You've just won the Lottery

[Jim Johnson]

You've just won the Lottery, and have collected the $10 million cheque this morning.
Now, you can do what you've wanted to do for some time now. Build that golf course.
But where? And what style? What architect? Walking or riding?
It's got to be the perfect course, you've only got one shot at this. It's a stand alone course, no real estate development, no hotels (sure, throw in some cabins on the outskirts if you like, what the heck).
How will you do it?
Links course on the ocean? Mountain course? Desert course? Parkland course? Your real estate agent has a few dozen locales to choose from. Your head is spinning.
How many yards from the tips? Caddies? Carts only? (go for the elevation changes).
Will your GCA have complete freedom to design? Or, will you walk hand-in-hand, mutually coming to agreement on several issues? Or will you, ahem, design it yourself (perhaps with help from your golfing buddies)? Cart paths? Or none whatsoever?
A snack shack at the turn, or will the 9th hole return to your brand new clubhouse?
Any radical thoughts in the dark recesses of your cranium? A 12-hole course? Llamas carrying your patrons' golf bags? Back rubs at the turn by Hooters babes?
Decisions, decisions.
What say u?
JJ

[THuckaby2]

This is a damn fun topic.  Well done, JJ.

I guess unfortunately I have a problem with this though.  I am a California boy through and through and I don't want to live anywhere else.  So if I "only" win $10 mil, well... that's not gonna be enough to build the course I'd want here.  And I would want to build the course in an area that I'd want to live, year-round.

So can we up it to $50 million?

If that's the case, then I find a freakin' way to build a course on some links-like land to be found on the California coast somewhere.  Something like what's described in the book The greatest course that never was.  In fact the location of that course works just fine by me, slightly north of San Francisco.  In fact just give me that course and I'm happy forever.

In any case that's where I'd want it.

As for who designs it, hell there are lots of choices there... and I'd let them have almost free reign... I'd give them an idea of what I want and have them make it happen.  My involvement would only be peripheral, checking to see that they are making my dream come true.  My idea here would be to have a course I'd love to play forever, not to get into the design business.

No cart paths, but carts allowed for those who want them.  The course will hopefully be such an easy walk though that the only cart-takers will be the aged or infirm.

Course does not need to return after 9 holes.  But we would have some sort of hut around the 9th green/10th tee.

Simple small clubhouse, no pretense allowed.

All about golf.  All for me and my friends and the general public from time to time if they ask nicely.  Screw tax laws.

Dare to dream.

TH

[A.G._Crockett]

Like Tom Huckaby, I don't want to leave home (the SE) and my buddies, so:

Best piece of property on the NC-SC-GA coast, as links-like as possible.

Strantz designs my course, because it is guaranteed to be unique.

I'd like to say I'll give him "complete" freedom, 'cause a man's got to know his limitations, and I'm no artist, but...

No cart paths, and short distances between greens and tees, but waste areas to drive in 'cause I ain't getting any younger!

I feel no need for caddies, though Hooter's girls does bring up some interesting possibilities...

I want something in the 6600 yd. range from the tips; if that's not long enough for you, then we shouldn't be playing together anyway!

I'd like the nines to start and finish near the clubhouse, but that's negotiable based on the routing possibilities.  Plus, I'll be able to cut across holes anyway!  I'm the owner!

The clubhouse, by the way, will be simple and functional, and in no way a draw for golfers.  Small grill, simple menu, minimal pro shop, functional locker room, nice veranda for watching golfers finish.

By the way, you guys are all welcome anytime you can make it there, so come on down!


 

[THuckaby2]

AGC:

Sounds like you and I are very much on the same wavelength, my friend.  I think mine is Lottery National GC - West and Yours is LNGC-East.  

One thing I'd also like to see the architect do is allow for several loops of holes all to return somewhere near the clubhouse, like happens at Cuscowilla among other places.  I don't want it to be too tough to create easy 3-6 hole loops, which I find to be damn fun.  So 9 doesn't have to return necessarily but hopefully none of the holes get too far from the center, if that makes any sense at all....

And of course all here will be welcome also at LNGC-West.  I just do want you to ask nicely, as it will be quite a kick for me to have the zany role revearsal of being on the giving side rather than receiving.

 

[GeoffreyC]

Thanks JJ - $10 Million is just what I need right now  

I don't for the life of me believe for one nanosecond that I have any chance in hell of building anything close to a world class facility SOOOO

I will immediately contact Ken Bakst and ask him if he would please have me as a member at Friars Head. I will then use a couple of million for a quaint weekend home in the area with enough room for my friends.

My girlfriend/fiance will certainly take care of the rest of my winnings  

[Michael Wharton-Palmer]

This is going to be a popular thread I do believe, so here is my contribution..

I would try to find a landsite simlilar to that of Spyglass/Bandon that will give me the variety of a links style and parkland within the same 18 holes, sort of a Pacific Dunes/ Trails combination.
If that is my desire for layout, I do not think I could go wrong with either Mr Doak or Mssrs Crenshaw and coore.
I would offer the job to either feeling comfortable that I was going to get a fine finished product. I would have to ask C&C to curb their enthusiasm for severe greens, other than that open field with regard to the architecture..some yardage stipulations though.....

Par 3's...ranging from 135 to 210 max

Par 5's...1 @ less than 485 yards, appropriately severe around the target of fairway and green
            2 @520-570
            1 @ 580 plus with some sort of hazard/constriction at 300-340 to ensure it is a three shotter

Par 4's... At least one shorter than 350
            3 @ 350 399
            3@ 400-430
            2@  430-470   and one @ 470-490

i would trust the architect to ensure the severity of hazards/contours to be approprite for the length of hole.

I could expand in detail my desires but that would scare the best architects away, plus I know they know more than me!!!

If I have a clubhouse it will be small publike with oak beams a firplace etc...just like an English country pub would be.

A practice facility out of the ying yang, lots of greens, short game areas, putting greens, and access to the best video equipment.

Other that that very few requests, other than to say members of this web "club" are always welcome.

[SL_Solow]

Shivas; you'd never go; where would you find a scotch game?

[A_Clay_Man]

I'd go to Ne. and build 5 courses.

[Philippe Binette]

Easy,

10 millions US $ = 14 millions AUS $

I'll buy part of the sandbelt

1) Royal Melbourne
2) Kingston Heath
3) With what is left, some other courses like The Woodlands

[Chris Kane]

With my $A14m (thanks Philippe!), I'd buy St Andrews Beach.  Hopefully I'd still have enough left over to let Tom and Mike get started on the second course.

[Ted Kramer]

Well $10 mil wouldn't work for this, but lets just say I won enough $$ to do whatever I wanted to . . .

I don't know if any of you guys are familiar with an area on the Brooklyn/Queens border called "Breezy Point". Breezy is a little beach community on the south shore of Bkln/Qns about 20 miles or so from Manhatten.

There is a stretch of grassy windswept Dunes along the Atlantic just south of the homes in Breezy which is the most perfect land to build a golf course on that I have ever seen.

I would like to choose a relatively unknown architect who would spend TONS of time on the site and not mind having me tag along to watch the entire process unfold. I would like an architect who's views are fresh, and uncluttered with past experience, I'll take my chances with the errors of youth and inexperience. I want this course to be bold. I would like for the architect to err on the side of "wild and imaginative" as opposed to "tried and true".
 
-There will be absolutely no golf carts or cart paths.
-Every group takes caddies.
-The course will not play longer than 6800 from the tips.
-The ninth will not return to the clubhouse, 9 holes going out and 9 coming home.


-Ted

[Steve Lapper]

1. Like Geoff Childs, beg Ken Bakst to accept my check.

2. Buy 100 hours of helicopter time.

3. Reserve tee times for the next 20 years at Bandon

4. Buy 200 hours of GIII time, call friends who are members at
    Sand Hills and other Western venues.

Give the rest to charity!

[Tony_Chapman]

I love these threads!! But, gosh darnit Adam stole my idea about building five courses in my home state!!

It would have to be in Nebraska, west of Kearney and north of Highway 2. Any land in that range is probably fair game. Absolutely perfect.

You know, come to think of it that dude in Valentine is doing all the things I would do. The following would be my most important list:

1. Decent clubhouse w/ restuarant: I need to feed all my GCA buddies and we have to be able to grill a steak and drink a beer when the sun sets.

2. NO CEMENT: We can have a few carts, but gravel paths, gravel parking lot. Just like Wild Horse.

3. 36 regulation holes: I think I would have Bunker Hill do an 18 and Gil and Geoff do the other. Don't know how that could be screwed up.

4. A nine-hole junior course: I would want to dabble with this course myself. But holes would range from 100-300 yards. Seven par-3s, two par-4s.

Other notes: I hope I would have enough left over to get the green keeper at Wild Horse. I would host the Husker Cup every year for GCA Members. And, this place would be public to any nice Nebraskan who wanted to come visit (that's my only beef about SH, I have seen it once!!)

[Rick Shefchik]

On the theory that there are already plenty of fabulous courses in nice climates, I'd build mine on the North Shore of Lake Superior. Picture a course here:



That little spit of land in the foreground would make a hell of a great greensite for a short par 3, ala' Pebble Beach #7. Like the rest of the Pebble Beach site, you could run a good eight or nine holes along the rocky cliffs in an out-and-back layout. In fact, how's this for a little bev hut at the 10th tee:



Obtaining land rights from the state of Minnesota to build along Lake Superior would be the primary issue. I'm afraid there isn't enough money in the lottery for that.

But assuming we could get the land, I'd certainly like to hire an experienced architect used to working on high-profile, exceptional sites. This course has to be done right, because the course is only going to be playable about five months of the year, for obvious reasons:



Nevertheless, it would be my dream to have one golf course like this on Minnesota's North Shore. It is, after all, a very long stretch of land. A mile or two of golf course wouldn't hurt anyone.

[peter_p]

I'd build a reversible golf course, links style one direction, modern/traditional in reverse.

[Joel_Stewart]

I spend $2 million to be a partner in the Pebble Beach Corp with Clint Eastwood which then gets me a spot in the AT&T and it gives me free access to Pebble Beach every morning at 9am.

I buy a house in Monterey for $1 million.
I buy a house in the Hamptons $1 million.
Membership to Friars Head $300k.

I buy a portion of a jet with Netjets and travel around the rest of the time. Cost $1 million.

In my pocket, $4.7 million.

[Wayne_Freedman]

I build a series of tees and greens on the rooftops of tall buildings here in San Francisco.

18 of them.

I hit from one to the next.

The rest of my money goes to cover insurance.

[Steve Lapper]

I spend $2 million to be a partner in the Pebble Beach Corp with Clint Eastwood which then gets me a spot in the AT&T and it gives me free access to Pebble Beach every morning at 9am.

I buy a house in Monterey for $1 million.
I buy a house in the Hamptons $1 million.
Membership to Friars Head $300k.          

I buy a portion of a jet with Netjets and travel around the rest of the time. Cost $1 million.

In my pocket, $4.7 million.

Joel:

     Good luck trying to get any decent house on either coast for $1M! You'll need a little luck trying to get anything decent enough to go cross-country by jet, with any frequency, for that price. ALso, $2M is a rounding error to Clint and his buddies....ugh

     $10M just doesn't go as far as it used to!


Wayne:  

     I actually did exactly what you are suggesting but am too embarassed to get into it.....needless to say...Monday am must not have been quite the same in the Financial District back in 1984!

Great fun though!!!

[Jim Johnson]

Sorry guys, no buying other courses.
And no buying into Pebble Beach Corp.
If $10 million won't do what you really want to do, you've just got a phone call from the Lottery Corporation's lawyer asking what you plan on doing with your windfall. Explaining to him that $10 million might not be enough to build your "perfect" course (depending on what part of the planet you live on), he graciously offers to award you an additional "X" amount to cover the balance, with the proviso that all of it be spent on the golf course.
Quickly, you thank him, and hang up.
Dumb-founded, you stare at the phone.
Your head's spinning again.
You want to build the "perfect" golf course, a money-maker from the moment it opens, steadily moving up the golf magazines' ratings lists year after year.
Your patrons will be incredibly impressed with what you've created.
But........how do you create it?
Who's the architect? What's the total par? How many par-3 holes? How long will your longest par-5 be? Unreachable even for Tiger and Elin's son twenty-five years from now? How many sets of tees? Bentgrass fairways? Bluegrass?
Etc. Etc. Etc.

Put your thinkin' cap on.

JJ
 

[Lance Rieber]

I have been thinking about this one for a long time.  I would build my dream course in central Idaho. A place where my wifes parents have a cabin.  Rolling hills and beautiful views.  A little earth moving but the course would follow the lay of the land.  No cart paths and easily walkable.  The clubhouse would be a small log cabin and there would be a couple of bunkhouses with room for 7-8 people in each.  I would also have some rooms for those who want privacy.  I don't know who would design the course but I would like to put my two cents in.  The course would have members but for the membership I would buy a ski resort(6miles) nearby and they would have access to this also. The resort is small but I would add some new lifts and open up some new terrain.  I would charge maybe ten thousand and that is all the golf and all of the skiing and cat skiing you can do.  Dues would be around 200 a month.  With that money I think you could do both pretty easily. The first members would be a all GCA'ers that wanted in and these members would have first dibs on all tee times and the course would be open to the public after all members have scheduled their times. Tee times would only be for about 2-3 hours a day for public and would  be reasonably cheap.  You could have everyone on this website as members and still the course and ski resort would not be very crowded.  Most live far enough away that more than 2 or three trips a year in each season would be hard and that isn't much money for all you big spenders.  Once you get to the course their are no costs. Ski and golf are completely free along with the lodging.  These are the things you think about on long hikes by yourself in wonderful settings. I think it can happen and will happen on a smaller scale than The Yellowstone Club in Montana which is 300,000 entry the last time I heard.
The course  (ski resort open to all) would definitley have to have some sort of public play at a very affordable rate.  Everyone should enjoy great golf courses.
Lance

[Doug Siebert]

I'd buy some cheap land by an inland lake in a windy area instead of by the sea where it'll cost too much, and build my links by trucking in enough sand to cover the whole site to a minimum depth of 15' (appropriately bermed around the edges to avoid having it all blow away before the cover is established)  Then I'd alternately let the wind blow on it for a week and play around like a kid in a sandbox randomly moving piles of it around for a few months to recall cool features I've seen in SW Ireland, then scatter 40 tons of fescue seed on it via helicopter and let it grow in to stabilize the "dune system" I created.  Then I'd attempt to hire someone like Coore or Doak to come out and look at it and see what he could make of it.

Another possiblity would be to see if I could buy the dunesland on the SW edge of Aruba.  You've gotta take a jeep to get out there since there isn't a road, but there are some massive dunes and the wind is always blowing there.  Probably only big enough for about six holes, the rest of the surrounding area is exposed volcanic rock.  At least the management team that would take it over after I bankrupted it by letting all my friends play free would appreciate the ready made natural cartpaths

[Jason McNamara]

I buy a portion of a jet with Netjets and travel around the rest of the time. Cost $1 million.

In my pocket, $4.7 million.

More bad news, Joel.  Not only is that Hamptons house going to run you (lots) more than $1M, the same is probably going to be true of that fractional NetJet.  

Jason

[Scott_Burroughs]

Has everyone factored in the cost of the land?  In some places, that runs into the tens of millions alone.

[THuckaby2]

Has everyone factored in the cost of the land?  In some places, that runs into the tens of millions alone.

Scott - yep - I sure did - that's why I asked for $50mil and I'm thinking that still might not be enough for the course I have in mind, where I want it.  

[John_Cullum]

10 mil wont get it done, so I declare to have won enough.

I have a couple of sites already scoped out, in Florida.

Kelly B Moran gets the first shot at the route, with no restrictions, if I dont like his route, I'll call some minimalist. I would like the route to get back around the clubhouse somewhere in the middle of the round, if possible. the clubhouse location can be anywhere on the property, so this should be doable.

I'll have a fleet of Kangaroo caddies available, and 3 golf carts for invalids.

Its private, but most can get access without much problem. If you are a member at Seminole, Pine Valley, Merion, Augusta Natl, and the like, and you wont host a perfect stranger with good credentials, you cant play at my course.