Tell me about your quirk and...

[George Pazin]

I'll tell you about mine.

I had the good fortune of teeing it up with a fellow GCAer yesterday, one Ryan Farrow, at a local public course that for me is the standard bearer for quirk, Oakmont East Golf Course.

How does this sound to you?

4 consecutive driveable par 4s on the front, another 4 on the back (though not consecutive).

2 shortish par 3s (170 downhill and 135 flat) with menacing fronting bunkers the whole way across.

8 driving holes that have blind landing areas.

It's about the weirdest course I've seen, though I admittedly haven't seen many.

Care to share your quirkiest experiences?

What's good quirk and what's bad?

[Geoffrey Childs]

George

The old Portsalon golf course on the northwest coast of Ireland was among the most beautiful spots for a golf course I've ever seen.  The golf course featured many blind shots and some stunning excellent golf holes but about six of the fairways crossed one another leading to a chaotic fear for your life round of golf.  On top of that there was what seemed like a constant stream of pedestrians crossing the 18th fairway to get to the beach.  They had the right of way!

When we hear from Rich Goodale he will tell us that the newly revised version of the course is great (and SAFE).

[Darren_Kilfara]

Sean, you really need to play Braid Hills #1 in Edinburgh. I played Painswick a few times during the Buda Cup a few years ago, and Braid Hills is miles better while retaining the fantastic quirk ratio. All-world views of Edinburgh (and out to Fife, for that matter) as well. If you enjoy Painswick, you'll LOVE the "Braids" - and the green fee is about £15, too. (£11 for me, with my Edinburgh leisure card.) I need to remember my digital camera, the next time I'm out there...

Cheers,
Darren

[Jordan Wall]

The Nile is nothing but quirk.

The first two holes are both blind and driveable, and it just gets better from there.
There are 5 driveable holes on the course and each nine ends with a par-three.


The longest hole is 408 yards yet plays shorter than all the par-4's except the driveably ones.

One green has a front to back rise of eight feet, while the next two holes are almost completely flat greens, and the hole after that is a bunch of random bumps.

Its just quirky, weird, and awesome.

[ForkaB]

Geoff is right about Portsalon.  In fact I'd put it in my top 3 underrated courses.  Somehow they stretched it from 6000 to 7100 yards whilst increasing the risk factor.  As I never played the "old" course, I can't really comment on what they have done.  As for current "quirk," well the steady stream of beach-goers crossing the 18th (and 1st) is still there, but they do so in a subterranean channel which has metal fencing on the top to give them air and protect them from golf balls!  Easily the most incongruous piece of engineering I have ever seen on a golf course.  The subway works OK on the 1st, as the carry is only about 180, but on the 18th it crosses the fairway at about 240, forcing either a lay-up or a Herculean effort off the tee, particularly into even the slightest breeze.  I wouldn't put it past the Irish to completely submerge that bit some day, with blow holes and complimentary night-vision goggles to aid respiration and vision....

As for Painswick, enough has been said, and maybe somebody will repost Paul Turner's epic thread and pictures to show the newbies what Sean continues to not get.

As for Braids, I haven't played it but will eventually as I respect Darren's opinion.  What I do know, Sean, is that James Braid had absolutely nothing to do with the course.  The hills were called "Braids" long before wee Jimmy was even a gleam in his father's eye, and the courses were designed by somebody completely different.....

[Craig_Rokke]

Not sure which course is the quirkiest, but it probably would involve Robert White or Alex Findlay.

[Darren_Kilfara]

Sean - the Buda Cup this year is taking place on my wedding anniversary. Maybe next year (particularly if it comes to Machrihanish!).

[Tim Gavrich]

Can Strantz courses be described as 'quirky?'  If so, Tobacco Road and Tot Hill Farm would be the Strantz standard bearers for quirk in my opinion, what with the grand scale of the courses, and especially greens which can carry the ball a good distance towards or away from the hole.

There's a golf course in Harwinton, CT called Fairview Farm Golf Course which has a boatload of quirk in the form of short par fours #s 8, 14, and 17.  One can have a go at the green by trying to blast a drive over a forest from a pretty elevated tee, or play safe by hitting a long iron out to the left, where the fairway gets a little narrow.  I'm getting a hankering to play it once I get back to Connecticut.

[Geoffrey Childs]

As for current "quirk," well the steady stream of beach-goers crossing the 18th (and 1st) is still there, but they do so in a subterranean channel which has metal fencing on the top to give them air and protect them from golf balls!  Easily the most incongruous piece of engineering I have ever seen on a golf course.  The subway works OK on the 1st, as the carry is only about 180, but on the 18th it crosses the fairway at about 240, forcing either a lay-up or a Herculean effort off the tee, particularly into even the slightest breeze.  I wouldn't put it past the Irish to completely submerge that bit some day, with blow holes and complimentary night-vision goggles to aid respiration and vision....

Rich - that is totally cool about the pedestrian subway at Portsalon.  Is there any interesting story to be told about its inception or is it just part of the remodel?  I could see some impatient golfers hitting tee shots when they put people in harms way in the old course setup.

[Phil McDade]

Small bump...

Stonehaven, near Aberdeen, on the east coast of Scotland. 18 holes squeeeezed into 60-some acres. Clifftop course where a stray step or two on a few tees means a long fall. Hitler's bunker (subject of a previous GCA photo thread) to provoke some thoughts on the first fairway. A few ravine-traversing, all-world par 3s. The rail line running through the middle of the course, with little commuter trains zipping past you with no warning.  The four-hole meadow on the other side of the tracks that seems like a different world. The 5th -- Jake's view -- which runs perpendicular and through two fairways. The 17th, where no level lie exists. The nearby graveyard that's in play. A great clubhouse, and wonderful views of some distant castle. The king of quirk.

Runners-up: Cullen, east of Nairn, an old Tom Morris track played among the sea stacks; and the 12-hole Shiskine at Blackwaterfoot, on the Isle of Arran.

[Andy Hughes]

Craig, you consider Robert White a creater of quirk?  I wonder what courses or holes you had in mind specifically?

[Phil McDade]

Sean:

I did the ferry from Ayrshire to Arran and then to Machrihanish. Actually, both the Crow's at Shiskine and Cullen -- which has a Dell-like hole over one of those gigantic sea stacks, complete with marker stone -- have one or two holes by themselves quirkier than what you'd find at Stonehaven. But Stonehaven took the cake for me, in its totality, for layers and layers of quirk. I had a great time there -- had the course nearly to myself one late afternoon/early evening round. Great fun.

[Mark_Fine]

George,
I looked at Oakmont East when I was studying Loeffler designs.  It had its purpose when it was designed.  I'm not sure I would call it quirky though?  
Mark

[Bill Gayne]

Came across this description for Jefferson Lakeside in Richmond. I've never seen the but it's a Donald Ross design.

"Adding to the historic beauty of the course are the remnants of stone pits and cages that once housed a variety of animals at the turn of the century, when Mr. Ginter opened the park as a zoo and picnic area for the community."

http://www.jeffersonlakeside.com/GOLF/GOLF.ASP

[T_MacWood]

Moundbuilders in Newark is a Bendelow design within a network of ancient Indian mounds. It takes quirkiness to a new level....but I wouldn't recommend playing it unless you want to be cursed by agitated spirits the rest of your days.

[Darren_Kilfara]

Chances are that if you organize the Buda at Machrihanish next year then that will be the venue.  

Sean - FYI, I offered to organise this year's event at Machrihanish several times, but nobody seemed to want to take me up on the offer! I'll repeat the offer to do it next year...

Cheers,
Darren

[T_MacWood]

Here are a couple of aeirals of Moundbuilders:





You can see the mounds a little better in the winter photo. Note the smaller circular mound in the upper right hand corner of the property....there is a green placed within it..making the green totally blind. If you look closely you can see Fox Mulder speaking to the cigarette smoking man near the 17th green...they are both in trenchcoats.

[George Pazin]

Thanks everyone for the responses. My life already has it's share of curses, no way I'm playing a course on an Indian burial ground....

George,
I looked at Oakmont East when I was studying Loeffler designs.  It had its purpose when it was designed.  I'm not sure I would call it quirky though?  
Mark

Hi Mark -

I didn't realize Leoffler was involved with the course. I'm assuming he built 9 holes and they added later, as there is some wide discrepancies between the holes. Now that I think about it, the bunkers fronting 2 of the par 3s remind me of the bunkers fronting the 2nd hole at Hannastown, JohnV's home course. Makes sense.

Just to clarify, I didn't mean quirk in a negative sense, I find it an entertaining course. Just a little odd, if you know what I mean.

[Ally Mcintosh]

reckon i'm with phil here... stonehaven is surely the king of quirk... with shiskine (and indeed a couple of other arran courses) and cullen not far behind

[Greg Tallman]

Golf Club of West Virginia

11th green cut at different height than other 17 putting surfaces due to back to front pitch so severe that even at say a 9 balls would not stop when strcuk from behind the hole and often roll back at and past those putting from below the hole!

One of the stranger things I have seen.