New Member Intro

[Dale Frischknecht]

After years of enjoying this site I have made the plunge and joined the discussions. My name is Dale Frischknecht, my father taught me the game at an early age.  After spending 8 years playing competitive junior golf, I realized I had more passion (aka lack of skill) for golf courses than for tournament golf. I spent my high school and college years working at Pumpkin Ridge outside of Portland. Working there put me through college twice, the second time for turf management. I have caddied at The Maidstone Club, been apart of a couple US Women's Opens, US Ams, and 3 years as Assistant Super at Pumpkin Ridge being in charge of an annual LPGA event. The highlight has been two years helping build/grow-in 9 holes of Tom Doak's Wicked Pony before the economy and housing market took a serious nose dive in Central Oregon.  Playing competitive junior golf gave me access to many great courses in Oregon; Eugene CC, Portland GC, Waverley GC ( can't wait to see it post reno), Columbia Edgewater etc. The course I play the most, the first one I worked at starting in grade school is Forest Hills a 1920's? William Bell. Nothing extraordinary but a very fun place with a great men's group. Sorry to ramble on, just excited to be a part of group.
Dale-

[RJ_Daley]

Do you know the seldom seen- but always appreciated, Slag Bandoon, of your neck of the woods? 

Have you played out at Walla Walla?

Welcome to the nut house... 

[Dale Frischknecht]

RJ-
I do not know Slag, at least not by that name.  I have not yet made a trip to Walla Walla but it is on the short list, I would like to go enjoy some great golf and good wine from that area.  I know Dan Hixson from his days as a pro at Forest Hills when I was in the junior program there.  As an Oregon alum I really wish his name was involved in the proposed course outside of Eugene, rather than the other big name. 

I have both Wine Valley and Chambers Bay on my list for the upcoming winter/spring.  I am leaning towards Wine Valley for the first trip.  Curious what other think.  I will do some search as I am sure this has already been covered.

[Garland Bayley]

How is Forest Hills in the annual Western Oregon Rainfest?

[Dale Frischknecht]

Better than some, worse than others, in the Portland area. I have played some of the higher end courses that don't drain worth a darn.  Having grown up playing in Oregon winters I am probably a little more forgiving when I play. When working on golf courses I am much more critical. With a very modest budget for a $38/18 hole price they do a good job of picking a few key drainage issues to focus on each year. If you are familiar with the course it does have some low lying holes that can make the course a challenge a couple of days per year if extended heavier than normal rains come through.

[PCCraig]

Welcome Dale!

[Kris Shreiner]

Welcome to GCA! You certainly have a varied (awesome) golf background. As most of your experiences seem to be West-Coast oriented, what led you to caddy at Maidstone, a place I think is really special for American golf?

Cheers,
Kris

[Dale Frischknecht]

Kris,
I have spent my whole life in the northwest. While I was at the U of Oregon one of my roommates had connections to Maidstone where he was a tennis pro during the summers. He hooked me and three other roommates up with jobs as caddies, what better place to spend a summer than East Hampton. That was actually the first time I spent a lot of time on a golf course when I was not the one playing. I learned to look at a course from a different perspective, I started looking from the green back toward the tee and where the architect was trying to "lead you".  I do wish that I had more experience and interest in agronomy and design when I was out there. However, it did get me started once I got back to Oregon. The history of that course is great, too bad they had to add the fairway irrigation recently. However, I am sure they can keep the same agronomic practices without noticeable changes in playability. I love that the difficulty can change in a heartbeat as the weather changes and it does not need to be over 7,000 yards to be a challenge. Aside from the photo of 15 tee I don't know what other damage was sustained from Sandy. I know that 8 has been altered a few times from storms but hopefully the dune protected 14 and 9 (one of the best par 4's IMO). While I was out there that summer, I would also ride my bike back home past the clearing and early shaping of C&C's East Hampton Golf Club. I wish I had known what I was passing so I could have stopped and checked out the early stages of that project.  I hope I have another chance to go back out there, there are too many good courses I didn't even know when I was back there.
Dale-

[Lance Rieber]

Dale,
Are you related to Dean andMark  Frishknecht?  I grew up playing against Mark and Dean is the reason I eneded up playing college golf at Boise State. I have played many of the Fred Meyer Junior tournaments at Forest Hills and high school league matches. I always like that course.
Lance Rieber

[Kris Shreiner]

Dale,

Thanks for sharing your Maidstone caddy story. Sounds as though you got a fair bit of fresh perspective from your time there...good on ya!
If you can wing your way out to Merion next June I'm sure you'd have some wonderful memories and more illumination from time spent with the Philly GCA Mob.

Give that trip some thought; you'd be glad you made the trek.

Cheers,
Kris

[Mark Saltzman]

  I am leaning towards Wine Valley for the first trip.  Curious what other think.  I will do some search as I am sure this has already been covered.

...

http://onegolferstravels.blogspot.ca/2012/04/wine-valley-golf-club-course-review.html

&

http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php?topic=48960.0

[Dale Frischknecht]

Lance,
Yes, I am Marc's younger brother and Dean's son. Are you still in the area?  I was told you were also a pretty good running back at Newberg HS.

Kris,
I would enjoy at trip out to Philly, Pebble in 2000 is my only previous experience at a US Open.  Having been around USGA events at a few courses it is nice to see the course how I would play it, not how the pros play it. That being said I think they have made a some improvements in conditioning/setup the last few years.

Mark,
Thanks for the links, I don't think Wine Valley is one I can pass up. I am curious to go see it and see how it compares to other courses east of the Cascades. Not looking for a Pronghorn or Tetherow, something less that is actually much more.

[Stephen Davis]

Dale,

Welcome! I just moved from the Corvallis area and had the opportunity to play many of the great courses in the state. Like you I hope to get to experience Waverly after the renovation. I have played Chambers Bay and Wine Valley several times and they are both wonderful. If you are looking for a low key, but extremely impressive course, than it will be hard to find better than Wine Valley. By the way, Tethrow is not that great and definitely way overpriced!