[Jordan Wall]

And why?

[Brad Fleischer]

Skibbereen golf club Ireland.

Easy after playing some of the greatest links courses in the world I had ZERO expectations. I went back 3 times and it was a great little walk.


Brad

[Pete_Pittock]

North Berwick (West Links) in 1975 because I knew next nothing about GCA and hadn't heard about the course. The golf tour company set up the arrangements. (Troon, Prestwick, Gleneagles, Blairgowrie, TOC, Carnoustie, EB-WL and Gullane #1). Very few golf books.

Edit 8/17:  Before the turn of the century I got internet access and a bunch of books (Doak, Steel, Finegan et al.) and even since I've had some reasonable expectations before I decide where to play. The top suprise was Juniper in Redmond, OR (Harbottle) after it moved across the airport. Santa Anita and Soule Park, Jasper and Pine Needles are honorable mention.

[Tom_Doak]

Hmmm ... tough question.  Even thirty years ago, I would try and find some info on courses in advance, so I usually had SOME expectations of it.

The first one I can think of is Pennard.  I went there only because Sir Ernest Holderness [the then-current Amateur champion] included a couple of its holes in an article on his favorite 18 holes, published in 1926.  He also had holes from then-obscure courses such as Dornoch and St. Enodoc, so I figured it was worth checking out, but I had no idea what it would be like.

Another that comes to mind is The Dunes Club.  I stopped in en route home from visiting the in-laws because the pro at Crystal Downs told me it was pretty cool, but I had no idea what I would see.

[PCCraig]

Another that comes to mind is The Dunes Club.  I stopped in en route home from visiting the in-laws because the pro at Crystal Downs told me it was pretty cool, but I had no idea what I would see.

The Dunes is a good example and one that works for me as well. I first played it in ~1998 as part of a Junior/High School Golf Program "Road Trip" and before websites like GCA, I had no idea what I was getting into. I remember we were supposed to head over in a bus with 30 or so guys, but only 15 showed up.

I just remember the bus pulling into the chain link fence and taking my first look at a sandy soil / Dunes landscape and going "wow!" as it was like nothing I had ever seen before growing up in Chicago.

The Dunes still remains one of the golf courses responsible for sparking my interest in GCA.

[PThomas]

Kirtland in Ohio..I knew who designed it but didnt think it would be THAT good..Top 100 worthy imho

[Mike Cirba]

Good thread idea...

I'd have to think much deeper to come up with my all-time favorite, but this past week I played the TPC Scottsdale course that I previously had heard some very negative opinions about, so my expectations were pretty low, and after the awful first hole they were even lower.

By the end, I thought it was mostly terrific....very enjoyable and very playable for the average golfer, with a built in ability to ratchet up the challenge and risk scenarios for the pros and top players.

Throw in a really good set of green complexes, much less Penality (if that's a word) than one finds on most of the desert courses, a terrific set of closing holes where one can gamble or play conservatively, and I left wishing I had time to play more, even at 110 Degrees Fahrenheit.

[John Moore II]

The NCSU golf course was probably the best overall, but Moose Run in Alaska was probably the biggest surprise. I had heard a few things about NCSU, but nothing about MR. I knew it was #1 in the state of Alaska, but thats not quite the same as saying its #1 in North Carolina or even in Moore County, North Carolina. It was pretty dang good.

[Ronald Montesano]

Webhannet in Kennebunk Beach, Maine (http://www.webhannetgolfclub.com/) and Putterham Meadows (which I guess has had a name change...http://www.brooklinegolf.com/) in Brookline, Massachusetts.

[Tim_Weiman]

Dooks

It is just such a pleasant place.

[Phil_the_Author]

Longshadow...

Mike Young is still underappreciated, as is this course...

[Ash Towe]

Arrowtown,
Did not have any idea of how this course was going to play.  Spectacuar setting, $30 or so fees and the greens were in great order but playing between the rocky outcrops and the risk/reward elements made it a terrific experience.

[Wayne Freeman]

As part of my U.S. Open quest, I went to St. Louis..  high expectations for Bellerive, and none for St. Louis CC.  It turned out that SLCC was fantastic-  wonderful routing, contour, and fabulous greens...  a real gem and I think now a perfect venue for a major women's event.  Bellerive, on the other hand rather underwhelmed me.  Incidentally,  just to play another course I went to the muni there Forest Park and was very pleasantly surprised.  Several excellent holes with cool squared off greens including a terrific reverse Redan. 

[Sean_A]

As Tom indicates, every course I play comes with some sort of expectations.  For instance, I expected Pennard to be wild and I wasn't let down, but I didn't expect it to be a stunning design. 

The most recent course I was very much impressed by is Cavendish.  Tom's description in his Confidential Guide was the only info I had previous to visiting and I must say he understates how good this course is.  Thee is a great mix of tough and short par 4s with some clever use of existing features and at near 5700 yards from te tips.  Golf does nont need to be any more than what Cavendish has to offer. 

Going back a bit, but Stoneham was a course I knew nothing about and it turned out to be a joy to play.  Great use of hills to create angles and an unusual mix of 3s and 5s.  Plus, I think this design predated Muirfield for the inner and outer nines heading in opposite directions. 

Finally, Beau Desert.  I found very little info about this course before playing it the first time in a Jaguar outing many, many years ago.  I think this was the first time I truly respected that a course could be very short, but still tough as nails without resorting to gimmicks.  The course also stands out in England for the size and difficulty of its greens. 

Ciao   

[Don Hyslop]

On PEI after having played Crowbush Cove and a few of the courses around Cavendish, it was a delight to find a remarkable 18 hole layout just outside of Charlottetown called Glen Afton. Build on farmland with virtually no earth moving this layout borders the Northumberland Strait and relies on the natural topography for numerous interesting holes. The fact that you can play it for $30. is not bad either. Check out the description:
http://www.glenaftongolf.com/NewCourseInfo.htm

[Cristian]

Boat of Garten


Chosen purely on location between Glasgow airport and Dornoch. Brilliant heathland-like setting with interesting moving terrain, lovely holes and great views on snow-capped mountains in June...

[Jud_T]

Kingswood, NH

Read about it here under NH rec's but was unprepared for the beauty of the place. Big rolling property in the woods of the lake region with small, surprisingly interesting and well conditioned Ross greens.  Only downside is it's a b*tch to walk.

TPC Myrtle Beach

May have read about it in Golf Digest Places to Play, but didn't have very high expectations, particularly after their 4.5 star rating of Barefoot Love came as a bit of a dissapointment.  Beautiful challenging layout with stellar conditioning and some nasty green speeds as I recall.  Very nice routing.  We liked it so much we went around twice.  Granted this is in relation to some Doak 4-5 Myrtle layouts that we were playing at the time, but it's definitely worth a go IMHO.

[Chris Roselle]

For me it would have to be Wyoming Valley Country Club.  I played this Tillinghast design last year in the GAP Team Matches.  I had never heard of it before I started working for the Golf Association and when I played my match there I just found it to be an excelent course with alot of character.  It is short by todays standards but with all the ups and downs picking the right club is not easy.  According to the USGA it's the 5th oldest in PA and the 45th oldest in the country which is kinda neat.

[jonathan_becker]

It's not the best, but one that I always forget about is Dinosaur Mountain.  I haven't played it since 2002, but I didn't know anything about it going in except that a few of my friends recommended it.

I remember hole 4 was a launching pad from the elevated tee and it seemed like the ball stayed in the air forever.  Also, hole 16 was driveable if you took the straight route to the green.  I think I liked DM so much because of the pleasant setting and the opportunity to take some fun risks.

[Mark Arata]

Somebody beat me to Boat of Garten......was just supposed to be a fill in on the drive up to Dornoch, and it was tremendous.......

In the states, Leatherstocking.....I had no idea what it was when I played it, just though we would play a round before going to see the hall of fame....ended up not going to the museum that day to play another round....just a great old course with some great holes, especially the ones across the street.........

[Jim Jackson]

I'll take the Lake Course at Grand National (RTJ golf trail).  I'd just played a few of ther courses on the trail, and they'd been long, hard, and penal, but I felt the Lake to be more fair and strategic than the others, almost a softer and simpler version of some of the other trail courses, notably its sister on the same site.  Nice crescendo at 15-17, and strong but fair opening holes at 1-3.

[Andy Troeger]

At least in recent memory, the best for me is The Golf Club at Ravenna outside Littleton, Colorado. I hadn't seen much posted on here and its only ranking is on the Golfweek Modern listing, but I was really impressed. It starts with a semi-blind tee shot from a tee box located about ten feet off the practice area and never really lets up. From the perspective of this website, walkability is an issue as it is located on severe terrain in the foothills, and the course is rather difficult and there's definitely the potential for some lost balls from errant shots. Width is reasonable, however, and the variety of holes and approaches are well worth it, not to mention great scenery. The greens were wild--almost too much so for the first play. It definitely requires some local knowledge to score well. I'm not always a big Jay Morrish fan, but I'd count this as his best solo effort and right there with Forest Highlands Canyon for his best overall.

[Dan Herrmann]

Bulls Bay - We played it in the Dixie Cup and I honestly knew nothing about it.  It's in the middle of nowhere off US17 in SC and the entrance was tough to find.

But wow - when you get in there....  Very special place and the course was awesome.

[Mike Hendren]

Aiken Golf Club.

[Mike Cirba]

Mark Arata,

I would agree..I think Leatherstocking is perhaps the most underrated course in the US.

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