Courses Which One May Have Dismissed Rather Unfairly

[Keith OHalloran]

For me it would be Killarney Killeen course. I didn't really love the course. It could be that it was not a links course and I was on my first trip to Ireland, but for whatever reason, I didn't think it was as good as it probably is.

[jeffwarne]

Jc,
You definetely missed palmetto.  On the finish, 16 is a brutal hole truly one of the hardest par 3s in the state of sc, 17 is the toughest easy hole on the course because the green runs away (i par it much less than i shold despite having less than 150 in), 18 i grant you is light duty as long as your arent greedy off the tee.

The thing i love about palmetto is its all about how it plays not how it looks. (btw, this is in high contrast to your thread about the fazio mtn courses at least as far as mountaintop is concerned -- pretty looking but easy to score on and as straightforward as your range finder says) For instance, 16 is a popped up green in a field. The left bunker is out of play 90 pct of the time and the right bunker is a great miss that you rarely get in.  The green is simple but devilish and hitting it requires a hgh soft ball from 210 but it doesnt look like a tough or interesting hole.  You also wont par much from short and straight even though you will feel good about your tee shot. 

All in all, it is one of the most interesting courses to negotiate that ive ever played and ive been lucky to play a lot of places.  I just got back from a great tour in scotland and it gives up nothing to the best over there.  Lets go

JC definitely missed Palmetto.
If he played it in the Dixie Cup it was soft with the fresh rye overseed  still fluffy around the greens.

I find it to be one of the most subtle tests anywhere.
Compared to 99 % of the stuff that passes for golf in the south it's light years ahead.
Percentagewise, I'd say it's the course that I break 75(4-5 over) on the least, yet I took my daughter there for her first round of golf and she never lost a ball and hit 6 greens in regulation.(she did 7 putt the first green for a 9)
Perhaps it's because I generally play there with a bit of rust going (winter/spring) but I find it always a challenge.

keith,
Plenty of courses left to see in Ireland before you go back to recheck Killeen

[cary lichtenstein]

I think the weather has alot to do with it. Cold, nasty, windy, rainy are really not condusive to feeling good about a course, although I've enjoyed every bad weather round overseas, but not so in the US.

Poorly conditioned courses also tend to come up short.

Probably the one course I threw under the bus without repeat play in Oakmont, hated it and couldn't wait to get off it. Seminole is another, didn't hate it, just didn't get what all the hoopla was all about. Ditto Pinehurst II. Some of the subtle Coore and Crenshaw and Doak courses left me flat and uninspired.

I like a lot of eye candy, I'm a simpleton, give me a gal with a small waist, blonde hair and big tits...

[John Shimp]

Jeff,
I was just at Palmetto Saturday.  Fantastic day with high 60's temps and brisk wind.  Played with Bert Crandell who had just won the Iselin and my 14 year old son who had just finished playing in the Donald Ross Jr and is a true scratch player.  I hit it well to shoot 79 and the others were a shot or two more.  Absolutely some of the most satisfying and complex golf to be had.

 Fyi, Brooks said they would end the year with fewer than 16000 rounds and with less than 1300 in December (vs 900 Dec 2010) which I consider one of the best months to play Palmetto.

[Mac Plumart]

I have a feeling I need to get back out to Pacific Dunes.

[Joey Chase]

It seems funny to me that there are so many people here thinking Roger's courses are too hard.  Is it just me, or are there simply alot of poor players on here that cannot learn to play from the correct tees?  Of all of his courses, the hardest for me was and is still Crumpin-Fox. 

As to the renovations to Half Moon in Jamaica,  Roger tried desperately to improve that golf course.  The management had a consultant brought in to ensure the maintenance costs were actually lowered.  The course wasn't given the proper renovation it needed, nor was it ever going to be maintained at a level we had hoped it would.  It is really too bad, as the property, although flat had a beautlful setting with all of the mature palms on it.   Having said that, really?  Half Moon difficult?

[Mark Johnson]

Medinah 3. 

Hated it first time I played it but have grown to like the subtlety of some of the tee shots.