A great post Leon as I am currently struggling this very evening with how to spend the remaining days and dollars/pounds in my golf budget for this year. Do I go back to old favorites like Ballybunion and North Berwick or do I play other fine courses for the first time like Royal Lytham and Formby. My current policy is that if I have the choice between an 8 I haven't seen and an 8+ I have, unless it's a limited access issue, I opt for the first timer, because there is nothing like your first time.
Before I go any further, here is my list in order of desire:
To see for the first time:
1. Cypress Point
2. National Golf Links (sorry guys, I'd make a pilgrimage for either Shinnecock or the National, so I'll list them separate)
3. Shinnecock (Scheduled for October; WoHoo!)
4. Pacific Dunes (could have gone this year with either Noel Freeman or the Bravenet Crew, but saving it for a pilgrimage with my pop for next year)
5. Pebble Beach
This is my honest list; there are a bunch of other courses that might be hipper to name, but these are the 5 I would most want to see. Runners up include: Pine Valley; Garden City; Chicago G.C.; Augusta; Merion (is it really ruined guys? I hope not) and Winged Foot.
Most like to return to:
1. Pinehurst #2 (It just gets better every time)
2. Sand Hills
3. Crystal Downs
4. Swinley Forest
5. TOC
Honorable Mention: Riviera (my equivalent of Doak's St. Enodoc round as I shot the best round of my life playing as a two ball with my Pop on January 2 with only about 5 groups on the whole course; surreal, I'm afraid to go back); Ballybunion; St. George's Hill; hell, just about every links course I've ever played.