Small Town Golf

[Slag_Bandoon]

  This may be a preach to the choir soliloquy but I feel the urge to purge.  
I've been blessed this year by playing some magical gowfing grounds that I had only dreamed of playing in my lifetime.  Scotland, Arizona, Nebraska, Colorado, Hawaii and Oregon all got souvinirs of my foozled golf balls.  Great layouts and some not so great but they all had character and that really is what I appreciate, in golf as well as in people.  Would I have travelled to these places if I didn't play golf? I doubt it.  Would I have met the great folks I did without playing golf? No.  Golf puts us in a quiet little theater of perhaps four people, who are both players and audience; producers and critics.   In this act we discover features of land and lost humanity that wrests us back to bucolic times of lemonade, swinging on porches and dancing badly with pretty girls who balked or thrilled at a stolen kiss.  

  Which brings me to the title.  Small Town Golf.  From Husum Hills, in Washington (commonly refered to as Royal Husum National by the locals), to Carne Golf Links in Belmullet, Ireland, to Kahuku, on Oahu, Hawaii, to Devil's Thumb in Delta in Colorado,to Narin and Portnoo, Ireland, to Apache Stronghold near Globe, Arizona, to Buffalo Peak in Union, Oregon, to The Mad Russian GC, near Milliken, Colorado, to Arbory Brae Hickory & Gutty Golf in Abington, Scotland (see My Home Course on this website), to Bayside near Ogalala, Nebraska, to Traigh GL in Mallaig, Scotland, to ... ?  Some of these small towns have invested their future in this game and I can't help but feel an obligation to support the golf and, ultimately the towns.  Golf has  supplemented Scottish town coffers for generations and can certainly add value and character to any town elsewhere.  I fear that corporate America (of which I am a contributing participant/hypocrite with my 401K) is slowly homogenizing our own culture and turning us into a nation of servants with an identity of anonymity.  There is a place to go to let those fears fall away and it is consistantly in small towns with a golf course.  Some of these layouts are central to a town's identity, some are merely a luxury taken for granted.  Regardless, they need our support.  I live in suburbia, so it's a jaunt to get out there to smalltown but I know that when I do go, it's well worth the wait and anticipation.

  In closing, I'd just like to suggest that you plan a sidetrip sometime next year to a small town and play golf and support them and let them know what a special place they have.  It's ok to exagerate, they do it all the time.  Buy a coffee mug at Wildwood Golf Course, near Scappoose, Oregon, and have a conversation.  It'll make your day and someone elses.  Ask Edna and Jack in Brora, Scotland about their town, she'll tell you all you need to know and then some. The same goes for Mike Agee, motel proprietor/vacuum cleaner mechanic in Ogalala.  Kindness has its own rewards.

  Be well, be kind.  Happy Thanksgiving , Norbert of Oregon

"You don't HAVE to play; you GET to play"  Harvey Penick

[A_Clay_Man]

Slagbert of the northwest- Sentiments acknowledged BUT, it requires a special person(s), or town, not to abuse thier privledge. I have now lived in two towns in a row where the course was abused in a manner that is contrary to the ethic and spirit of the game.

The green little monster that has permiated the game over the last couple of decades is somewhat excusable when there is some one person or group of investors who take the risk to build the course. But when fiscal abuse occurs in a muni setting I find it more than deplorable. First off, it was more than likely the good people of said town that put up the money either through a tax hike or bond offering. But as soon as the green monster gets ahold of a power that be, katie bar the door. Memories are usually short, that it was the towns people that made it come to fruition and without careful, diligent tender loving care. The course is bound to suffer from having it's lifes blood sucked out to cover city managers arses in other fiancial boobdoggles.

Gobble gobble.

[Michael Dugger]

SLAGBERT...truly the nicest guy on GCA!

[RJ_Daley]

Norby, back on line and riding tall in the GCA saddle!
I think you prove that old saw, "if you seek, you shall find".  Your suggestion of taking time to talk to the local folks that live near and have ties to said small town communities with golf as a part of their community life, is a wise thing to do.  Your year was obviously filled with great moments in reaching out and finding the essence of the world global village of golf.  Good on ya mate!

Adam, I think our network of GCA golf nomads and gypsies must be the keepers of the flame in that it is up to us to point out the errors of their ways when bean counters and green monsters get ahold of the management of charming local facilities and take them in wrong directions.  Write a letter, call a councilman, submit an editorial, but when you see them going the way of green monsters, call them out on it.  

Norb the Slagbagger's year is sort of the other side of the Typhoid Mary effect.  Instead of spreading an infectious malady, he infected a swath of good will spanning half way around the world.  We are lucky to associate with the GCA tribe that do the same, which is seek out and spread the joy of what we find in the nooks and crannies of the golf world and sharing it through writing and describing the experiences here.  Slag is in deed quite talanted in that regard.

[Rich Goodale (Guest)]

Norby

As Dick implies above, it is you who are bringing joy to the small towns you have visited that are blessed with golf, just as much as vice versa, if not more!

You all would be surprised to know little the average person in even places like St. Andrews knows or thinks about golf.  To them, it's just a physical feature that brings in some income into the town, like Ben's shoreline in "Local Hero," but not much more.  We Slagbert's of the world have much left to evangelize....

[A_Clay_Man]

Dick- All your suggestions are good ones and under normal situations would be applicable. However, I lkearned much as I rode around yesterday with someone who is intimately familar with all the goings on here in my new hometown. I suggested bringing in a U.S. Attorney and we didn't know if skimming from the enterprise fund was illeagal but we concurred it was unethical.

 Anyone who may know the legalities, your input would be welcomed.

[Bob_Huntley]

Slag:

I have but oen question for you. What club did you use on the first hole at Traigh?

[Slag_Bandoon]

Bob, The correct club, of course.(8i)  (wrong golfer)

  Five wood off the second tee atop the dune ridge. 3i 3rd.  5w 4th. Snorkle on Lodi Bridge hole.
  
 Adam, Oh highly spirited truculant one.  Apparently your blood has been stirred by some greed demon.  I'd much like to play golf with him and show him the Tao of the Crouching Backswing Testicle Crush but that wouldn't right his wrongs.  I hold on to a newfound belief that I'd gladly play again with over 99 percent of the people I've golfed with and would, under proper medication, play with the others.  That's a pretty good percentage.   Non-golfer percentage of interaction is lower but still high compared to my cynical upbringing.

    Outside of golf, there is much to learn.   Golf is a catalyst for more and better things.  The sport, the mystery, the truth, the gathering, etc.,  but it's nothing without humanity.   I see more humanness in small towns.    Jonathon Swift wrote "Gulliver's Travels" to bring to light that Giant governments and Lilliputian governments are both evil by design, but I think there's more hope in the potential good of the village as opposed to the metropolis.  

Richard o' Aberdour,  How I long for The Macallan Song and to be at the 'Barona in Dornoch' bash.  The Goodale Grail !!!    Alas, my ship sails thither instead of hither the foreyear.  

Dick, you are too kind.  Perhaps you should put more of that merlot in the sauce instead of sampling it so much from the bottle.  

mdugger,  Nicest on GCA?  We'll see how that holds when I see Skipanon completed.  I owe all kindness to those I have met that have showed me the way.  

   "Think honestly.  Stand tall"  Miyamoto Musashi

  Happy Thanksgiving y'all
  

[Jason Hines]

Brother Norbert,

Once again you hit several nails on the head.  One of the best rounds that I had ever enjoyed was in a little town where my great-grandfather lived, played and died.  I have a picture of him in his old style golf clothing during the 20’s and his hickory niblick and putter hanging on the wall.  The spirit and people of the place overwhelmed me when I walked onto this 9 hole course.

There are of course pluses and minuses of playing these small town courses, but pluses come out way ahead.  Sure, there are not many redan style greens and McKenzie bunkers out on those links, but there is usually a lot of pride and in most instances care put into them.  

For example, I was in Houston for the last few days for work and pleasure.  On the plane down, my wife and I were deciding where we wanted to go on our winter trip in
February.  Princeville, Arizona or somewhere down in Florida for massive amounts of golf.  On Friday, I drove up to a small town northwest of Houston to see a friend from college who was wearing a jacket, it was 70 degrees and sunny.  When I drove by their local, well kept golf club there two cars in the parking lot.

I know what you are saying, Princeville, Kapalua etc. vs. the Brenham Country Club?  No comparison for great architectural stimulation, but there could very well be more of the spirit, kindness and camaraderie of the game in that little course.  Just a thought….

Happy Thanksgiving to GCA…

Jason  

[mike_beene]

The beauty of a St Andrews or Pinehurst.You can't separate the course from the town or the people,nor should you.My wife would describe your experiences as win-win.

[Tom Doak]

Well said, Slag.  But you forgot to mention the mother lode of small town golf -- Lahinch.  It's even smaller than Mullen, Nebraska, but it made a large impression on the world of golf.

[A_Clay_Man]

Smaller than Mullen? WOW. Since a vital piece of info was misssing from the directions (11 mi. so. of Mullen) Slag and I saw that whole town. We even tried to stop at the one gas station but alas it was closed. If we only could've found a church we knew we could get some quality directions.

I apoligize for truncating your thanksgiving post. As you could tell I was deeply submersed in any attempt to stop these small townies from trying to act like a metropolis.

[Rich Goodale (Guest)]

Adam

Your and Slag's instincts were correct.  Lahinch in fact has a massively higher population (600) than Mulen (500).  Neither of them, however, compare to Machahanish, which would be lucky to get into triple digits, even itf you counted suburbanites like Mr. and Mrs. Kilfara.

I do wonder, not having been there, is the effect on Mullen of Sand Hills a positive adn holistic one, as described in your original post, or is it just a place where incomers come to play from time to time and leave behind a few c-notes to be distributed amongst the plebians?

[A_Clay_Man]

Rich- Other than every person in a car waving as they drive by, and the local girl in the pro-shop, those 11 miles are much bigger than the words depict. And as I understand it a group from a june outing left more than few C notes. I hear they went large. Hell, we even had monies left over which someone decided would be a good idea to donate to this site to not only help Ran defray but to thank our lucky stars that we were able to meet like minded addicts on a playing field in the middle of almost nowhere and enjoy it to it's fullest. Which without this site would never have been possible.

[Slag_Bandoon]

Tom Doak,  I had thought of it but considered it gets enough lipservice, much like my beloved Bandon, to leave it off the list, but, yes Lahinch is a grand town.  Doolin, too, when the sun goes down.  Machrihanish, oh yes.  Carradale on Kintyre; Shiskine in Blackerwaterfoot;  Chevy Chase GC in Port Townsend, Washington; Bridport, Tasmania !?    

  Adam, remember how I remarked that Mullen was like a Twilight Zone episode in that we did not see even one person.  Nor dog or cat.    Reminded me of an old Gahan Wilson cartoon where two guys working for a sausage factory are holding t he doors open for tourists, when one worker said to the other "You'd think somebody would figure it out."
  I don't know how many folks come from the north to go to Sand Hills and cruise the gut of Mullen but I can't imagine Mullen gets much impact but I know it can't hurt it.  Unless, of course, two lost heathenous city slickers roll into town lookin' for wimmen and single malt!  Nevertheless, that country is pure dreamscape for golf architects and hobbyists.  The imagination can definitely overload on possibilities.  "Look!!  Natural blowout beside a natural green!!!"  Look!  Damn you!!  I saw it first!  Where's my claimin' stakes?!
Brudda Jason, your thoughts and observations are right on.  We have to ask ourselves sometimes, "What is really important."  Sometimes it's just the waving grasses.  Sometimes its Grampas stories.  Sometimes it's just having an old chair for Ed Baker to flop into.  Sometimes, well,  sometimes it's just nice to appreciate being alive and having your health and knowing that we are lucky beings.  And if someone you know isn't alive, then celebrate for them, in their honor.

  Adam, I am not an addict.  I can qw...quit .. a..ny...ti..ime.   Medic !!