If you could only play...

[Kalen Braley]

I'd have to go with the Bandon Beauties as suggested above.

No traveling would be necessary, just find a nice bungaloo in Bandon.  When the 4th course is built you get a bonus course, the practice range is the best I've ever seen, and with Sheep Ranch right there as well, thats the perfect spot to play when you only have a couple of hours after knocking off for the day!

[Scott Szabo]

What about it we add a new trio:

Pacific Dunes, Ballyneal and Sand Hills?

These courses have been getting rave reviews for some time and I'd imagine some here would prefer this trio to those already mentioned!

[RichMacafee]

The beauty of the Australian classics is that each and every one of us can actually walk up and play them any week of the year and they boast the weather that allows year-round play.  Royal Melbourne West, Kingston Heath, Barnbougle Dunes.  Access plus weather and you give nothing away in class.  

I agree. If climate is taken into account it would be hard to go past these 3 because they are playable all year round - and that would be a must if they were the only 3 I was allowed to play

Assuming good autumn/fall weather all the time, I would then go with Augusta, Pine Valley, Merion

[Lloyd_Cole]

I'm sitting in the railway station.
Got a ticket for my destination.
On a tour of one-night stands my suitcase and guitar in hand.
And ev'ry stop is neatly planned for a poet and a one-man band.
Homeward bound,
I wish I was,
Homeward bound,
Home where my thought's escaping,
Home where my music's playing,
Home where my love lies waiting
Silently for me.
Ev'ry day's an endless stream
Of cigarettes and magazines.
And each town looks the same to me, the movies and the factories
And ev'ry stranger's face I see reminds me that I long to be,
Homeward bound,
I wish I was,
Homeward bound,
Home where my thought's escaping,
Home where my music's playing,
Home where my love lies waiting
Silently for me.

Tonight I'll sing my songs again,
I'll play the game and pretend.
But all my words come back to me in shades of mediocrity
Like emptiness in harmony I need someone to comfort me.
Homeward bound,
I wish I was,
Homeward bound,
Home where my thought's escaping,
Home where my music's playing,
Home where my love lies waiting
Silently for me.
Silently for me.

[JESII]

LLoyd,

But isn't it different for you than me?   To me that song drives me to hop on a bus across my country, while it is eminently understandably for it to do the same for you...no matter, that post made the thread for me...thank you...

[Lloyd_Cole]

LLoyd,

But isn't it different for you than me?   To me that song drives me to hop on a bus across my country, while it is eminently understandably for it to do the same for you...no matter, that post made the thread for me...thank you...

All songs can be different to all people, I think. That's one of the things I like about my job,.
I just love that song and as I was voting for TOC etc, I thought it might make a fun post.

[JESII]

I understand...

It's actually probably proper in this setting to think of TOC...I've never been there, and anticipate the day more than anything I can think of...for me though, the road is a magnet and the golf comes with it...and is becoming part of it...

[ed_getka]

I'll choose Homeward Bound, although it was a squeaker over LI muscle. Royal Dornoch is one of my favorite courses in the world. I find it to be a very balanced test of golf that challenges every aspect of your game in fairly equal measure. TOC is a never-ending puzzle to be worked out. Even if Muirfield sucks (I haven't been), I'm still happy with the first two. Come to think of it, I wouldn't play Muirfield anyway, I would be going to the soul of golf for me, North Berwick. A perfect trio.
    It is hard to pass on a group that includes NGLA, but I haven't played the other two and I suspect Shinnecock is a bit much for me on a regular basis.

[mike_malone]

 I would choose Irish Eyes if I could substitute Lahinch for Royal Portrush.

[Jerry Kluger]

The LI trio of NGLA, Shinnecock and Friars Head makes it for me - I've played Maidstone but I guess I need to do it with TEP as I need to better understand it - perhaps it's the ladies at the pool that I didn't factor in.  The Nebraska/Colorado courses are also very tempting but they are really far apart. Of course, Pine Valley, Merion, etc. cannot be brushed aside.  

[Garland Bayley]

I have watched this thread for a while without being able to make up my mind between Scotland and Long Island. I finally decided if it was changed to four courses with the four on Long Island being Shinnecock, National Golf Links of America, Friar's Head, and Sebonack, then I would choose Long Island equally weighted between golden age and the new platinum age.  

[Ian Dalzell]

Mayday - thanks for dumping Royal Portrush
Lahinch is okay, but to throw the dunluce under the bus is not cool!

Anyway, I would pick American Classics, because it might be the only way I can get on Augusta!

[Garland Bayley]

...
Anyway, I would pick American Classics, because it might be the only way I can get on Augusta!

May I remind everyone that Augusta is no longer an American Classic, but has become a Hootie Fruiti.
 

[Kyle Henderson]

I have never played any of the courses put forth by Mr. Morrissett in this discussion, but based upon what I know of them, I would pick the California grouping. In fact, I think I would take Cypress Point on its own over any of the other offered triumvirates. The Long Island group is tempting, but the lack of suitable year-round playing conditions wouldn’t work for me.

[Guy Phelan]

Homeward Bound - then scuffle into DV's for a pint - next question!

[Glenn Spencer]

Classics

Merion is my number 1 want and Pine Valley is 2. Augusta is in my top 25 wants, so the choice is easy for me. From what I saw at Merion, I could play there the rest of my life and Pebble Beach and St. Andrews would never come to my mind.