Red Pill or the Blue Pill

[Kalen Braley]

In the spirit of the recent thread about courses you may have changed your opinion on since joining GCA....Consider this from The Matrix and the question posed to Neo:

"This is your last chance. After this, there is no turning back. You take the blue pill - the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill - you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes. "



Asssuming all of us who activly participate took the read pill and we're diving down the rabbit-hole are they any regrets to joining GCA.com?

Perhaps those courses you played in your blissful ignorance don't really float your boat anymore with containment mounding, flat fairways, cart paths everywhere, and ameoba shaped bunkers?
Learn maybe just a little bit too much background on one of your favorite courses and its founding fathers?
Find out just how brutally difficult those business is and how tough it is to actually survive in it...even when times are good?
Does Mucci and his green letters haunt you in your dreams?  
In the case of Anthony Gray has your life been turned upside down by always wanting to click on the site to stay updated?

I can claim yes to the 1st one. A handful of courses I've played in the past have seem to lost a bit of thier luster in light of my GCA.com education.

Thoughts?

[Tom Huckaby]

I refuse to grant this website - or anyone or any thing - that much credit.

Sure by participation here I have been exposed to courses I never may have seen or cared to see, both on-line and in person.

HOWEVER... none of this has diminished my love for my beleaguered home course one iota.  For me it does remain all about the playing. I will play anywhere and love it - even THE RANCH.

I've said it once, I'll say it again... I could have fun playing this game on a parking lot if the friends are right and beer is cold.

Hopefully this means I took the blue pill.

 

[JMEvensky]

Really good question.

I've never believed that ignorance was bliss.In my case,this DG hasn't so much made me dislike certain golf courses as it has given me the reasons WHY I might dislike them.It's been more of a reinforcement or a way to verbalize what I may have previously felt.

What has been more eye-opening for me has been the way I look at maintenance/conditioning--especially at home.I always knew the job was borderline impossible,now I understand just how much.I had a lot of respect for our Super before,but not nearly as much respect as I have now.

All that said,while I agree with Huckaby that nothing would ever diminish the feelings I have for my home course,I do sometimes envy those who get to frequently play the classics.

So,let me take the red pill to forget about my envy and also a blue pill to appreciate more that which I do envy.

[Mike_Cirba]

I'll take the purple one, man.   

[Mike Nuzzo]

There are negative side effects to the (any) red pill, and overall i think I'm much better off.

[RJ_Daley]

The Blue Pill made me larger

and

The Red Pill made me small

I went to ask Alice

And she said, feed your head and read GCA.com

[Ronald Montesano]

Viva, Get me a bathtub.

Yahh, it forces me to think outside the box, so I clearly took the red pill.  No turning back for me, although I hope that condescension, superiority, impatience, mockery and belittlement are not side-effects to the pill that I ingested.

[Kalen Braley]

Thanks all for the input, even though it had rather odd origins if your not familiar with The Matrix, which is one of my all-time fav movies.

Despite meeting several degenarates, low-lifes, pond-scum, yada, yada on this site, I'd say overall you guys are alright.  It truly is way cool to hang with so many folks who dive into this stuff and are willing to share thier efforts and hard work with the rest of us...even if pretty much everyone I know thinks this stuff is way beyond nerdy and are baffled a site for this type of subject matter even exists.

[Anthony Gray]

  One surprise was the number of people that like Tobacco Road.

  I must admit I miss Kavanaugh. He did have a hook in my mouth a few times but he always seemed to stimulate thought.

  My typeing is better since joining 6 months ago.

  My dyslexia has been confirmed again. (my wife suggested I name my daughter Hannah).

  I wish we could disagree more gentelmanly. Golf is a gentelmens game.

  Melvyn Morrow was a great asset to the site.

  MOM is enjoying the exposure.

  Can't wait for The Best Western Cannon Ball competition at the pool after the KP. My money is on Garland.

  Was shocked the first time I saw Tom Doak post.

  Bart's wife on an osterich is priceless.

  After 3 months I had to go to rehab and was limited by my doctor to 5 posts a day.

  Looking foward to the Matt Varney golf/kick boxing GCA Classic this summer.

  Love the photo threads.

  Looking foward to playing PB again. I just don't remember no 12 being that horrible.

  I bought some more orange pants for the KP.

  Confused that Tom Paul has not played TOC.

  After joining this site I think rankings are overrated.

  Hope Eric Smith's back gets better.

  Would like to be on site with Damon DiGiorgio at this moment.

  Anthony

 

[Scott Warren]

Was shocked the first time I saw Tom Doak post.

At the risk of sounding like a loser of the most epic proportions, the first reply to my first thread on GCA was from Tom Doak, suggesting some links courses to play, and I got a pretty big kick out of that.

I guess it's kind of like if you joined a film forum and Quentin Tarantino recommended a film to you. Pretty cool.

Now I actually have to go and play said courses

[Jeff Doerr]

I had a conversation with a GCAer recently who encouraged me to seek out the classic courses, especially those in the East. (I have seen some great ones in the West, but not nearly enough) With a good friend now living in VA I want to be intentional these next few years in planning for visits to some of the classics. That will be another step deeper into the rabbit-hole!