[Mark Brown]

Most Fun Courses: based on what criteria you think is fun

Tobacco Road: creative, quirky, a thrill around every corner

Colleton River: Dye Course -- requires a lot of shot-making but allows recovery

Crystal Downs - Mackenzie greensites

Cuscowilla: shot-making, great greensites and variety of holes

Wolf Run: great site, great routing, the challenge
TPC at Sawgrass: the challenge and the variety

Pete Dye GC: it's a study of the evolution of Pete Dye's
design career because it was built over a period of 15 years. Front nine is spectacular

Cypress Point: no explanation needed

Teeth of the Dog: great site, beauty, variety,

Garden City: old-fashioned links-style golf

National: big course, big contours, bring big imagination

San Francisco GC: Great site, great bunkering, great old clubhouse

Cascades

Mountain Lake: one of Raynor's best collection of greens, great restoration by Brian Silva

Pine Barrens: strategy and alternate routes of play

Musgrove Mill: a bunch of fun do-or-die shots, pure, fast bentgrass greens

Valhalla: Nicklaus being creative - variety, options

Bull's Bay: wide open, rolling terrain, windswept links by Mike Strantz, Charleston

Sand Hills: the 8th wonder of the world with buffalo and Indians, surreal

Pinehurst No. 2: shot-making

Waterville ___?___: Texas, Ken (?) Dye -

*What else?

Old Course, Royal Dornoch, Cruden Bay, Ballybunion, Lahinch, Royal County Down, Royal Portrush

[Tom_Doak]

Mark:  Waterwood National was designed by Roy Dye, Pete's brother, with some refinements by Bill Coore, who was superintendent there for years.  An excellent and unsung course.

I think some of "fun to play" is inevitably biased by how you play; and also, it's different strokes for different folks.  However, I think "fun" is an underrated part of architecture, and to prove my point I will list a handful of courses from the top 100 that most players DON'T find fun to play:

Medinah
Winged Foot
Baltusrol

P.S.  Nearly all links courses are more fun to play than some of the ones you named.

[Mark Brown]

Tom,

I totally agree with everything you said. Haven't played at Bandon Dunes, but I'm sure they would be on my fun list. Talked to Bill Coore last week and he said their course is going to be quite different to Pacific and Bandon Dunes. Ten holes are grassed. Hope to open next June. I need to make a flight reservation. Should I drive from San Francisco?

Glad to see you're on a roll. You sure paid your dues. Of the non-celebrity architects who do you like? I understand a lot of them aren't getting much work lately.

Hope to see you somewhere soon. All the best.

[Keith Durrant]

Is it possible to argue against North Berwick on this one?

[johnk]

K Durrant: True.
North Berwick - hands down.

All the rest are competing for second place.

[JDoyle]

Maidstone is a real standout in the "fun to play" category.

[RSLivingston_III]

Cruden Bay and North Berwick are about even in my book. One or the other is my most favorite fun course depending on the day. Of course I joined Kingsley for exactly the same reason. I get done with 18 and want to go right back on that roller coaster ride. Just wish the wind would change directions between rounds like it is prone to do at NB and CB.
R

[Tony_Chapman]

Mark - Wild Horse is at the top of this list for me. I could play it over and over.

I recently played it in a scramble and the other three guys just loved watching me play it, because I never want to hit in there air out there. I love just playing "all the shots" that the Bunker Hill boys let you play. They never "force" a particular shot on you - which to me is all the fun golf should be.

I don't get there enough.

Other fun courses for me: Mid Pines, Tobacco Road, Pasatiempo, Prairie Dunes.

[DMoriarty]

Shivas I havent played Medinah but by your description I doubt I would find it much fun.  

My list could be longer but the embody fun:

NGLA
Maidstone
Sheep Ranch
Rustic Canyon

[Mark_Rowlinson]

I suspect Painswick is worthy of consideration.

[Steve Lapper]

The Fun Quotient has ALWAYS been one of my most important quality factors. Fun is usually defined, for me, as a course that has me wanting to head right back to the 1st tee after stepping off the 18th green.
I would submit the following courses(the one's I've played) are PURE FUN (even at the risk of having them declared "lite" on the architecture scale relative to some of their peers):


USA

Hidden Creek
Somerset Hills
Hollywood
Mountain Ridge
Forsgate (Banks)
Fenway
Taconic
The Creek
NGLA
Friars Head
Easthampton
Maidstone
Westhampton
Montauk Downs
Pasatiempo
Shoreacres
Beverly
Skokie
Lawsonia
Merion
Rolling Green
Chechessee Creek
Seminole
Indian Creek
Cypress Point
The Meadow Club
Sand Hills
Wild Horse
Prairie Dunes
Bel-Air
The Valley Club
Pacific & Bandon Dunes

The above are all fun, any day, almost any condition. They all make me want to turn around and play another 18.

Abroad, I could play the likes of the below every day and never tire nor get bored with them and 36 a day is just a start:

Royal Melbourne (any combo)!
Kingston Heath
New South Wales
Commonwealth
Metropolitan
Yarra Yarra
Paraparaumu

Royal Dornoch
Cruden Bay
Royal Aberdeen
North Berwick
Western Gailes
Machrihanish
Moray(old)
Ballybunion
Portmarnock
Kingsbarn
Sunningdale (both)
Mid Ocean



 I would differ with Shivas and Tom about their picks. I've played Medinah multiple times and strongly feel its mostly anything but fun (unless you are striking the ball perfectly) Just off the rough are real incarcerations of various woods and recovery shots are neither easy nor rewarding. A big, tough course,Yes, a fun one, Hardly (unless S&M is your thing)

The opposite (for a big tough course) is Winged Foot. While not always fun, and always challenging, WF can be fun if a low score is not expected or sought. Unlike Medinah, the recovery options and possibilites are far more frequent and doable. I've had many a day, especially as a youth, having great fun chasing the little white pill around that ground.

On the other hand, the likes of Baltusrol, Butler National, Bethpage Black, etc... are just big bad bears that demand all of you and cut little slack...not enough fun for me to want to play 36.

[Steve Hyden]

Prestwick is by far the most fun course I've ever played.  Lahinch and North Berwick are way up there.  For me, the fun is in having to play goofy, wacky shots that you don't find elsewhere, like the chip from behind the green on the Alps hole that broke over 90 degrees.  

Prestwick is to Medinah as Rodney Dangerfield is to Dick Cheney.

[JohnV]

A few others that I can think of:

Astoria - From the blind shot to the green on #2 to the 5 yard wide fairway with natural containment mounds on #3 all the way to the end of the day it is a kick to play.

Tokatee - At the risk of incurring the wrath of the Anti-TR fan club, I'd say that this course is loads of fun, interesting shots along with wonderful scenery in the Cascades.

The few Seth Raynor/CB Mac courses I've seen have all been fun.  Some architects are much better at fun than others.

Lahinich is right there with North Berwick and Cruden Bay in the fun category in my opinion.

[Gib_Papazian]

Gentlemen,

Impossible to argue against Lahinch or North Berwick. However, in the U.K. at least, my "fun list" begins with Prestwick. It is goofy, quirky, maddening and includes the most outstanding putting surface I have ever seen (Sea Heatherick).

As for the Bandon Trails course, I was treated to a full tour several weeks ago and agree with Bill Coore that the golf course is going to be quite different from the other two.  

If forced to draw a comparison, I would state the Bandon Trails  features a quality of intimacy as it wanders through several different environments.

It has always been my feeling that one of the magical charms about Cypress Point lies in its routing. You meander about through trees, dunes and finally back to the ocean. Bandon Trails is disorienting  is some ways because it twists and turns  through at least four different visual sensations.

It does not have the sense of enormity like Bandon and Pac Dunes. Like most of their work, Bandon Trails sneaks around the property, barely disturbing  the surrounds. There is not a single element that appears forced or constructed to create an effect.

The last hole is simple, elegant and quietly restrained. The putting surface looks to have been created simply by grassing over the top of a flatish rising dune.

My bet is that it will not eclipse the other two in the minds of the general public - many of whom thirst for plenty  of "wow" when they venture to Bandon.

However, the Treehouse gang might very well like it best for its intimacy and craftsmanship.      

[Brian_Gracely]

Gentlemen,

Impossible to argue against Lahinch or North Berwick. However, in the U.K. at least, my "fun list" begins with Prestwick. It is goofy, quirky, maddening and includes the most outstanding putting surface I have ever seen (Sea Heatherick).

#13, Sea Headrig

[Doug Wright]

The fun quotient is  a major factor for me. Perhaps this is why "quirk" appeals to me so much.

A handful of my favorites:

Dooks (Glenbeigh, Ireland)--the queen of quirk
Lahinch
Prestwick!
North Berwick

Wild Horse
Sand Hills
Talking Stick North
Black Mesa
Pacific Dunes

Question: would I find Whistling Straits to be "fun" (I've not played it)? For that matter, are any Pete Dye courses "fun"? I think the island green 17ths at TPC Sawgrass and PGA West are fun, but beyond that it's hard to say the rest of the courses are ...

[THuckaby2]

I have yet to play a golf course on which fun cannot be had.

But yes, some make the fun easier to obtain than others.

So I'd agree with everything on this thread, and the only one I was going to add that hadn't been mentioned yet was BLACK MESA.  But then my friend Douglas Wright, Esq. beat me to it!  

Interesting though, I hope George Pazin reads this because I'm curious if he would classify that course in a "most fun" category.  We've discussed it many times before and unless I have this wrong, I found it to be a total blast, and he found it to be a bit too severe.  I'm curious where he - and anyone else for that matter - puts it on the "fun" scale.

TH

ps - N. Berwick is the be all and end all for this, for me anyway.  I put it above Prestwick - oh, both are a total blast to play, no doubt - but for me N. Berwick is just a bit more scenic, and a bit more doable in terms of chance at success.  But both are way up there in any case.  THE Old Course is also.  So is just about any true links.

[SteveC]

Don't think I saw Yeaman's Hall in there yet - fun, fun, fun. Always.

[peter_p]

Already mentioned rapturous courses: Painswick, Prestwick, North Berwick and Pacific Dunes.
Pennard, the Dunes on the Mornington Peninsula could be added to the list.

[Jack_Marr]

I would say Dooks and Nairn and Portnoo are good fun.

I would also say my own club, Belmullet (Carne), is a fun course, although it can be hard to walk. I think it's fun working out how to get onto  the green of a par 3 that's probably 30 ft above you and 190 yds away in a 35 mph wind.

It's also fun hitting over huge drops, as long as you make the carry.

[Gib_Papazian]

Sometime in the distant past, I recall mentioning the #2 course at Brookside GC, right next to the Rose Bowl in Pasadena.

For "fun" - especially given the wide range of players I used to sneak on with (Frat brothers) - it is still hard to beat.

The fun factor seems dependent mostly on the green complexes. If the putting surfaces are wildly interesting and the golf course is not too long, that would seem to be a working defintion of what constitutes a "fun" golf course.

If you think about it, N. Berwick, Prestwick and Lahinch can all be described as such.

Rustic Canyon is the clear leader, but in barren, bereft Southern California, Brookside has a unique quality about it that goes far beyond the usual mundane municipal puke.        

[THuckaby2]

Great call re Brookside.  BOTH courses there are fun.  Oh yes, I too spent many happy hours there... and launched a few into USC's second home....

Another SoCal fun house is DeBell, in Burbank.  Has anyone else here played that?  That's as quirky as it gets here in CA.  Great greens.  Many action holes that can yield birdie or eagle and 10 or 11 in subsequent playings.  A true dog-leg par 3.  Mucho fun.  Fantastic ice-blocking site also.

 

[Tommy_Naccarato]

Tom,
I was just going to suggest DeBell. A really fun kick to play and the same goes for Roosevelt, the nine-hollah across from the "Geek" Theater. Fun to play on a "Hot August Night!" (Pun intended)

The Great Armenian is spot on about Brookside #2--a favorite that is where I learned how to play a lot of my golf--at least the competitive side of it all. (Bingo-Bango-Bongo @ .10 a pop multiplied by about 20 guys can add up quickly, and that was every Saturday and Sunday morning for about three years straight until we moved to Mountain View in Corona.)

Little did I know then the name of Tillinghast or Bell, but the place evokes that kind of quirky play.

[Llye Smith]

First (domestic) place that came to mind - Leatherstocking, Cooperstown, NY.

Devereaux Emmett. Old fashioned. Only 6,400yds. Small greens. Beautiful mounding. Gorgeous views. Quirky bounces. Big hills. A great challenge when the greens are hard and fast (not often enough these days).

Con - mandatory carts on weekend mornings - personally, It's more fun to walk.

[Gib_Papazian]

Hmmmm, I thought I saw it on a previous post, but it is nowhere to be found.

As president of the Todd Eckenrode Fan Club, I'll nominate Barona as one of the top five *funnest* (is that a word?) courses I've played in America.

 

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