Some of these are not on the course. The two large smoke stacks in Dublin that are in the background of courses nearby provide a contrast to the linksland of Portmarnock and Royal Dublin(to name two). They also can provide an aiming guide.

A sign near the first tee of the Fairlawn Country Club in Poland, Maine list the rules.

One of them is that you should be wearing a shirt.

This serves to remind me that noone I get paired up with is going to be impressed with anything that I do, say, wear, or pull out of my golf bag.

One more then I'm out...the ringing church bells while teeing off on the first at Pinehurst #2.  Tell me that doesn't get your heart singing on the first tee.

The warnings on the first tee on various desert courses NOT to look for your ball in the desert due to rattlesnakes.  

Brian, you are correct about Hershey, but it doesn't smack you in the face until the 5th hole, the par three with the old Hershey Mansion behind the green.  A very fun course.

What about the driveway into Winged Foot for the first time?  Is there a more exciting experience?  The minute you walk through the breeze way, you know you are really there.  My favorite place in the world to sit is on that covered patio overlooking 11e, 18e, 9w, 18w, and if you strain your neck 10w.  Talk about getting your juices flowing!

Also, Wistling Straits, the thought that first came into my mind when I stepped through the club house was DAMN!  The poor conditioning that resulted in no shotmaking oppurtunities whatsoever, in conjunction with my usga handicap rules 90 (from the tips, tips) the course itself was some what of a let down.  My dad and I, agreed that we were glad we played it, but decided we never wanted to subject ourselves to that sort of torture again.  However, I returned a couple of days later, just to look around, and give Herb smore' of my money(for those shirts with the unwearably gianormous logo) and my dad and looked at each other wishing we were out there again.  I came to find out later that we hit it at the worst time of the year.  If you ever have a buddy who is on an ego trip about his golf game, take him to Whistling in late June, right before they sprinkle a little napalm on the rough.  Has anyone else had similar experience out there?  I saw phil hitting woods out of the rough.  When I was there, if you missed the fairway by 8 feet you were in the unnavigable cabbage with no chance, no chance!  I swear they match their greensfee revenue that time of year with beer sales on the back nine alone.  That is the only way to have fun out there.  Though, after about six of em' in the sun, I did par the last three.

Similar to what Tom mentioned, the drive from mthe clubhouse, through the par 3 course to the 1st tee at Sutton Bay certainly builds anticipation. However, that sense of excitement was overshadowed by exhiliration as I prepared to hit approach shot to the 1st green, with the stunning Lake Oahe making its introduction to the round.

TK

Walking through the clubhouse at East Lake, looking at replicas of Bobby Jone's trophies for the US Am, British Am, US Open, and Open Championship - that was a "peripheral" that most definitely affected my golf experience.  East Lake is a great course in it's own right, but the historical perspective makes playing at East Lake truly special.

AD

Mike,

Your view of the start of NGLA is much different from mine.. I am just praying to GOD on the 1st tee I don't snap hook one into the clubhouse. Then hoping I don't take out a window on the windmill the next hole. After that I am in the clear until the 18th. LMAO!

The R&A Clubhouse and the townspeople hanging around the fences (and history hanging heavily everywhere-not sure if that qualifies as a peripheral though the alliteration was kinda fun) make the opening tee shot on the Old Course far more difficult and nervy then it should really be. Let's face it, is there really an easier opening shot anywhere in golf, but has your stomach doing summersaults and your extremities kinda numb?

Teeing off the first tee at TOC never has really fazed me.  I was actually more bothered by trying to execute a chip from left of the 18th green, at the worst possible angle across the top of the Valley of Sin to a flag placed behind it.

Doug, then you must not have a romantic (not in the Valentine's Day sense) bone in your body!    Or perhaps I am overly-sentimental.

Can you imagine a peripheral that affects golfers more than the opening tee shot from the back tees at Merion's #1 at lunchtime? There're loads of people sitting there eating within about five steps of you and although your back is turned to them you certainly are aware of how everything quiets down behind you just before you take the club back. I've often wondered what the reaction would've been if a guy like Trevino teeing off in the final round of the US Open and a millisecond before taking the club back didn't just cut a really loud one instead and then just started his whole preshot routine over again without even bothering to turn and acknowledge those lunchers with a sort of "Oh, by the way, I do know you're all right there behind me and I'm sorry about that!" Or alternatively, Lee could've said; "Sorry about that but at least you're all lucky we have a left to right wind on this hole today!