Mini-GCA Outing At Astoria GC

[John Kirk]

I played Astoria GC in Astoria, Oregon today for the first time.  I played with Peter Pittock, John "Tiger" Bernhardt, and Sean Leary.  Stunning beautiful day on the Oregon coast, 70 degrees with a breath of wind.  Clear as a bell too.

I submit the following grades for the course:

Conditioning:  B+
Green To Tee Walks: B-
Hole Curvature: D
Quirkability:  A-
Green Shape Similarity:  A-
Green Slope Detectability From Fairway:  D
Ambience: A-
Overall:  B

An unusual course and a fine day.  Almost every hole is straight, athough there are a few offset tee boxes.  Most holes are flat, or very slightly canted, and most green to tee walks take you to the top of a dune for the next tee shot.  Almost every green is elliptical, though the 8th hole, a short par 4, has a beautiful crescent green that wraps around the front left bunker.  The greens are old school, and the slopes are very difficult to detect.  It would take time to master them.

The major topographic feature are parallel dunes, each a good 30-50 feet in height, with a very rounded and uniform appearance.  In some cases, like the lovely par 14th, the dunes are 50-70 yards apart; in the case of the ultra narrow par 4 3rd, the dunes leave less than 20 yards for fairway inbetween.  

Nobody played particularly well.  John Bernhardt was fresh from a Bandon golf marathon.  Sean and I were wild and inconsistent.  Everybody hit a few good shots.  It was Peter's turn to hit the best shots of the day.  On the long par 5 11th, Peter cut a driver from 155 yards in the fairway to 6 feet and made the putt.  That was his 14th driver shot of the day at that point.  On the 275 yard 15th hole, Peter putted in from about 35 yards for par.

We learned new golf nomenclature, courtesy of John B.  There are GCA golf courses, and other course that really aren't GCA courses.  I'd say Astoria is a GCA course.

Nice group, nice day, nice course.  Thanks for having me.  

[Garland Bayley]

I'm looking forward to playing there in October.

Would it have been feasible to route holes over the dunes? I undersand the reason the holes are straight is because they run between the dunes. Is there anything in the British Isles that is comparable where the holes have been routed over the dunes?

[Tiger_Bernhardt]

I enjoyed the day with Peter, John and Sean. I second John's comments and hope to play there again. It is a fun fun course.

[John Kirk]

Garland,

There is one hole, the short par 4 2nd, works its way sideways up to a high point on the course, though it's not one of these long narrow dunes.  To answer your question, it wouldn't have worked well to traverse the dunes with golf holes.  You'll see when you play there this fall.  

[peter_p]

  I think the original layout had some holes that traversed the dunes. It was soon abandoned. Too many blind shots.
  I was goaded into hitting the driver by Mr Kirk's comment.
And I thank him for putting it into my mind as it was a super setup for the shot.
  They have added a new tee on #2, which requires either a cut or a high launch angle. And a new tee on #3 which lengthens the hole nearly 40 yards to about 420, but eliminating the slight angle.
  Despite many rounds there some numbers still suprise. Under 6500, but the rating is 71.3, and sloped lower than I thought (123). The three par 5s come in a four hole stretch.
  Twas a great time, great group, perfect weather, unforgettable course.

[Josh Smith]

The Oregon coast, Astoria in 70 degrees with a slight breeze.  That had to be heaven on earth.  Did you play in the Morning?  Those days on the coast are so great.   I grew up in Portland and played ACC only once in a junior tournament probably in '89 or '90, before I had an appreciation for architecture, but loved it then.  Hope to get back some day.
I remember it was my first round with my new Maxfli Australian Blades.

On a Monday at Oregon Golf Club, I saw and spoke with Peter Jacobsen.  Kind of a dream for a teen (caddied a few times there)...He had a leather MacKenzie Walker Bag, (iron stay left out) (dark blue, maroon, and tan) with Maxfli Australian Blades inside.  (back when he was sponsored by Henry Grifitts).
i knew I had to replicate that set up, even never having hit the irons as soon as my birthday came around, along with my summer earnings.

[Tiger_Bernhardt]

I just read john's initial thoughts again. I felt the green shope detectability was more of a B. I am thinking back on what a fun course that would be to play all the time. Also how hard it would be if they grew the rough up on the slopes.

[John Kirk]

Perhaps the course's green slope detectability was a B, and John Kirk's green slope detect ability was a D.  I kind of enjoy making up new rating categories.  I'm getting used to big bold contours, so the old style disk greens with the subtle slopes confound me.