Starting tomorrow, Thurs., 10/14 - Get To Know Martin Bonnar

[Marty Bonnar]

I was running late. Mr FBD paid my green fee so that we would not miss our tee time. He still has not let me pay him back, and I will someday in Fife.

Friend for life after about 3 or 4 holes.

I have a similar tale, only it was at Crail's Craigshead course and I was able to repay Mr. Marty that very afternoon by springing for the Balcombie course green fees. It was a beautiful sunny day (our gracious host Mr. Mark Perce also in attendance), with a lunch break in Anstruther and a post round round in the Golf Hotel. Good times with good chaps.


My questions:
How is it that you've played all the great courses within an hour or two of my lifelong hometown, while I have not? Do you dress up as McBride for Halloween?
Kyle, dear boy. You will, my friend. Time will tell....
For Halloween I normally dress up as MacKenzie and run around our street shouting: "Camouflage, camouflage, dans la rue, sur le plage". Don't ask...
When are you going to make it out to Bandon? I insist that you invite me along.
One day soon. I hope to have 'friends' in the area.....
Would you be willing to design a course for free (materials and expenses covered), just to get you foot in the door?
ABSOLUTELY! And I am currently available!!!!
Are there any GCAs practicing in Europe that you think deserve more discussion on the website?
There's many small practices scraping away doing good work. Only two or three here in Scotland. The bigger UK ones have yet to impress me much. I've seen/played some real crap passing itself off as good design both in the UK and in Cont. Europe.
How long will it take for the coastal path to wash away without your keen insights to prevent armegeddon?
It should be okay. (Scotland is still rising after the last Ice Age!!)

[Marty Bonnar]

(Metaphorically speaking)

30 seconds left on the clock, the game is tied, who do you get the ball to; Mackenzie or Colt?

Charlie,
you REALLY need to ask?
MacK will always be my go-to guy. Colt is a more than adequate substitute, but he'll never be my starting QB!
 
FBD.

[Marty Bonnar]

Martin,

Your three favorite songs on which to beat the skins. Thanks.

Nice, Rick,
I have a special place in my heart for:
1. Mustang Sally (nice off-beat, 3/4, 4/4 and riding cymbals. Yippee!)
2. Stevie Ray Vaughan's 'Change it' (really good fun for the drummer with thrashing fill between the verse and chorus).
3. Gotta be a Beatles - maybe' I Saw Her Standing There'.

Too many songs out there to 'rate' only three!!!

cheers,
FB-DDDDDDD!

[Bill_McBride]

Martin,

Your three favorite songs on which to beat the skins. Thanks.

Nice, Rick,
I have a special place in my heart for:
1. Mustang Sally (nice off-beat, 3/4, 4/4 and riding cymbals. Yippee!)
2. Stevie Ray Vaughan's 'Change it' (really good fun for the drummer with thrashing fill between the verse and chorus).
3. Gotta be a Beatles - maybe' I Saw Her Standing There'.

Too many songs out there to 'rate' only three!!!

cheers,
FB-DDDDDDD!

Probably my favorite lyric - "Well she was just 17, you know what I mean...."   

[Marty Bonnar]

Martin,

I have never been called a gentleman before.  I have been called many other things though!

1.  Who introduced you to gca.com...?   
YOU DID! and thanks for the years of pain!!!!
2.  What did you think of all of us on here at the start? Be honest...I remember
Goddam Weirdos! but doesn't take long for the 'assimilation' the the GCABorg...
3.  What was the best part of the year studying?
Probably just the opportunity to spend time walking/analysing/studying/breathing-in so many wonderful golf courses.
4.  What was the worst part?
Standing up in front of guys like you with LOADS more experience than me justifying my designs. Scary audience!!!
5.  Are you still a Disney freak?
Natch! Back next year for the BIG 5-0h! Hope you can make it!
6.  I think we were extremely lucky (or Mike did a great job picking students) the year we studied in that everyone of us on the course truly loves Golf Course Architecture.  What were the most important things you learnt that year?  The answers do not have to be only GCA related.
In Architectural terms, probably some of the detail of the practicalities around irrigation, drainage, agronomy. I LOVED the geology and the climatology stuff. THE REAL lesson for me turned out to be finally understanding the relationship of the macro with the micro in course design. By that I mean that I really learned how the changing of even small details can greatly affect the overall big picture of the golf course.
Other than that, I genuinely learned that course design, like EVERY other design field can have very many approaches - and that all of which can be valid and valuable.

[Marty Bonnar]

HI Martin

            When I met you at Dornoch this summer, it was your first time playing there. How would you rate it in your favorites list?

           Did any holes, features, ,etc. surpise you or make a major impression?

           

           

Hey Walter!
don't be a stranger around here! Post often and Post regularly!
Dornoch is waaay up there. I need to play it a few times more to really appreciate some of the subtlety, but on one play, I am seriously infatuated. There was just the right balance of challenge, fun, quirk, weather, views, location, ambience, clubhouse welcome, condition to really engage me. I played like a freakin haddie though so I can't seriously tell you if it's easy or hard!!!!!!
Hopefully get up there next year with our local 'contacts' and get more acquainted...
There were so many features which I loved that I lost count!
2nd Green - wheee!, 4th Green - WOW!, FOXY - yippee!, 17th - omigod!. what a rollercoaster. I hope to visit again soon and often. Need to get more members guest rounds though. The visitors rate is pocket-bogglingly harsh!
cheers,
FBD.

[Sean Walsh]

FBD,

Long time no see.  Nice to be included in one of your earlier posts (albeit subtlely - How many GCA weddings have you been to?)

For those that are not aware Martin is the most hospitable gent you could ever wish to meet. 

For me you are the very definition of scottish whimsy.  Can always be counted on to view things from a different (and gladly slightly odd perspective  ).  The main reason I continue to check the site despite the busy schedule babies and changes in work force upon us.

Now better ask a question.  As you know I have spent some time in your country, what do you think I missed?  And we both know it wasn't wearing a kilt in sub-artic temperatures..

Also on the Beatles, a shared love I never knew we had.  I own a Nintendo Wii (it's for the kids  ) and recently purchased The Beatles game, tremendous fun working on the guitar at the moment gave the drums a go but realise that at least for now I REALLY suck at the drums (idea forming - this is the next argument for a reacquaintance with Scotland , have to visit so I can get drum lessons from the one and only FBD)

Not sure if you're a fan but went and saw Dave Gray 2 nights ago, very very good.. 

Say Hi to Nancy

[Marty Bonnar]

Martin,

What is your favorite Gene Krupa album?  
Krupa and Rich, baby. I try not to listen to him too much as he makes me only too acutely aware of my shortcomings...GENIUS!
How can a landscaper afford to travel to Vegas? Do you plant money trees?
Working in the PUBLIC SECTOR!! (although not for too much longer!)
Did you play cartball in America?  
'fraid so. 100 degrees heat in Nevada desert my only excuse....
If he told you that you had a beautiful body, would you hold it against Rees Jones?
I wouldn't even hold YOURS against him...
Did CPC and/or Pine Valley change your ideals of golf design?
Only TOTALLY! and in such wildly differing ways. CPC: beauty, refinement, nature, cerebral. PV: beast, HARD!, spectacular, visceral.
Have you mastered Carl Palmer's drum solo from the live version of Karn Evil 9?
CP was possibly the first actual drummer I was ever aware of. E and L (whoops!) and he were my heroes when I was 16, but by the time I was 17, punk was the flavour and I was bitten. No more Prog Rock, give me a stripped down guitar-based three-chord kerrang and I will be pogo-ing til my nose bleeds.
Would you chip in money for the "Get George Pazin On A Plane To Golf The World Fund" ?  (No one person is worthier.)
Not only chip in but happy to host, feed, water, wine, dine and whisky the fine fellow!!! Make it happen!
What is your favorite tree?  Pinus sylvestris, Quercus rubra, or perhaps from your recent stateside travels, the Cupressus macrocarpa?
You know, I am very, VERY partial to an Araucaria araucana. There's a line of ten or twelve ancient ones at Balbirnie which are spectacular!
 Do you have Kate Winslet's phone number?
I wish....what a honey. I loved her in that Jim Carrey thing, but as for Titanic. Couldn't wait for the thing to sink. Although, as an artist, I'd happily have shown her my etchings if she'd pose topless for me too...
 Does Scotland get the Craig Ferguson (Scottish expatriate and ex punk rock drummer!) late night talk show?
We don't, but Redanman sends me the links to the youtube footage every so often and we've watched it and cracked up together often. Craig is wonderful. Try to catch some of his 'Bing Hitler' stuff.

[Marty Bonnar]

Howdy Brother.
What are you working on this month?
How is it helping your GCA future?
Cheers

Mike,
shoot, I look goooood in that pic! Black is soooo slimming.....
Hope things go well with you. I'm available if you need a ditch-digger on the squad!!!
cheers,
MB.

[Marty Bonnar]

Give a short list of your fave places to play that are not major venues in the UK.

Jay,
nice one, cos you know I have a bunch of 2nd/3rd tier places that I KNOW most GCAers would LOVE:

Here's just a few.
Fife
St Michaels (the 9 OTM holes anyway!). Kinghorn - a great fun HOOT. Short and possibly even Painswickian in quirk. Always gotta big-up Pitreavie. The only MacK in Fife. A great history lesson for those with eyes to see.

Rest of Scotland
Southerness - so far off the beaten path, but really well worth the effort if in the SW of Scotland. Alyth - I've spoken of before. I LOVE glaciated landscapes used for golf courses and, second only to the majesty of Gleneagles, this is one of Scotland's best.

To my shame, I haven't yet played in Wales (too busy going abroad!) or Ireland (too busy drinking!) and only played the BIG names in England which have been well covered here before - add. although Goswick is a true wee gem.

cheers,
FBD.

Thanks Martin!  OK, next, same question, just in the USA!

Jay,
only played a few of the (so-called) 2nd tier courses in the US.
I loved Lehigh with my big bro, the Redanman. It's a cracking good track over some fantastic terrain in the valley. Rolling Green was also a revelation. More GREAT terrain. My first exposures to Flynn but hopefully not my last.
Pacific Grove was just so good. Those seaside holes are among the best on the peninsula. MPCC - played with two GREAT GCAers - was marvellous. Sheesh, the peninsula HAS to be amongst the best golf locations on our planet.
Florida has a stack of just good fun courses. I played a nothing place - Sun-Air - YEARS ago and thought it was so understated that it was actually good. I've hardened somewhat since, but for a nothing golf course it still has about five or six GREAT holes and that's no bad thing for a Cent Fla golf course...
Just back from Vegas and we only played one course. Boulder Creek It was GREAT! Bloody hot, but GREAT. Good fun, fantastic use of the arroyos for strategic value. Did I say it was HOT!?!?!?!
Must get around more of the States over the next few years. Bandon, South Carolina, I have to play Chambers Bay before I die!
Life is so cool with golf in it!!!
cheers,
FBD.

[Marty Bonnar]

FBD,

Long time no see.  Nice to be included in one of your earlier posts (albeit subtlely - How many GCA weddings have you been to?)

For those that are not aware Martin is the most hospitable gent you could ever wish to meet. 

For me you are the very definition of scottish whimsy.  Can always be counted on to view things from a different (and gladly slightly odd perspective  ).  The main reason I continue to check the site despite the busy schedule babies and changes in work force upon us.

Now better ask a question.  As you know I have spent some time in your country, what do you think I missed?  And we both know it wasn't wearing a kilt in sub-artic temperatures..

Also on the Beatles, a shared love I never knew we had.  I own a Nintendo Wii (it's for the kids  ) and recently purchased The Beatles game, tremendous fun working on the guitar at the moment gave the drums a go but realise that at least for now I REALLY suck at the drums (idea forming - this is the next argument for a reacquaintance with Scotland , have to visit so I can get drum lessons from the one and only FBD)

Not sure if you're a fan but went and saw Dave Gray 2 nights ago, very very good.. 

Say Hi to Nancy

Mr W!
GREAT to see you are still around GCA. I'm sure you are way too busy with domestic duties for posting here. Hope Rachel and offspring are all well?
Hopefully, as time allows, you'll bring your antipodean wit and good common-sense back to these here parts more often! It shouldn't just take a cricket post or two to do so!!!
Indeed, yours was a great one of the three GCA/MSc weddings I have had the pleasure to attend. One in Scotland (yours!), one in Ireland and one in Slovakia. I love Europe since the Iron curtain was raised....
I don't think you missed all that much. You saw the interior of Scotland, which is one of the sad things I think most American golfing visitors miss. WE have beautiful, desolate mountains which abound with history and mystery. They're just too far from the seaside for most links-hunters!
We may have missed our Beatles link, but we didn't miss our Crowded House/Finn Brothers/all their various incarnations link. Bloody geniuses. What fine, delightful, thought-provoking music. A huge part of my 80s and 90s musicology.
Come on back over soon - although we met up in Vegas with our good friends sister and her hubby who are now living in Perth. Nance is coming round to the idea of a trip down-under, so look out!!
very, very best,
MB.

[Anthony Gray]

  WOW.....This thread is a lot more entertaining than "Get to know Bill McBride".

  Anthony

[Charlie Goerges]

FBD:

You KNOW that Led Zeppelin is your favorite!

[Marty Bonnar]

You do know she's gonna HATE you when she's 17, don't you?
Great pic though. If ever I'd had a wee daughter, she'd have been indoctrinated rather similarly.
Led Zep. In the 70s, a 17 year old boys dream band. Mystic weirdness, thumpin' backbeats, long hair, druggy cool, the Blues baby.
The combination of one of the BEST guitar players and BEST Rock Singers of all time with possibly the worst drummer since Ringo!!!!
My best ever album trade: Getting rid of Frampton Comes Alive for Physical Graffiti. I need to see Alex Smillie again to apologise...
FBnotBonhamD.

[Charlie Goerges]

True-Dat FBD.

But seriously: Worst Drummer since Ringo?!?!


P-Shaw!

[Charlie Goerges]

Okay, back to regularly scheduled programming.

Could you finish this sentence?

"Blind shots are..."

[Marty Bonnar]

True-Dat FBD.

But seriously: Worst Drummer since Ringo?!?!


P-Shaw!

I know. I'm hard on Ringo and I'm hard on Bonham. However, I do feel I have evidence. Shoot, LISTEN to Beatles 64-67. Kee-ryist, the man can barely keep up on the simplest of songs. 50s and early-60s covers even an eedjit like me can do. Compare Starkey with say Ginger Baker or The Moon. Not even at the race.

In Vegas a couple of weeks ago we saw a Beatles tribute band. While the rest of the band played way above themselves and did an incredible job, the drummer did a great job of holding back enough to appear slightly sheisse. That was Ringo. Just take a look at him in the footage from 67 onwards. He KNOWS he has no place amongst that genius and is just thanking his lucky stars he's part of the glory.

Octopus's Garden and Back off, Boogalloo. I rest my case...

Love, love, love,
FBD.

[Anthony Gray]

  Marty,

 Thanks for your time.

  I love the first hole at North Berwick, Do you have a problem with it?

  Kingsbarns is not old, does it matter?

  Who is your favorite scotish beauty?

  Are you scotish by birth?

  How fast are those trains?

  What is the most scenic scotish train trip?

  Did you play Pebble Beach while in California?

  How far is your home from St Andrews?

  The Rolling Stones song BROWN SUGAR, what is it about?

  What club in your bag is your favorite?

  On your first trip to the US, what surprised you the most?

  What is a tosser?

  You like curry. Ironically one of my ex-wives said the curry at the Anstruther fish bar was the best she had had and she was indian. So what do you order at the fish bar?

  Have you ever had a hole in one?

  If you had a final round to play, who would you include in your foursome and where would you play?

  Have you ever been on that ferris wheel in London?

  What was your score on the 16th at Cypress?

  Have you played in Northern Ireland?

  What kind of threads do you like the most?

  What year did the R&A beg you to become a member?

  How many times have you played TOC?

  Do you believe that there is a Loch Ness Monster?

  Again thank you for your time,

  Anthony

[Marty Bonnar]

Okay, back to regularly scheduled programming.

Could you finish this sentence?

"Blind shots are..."

"...perfectly acceptable on a members course when employed in moderation, but are quite detestable on one-time play courses".

Actually, there's a tipping-point somewhere along this line:

COMPLETE VISIBLITY...................................PARTIAL CONCEALMENT...............................TOTALLY BLIND

which can bring quite a lot to the playing of a golf hole. I generally don't mind where it is as long as I have a chance...

cheers,
FBD.

[Marty Bonnar]

  Marty,

 Thanks for your time.
You're very welcome!
  I love the first hole at North Berwick, Do you have a problem with it?
I think it's great. I've seen it driven - which was cool!
  Kingsbarns is not old, does it matter?
It'll be 10 next year. Not having any faux-antiquity about its design is a bonus...
  Who is your favorite scotish beauty?
Toughy. Probably Heather the Weather or maybe Lulu or Sheena Easton.
  Are you scotish by birth?
I am indeed - I was born at a very young age fifty years ago next December.
  How fast are those trains?
Not like those in Japan, but quick enough for a jaunt to Edinburgh accompanied by a few Belhavens...
  What is the most scenic scotish train trip?
West Coast line without a doubt - Fort William to Mallaig. Think the Harry Potter trip to Hogwarts. It's filmed over there. http://www.steamtrain.info/
  Did you play Pebble Beach while in California?
No, but we walked a good bit of it. Maybe next time.
  How far is your home from St Andrews?
24.5 miles precisely!
  The Rolling Stones song BROWN SUGAR, what is it about?
Ehhhmmmm - not sure if this is suitable for a family website!!!!
  What club in your bag is your favorite?
Used to be my 5-wood, now of course it's the Hybrid. What a wuss!!!!
  On your first trip to the US, what surprised you the most?
That was to Florida in '89. The most surprising thing was combining Eggs and Bacon and Pancakes with syrup for breakfast!
  What is a tosser?
Another word for a W*nker...
  You like curry. Ironically one of my ex-wives said the curry at the Anstruther fish bar was the best she had had and she was indian. So what do you order at the fish bar?
Only ever Fish'n'Chips. The only place to buy Curry is a good Bangladeshi restaurant. Glasgow probably has the most and best in Scotland.
  Have you ever had a hole in one?
No, but came very close to qualifying for the million dollar mulligan in Portugal last year. Bounced once, hit the stick, fell onto lip of hole, rolled around the cup a bit then rolled away to two feet. Damn!
  If you had a final round to play, who would you include in your foursome and where would you play?
Just some buddies probably (I'm not a great fan of celebs or pro golfers) Definintely The KINGS at Gleneagles. I love it.
  Have you ever been on that ferris wheel in London?
No, but La Nancy has. She's such a thrillseeker...
  What was your score on the 16th at Cypress?
Made a 4 with a crap read from my caddie...
  Have you played in Northern Ireland?
No. Was supposed to play RCD with some of the boys at the GCA wedding, but decided to potter around Belfast instead - and drink Guinness!
  What kind of threads do you like the most?
I'm kinda partial to a nice pure wool suit..oh, I see what you mean. The most would have to be good travelogues. Kyle H's stuff from his Scotland trip this year have been great.
  What year did the R&A beg you to become a member?
I fear I may have burnt my R£A bridges with some of my comments here.
  How many times have you played TOC?
Phew - that's a toughy. Maybe twelve or so??? And ONCE in Reverse!!!
  Do you believe that there is a Loch Ness Monster?
What do you mean - 'believe'? You mean maybe there's not....!?!?!?
  Again thank you for your time,

  Anthony

[Marty Bonnar]

Woohoo!
Look at me.

2500 POSTS!!

Getalife, ya sad auld eedjit!
 

FBD