[Ian Andrew]

What would be the perfect day of golf?

Plan a day with two separate 18’s.
No planes, trains or helicopters.
No drive over an hour - something that you would actually schedule – or for the lucky few may already have scheduled!

Is it a morning at Pine Valley with lunch at the clubhouse and a drive over to Merion for the afternoon?

Is it 18 holes at The National, lunch in the clubhouse followed by and afternoon at Shinnecock Hills?

Is it a morning round at Cypress Point, lunch in Carmel, followed by an afternoon at Pebble Beach?

Is it playing both 18’s at Royal Melbourne or at Winged Foot?

Is it a combination of Pacific Dunes, Bandon Dunes or Bandon Trails?

The Old Course and Carnoustie?
Prestwick and Troon?
San Francisco and Olympic?
Ballybunion and Lahinch

What would be the perfect day and WHY?

[Joe Hancock]

Ian,

No wrongs answers here, are there?

I would take Kingsley and Crystal Downs for the golf and for sentimental/ personal reasons.

There is nowhere I'd rather be than Crystal Lake....

Joe

[Tom Huckaby]

Best 36 hole combo has been discussed MANY times on here, Ian.  You hit all the usual nominations.

So do you want to leave this as a repeat of the same old discussion, or can you open it up to other things?

IE the perfect day of golf for me is 9 holes at Weddington Golf & Tennis with my Dad, followed by a visit to my brother and his health is perfect.

I doubt that's ever been mentioned before.  

OK what the hell, no need to be so curmudgeonly.... my standard answer here as indeed been Cypress + Pebble, only because I'm a homer as all hell.  I'd take ANY of the others mentioned.. with one add....

Sand Hills:  morning 18, lunch on the porch, afternoon 18, drinks on the porch, church nine, more drinks on porch,  dinner at the clubhouse, sleep the sleep of the just.  Golf and LIFE don't get more perfect than that.

TH

[hhuffines]

I agree with Tom but its damn hard to beat 36 in Pinehurst on a sunny
day with a great group of friends followed by dinner and drinks at the Pinecrest. 

As for the courses, it matters not that much, there are several great places to play 36 there.  Of course plenty of cold beer tends to blur the architecture...

[Ian Andrew]

I have played Prestwick followed by Troon before.

I think I would recommend it the other way around. The opening holes at Troon make a more gradual start to the day than Prestwick. Facing the 1st at Prestwick after 18 holes would be a little easier to deal with. Troon is a grinding finish into the wind – whereas Prestwick has a series of short finishing holes as you get tired.

The pairing is wonderful for the following reasons: excellent golf, very close proximity, and they are both relatively flat which makes walking 36 manageable. When we walked both, I was tired, but not like I was after Cruden Bay later in the week.

Dan Schlegel and I are scheduled to play Pacific Dunes, Bandon Dunes, Bandon Trails and Old MacDonald over two days – I was wondering if that would be the perfect day.

[Tom Huckaby]

Dan Schlegel and I are scheduled to play Pacific Dunes, Bandon Dunes, Bandon Trails and Old MacDonald over two days – I was wondering if that would be the perfect day.

Well of course I have not been to Old Macdonald... but I feel quite safe in saying that either of those days will compete quite nicely with ANY yet mentioned, or I would guess to be mentioned.

It is a heck of a place.  One tiny potential for lack compared to some others is the very "public" nature of the restaurants/bars/etc.  God I do not mean to sound snobbish and I hope this is taken the right way... but well.... no place at Bandon comes close to the fun and feel of the porch, or the restaurant, at Sand Hills (for example - and many others merit this as well).  There's just something so much cooler about a small group of like-minded friends both known and yet to be met, than the belt-notchers one seems to encounter en masse at Bandon.  This feeling is lesser in winter there.

If you keep it just to golf, Bandon holds it's head proudly among any of these mentioned.

TH

[PCCraig]

I have always said my favorite day of 36 is the morning at Old Elm, and the afternoon at Shoreacres. (Even though those days are usually made 54 holes as there is never any players on either!) 

[David Stamm]

CPC in am and Pebble in the pm. Having the sun set while walking down 18 at PB is one of the great experiences in golf. And putting a peg in the ground on the first tee at CPC is as well. This would be my choice because it's my favorite area on earth and two of my favorite courses. I would imagine NGLA and Shinny would make for a worthy contender as well as Merion and Pine Valley. I would nominate LACC and Riviera as well since they are also two of my favorites. The close proximity of all these places (some I've played, some I haven't) would make these all very doable and incredible 36 hole days.

[Tom Huckaby]

David - I have a feeling come mid-April a bunch of us will have some new nominations for this thread.... The Sherwood day in particular sure seems to me to be as good as golf can get, as it is planned....

 

[Andrew Mitchell]

36 holes at Muirfield including lunch was pretty good in 2007.  I think the only way that day could have been bettered would have been to follow it with 18 holes at North Berwick in the evening.

[Steve Lang]

  Well its TODAY!

75°F, Sunny, dry, light SW breeze, 1 PM tee time with friends at WCC.. shorts weather..  


postscript.. the morning after.. 41+38=79 .. should have warmed up the swing instead of my jaws!  sure beats workin on a friday!

[RJ_Daley]

I like that Steve.  It reminds me of Coach Bob Johnson of University of Wisconsin NCAA champs, and Pittsburg Penquin Stanley Cup champ fame. 

"It's a great day for hockey" and is equally applied to golf.

Anyday with the right course (s) and the right group of friends is pretty much perfect.  Huck knowz dat.

[Tom Huckaby]

I like that Steve.  It reminds me of Coach Bob Johnson of University of Wisconsin NCAA champs, and Pittsburg Penquin Stanley Cup champ fame. 

"It's a great day for hockey" and is equally applied to golf.

Anyday with the right course (s) and the right group of friends is pretty much perfect.  Huck knowz dat.

Indeed I do....

 

The day at Muirfield is fantastic for sure... but yep, any day with great friends can always compare.

[Tim Bert]

In my opinion, most of the "perfect" scenarios I can come up with involve playing the same course twice instead of playing two different courses.  This assumes these perfect days are spent playing courses that are once in a lifetime deals.

For instance, I would rather play CPC twice in one day or Pebble Beach twice in one day than play each once - unless I had a critical mass at the two courses.  I'd love to play both in the same day if I had experienced each 10 or so times.  If they were one time shots I'd get more out of spending the entire day at one or the other.  The re-play is huge in gaining a real appreciation for a course in my opinion.  Now if that re-play opportunity didn't exist, playing each course once is a fine alternative!

At a place like Bandon, where I've had the opportunity to play the course multiple times, the ideal day may be something like 54 with one round at each of the existing courses.  OK, who am I kidding - 54 at Pacific Dunes still wins out in that equation as well!

Based on what I know or what I've read or heard from others, my perfect day at courses that I haven't experienced would probably consist of at NGLA or 36 at TOC.

To Huck's point about thinking outside the box, I'd be pretty darn content with playing Banff in the morning and then chilling out in town or at Lake Louise in the afternoon taking it all in.  I've done that combo and it is tough to beat!

[henrye]

I've done it.  2 weeks before my heart operation.  Morning round at Swinley with my son.  Didn't see another sole.  We drove the 10 minutes over to Sunningdale had lunch and played an afternoon round on the old course.  Enjoyed a few pints on the patio afterwards.  My wife flew over and joined us both for dinner.  All day sun & no breeze.

[jeffwarne]

Brora-lunch-brora.
been there done that-really good

[David Stamm]

David - I have a feeling come mid-April a bunch of us will have some new nominations for this thread.... The Sherwood day in particular sure seems to me to be as good as golf can get, as it is planned....

 

I will add that as far as publics go, there is no better 36 hole combo than Soule and Rustic in So Cal, IMHO. But, I'm very biased. I'll be interested to hear from others if they feel the same way after the event. And Sherwood? Well, it's a very, very special experience that I got a kick out of. It's a hoot looking out on the course and knowing that Errol and his merry band of men roamed those Coastal Oaks with the lovely Olivia de Havilland in tow. A unique legacy.

[David Stamm]

I've done it.  2 weeks before my heart operation.  Morning round at Swinley with my son.  Didn't see another sole.  We drove the 10 minutes over to Sunningdale had lunch and played an afternoon round on the old course.  Enjoyed a few pints on the patio afterwards.  My wife flew over and joined us both for dinner.  All day sun & no breeze.

Good for you, Henry! This sounds wonderful!

[Bill Shamleffer]

It is too easy to just pick two ideal courses very close to each other that we would all love to play.

How about making this challenge more interesting?

What if you have $1000 to spend (an unexpected windfall/bonus), and are given one day for guilt free all golf (no house chores, no family obligations).  And you have no imaginary access to the great private courses.  So either play a public or resort; or play a private you have realistic access to get on.

One day is not enough to fly from my New England home to go play golf for a day across country or in another country.

So what great 36 would I select within a couple hours of my home in Springfield MA to make a great one day golf outing.

Some immediate possibilities:

Taconic (at Williams College) followed by the 9-hole Hotchkiss.

Tripp Memorial in the morning; lunch at an Irish pub in Dorchester; followed by George Wright in the afternoon; and then finished off with watching 9 innings at Fenway in the evening - in the bleachers.  A great common man's day of golf & baseball.

I possibly could pull off a 36-hole day at two great privates both within 30 minutes of my home - The Orchards in the morning; lunch in Northampton; then Longmeadow C.C. in the afternoon.

If I drive down to LI the night before, another great 36-hole day would be Bethpage, with 18 on The Black course & 18 on The Red course.  (A lunch of a hamburger in the clubhouse is enough for me if I can play these two grets in one day.)

In my hometown of St. Louis I can think of two interesting public options:

One would be 18 at Forest Park; lunch at one of the great Italian restaurants on The Hill; then 18 at Normandie.

Second option, 18 at Gateway National, then 18 at Annbriar (no real good lunch options come to mind).


When I used to work at Algonquin Golf Club and we could play on Monday afternoons, we used to do a day like this.  It would start with an early breakfast at Perkins, then 18 at a public course somewhere in the St. Louis area, then lunch at Steak N Shake, then 18 at Algonquin.  Life was perfect then.  

[David Stamm]

It is too easy to just pick two ideal courses very close to each other that we would all love to play.

How about making this challenge more interesting?

What if you have $1000 to spend (an unexpected windfall/bonus), and are given one day for guilt free all golf (no house chores, no family obligations).  And you have no imaginary access to the great private courses.  So either play a public or resort; or play a private you have realistic access to get on.

One day is not enough to fly from my New England home to go play golf for a day across country or in another country.

So what great 36 would I select within a couple hours of my home in Springfield MA to make a great one day golf outing.

Some immediate possibilities:

Taconic (at Williams College) followed by the 9-hole Hotchkiss.

Tripp Memorial in the morning; lunch at an Irish pub in Dorchester; followed by George Wright in the afternoon; and then finished off with watching 9 innings at Fenway in the evening - in the bleachers.  A great common man's day of golf & baseball.

I possibly could pull off a 36-hole day at two great privates both within 30 minutes of my home - The Orchards in the morning; lunch in Northampton; then Longmeadow C.C. in the afternoon.

If I drive down to LI the night before, another great 36-hole day would be Bethpage, with 18 on The Black course & 18 on The Red course.  (A lunch of a hamburger in the clubhouse is enough for me if I can play these two grets in one day.)

In my hometown of St. Louis I can think of two interesting public options:

One would be 18 at Forest Park; lunch at one of the great Italian restaurants on The Hill; then 18 at Normandie.

Second option, 18 at Gateway National, then 18 at Annbriar (no real good lunch options come to mind).


When I used to work at Algonquin Golf Club and we could play on Monday afternoons, we used to do a day like this.  It would start with an early breakfast at Perkins, then 18 at a public course somewhere in the St. Louis area, then lunch at Steak N Shake, then 18 at Algonquin.  Life was perfect then.  

For me, this is easy. Drive the night before and play Pebble and Pasa.

[Bob_Huntley]

"What would be "The Perfect Day of Golf"


I have it several times a year.

A morning round on the Dunes, a lunch in the Men's Grill and another round on the Shore playing my own ball or in a Scotch Foursome.

A round of drinks afterward and a warm glow for the rest of the day.

It is tough to beat and no travelling between rounds.


Bob  

[rjsimper]

"What would be "The Perfect Day of Golf"


I have it several times a year.

A morning round on the Dunes, a lunch in the Men's Grill and another round on the Shore playing my own ball or in a Scotch Foursome.

A round of drinks afterward and a warm glow for the rest of the day.

It is tough to beat and no travelling between rounds.


Bob  

Don't forget a victory in both matches.

I am partial to a Bandon Dunes duo of Pacific - Trails, followed by bonus golf on the cliffs until dark.

[henrye]

How about a good round at an enjoyable course, followed by lunch, followed by another enjoyable round.  At the end of the day, you head home and find the market has recovered!

[Mark_Rowlinson]

The Berkshire Red and Blue or Blue and Red with lunch in between.

[Tom_Doak]

Ian:

You will have to remove Ballybunion and Lahinch from the list of possibilities, unless you are granting the use of a jet helicopter, which is the only way to make the trip in under an hour.

I have actually been privileged enough to play Cypress Point and Pebble Beach on the same day ... also Shinnecock and National (haven't we Phillippe?) ... 36 at Royal Melbourne ... Muirfield and North Berwick ... and of course several combinations of the courses in Bandon.  It would be ridiculous to pick one of those experiences over the rest.

Honestly, though, most of the above are more about "the ultimate day of golf" (i.e. bragging rights) than about "the perfect day of golf".  The perfect day of golf is simply to be at a great course and have the opportunity to go out again for as much golf as you would like.

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