[TEPaul]

As a flip-side to Anthony Gray's thread "I should have left a long time ago" what courses are you aware of that are the opposite-----eg you had not been to in perhaps many, many years but when you came back again you were just amazed how good they were and how good their archtitecture is compared to what you thought or remembered from long ago.

I've actually had this unique experience a number of times. And the two first and best examples are having not been around two significant courses in both cases for close to forty years. I'm speaking of NGLA and Myopia.

In both cases I was totally amazed just how good they are and their architecture is compared to what I remembered from long ago.

And of course I would be willing to explain why in any detail anyone wants to hear.

[Scott Warren]

You mean like courses that get Better With Time?

[Brent Hutto]

The closest I can come to that feeling is Ganton GC in Yorkshire. On the last full day of my trip to England in 2007 I stopped off at Ganton (actually it was a detour off my direct route to the airport) to eyeball the course and check in on two GCA'ers who were playing 36 there that Sunday. I had the chance to join them for their afternoon round but opted instead to head back to Manchester on my original schedule.

So I did walk along with them and play the first several holes before hitting the highway. That little snippet of Ganton has haunted me ever since. I surely wish I had arranged my schedule differently and joined them for at least one if not both rounds. What a fine course.

[George Pazin]

And of course I would be willing to explain why in any detail anyone wants to hear.

I'd like to hear more detail.

The point you address is usually my most common criticism of modern courses - they become fairly boring after repeat play. The only thing that really changes is the yardage on any particular shot, rather than other, less obvious, elements.

[TEPaul]

Well George, for the time being I would just say that with both those courses----NGLA and Myopia---when I first came to know both of them (essentially in my late teens and very early twenties) I was not really a golfer and the subject of architecture never came up. But with those two courses compared to most all others I saw in those early years, there was just something about them---not necessarily all of them to me----but definitely some of them such as a few holes that were totally unforgetable and apparently because they were just so unusual compared to any holes I had ever known or seen before. When I returned about forty years later on both courses some of those holes were some of the ones I really fell in love with again but they were not all of them.

In the last decade, I've try to ask myself what exactly it was about some of those holes that were so impressionable and unforgetable back then. For instance, at NGLA, I did remember some of them pretty well but there was one in particular I remembered with remarkable clarity. Can you guess which it was or even why?

For me Myopia is a bit more complicated that way, not the least reason being in that forty year timespan when I didn't see it I actually may've gotten it somewhat mixed up with some other course up there in Boston, I think. But there was one thing that brought my old memories of Myopia right back to me when I returned after a forty year absence and that was the clubhouse and the pro shop building which are truly unusual too.

[Patrick_Mucci]

TEPaul,

Having played NGLA a few times recently, I continue to marvel at the design and it's impact on play.

As good as the architecture at NGLA is, it needs an accomplice to bring out its genius.

Mother Nature

When conditions permit F&F, there's nothing quite like it.

What's so amazing about the course is that it was conceived, designed and built over 100 years ago.

[Ronald Montesano]

A course gets better with time if, and only if, you choose to take alternate colors to the pot of gold.  If you play a particular hole with driver-8 iron, try hitting hybrid-4 iron and see if the hole stand up.  Likewise, hit 8-iron, 8-iron, wedge and reach another determination.

Intentionally come in from the left, from the center, from the right...drop a goddarned ball on that side of the fairway if you're not good enough to hit it (I foresaw that argument)...come in to the green from bunkers, etc.

Once, long ago, I gave up the game for a year...I came back to it playing at twilight, in my bare feet, with only a seven iron and a ball...

everything changed.

[TEPaul]

"When conditions permit F&F, there's nothing quite like it."


Pat:

You are so right about that. I just can't tell you how much I believe in the importance of that. With many of those old courses once you plug in some real F&F conditions it's like somebody turned on the strobe lights on the playability. That very facet is how that whole thing I call IMM hit me. Ironically, it hit my at Exit 7A on the NJ Turnpike going home. It was such a thunderbolt I had to pull off the turnpike!

[Anthony Gray]

  Maybe you always find something at TOC you did nt see before.

  When I returned to my roots I was surprised about how well designed White Day was.The 9 holer of my youth.

  Anthony

 

[Brian Laurent]

About every course that I have ever played in the Philly area...most of my rounds in PA were when I was younger and did not pay much attention to design.  I look forward to the opportunity to get back to all three courses at Saucon Valley, Merion, Manufacturers, Philly Cricket...

[Eric Smith]

About every course that I have ever played in the Philly area...most of my rounds in PA were when I was younger and did not pay much attention to design.  I look forward to the opportunity to get back to all three courses at Saucon Valley, Merion, Manufacturers, Philly Cricket...

Philly, really?  I thought you grew up playing Morfontaine, Seignossé and Domaine de Terre Blanche?

[Brian Laurent]

About every course that I have ever played in the Philly area...most of my rounds in PA were when I was younger and did not pay much attention to design.  I look forward to the opportunity to get back to all three courses at Saucon Valley, Merion, Manufacturers, Philly Cricket...

Philly, really?  I thought you grew up playing Morfontaine, Seignossé and Domaine de Terre Blanche?

Philly was our first stop after Ellis Island. 

[Brian Phillips]

Maybe you always find something at TOC you did nt see before.

The God of GCA.com, Mr TEPaul has NEVER played TOC....   

[Tags:]

Tags:

[Tags:]

Tags:

Call to undefined function theme_linktree()