Is location to golf as the wine bottle is to wine?

[Mike_Young]

In other words pour cheap wine in an expensive wine bottle and many will go overboard praising the wine because it is the cool thing to do...I think the same often happens to mediocre golf..

[Wayne_Freedman]

Funny question, Mike.
Might be a generalization, however, unless the name of the course includes an 'e' at the end of a word.
In which case, yes.
Definitely.
Good pointe.

[Peter Pallotta]

For some reason, I suddenly remembered the famous George Gobel's question:

"Do you ever get the feeling that the world is a tuxedo and you're a pair of brown shoes?"

[Mike_Young]

For some reason, I suddenly remembered the famous George Gobel's question:

"Do you ever get the feeling that the world is a tuxedo and you're a pair of brown shoes?"

[James Brown]

Nope.  Pebble would still be great if it weren't "pebble."

[Tom_Doak]

Not sure if you are talking about the power of a cute label, or of a high price convincing people something must be good.  Both work sometimes in golf, but neither is foolproof.

[Wayne_Freedman]

...helps when the label reads Tom Doak.
I'd drink that stuff out of a rusty can.

[Sean_A]

In other words pour cheap wine in an expensive wine bottle and many will go overboard praising the wine because it is the cool thing to do...I think the same often happens to mediocre golf..

Mike


Almost all the golf of any reputation I play is good (I may not dig it, but its good), the question for me is does the product warrant the cost. Often the answer is no.  Same goes for wine.  I have settled into a comfort zone of price range and try to work within those paramenters.  I consistently return to my favourites and also take chances. More often than I don't buy the chancers again.  I only wish my golf had the same parameters as my wine     


Merry Christmas

[Ronald Montesano]

There are expensive wine bottles? Do they have their own section of the stor(e)? Are they made from elephant tusk?


I swear these are honest questions. I had never heard that wine bottles themselves (and not the elixir contained within) differed in quality. Oh, oenephilia!

[BCowan]

In other words pour cheap wine in an expensive wine bottle and many will go overboard praising the wine because it is the cool thing to do...I think the same often happens to mediocre golf..

I agree. Take a mediocre design on a great piece of land and you end up with this story line

A real world example would be telling someone I prefer Wilmington muni over the Duke U course.

[Mike_Young]

Sorry I'm not a wordsmith.  I'm trying to say that for many people they like a wine based on the label of the bottle.  They can't tell the difference between a good wine and a bad.  I'm one of those.  I say the same goes for golf.  Some of the courses that are considered great would not be considered great if the same course was on a similar piece of land in another location.  Now, of course it depends on how you define great.  For me it is a course that has withstood the test of time and held up over the years. 
Some will come back and tell me how they can tell the difference in the wines and that's great.  The same goes for courses.  But for most golfers natural beauty of a location can make some average courses great.

[Steve Lang]

   only to the bartender who also dilutes his whiskey...


tortured analogy

[mike_beene]

James, do you mean if the ocean was not there? I really enjoy Pebble, but without the ocean is it not a course with a lot of mediocre holes with repeating small greens?18,17,7,6 lose their luster.Also,aren't 1,2,5,11,12and 15 the so,so holes?That leaves 14,16 ,perhaps 13 ,9,10and 8 as the strength of the course. I don't see that as a course we would be talking about.

[Mark_Fine]

Mike,
I have to say I am really surprised that the  "location" of a golf course is still debated as being a part of the design???  I just don't understand how it couldn't be as golf is not played in a closed in stadium.  Would #1 and #18 at The Old Course be anything special if they weren't located where they are with the town all around them?  The location is a big part of why those holes are special regardless of whether or not the course is 600 or more years old.  Why do we even debate location's importance anymore?

Now if you want to debate the course label (e.g. the name of the course architect) and how important that is, well then can be worth talking about.

[Mike_Young]

Mark,
I'm not debating it.  I agree with your theory there.  I'm just saying a lot of people don't even realize how muh they allow location to determine the greatness of a hole.  It's exactly the same as "locating" a 15 dollar wine in a $200 bottle for many, including myself.