This may be a preach to the choir soliloquy but I feel the urge to purge.
I've been blessed this year by playing some magical gowfing grounds that I had only dreamed of playing in my lifetime. Scotland, Arizona, Nebraska, Colorado, Hawaii and Oregon all got souvinirs of my foozled golf balls. Great layouts and some not so great but they all had character and that really is what I appreciate, in golf as well as in people. Would I have travelled to these places if I didn't play golf? I doubt it. Would I have met the great folks I did without playing golf? No. Golf puts us in a quiet little theater of perhaps four people, who are both players and audience; producers and critics. In this act we discover features of land and lost humanity that wrests us back to bucolic times of lemonade, swinging on porches and dancing badly with pretty girls who balked or thrilled at a stolen kiss.
Which brings me to the title. Small Town Golf. From Husum Hills, in Washington (commonly refered to as Royal Husum National by the locals), to Carne Golf Links in Belmullet, Ireland, to Kahuku, on Oahu, Hawaii, to Devil's Thumb in Delta in Colorado,to Narin and Portnoo, Ireland, to Apache Stronghold near Globe, Arizona, to Buffalo Peak in Union, Oregon, to The Mad Russian GC, near Milliken, Colorado, to Arbory Brae Hickory & Gutty Golf in Abington, Scotland (see My Home Course on this website), to Bayside near Ogalala, Nebraska, to Traigh GL in Mallaig, Scotland, to ... ? Some of these small towns have invested their future in this game and I can't help but feel an obligation to support the golf and, ultimately the towns. Golf has supplemented Scottish town coffers for generations and can certainly add value and character to any town elsewhere. I fear that corporate America (of which I am a contributing participant/hypocrite with my 401K) is slowly homogenizing our own culture and turning us into a nation of servants with an identity of anonymity. There is a place to go to let those fears fall away and it is consistantly in small towns with a golf course. Some of these layouts are central to a town's identity, some are merely a luxury taken for granted. Regardless, they need our support. I live in suburbia, so it's a jaunt to get out there to smalltown but I know that when I do go, it's well worth the wait and anticipation.
In closing, I'd just like to suggest that you plan a sidetrip sometime next year to a small town and play golf and support them and let them know what a special place they have. It's ok to exagerate, they do it all the time. Buy a coffee mug at Wildwood Golf Course, near Scappoose, Oregon, and have a conversation. It'll make your day and someone elses. Ask Edna and Jack in Brora, Scotland about their town, she'll tell you all you need to know and then some. The same goes for Mike Agee, motel proprietor/vacuum cleaner mechanic in Ogalala. Kindness has its own rewards.
Be well, be kind. Happy Thanksgiving , Norbert of Oregon
"You don't HAVE to play; you GET to play" Harvey Penick