Play something new? Or play a course you really like or love?

[George Pazin]

I'm just curious - a lot of posters, maybe the vast majority, are constantly seeking out new courses (new to them, not necessarily newly built).

I personally would rather play a course I know I've enjoyed, other than the obvious large number of special courses.

Of course, I'm happy playing just about anywhere, and if I weren't tied down to my business and my family (not in that order), I probably wouldn't turn down an opportunity to play anywhere.

But I'm curious about those who prefer to seek out new courses?

Why do you do it?

[Tom Huckaby]

This question has been asked before here, in a somewhat different form.  Then it was do you like to peel back the layers of the onion of a great course, playing it a lot and learning it little by little; or do you prefer to play new and different courses?  Slightly different question.

But my personal answer to that, and to your question, George, is pretty much the same:

I prefer new and different courses.  It takes a GREAT GREAT course to get me excited to learn more about it and play it over and over again, and unfortunately I don't have access to any like that, not on a regular basis.

So yes, I do prefer new and different courses then playing the tried and true.  See, one of the things that has always interested me about golf is the variety - and what offers more variety than a course that one's never or rarely played?

The classic example for this (out here anyway) is what would one do if he was a Cypress Point member?  My answer has always been that I'd play at home a lot, but I'd still want to venture out.  In a way it seems silly as all time spent away from Cypress is time LOST in a large way... but it is a big beautiful world of golf, and I know I'd still want to see and play other courses.

TH

[Ken Moum]

I just saw a comment on the change you mind thread that someone wouldn't go back a questionable course because there are so many he hadn't played.

It made me realize that I could never be one of the "collectors" of courses.

As a result of GCA.com, I took the time to make list of courses I have played in the 50-odd years I've been a golfer, and it added up to only about 160.

Unlike you, however, I think I understand the guys who do that. They are like the life-listers among the birdwatchers.

Of course, my understanding might be aided by the fact that I have more than 100 wedges in my garage.

LOL

K

[Richard Choi]

Every man needs variety in his life.

I figured either I can chase women or chase golf courses.

I can say with certainty that chasing golf courses is cheaper, more compatible with my wife, and almost as much fun.

[Tim Leahy]

I love lobster, but even if I could afford to eat it every night I would still like a steak or some italian mixed in. New courses expose you to different GCA, some good, some bad, but how would you know what the difference was if you didn't expose yourself to all the experiences you can.

[Doug Bolls]

I am one of the "collectors" of new golf courses - Guilty as charged.  I just love to experience the variety and try to figure out what the architect is telling me to do on a particular hole.
I just finished a golf-course-a-day trip from OK to the UP - 21 courses in 21 days.  The oldest was the 1901 Waveland GC in Des Moines while the newest was Old Hawthorne in Columbia, MO that opened a few weeks ago.
Standing on the 1st tee of a course I haven't played and thinking "What have we here?" - at some level you can only do that once.  
That doesn't mean there aren't courses I enjoy playing more than once - I would like to play Doak's Black Forest again (even though it's unwalkable) and I didn't figure out Lawsonia Links very well.
I guess it's the constant newness and variety that keeps me moving on to something I have not played.  

[Dean Paolucci]

I would prefer to play my list of courses over again because of the spectacular variety they deliver.  Next, I would play an old classic that I have never played.  Last, I would play a new golf course (begrudgingly) because I am much more enamored with the classic style.

[Ken Moum]

I love lobster, but even if I could afford to eat it every night I would still like a steak or some italian mixed in. New courses expose you to different GCA, some good, some bad, but how would you know what the difference was if you didn't expose yourself to all the experiences you can.

I have a friend (who went to Scotland with me last year) that would eat the same three things at the same restaurant for the rest of his life.

I know another one who won't try a new restaurant if he thinks the food will be fancy, and who commonly eats at chain places so as not to be surprised--even when he's on an expense account.

I don't want to be them.

But, unlike the folks who don't want to play unless it's a new entry to their life list, I find that familiarity breeds some enjoyment.

I love trying a new course, or restaurant, or entree, but much of the time I am happy with the comfort of something familiar.

Re. golf courses, I find that it often takes me several rounds to figure out where I want to go and how to achieve that.

Heck, I've probably played 500 rounds at my current club , and have recently figured out new ways to approach certain holes.

Ken

[RJ_Daley]

I find in my golfing life, I can't have any perspective if I don't get to "some" new courses every year.  But, one can only temper that with one's personal resources.  For me, I'm lucky enough to be able to do a Dixie Cup or KP or visit a friend in NE-CO and take him up on an offer to play a great new course.  But, I have also had to be economically prudent at times and turn down a chance to play a world beater, all acclaimed great like Bandon Resorts.  That is just economic reality.

But, the question for me is I must seek new courses to the extent I can afford to keep my GCA interest alive and relavant within discussionable reality.  

But, for my golf soul, the thing I love so much about golf, I would rather play the ones I have grown to love over and over than try that new one, for comfort sake.  But, you will not be able to find that potential new course you love and also want to play over and over, unless you get out there and at least play it once.  

It is like a catch-22.  If you don't try as many of them as yu can, you won't know which new ones you can love.  If you try them all, you won't have time or resources to go back to the well of refreshment of the tried and true course that really nourish your soul.  

George, you pose too much conflict for me to handle today...  

[Daryl "Turboe" Boe]

Not much of a question for me, I just love to see different courses.  Always have, hopefully always will.  My friends shake their head in amazement that I still go out of my way to play some (in their minds) lowly threadbare muni that I have never played when I could have played the manicured resort course or private course nearby.

Monday afternoon after my sales calls I was in ATL and wanting to get in a twilight round (if I could beat the sunset) for a little tuneup for Atlanta Athletic Tue morning.   I stopped and played something that was close on my golf map that I had never played before.  Now I was going to play one of the great clubs the next morning and when I told my buddy where I played the night before, he said "I guess you must have really wanted to just play some golf pretty badly."  He said "I could have made some calls and gotten you on somwhere much better than that!"  And I thought to myself it was a decent (if unremarkable course) and I met and played with three very nice guys who were pretty good players, hit some great shots, and just had a ball.  Overall a great and memorable day.

I think variety is the spice of life, and as someone stated above since I got married 6 years ago, I have had to cut out the other variety that I used to have in my life, so this is all I have left.

[Dan Kelly]

As much as possible of both.

Never enough time (or money) for either.

Life.

[Andy Troeger]

I find a sense of adventure in playing a new course or going to a new area more exciting than playing courses repeatedly. I certainly enjoy both, but I get more out playing a new course once than I generally due a course I've played before again. Call it the law of diminishing returns for me I guess, although there are some courses that I could play all the time, just none that I have access and means to play all the time. Some mixture of things is best.

[Sean_A]

Man, if I am going near a course I know is great then I want to play there.  The second game can be reserved for a new course if I think it has a chance to be what I think of as great.  If not, I will go back yet again to my old favourite.

Ciao

[cary lichtenstein]

New only if it is special

[wsmorrison]

For the most part, I would much rather play something that I already know that I like rather than play somewhere else, even on someone's recommendation.  Of course I do have a mental list of places I wish to go, but I'm not in any hurry.  I find I would rather enjoy repeated play somewhere I like than go out and play 2000 courses.  Luckily, my home is in Philadelphia and there is a wealth of great golf in our district.  Not only that but my home course has two courses I could play everyday of my life and not regret going anywhere else.  Well, I might regret not going to a favorite in Southampton, NY; Tarrytown, NY; Marion, MA and Miami, FL.

[Mark_Fine]

George,
How would you know what you really like or love in the first place?  Don't you find out what is special by trying new things?  Variety of the playing fields is one of the main reasons the game of golf is so special.  
Mark

[David Stamm]

Like Wayne, I would rather go to a course I really like than a new one. Now, that maybe due to alot of really mediocre courses in my area, and when I find a good one, I stick to it.

I do like to try new courses, but I always find myself going to the places I really like when I make my plans to play for the week.

I am going to a course in Oct to play for 3 days straight, a course I really like. It will give me the chance to really disect it and enjoy it's more subtle features. I really don't get to do that enough. I envy someone who gets to experience things on a world class course on a everyday basis that the rest of us will never understand unless we did the same. Only then, IMHO, can one truly understand the intricacies of the design. When the player can peel back the "onion" over years and enjoy it more and more, that is the sign of a great course.

[Cory Lewis]

My mindset has changed because of work and marriage.  A couple years ago when I was single and working 5 days a week, I would spend every day off playing somewhere new.  I would drive 4 hours each way to play 1 golf course although I usually found something else to play if I was driving that far.  

Now I'm married and I work six days a week, sixty hours a week and on my one day off I typically play the golf course I work at, because it's a very good course and I find something new to enjoy everytime I play it, and partly because I just don't feel like getting in the car and driving a long distance and being away from my wife for a long time.  

That being said when I go on vacation, like my upcoming vacation in October, I will cram as much golf in as daylight allows, because I'm somewhere I probably will not be again and I want to see as many new places as I can.  

[JohnV]

My best friend in High School used to say "New is better than good" about the women he dated.  Might be true for women, but when it comes to golf, I'll take a course I love over an unknown new one.  Of course, unlike women, if enough people around here recommend it ...

But, I do feel his  other statement "Anything is better than nothing" applies equally as well to golf courses as well as women.