Great thread John and others.
One of the things I love about Norman's Moonah course at The National is the total absence of any sound of the outside world, save golfers on neighbouring holes.
On another front - this thread is the best arena for the following experience to be retold.
I once played Turnberry in a holwing gale, with sleet driving into me like nails. A cold, hard, grey day with my playing partner already having turned back to the confines of the warm grand Hotel atop the hill. I was walking along the 12th hole, with the monument on the right of me and the remnants of the cracked concrete runway on the left.
For those who may not know, the course and surrounding buildings were used as an airforce base during WWII, and the monument grandly stands atop a large dune, as a reminder of those who lost their lives, during their time on the base and/or in the planes which used the strip.
I will never know if I imagined it, yet I distinctly heard bagpipes to the tune of "Scotland the Brave". Very clearly, despite torrid howls of wind. I am certain I was the only person on the course, and that there wasn't anyone within at least a mile of me. I cannot imagine where the sound came from, yet it was as clear as if bagpipes were being played in the next room. It is as clear in my mind as I'm typing this, as it was on the course 6 years ago. The sound lasted a minute, and try as I might, I saw noone, let alone a Scottish piper. It is the most eerie sound I have ever heard on a course, yet strangely comforting and one of the most fond memories I will ever have of golf.
Matthew