[John Kavanaugh]

I was fortunate to be born 10 days into the modern golf architectural era as defined by Brad Klein.  Eight years later Dick Grout, the jovial but less talented brother to famous golf teacher Jack Grout, told my dad that it was my time to play and get me out on the course.  Early, before the blender got to work, mother hauled me out to the club where I remain a member today to learn the game that has grown and died with me, the world and our county these last 40 years.  So, the question remains...What seminal event occurred in one of the great years of American history, 1968, that has formed my opinions on Golf Course Architecture.

Forty years later and this scene plays today with a relevance that has brought a tear to my eye.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cmw6Jne0tAQ

[Adam Clayman]

I can't believe you have the same b-day as my Sheryl.

A more important reality is how the hippies who marched on Chicago sold out.

We're really paying for that one today.

[John Kavanaugh]

I can't believe you have the same b-day as my Sheryl.

A more important reality is how the hippies who marched on Chicago sold out.

We're really paying for that one today.

Was Sheryl born on 1/10/60...I was told I had a twin sister who died at birth.  Hmmmm?  Does she have a freckle on her left ass cheek?

[TEPaul]

My first experience with golf on a golf course was at The Creek Club in Long Island. Our neighbors, the Grahams, belonged to the club and even though my father was a really good golfer and belonged to a bunch of clubs I was not interested in golf.

But Mrs. Graham used to take me and her son Scotty to the beach club at The Creek when we were little kids. One day we were such pains in the ass she told us to get out of the beach club and go get her bag in the back of her car and go over to the nearby Biarritz and entertain ourselves.

That we did. I hit the first ball and it landed on the green. Then Scotty tried it and basically put all the rest of the balls in Mrs. Graham's bag into the creek. When he hit the last ball in the bag into the creek he fell down on the tee screaming and crying in hysterics and I basically had to pick him up and carry him back into the beach club and tell Mrs. Graham her alternative intertainment suggestion hadn't worked out very well.

That was my seminal moment and the first time I hit a golf ball on a golf course.

[Dan Kelly]

... one of the great years of American history, 1968 ...

I wonder: In what sense was it great?

[Adam Clayman]

Sry, John, She was a 66 baby. I likes 'em young.

No confirmation on her ass cheek. I have to have some secrets.

But honestly, the seminal moment for me on a GC was when I divorced what I thought and started to think about a bigger picture. I was fortunate to have that occur at Pine Meadows somewhere around the fourth hole, circa 1986.  

[Mark_Rowlinson]

My seminal moment was at Lilleshall Hall in Shropshire in the early 1960s. My father and I were playing the 5th (not in a competition). I drove into the right rough, walked to the ball and hit it towards the green. A man walked over from the 9th tee and asked me if I was sure I had played the right ball. I've always checked the ball carefully ever since.....

[John Kavanaugh]

Sry, John, She was a 66 baby. I likes 'em young.

No confirmation on her ass cheek. I have to have some secrets.

But honestly, the seminal moment for me on a GC was when I divorced what I thought and started to think about a bigger picture. I was fortunate to have that occur at Pine Meadows somewhere around the fourth hole, circa 1986.  

That is quite interesting in that I used to play Pine Meadow in 1986 on a regular basis with my boss, the village manager of Lincolnshire - who is now the VM of Highland Park.  He would always insist on playing the tips, walking and grinding.  A seminal moment to me in the world of slow play arrived when the pro came out onto the course and informed us that Mrs. Ditka was sick of waiting on our sorry asses and he would appreciate it if we would choose to play somewhere else in the future.  The Ditka's were deservedly Gods in Chicago in 86 and I was decidedly chastised.

[Tom Huckaby]

It's not too far of a stretch to imagine how Planet of the Apes shaped JK's opinions on anything... not to mention his personality....

 

My first round on a golf course occurred in 1971.

Internet searches yield little as to the seminal events of that year.  Did anything great happen then?  Oh well... at least we get this from the world of music:

Year In Review: 1971
Things really started to pick up again in 1971. Prominent members of split 60s bands like Graham Nash and John Lennon produced fine solo records. The Who gave up temporarily on concept albums, but they did release what ended up being their greatest and loudest LP - as did the Stones and arguably Led Zeppelin. West Coast hippies like Janis Joplin, New Riders of the Purple Sage and Santana had crafted their message with commercial, but creative records. Elton John and Rod Stewart proved that they were a lot more than one-hit wonders. Glam rock was about to break in a big way, with T. Rex becoming a massive trans-Atlantic success this year. Prog rock had established itself with acts like Yes. Van Morrison was still in peak form, and two female singer-songwriters continued to blossom as powerful voices for the coming decade: Carole King and Joni Mitchell.
Another major story was the resurgence of Motown, Stax-Volt, and rest of the R & B/soul/funk industry after several years of trying and failing to catch up: Marvin Gaye produced an important concept album that broke all kinds of barriers. Other successful acts included Valerie Simpson, Aretha Franklin, Curtis Mayfield (who did well with live and studio albums), and Sly and the Family Stone; James Brown had settled down wih a new band and a minimalistic funk formula.

The lack of major embarassments also was a good sign, but there were a few minor ones. Steve Stills's sophomore solo record was mediocre, as were live albums by the Grateful Dead and Frank Zappa; British heavy rockers the Faces and Humble Pie released shambling, sloppy efforts; the Kinks tossed off a lousy soundtrack; the Isley Brothers and the Ohio Players experimented fruitlessly; the Supremes and Four Tops suddenly seemed washed up, whether working alone or as a team; and the nascent Weather Report was a long way from perfecting its jazz-fusion formula. (JA)

I shall try to introspectively figure out how any of this shaped my views on golf course architecture.

I will say this in the meantime:  there was one main reason I badgered my Dad to take me to play this game on a course:  we watched a lot of golf on TV, and I heard them refer to "the cup" quite often.  I couldn't figure out for the life of me how they got a flagstick to stay in a "cup."  I had to see for myself.

I was pretty impressed with man's ingenuity.

Playing the game, I was pretty good at first, that made me want to continue.

Playing the game more, it was the variety of the playing fields that made me love it, and give up tennis, which I had been playing a lot of as a tiny tot.  No variety of playing fields there, at least not where I lived.

TH


UPDATE - not sure why I didn't just look up the year in wikipedia... but thanks John!  Reviewing the entry for 1971 shows this:
February 9
The Sylmar earthquake (6.4 on the Richter Scale) hits the San Fernando Valley area of California.

That was right near my house..  I remember that very very well.  No huge damage to our house, but lots around us.  That must have shaped my views somehow. 

[John Kavanaugh]

... one of the great years of American history, 1968 ...

I wonder: In what sense was it great?

It was great because everyday gave you hope instead of despair. Here is a sweet little time line courtesy of Wikipedia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1968

[Thomas MacWood]

Nothing seminal for me, though on a related front my brother and sister were both tutored by Jack Grout. My mentor was Rino del a Flora. I would like to think my parents thought I had more natural ability and didn't need Grout's guidance or perhaps they thought del a Flora's mob ties would temper my precociousness.

Architecturally only one thing stands out. All my golf that first year was played at Bash Recreation, a shortish 18 hole course designed by Jack Kidwell, NLE. I recall the course only had one bunker but its most memorable feature was a tree growing out of the 18th green. In addition to the golf course Bash had a putt-putt course and a batting cage...neither of which was good for your golf game.

[John Kavanaugh]

My first round on a golf course occurred in 1971.

Internet searches yield little as to the seminal events of that year.  Did anything great happen then?  Oh well... at least we get this from the world of music:

In a Huckonian moment, October 1, 1971 - Walt Disney World opens in Florida.

[Tom Huckaby]

That is a very semimal moment for me.  Sad I didn't get there until about 21 years later.  But yes, living in SoCal all things Disney had great influence.

[TEPaul]

I'll tell you a seminal moment for me with golf before I ever played it. That was watching trick shot artist Paul Hahn put on an exhibition out on the old airport in Daytona Beach. MY GOD, we could not believe somebody could do the things with a club and ball that Hahn did.

Ironically, I think about the spot he put on that exhibition so many years ago is today the track of the Daytona 500.

[Doug Sobieski]

Architecturally only one thing stands out. All my golf that first year was played at Bash Recreation, a shortish 18 hole course designed by Jack Kidwell, NLE. I recall the course only had one bunker but its most memorable feature was a tree growing out of the 18th green. In addition to the golf course Bash had a putt-putt course and a batting cage...neither of which was good for your golf game.

Tom:

Don't forget to mention the Bash family ties to the history of the game, i.e. that of Barbara (Bash) Nicklaus.

Doug

[Dan Kelly]

... one of the great years of American history, 1968 ...

I wonder: In what sense was it great?

It was great because everyday gave you hope instead of despair.

Amazing. Of all the years of my life -- 1953 to present -- I can't remember any year in which there were more days conducive to despair.

On your timeline, just for example: Check out April 4, June 5, August 20, August 22-30, and November 5.

[Doug Wright]

... one of the great years of American history, 1968 ...

I wonder: In what sense was it great?

It was great because everyday gave you hope instead of despair.

Amazing. Of all the years of my life -- 1953 to present -- I can't remember any year in which there were more days conducive to despair.

On your timeline, just for example: Check out April 4, June 5, August 20, August 22-30, and November 5.

Agree Dan 1968 was the most tumultuous year of my life--1953 to present.

My first golfing experience, at age 10 (1963), was almost my last. Playing my first ever round with my Dad on 9 hole St. Bonaventure University GC in Olean, NY, I hit a drive on about the 6th hole off to the left of the tee about 50 yards. I ran after it to hit it again; meanwhile my Dad hit his tee shot straight left and right at me. The ball whizzed past my head at great speed. Needless to say, I haven't run ahead of any of my playingpartners since...

The summer of 1963--Camelot; things changed quite dramatically a few short months later.

[Mike_Cirba]

Huckaby,

What date in 1971 did you start playing.

It would be too weird if we both started on the same day.   

Mine was 7/13/1971, 9 days before my 13th birthday.


The Major League Baseball AllStar game was played that day, and many of my boyhood heroes participated;

 NL All-Stars                  AL All-Stars                       
1. W Mays               CF    1. R Carew              2B
2. H Aaron              RF    2. B Murcer             CF
3. J Torre              3B    3. C Yastrzemski        LF
4. W Stargell           LF    4. F Robinson           RF
5. W McCovey            1B    5. N Cash               1B
6. J Bench              C     6. B Robinson           3B
7. G Beckert            2B    7. B Freehan            C 
8. B Harrelson          SS    8. L Aparicio           SS
9. D Ellis              P     9. V Blue               P 

Reserves (includes players replaced due to injury)
   N Colbert            1B       H Killebrew          1B
   L May                1B       B Powell             1B
   F Millan             2B       C Rojas              2B
   R Santo              3B       B Melton             3B
   M Sanguillen         C        D Duncan             C
   W Davis              CF       R Fosse              C
   B Bonds              OF       T Munson             C
   L Brock              OF       A Otis               CF
   P Rose               OF       D Buford             LF
   R Staub              OF       F Howard             OF
   R Clemente           RF       R Jackson            OF
   D Kessinger          SS       A Kaline             OF
                                 T Oliva              OF
                                 L Cardenas           SS

   S Carlton            P        M Cuellar            P
   C Carroll            P        M Lolich             P
   L Dierker            P        S McDowell           P
   F Jenkins            P        A Messersmith        P
   J Marichal           P        J Palmer             P
   T Seaver             P        M Pattin             P
   D Wilson             P        J Perry              P
   R Wise               P        S Siebert            P
                                 W Wood               P

[Tom Huckaby]

Huckaby,

What date in 1971 did you start playing.

It would be too weird if we both started on the same day.   

Mine was 7/13/1971, 9 days before my 13th birthday.

Mike:  I can't remember what I had for lunch yesterday, let alone the exact date of my first golf round.  All I do know is that I think I was 8 years old when it occurred.  And come to think of it, that would have to have meant late in 1971 as my birthday is September 5.  So it could well have been 1972.

I do know the site:  the beautiful and challenging par three course at Van Nuys GC - adjacent to Van Nuys municipal airport, said at one time to be the world's busiest airport in terms of takeoffs and landings.  I also remember my first shot... 100 yards or so hole, 3iron.  My Dad's words echo in my mind even today:  "wow, straight as an arrow."  It was likely the last perfectly straight shot I ever hit.

 

[Mike_Cirba]

I do know the site:  the beautiful and challenging par three course at Van Nuys GC - adjacent to Van Nuys municipal airport, said at one time to be the world's busiest airport in terms of takeoffs and landings.  I also remember my first shot... 100 yards or so hole, 3iron.  My Dad's words echo in my mind even today:  "wow, straight as an arrow."  It was likely the last perfectly straight shot I ever hit.

Huck,

Mine was at the 9-hole, 2300 yard Scott-View Golf Course in Montdale, PA, designed by the famed John Kosydar in the early 1960s.

The first hole I played was the longest hole on the course, a par four of about 350 yards.   I scored an 11, having reached the green in 8 scrapes, and then taking 3 putts.   I scored 81 for nine holes, but whether I knew or followed all of the Rules of Golf at the time is extremely unlikely.

Stepping onto that first hole green next to a scuzzy, algae-covered little pond for the first time however, I instantly fell in love, I instantly recognized it, and I never looked back.

[Tom Huckaby]

That is very cool, Mike.

As for moi, the love for the playing fields wasn't instant; that came much later as I saw how different they could be.  The love for the GAME was pretty instant though.. it really was love at first shot.

TH

[Charlie Goerges]

I can't believe all you old guys   can remember the day, month or even the year you first played golf! Good grief I can't remember the year, but I do know it was late 80s-early 90s. My first year really playing was 1993. Certainly an up and down year. World Trade Center bombed for the first time, US troops in Somalia, Audrey Hepburn and Thurgood Marshall died. Some good music was being made including Nirvana, In Utero and Smashing Pumpkins, Siamese Dream.

I only ever played 9 holes back in those days, but that was definitely my year of greatest improvement at golf in terms of total strokes taken off my average score. The rapid improvement from shooting about 60 for 9 holes to bogey golf was exhilerating for this 14 year old.

[Tom Yost]

Re: the youtube clip - In 1968, I was 13 and saw that movie in the theater. That was the first time the idea of a human caused apocalypse seem real and it hit home with me like a punch in the gut.  I still get chills seeing this scene.

A year earlier, I received a Junior set of Kryoden golf clubs on my 12th birthday.  My dad took me out to the car where he opened the trunk to reveal my unexpected gift in a brand new Scotch plaid bag.   I don't have any memory of playing prior to that, but I'm sure I had some cut-down clubs and was chipping, putting and hitting balls at the driving range for some years before.  But that summer, I played as often as I could get my mom to take me out and drop me off at Armco Park, the employee recreational facility owned by the steel mill where my Dad worked that had a driving range and 9-hole pitch and putt golf course.  I remember walking the course, deserted during mid-week, in the humid Ohio summer heat, silent except for the buzzing cicadas and occasional bullfrog croaking.  I remember the smell of the freshly cut grass and the sounds of metal spikes clattering on the concrete.  I played with old balls my dad gave me and the ones I fished out of the pond or found in the woods.  I remember saving my money to buy a sleeve of three brand new Acushnet Club Specials and remember how pissed I was when I plonked one into the pond.  I also remember the thrill of watching my tee shot on one of the short holes land on the green and track straight toward the pin where it hit hard and ricocheted away, and the disappointment of the first of my many almost holes-in-one.

I probably cherish the memories of that first golfing summer more than the summer of the first girlfriend.

Now I'm verklemmt, please talk amongst yourselves...

[Dan Kelly]

I do know the site:  the beautiful and challenging par three course at Van Nuys GC - adjacent to Van Nuys municipal airport, said at one time to be the world's busiest airport in terms of takeoffs and landings.  I also remember my first shot... 100 yards or so hole, 3iron.  My Dad's words echo in my mind even today:  "wow, straight as an arrow."  It was likely the last perfectly straight shot I ever hit.

 

My first round, on any golf course:

1964 or 1965, I guess. (Let's say '65 -- a big year hereabouts: Humphrey inaugurated as Vice President; massive floods in the spring; All-Star Game in July [Willie Mays led off the 1st inning with a home run]; Twins' first World Series in October.)

The place was Braemar Golf Course -- a muni in Edina, Minnesota ... and the same course where I got beaned this past Memorial Day.

I remember only two shots:

Par 3 12th -- a drop shot of about 130 yards. I hit Driver -- and damned near holed it. Closest I came to an ace for quite a few years.

Maybe a 3-footer for birdie.

Missed it.

Never looked back.

[Tom Huckaby]

Tom Y:  I'll give you a topic:  the Holy Roman Empire was neither holy nor Roman nor an empire.  Discuss.

 

Dan K:  you do know to whom the Twins lost in that fateful series, right?  And interestingly I cut a lot of my golf teeth at a Braemar CC in Southern California.  Insert twilight zone music....

TH

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