Who Are You Guys(revisited)?

[Brian Phillips]

Name: Brian Phillips
Age: 33
Home: Norway
E-mail: brian@niblickgolfdesign.com
Occupation: Golf Course Architect
Married: To a blond Norwegian called Hege
Kids: Two named after Annika Sørenstam and Jesper Parnevik

Now residing in Edinburgh taking a year off (getting to know my wife and kids again) studying a M.Sc in Golf Course Architecture.  It's nice yet frustrating and can't wait to get back to getting muck on my boots again.

I didn't take golf seriously until about 11 years ago when I got injured playing Rugby.  I now play off 9 - 12 depending which country I am in!!

I am possibly the first architect to evolve from this site.  Encouraged by Jeff Brauer to jump in with both feet and get out of the golf course construction business I started my own company two years ago.  Completed a small nine holer last year in Norway and have now teamed up with Jeremy Turner on a handshake agreement.

If  I ever do make it in this business it will be down to people like Jeff Brauer, Tom Doak, Lester George, Tom Paul, John Ott, Rocky (the greatest caddie in the world), Rich Goodale, Paul Turner, Willie Dow, Darren Kilfara, Paul Daley, Ben Crenshaw, Bill Coore (the list is endless) to just mention a few that really have influenced me on this site and in person.

Good luck to Ran with this site and to all that have the honour to grace it's pages.

Brian.

Edit 2010:

Now running Niblick Golf Design back in Norway.  You can follow me on www.twitter.com/golfdesign

And I just as much if not more to the guys mentioned above including George Pazin!

[Jeff_Blume]

Jeff Blume, Spring Texas
Age:35
Married, Two Daughters (2 and 1)
Occupation: Golf Course Architect
Handicap: 6-8
Member: La Paloma Golf Club (Amarillo, Texas - one of ours)

Don't get much golf in these days with young children, but do enjoy the occasional business outing.  Resigned membership at Northgate Country Club after seven years (and my wife realizing that I just paid $400 for that bag of range balls I hit last month)

Nixer:  My one major golf outing of the year is to travel to Indianapolis for CCI's member guest each summer.  My partner works for Lilly, and continues to invite me even though we have yet to place in six years.

[Pete_Pittock]

J

[dsilk]

Greetings all:
Dave Silk
45 yrs old
Boston, Ma
9 H'cap

Passionate re: golf course design- found out about you guys
about a year ago and log on daily- looking forward to N.M.  !!

[Dan Herrmann]

Dan Herrmann
Age: 50 (as of 2011)
Home: Chester Springs, PA, USA
Email: danh4@verizon.net
Occupation: IT Security
Index: 10 or 11

Started playing at age 18 at munis up in Buffalo, NY.  Primarily Brighton and Sheridan Park in Tonawanda.

Traveled the world, and ended up working at Nike in Beaverton, OR, where I was a member at Riverside.

Moved to the western burbs of Philly in 1993 and joined a Findlay course, Coatesville CC.  Met my wife Laura in 1996, and got married in 1997 at Coatesville.  She obviously passed the golf test!

Left Coatesville and played public for a year in 2002.  Played Beechtree a lot and really liked the course.

Joined French Creek (Hanse) before it was even open, and have loved it ever since.  I'm on the green cmte \ helping to make the experience even better.

Love golf, love my wife, love playing golf with my wife  

[Tommy Williamsen]

Tom Williamsen  age:56
handicap: 4
clubs:  CC at Woodmore, Fours Streams GC (MD)
Musgrove Mill GC (SC)  Bryce Resort (VA)
I have been playing golf all of my life.  I stopped playing competively and instead spend my time as a member of the rating panel of GOLF DIGEST.  Am married with two grown children.  In the winter I am an avid skiier.
I am tickled to death to have found this site.  I go to it at least two or three times a day.  I will post more now that I gotten a feel for this site.

[david h. carroll]

Been a frequent guest of this site and only recently got involved...it is truly wonderful to see such ardent discussion!!

David Carroll
Age: 33
Live: Baltimore, MD
hdcp: 1
clubs: Five Farms, Elkridge Club, (parents were members at Long Cove, Melrose and Tabby Links so lots of play in the HHI area)
Family: one son with another on the way
Occupation: lobbyist/gov't relations

[tlavin]

Terry Lavin, 49, married, two daughters.  I'm a medical malpractice lawyer and president of the Illinois State Bar Association.  I'm a member of three clubs on Western Ave. in the Chicago area: Beverly, Flossmoor and Olympia Fields.  I have an interest in golf course architecture only from an educational standpoint.  If you love the game, you have to educate yourself about design, maintenance and operations.  

I was introduced to this site by Rick Holland, a Beverly member who has an insatiable appetite for all matters historical as they relate to golf.  I was fortunate to play with Ran Morrissett, our host, at Olympia Fields on a brisk fall day.

If you want to read about my travails as Grounds Chairman for the most recent U.S. Open, go to Golfweek.com and go to the U.S. Open section and follow the prompts.  I'm still in recovery...

[Brock Peyer]

Brock Peyer
age:  31
email:  bndpeyer@hotmail.com
wife: Deanna
13 month old daughter: Palmer
occupation:  Mortgage Consultant

I started playing seriously after the 86 Masters with my Dad and have worked at 5 different courses while in high school and college in KY and NC, most notably Porters Neck in Wilmington, NC, a Fazio course, and Cape Fear CC also in Wilmington, a Ross. I used to play 300+ times a year and was scratch but now play 10-15 times a year and am happy to break 80.  I can't wait for the day until I can take my daughter to the driving range with me. I haven't played alot of the classic courses but now that I don't play much I am trying to play one or two great courses a year.

[TEPaul]

Carlos Febres:

Very glad to see you mention the J. Wood Platt Caddie sholarship fund of the GAP (Golf Association of Philadelphia). We're proud of it and it's one of the 3-4 major efforts of GAP and again one of our real priorities we work very hard on promoting amongst our member clubs! It's one of the best of any association in America. Of course its dwarfed (as all regional association caddie scholarship funds are) by the amazing Evan Caddie Scholarship Fund of Chicago.

As a point of trivia, J. Wood Platt (Woodie Platt) is the same man who pulled off that amazing feat of playing the first four holes of PVGC (birdie, birdie, hole in one, birdie) at which point he proceeded into the bar (immediately juxtaposed to the 4th green) and proceeded to get completely loaded!! The same Woodie Platt that some of the great old golfers in this area if they happened to go out and get in some trouble (in bars or whatever) would tell their wifes it was all Woodie Platt's fault (although Woodie may not have even been around)!

[noonan]

Jerry Kessler
Age 40
Occupation - Bowling center GM
Location - Ohio
Handicap - 5

I have been golfing since I was 5 - my father golfed and if I wanted to see him I figured I better golf too!

Golf should be played while walking - courses that require carts should be planted with corn.

Claim to fame - played 170 rounds in a one year in Ohio....

JK

[Andrew_Roberts]

Andrew Roberts
Age:19(Probably the youngest of the old men)
Going to School
Location: Auburn Washington
Handicap: 0.6 and going down
Been playing golf for 7 or so years

Always enjoyed the ideas of Golf Course Architecture and still do.

[Sean Remington (SBR)]

Greetings:

Sean Remington
39
Collegeville, PA - Philadelphia suburbs
married too Jeannemarie with two girls,
Ashley and Alyssa
Golf Course Superintendent
7 hdcp
sbjmrem@comcast.net

Found my way here and got hooked by the wonderful course reviews.  Now I learn something new everyday from this forum. Thanks to all who contribute.

Sean


Dave Silk from Boston,

   You don't happen to play ice hockey?  

[Andy Levett]

41, 12.9, 1 (marriage), 2 (children).
Live North Yorkshire, love my life, hate my job.
Work on newspaper, dream elsewhere.
Cheers.
PS Member Hunley Hall (the Old Head of the North-east - top of a cliff, lots of wind)

[tonyt]

Tony Titheridge
Age: 33
Live: Melbourne, Australia
Married 5 years (Sandra), no children yet

Occupation: Fine Wine Retailer (love it)
Former Occupation: Australasian and Asian Tour Caddy (1987-1993), did the yardage books for Australasian Tour 1989-1992.

I play off 14, less than twice a month   (8 as a junior, caddying meant I had no time to play golf anymore!)

Interest in architecture fostered when I used to design courses on paper in class from about age 14 (and get in deep s**t from teachers when they realised I wasn't working).

Am fortunate to be considered my company's (300 employees) doyen on all issues golf, with regards to our trade days, comps and other decision making and stuff. Being a manager helps too. So I'm finally getting gradually back into playing almost every week. Afterall, gotta get back to single digits by next year sometime.

Doing a search, I found the GCA site. And as Tom Cruise once said "You complete me"  

[Bob_Farrell]

Bob Farrell
Age:57 (next week)
Florham Park NJ
Married, 1 daughter (16 going on 30)
Private Investigator (specializing in White Collar crime)
www.whitecollarinv.com
Member:  Spring Brook CC, Morristown NJ
              St Andrews Golf Club, St Andrews, Fifeshire

[Chris Pike]

Chris Pike
Age: 30
Newington, CT (Hartford suburb)
Married, No Children (wife comes from a long line of "golf widows")
Occupation: Institutional Investing
Handicap: 8 to 10

I currently have no course affiliation.  I'm trying to play as many of the great courses in the Northeast as I can and, after that, I'll settle down (as if we needed more golf/women analogies)  .  Stumbled upon the site after playing Highlands Links (Nova Scotia), and looking it up on a search engine.

[Eric Pevoto]

Eric Pevoto
Age: 35
Kimberton, PA (outside Phila.)
Married for 6 years(next month), daughter (3 years), and one on the way
Occupation: golf professional, French Creek Golf Club

I've lurked and posted occasionally for about 4 years and can't get enough of the site.  

With 7 years in the golf industry, I'm just about to finish my apprenticeship with the PGA (end of October) after 4 1/2 years of work.  I love all parts of the game, but I'm especially drawn to history and architecture.  The perspective helps me not only in teaching, but really all parts of the job.

As part of the PGA curriculum, we're required to pass tests given as simulations.  The testing takes place down at a very nice facility in Port St. Lucie (paid for with Ryder Cup monies).  Along with the education center, they've set up a museum with a fairly extensive library as part of the center.

At my last checkpoint, or testing session, I had finished a group of tests early and wandered into the library where I found Tolhurst's history of Merion.  I was thrilled.  Unfortunately, I got so wrapped up in reading, I pulled a no-brainer and was late to the teaching simulation.  Got to take that one twice; passed it both times!

This past year and a half have been a blast: watching Gil and the crew build the course, starting a club from the ground up, sifting through GCA for ideas, and hopefully adding to the discussion.  What a group!

[M.W._Burrows]

Name:Matthew W. Burrows
Residence: Westhampton Beach, NY
Raised:  Suburbs of Detroit, MI
Occupation:  Assistant Superintendent - National Golf Links of America
Age: 28

I've been coming to this site for about three years now and have met some really wonderful guys.  I've learned a lot and look forward to learning more and establishing more relationships as well.

[cary lichtenstein]

Quasssi

Cary Lichtenstein
Jupiter, Florida
561-575-4343

Age: 60
Occupation: Retired from the Textile Business in 1998 to enjoy life and play golf.
Lived in Chicago my 1st 54 years
Member of Admirals Cove and The Ritz, both in Jupiter

CGA's are welcome to contact me and play my courses.

Have recently renewed my quest to play the top 100 courses.
About 85% complete so far.

Wife is also an avid golfer: Bette,  Handicap 8
My handicap is 5

We love to travel in the summer months and play lots of courses. Sort of picking off 1 area at a time. Hoping to eventually do the entire United States.

I like all kinds of architecture. Have lots of favorite courses and architects. If I had to pick a favorite look, it would be dramatic elevated tees, manicured fairways and greens, shaggy steep bunders with hard sand. The move movement the better.

[grandwazo]

Jeff Siskind
45
Roslyn, NY
Married, 3 kids
(17, a Phish Head, 14, a Lacrosse Player, 8, my range buddy)
Muttontown CC
9 hdc
Office Supplies Distributor
jsiskind@airlineinc.com

Googled National Golf Links of America and found GCA.  Love the course reviews and the discussion groups...found that if you have a question about golf and any associated topic, that you wil get honest and informative answers and in some cases a couple of laughs.  Thanks to all, especially to Ran and John.

Jeff

[Brian Joines]

Updated 2010

Brian Joines
Age 27
I live in South Bend, IN and graduated from Indiana University
I currently play to an 8 index
My home course is South Bend CC (George O'Neil 1916)

My favorite cources that I've played are (in no particular order):
Kingsley Club
Lost Dunes
Pasatiempo
Pebble Beach
Skokie CC
Wolf Run
Rustic Canyon
I'll stop there but the list could keep on going.

[Scratch_Nathan]

Greg Nathan
Age: 33
Home: Irvington, NY, USA
Email: greg.nathan@time4.com
Occupation: GOLF MAGAZINE Sales Development Manager
A member of Manhattan Woods Golf Club in W. Nyack, NY

Okay, so I'm not really scratch (just a nickname I thought would be fun for GCA), but I am currently at my all-time low index of 4.8...and losing much coin.  

Since I work on the business side of the magazine, not the edit side, I spend a lot of time off the course thinking about marketing the greatest game in the world to companies in and out of the golf arena.  

Since getting serious about the game around 15 years ago, I've always appreciated - and been obsessed with, golf course architecture.  I keep a log of every course played and I'm currently at 196.  Relative to non-GCA members, I have an encyclopedic memory for courses, holes and architects.  Played approximately 25% of GOLF MAGAZINE's and GD's Top 100 U.S. lists. Favorite course played to-date is Merion East (the golf Gods definitely live there) with close competition from Shinnecock and Pebble Beach but I've yet to play the holy trinity of PV, Cypress or Augusta National.  NGLA, Oakmont, Sand Hills and Shadow Creek top my current wish list beyond that trifecta. I love the work of classic architects (CB MacDonald and Tillinghast are favorites) but I'm also partial to some modern work from the usual suspects like Rees Jones, Tom Fazio, Nicklaus and Pete Dye.  I've only played one round overseas (Ugolino in Italy during my honeymoon) and I'm trying to get to Ireland next summer. I spend a lot of time on GCA but have only made scattered posts. GCA is a great home for certifiable golf course freaks like myself.  Thanks to everyone who keep the debate and architecture opinions coming.  

I've been with GOLF MAGAZINE just over three years and nearly went to work at Links and GolfWeek before I ended up here.  Worked for 8 years in the ad business before winning this job.  I'm truly lucky to have meshed my passion for golf with my job.  Amazing things going on here at the magazine with record revenue issues during a down economy and the excitement of a new Editor (though I've always been a huge George Peper fan).  

On a personal level, I have an amazing wife and the world's best 2-year old boy named Jack who I look forward to teaching the game.

My home course, designed by Player and Stephen Kay is somewhat unknown and very underappreciated.  Partially because of the local Westchester County competition and the fact that the doors are not wide open to raters, press and industry folks... an error that need to be fixed.  

Mike Vegis from Kiawah and Steve the Super from Berkshire Hills are the only guys I've met in person.  However, I'm a huge fan of Geoff Shackelford's books as well as George Bahto's recent volume on CMacD.  Coffee Table book collection is huge and growing.  All the best to all the contributors to this site.  

Scratch

[David Wigler]

Just pulling back up again

[olivier]

Greetings,

Olivier Benrubi from Colmar and Paris in France. My wife sometimes accept to waste a nice walk, our two children are too young to play but one seems to enjoy slamming balls on the range. Home club is Saint-Nom la Breteche, close to Paris. I also play in Ammerswhihr (do not go there for the golf. If you like wine then it is another story) in Alsace as I am currently working for the pharmaceutical company Novartis in Basel Switzerland.
Official handicap hovers around 6 these days and I rarely plays it. I found CGA while googling for Shinnecock and Biarritz. (my point being being that golf in the US mainly took off after a visit paid to Biarritz by W. Vanderbilt) and I am starting to understand what PV, PD, PB, SH and NGLA stand for. I am still wondering about CGCG(or is it GCGC ... ). Not posting too much for the time being but crtainly lurking.

Some courses I have played on, which I found interesting or enjoyable. No particular order (My knowledge is quite limited but I hope to get better).


France:
Chantilly, Fontainebleau, Morfontaine, Joyenval, Golf National All around Paris.

Chiberta, Moliets, Hossegor in the South West

Le Touquet, Les Bordes, Barbaroux, Saint Endreol, Sperone from North to South

Switzerland:
Lausanne

Germany:
Club zur Vahr, Schloss Langenstein

Belgium:
Ravenstein, Spa, Le Zoute

Spain:
El Saler

Portugal:
Penha Longa

Canada:
Cape Breton

USA:
Troon North, World's Wood

All CGA participants who want to play while in Paris are welcome to contact me obenrubi@aol.com