls with Don and Lou Duran.
Can't wait to top everything with trips to Wolf Point and Barnbougle someday.
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Getting my dad to Scotland back in 2000 for his first playing trip there, and getting to play in some events. Amazingly he had been going over for years for work, but never played.
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Sure, I've had lots of great memories playing with family and friends throughout the years, but I look at a golfing highlight as a playing highlight.
The bad - once shot 83 with 16 pars....shot 33-47 in a tournament and the 33 had a triple in it.
The good - shot 64 in 2003 at Shaker Run with a ball o.b....have had 3 attempts in my life to shoot 29, but none of the final putts dropped (5 under for two of those, 6 under for the other). Although, I have shot 29 once but the 9 hole yardage was 2600 yards. I don't count that as official.
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Jeff,
There are so many good things that have happened to me in golf over the years that I've been playing, unfortunately, I can't recall all of them.
One of them is making an eagle on the 17th hole to get me into a playoff for a USGA Amateur and then getting a birdie on the first playoff hole to make it into the tournament.
It wasn't just that event by itself, but the fact that my father, years earlier, made an eagle on the 18th Hole at Baltusrol to get into a playoff with seven Pros and then he made a birdie on the third hole to qualify for the USGA Open.
Obviously, he was a better player, having qualified for several U.S. Opens and lots and lots of U.S. Amateurs.
The other was being three down with three to play in the second round of North-South Amateur and winning the match by making a 6-footer on # 19. What made that special was that golfers who won their first two (2) matches were exempt from qualifying for the next three (3) years, and that was a big deal when you were from the north and the tournament was held in early April
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Consulting with the R&A and being inside the ropes for the Open Championship. :)
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A tie between making a hole in one on Carnoustie's 16th on my first visit in 1991 and holing a 33 foot putt from the fringe for a birdie 2 on my second visit in 2001. Lifetime average of 1.5, I daresay I'm the best in the world on that hole! ;D
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Beating Tiger Woods by 2 shots while playing in the same group with him in the first round of the SCGA Jr. Amateur (70 - 72). I was 17, he was 16. We got paired together for the final 18 and he caught me on 14. I parred the last four and lost by four. I can take it to my grave that I gave Tiger a run and actually beat him for a round straight up over 18 holes.
Jeff F.
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Playing in a high school match on a terrible golf course on a 50 degree day in the rain, I made my second hole-in-one and broke 80 for the first time in the same round, in competition no less.
Runners-up would be a tie between the other ace and the day my older brother and I shot 61 in a 2-man scramble.
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Consulting with the R&A and being inside the ropes for the Open Championship. :)
Bill,
That is pretty cool!
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On the golf course, this year I shot 71 at Riverfront on June 19. (I had to shoot that kind of career round against the sandb____er competition in our golf association match play to have a chance of winning).
Aced the 2nd at Riverfront April 1, 2006.
Off the course winning the last Golf Magazine Armchair Architect Contest (fall of 2005) and spending 3 days with TD and Team at the Bay of Dreams. ... Finding this site and friend Scott Weersing at about that time.
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Shooting 84 on my first trip around the Old Course probably tops my list. But forget about that. A 1.5 average on the lengthy 16th at Carnoustie (where I hit my tee shot absolutely on the screws and barely got to the front fringe) is incredible. Nice going, Doug!
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The first time I broke 80 was a 74.
Both times I've played Sandwich (91 and 98) I birdied 18.
Having 200-300 quietly applaud as I walked to the 18th green at TOC to face a 2ft putt.
After spending 8 years on the waiting list, probably longer than anyone in history, getting the letter announcing I was to become a full member at Royal Dornoch.
Playing Muirfield.
Playing Cypress Point.
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1.Playing Sand Hills in 2005 - Its to this day the only private club where I have ever had the chance to play and it wasn't a bad place to start ;D ;D
2. My hole-in-one on an uphill par 3, especially because I hit the exact shot I wanted to and then did the clichéd thing where I couldn't find my ball, thought I was long and lost and eventually looked in the cup before dropping one behind the green. Safe to say, my anger level went down a bit... ;)
3. Shooting -1 once on a 6,000 par 71. I was playing with my dad and am usually significantly worse when I play with him! The same round included my first ever eagle and I've not been near par since!
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A couple for me, this year
Playing a four ball at Castle Stuart with My sons of 10 and 7 and my better half , giving 2 shots a hole to the boys and getting beaten, by the oldest (he is now cut!) and nearly the youngest and i played well!
And being invited to and playing with a very good friend in the Quail Hollow pro am with Robert Allenby , with 20 odd thousands spectators on the course, eating breakfast with the stars, and standing on the putting green getting asked to sign autographs!!
15 minutes of fame!
I have never been so scared standing over a first tee shot in my life!
Cheers guys and good golfing
Chris