Your First Favorite Golf Course

[Mike Hendren]

All with plastic golf shoes, Faultless golf balls and my mom's old golf clubs.

It's funny how one otherwise innocuous comment on this site can bring the memories flooding back.  Trevino was the spokesman for Dodge and they gave away Faultless golf balls.  My dad talked the dealership out of a life-size cardboard cut-out of Merry Mex, complete with the band-aid on his arm hiding the tattoo of his ex-girlfriend's name.  Lee witnessed great debauchery from the wall of my frat house room and died a natural death in my attic not too long ago.  

I'm a sucker for the mere mention of Faultless, Link-Master, Club Special, Spaulding Dot, Po Do, Ram 3-D and Blue Dot, just to name a few.  

Thanks, Gib.

Mike

[Jeff_Brauer]

Ah, Faultless Golf Ball memories!  Dad made me play them as a teenager, hoping to save money on "smileys"

I remember splitting them in two with a couple of tee shots...

I remember Lee Trevino endorsing them, but with some controversy whether he really played them.  I saw him at the 1970 Hazeltine Open where he put a tee shot (amazingly for him, I guesss) in the left rough near me.  The label was straight down in the grass, and I must have spent more time than I realized craning my neck to read the few letters I could see.

Before I know it, Trevino is standing over me saying "Better back off son, my 7 iron in your forehead is no kind of souvenir to take home from the Open!"

[John Foley]

Never picked up a club untill I was in college, familly couldn't aford it.  When I started to play it was at the local VA hospital that had a 9 hole course on the grounds. Got to play ther because my mom was a nurse there many years before and I was grandfathered in. It was empty, overrun by dandelions & absolutely heaven. Won many many tourneys there. Everytime I drive by I remeber those summers and how great it was.

Orange balls $6 a dozen a $89 set of Northwestern clubs and a bright green bag (hey, I'm proud I'm Irish). Golf shoes/ who had money to by them!

Gib, thanks for bringing me back there!

[Gyrogolf]

Jeff,
Faultless golf balls . . . . after reading your post I flashed back to a day when I split a Faultless on what was the old 8th tee at San Mateo Muni.

I can still hear that whirrrring sound both pieces of the ball made flying off in opposite directions. That is how I learned the rule about having to locate the biggest piece.

My friend Guy Young and I were playing a match for a quarter. He always seemed to beat me until we got to high school. In 7th grade, I could not break 100. He always seemed to shoot 98. One day I suddenly shot 88 and beat him by ten shots.

I'm was in shock. So was he. I learned that day that golf is all in your head. But neither one of us was as good as Mike Allen. Of course, he has played the European and PGA Tour for most of his adult life.

Guy Young and I are still friends. Even though we have not played a match in 20 years, we still phone each other all the time. Golf has a way of connecting people for life.

I'm still not sure how an Orlimar persimmon driver could split a golf ball. Guy had Orlimar's too, but his were laminated. Our spikes were always worn down to the nubs, but his golf swing was balanced enough for it not to matter.

I used to nearly screw myself into the ground on every tee from spinning out on my left foot. Guy still has a balanced swing, I still writhe and twist through impact.

Our mom's used to drop us off at San Mateo Muni early in the morning on days when we did not caddy at Burlingame Country Club. John Shanley was the Caddymaster. He smoked a pipe because he was trying to quit cigarettes. He inhaled his pipe, too.

The starter at Muni was a gruff old guy, I don't think he liked kids. His shack was next to the first tee and his microphone always squealed when he called the next group to the tee.

At nightfall, we would call one of our mom's to come pick us up.   While we waited, there was a little tavern at the course called the Sandbar. The owner and bartender was Dick Fisher. He always insisted we begin and end every sentence directed at him with the words "Please Mr. Fisher, sir."

Sometimes his son, "Rich," tended bar also. He knew every bar trick, scam and gag imaginable. Awfully jaded for a young guy he was.  

Coke was 50 cents. I don't remember how much the chips were. Most of the time he didn't charge us as long as we recited the magic phrase.

I wish that trick still worked at the local bar I hang out in.

San Mateo Muni is now remodeled and called Poplar Creek. The clubhouse was torn down and moved to a different spot. Mr. Fisher sir died many years ago, but his son is a graying private investigator based in San Mateo.

It seems like yesterday, but when I think about it for a minute, Richard Nixon had just been elected to his first term and Walter Chronkite was still giving body counts from the Vietnam war on the evening news.  

[Jay Carstens]

Cherry Hills CC. 1978
My first US Open and first steps on the "big course".
What a thrill to see the "Big Three" and Trevino, Weiskopf, Miller, Watson.... .  
I'd heard about Trevino's fade but I still don't consider three yards a fade.
Also  Andy Bean on the range offering "long drive for $5",
and nobody said a word.
Needless to say, it made a huge impression and I continue to attend almost every year.  Also a great opportunity to call my father and grandfather from the course on Father's Day, as they were along in '78.

[Scott_Burroughs]

Jay,

Balls don't hook/slice as much at altitude, just like any pitcher at Coors Field trying to throw breaking stuff....not much=mucho scoring.

[Scott_Burroughs]

Hey, the balls we were given in high school were Wilson K-28's and the special K-28+'s!  We always laughed at those, too.

But the funniest moment that happened one match was when I was paired with one guy on our team.  Everyone was saying what ball they were playing:  "Titleist, Top-Flite, Maxfli..." and the other guy from my team ends it with:  "Ram Lightning 5000".

[Jeff_Brauer]

Shivas,

To my recollection, Faultless was the first solid ball, probably coming on the Market about 1968. It was advertised as cut proof, smile proof, etc.

Now, if you want another obscure ball, who ever went to the Walgreens's to buy their house brand - PO-DO's?  I don't recall what they cost, but when balls were typically a dollar each, I think they were three for a buck, and worth every penny!

[Doug Wright]

I remember playing Acushnets, which I guess were either the knockoffs or predecessors of Titleists.  And splitting Faultlesses too.. And how about those wound balls that you'd split open and they'd have miles of string...

[Brad Swanson]

   My favorite first course would have to be George M. Veenker Memorial GC in Ames, Iowa.  It was, and still may be the university course at Iowa State University (not sure if they've moved to Keith Foster's Haymaker GC or not yet).  Its original design was all Perry Maxwell, and there's still some Maxwell left there (a little less than half).  Arnold Palmer played in an NCAA championship there.  The prestigous Iowa Masters is played there every year.  I didn't know much architecture back then, but there was something about the green contours that fascinated me (the greens are so small that they could typically only fit one big Maxwell roll, but it was the placement, alignment, and severity of the contours that made the greens a challenge).
  It was especially sweet when this no-name hayseed college freshman from Ottumwa Municipal Golf Course, Ottumwa, IA threw his hat into the ring for the lone walk-on spot for the Iowa State University golf team qualifier on G.M. Veenker GC and turned the supposed 72 hole qualifier into a 36 hole rout against all of the local wanna-be Casey Whittenburgs (mind you, we're talking Iowa here ).  I was so far ahead of the field at the end of 36 holes, that the coach called-off the other 2 rounds and put me on the squad.  That was the high point of my very non-illustrious golf career, and it happened on my first favorite golf course, pretty cool.


Cheers,
Brad Swanson

[Doug Wright]

Brad,

Most impressive! By the way, you're my partner throughout the NM Golfapalooza (tm), right!  

[Mike_Golden]

This will surprise everyone that knows me but my first favorite golf course wasn't Bethpage Black....

No, it was La Tourette, a NYC public course on Staten Island-this was the place I went to take a step up from the course I usually played while in college, Silver Lake, also on Long Island.  I didn't know anything about architecture then , and barely knew anything about playing golf, but could hit the ball reasonably well for someone who never took a lesson.  And LaTourette was a good golf course, and seemed very countrified for someone raised on the schoolyards of Brooklyn.  I believe it actually has good architectural bloodlines (Devereaux Emmett?) and was also the place where the funniest thing I've ever seen on a golf course took place-there is a par 3 on the front side (maybe about the 5th or 6th hole-hard to remember as this was about 35 years ago) that is over a small pond.  We were on the green and waved up the group behind us-one of the guys hit it in the water and started pulling his cart down toward the water while he looked for the ball.  He left his cart and went to the edge, not remembering it was straight downhill, and we all proceeded to watch the cart, bag, and clubs roll straight into the pond

[david h. carroll]

Shivas & Scott--how about the dominance of Titleist now?  I think evry tourney I play in, nearly every player is either using the pv1x or the regular pv1...I did play in an even tlast year and a guy was using a noodle...the rest of the group certainly gave him an odd look upon announcement

[Mike Hendren]

Jeff Bruaer,

As mentioned in my post, I remember the Po Do quite well.  I did a quick search and found this item from a Beloit, Wisconson newspaper - made all the more bizarre by the fact that I was in Beloit two weeks ago to look at a development site for a client!

May 13, 1971
(Thursday) Eggs are 40 cents a dozen, bread is 25 cents a loaf and standing rib roast is 99 cents a pound at the Eagle Food Stores on W. Grand Avenue and Cranston Road... Three PoDo golf balls for 99 cents at Walgreen's in Beloit Plaza...

Dang, I forgot all about the Wilson K-28.  I guess I was clearly a McGregor man, playing the extremely soft covered Link Master.  

Shivas,

No Faultless?  You are just a pup.

Regards,

MIke

[Evan Fleisher]

Brad Swanson,

Veenker is still around, and owned/used by the ISU population...but the golf team has moved out to Foster's new course called The Harvester, about 30 minutes East of Ames.

http://www.harvestergolf.com

[Kenny Lee Puckett]

Royal Golf Balls with the Hexagonal dimple patern, Spaulding Dots, and the Maxfli's that would turn oblong after a solid swat with the Hogan Speed Slot Apex Driver.

KLP

Orange Soda with a Stewart Oven Ham & Cheese.

[Mike Hendren]

KLP

I recall a Stewart sandwich thread some time ago.  Ah, yes, the Royal Plus 6.  Not only were the dimples hexagonal, I believe they were also truncated with a flat bottom.  Uni, Roy & Al.  

Regards,

Mike

[Brock Peyer]

My first favorite course was Habor Labor Creek State Park east of Atlanta.  I didn't play golf yet but would get up at dark thirty with my Dad, Brother and my Dad's buddy and be there at daylight and I would drive the cart or we would walk and I would collect turtles.  I thought the name was the coolest thing in the world and my Dad never seemed to play too well so I knew it was really hard.  He never played well because he was probably looking over his shoulder to make sure I didn't get bit by a snake.  

Now that I am an adult and having been playing for 15 years it isn't as tough or as "big" as I remember but I haven't played there in 8 or 9 years.  The name is still pretty cool, unfortunately it was a slave camp before the civil war (I think, ...ask my Dad).

Once I started playing my options were limited for the first 4 years of my golfing life but I learned to play on the Murray State University course.  I loved it that it blew away the dogtrack CC in that town that the guys on my golf team bragged about being "members" of.  I think that I paid $40 for an annual student memebership and played it 180 times a years.  The greens were always very good.  You always remember your first love.

[Mike_Cirba]

As I turned 13 in 1971, I was introduced to the game at a farmland nine-holer called Scott-View Golf Course (nka Nine Flags Golf Course, and blasphemy of blasphemies, three holes have been permanently altered from their original design!!  )  Out of pure principle, I haven't been back since they "butchered" it!  

During that summer, I was playing Faultless balls and eating Stewart Sandwiches, which were by far the best nutritional enjoyment of the day...

I was also playing Club Specials, Wilson K-28's, Kasnar's, Tom Cat's, Mustang's, and various other balls we'd find in the woods that were on the perimeter of the property.

Oh...first favorite course...that's right...

Well, if Scott-View was actually my first, I have to mention what would actually become my favorite course during that summer.  You see, one afternoon between nines, and sitting in the little shack that served as a clubhouse, munching a Stewart "Beefburger" and sipping a Nehi Grape soda, I came across a Sports Illustrated that featured a preview of the upcoming US Open titled "The Ghosts of Merion".  The pictures of the holes and the accompanying descriptions just astounded me, and from that day forward, Merion became my sentimental favorite "dream" course in the world.

Years later, I moved to the Philly area and used to just drive by the place to look at it from the road, feeling a rush of adrenaline, and later had the religious experience of walking it during the 1989 US Amateur.  

In recent years, I had the privilege of playing there a few times, thanks to the kindness of a few of the folks I've met through this board.  And yes, it did live up to those unrealistic expectations of a 13 year old kid sitting back in a shack on a $35 a year membership 9-hole course, flipping through a magazine as he gathered nourishment to head out to play more golf.

Sometimes, dreams do come true...

Quick humorous story...

When I actually got to play Merion for the first time, I was sooooo nervous that I could barely get the club back past my hip.  After driving from the first tee, I found myself breathing a sigh of relief that I'm a lefthander.  You see, if I had been a righty, my screaming, low, straight heel-pull would have likely taken out a number of members and their wives enjoying tea on the veranda.  

[Joe Hancock]

Stewart Sandwiches...wow. I think it was the Chuckwagon that i had so many of at the pro shop.

Joe

[Mike_Cirba]

Joe;

Ahhh yes...the "Chuckwagon".  

Were those sandwiches really as good as our nostalgic memories recall, because I can't think of any "fast food" I've had before or since that were nearly as good.  

Those delectable delights would come out of the proprietary ovens, piping and steaming hot in their cellophane wraps, and the delightful scent would just permeate the air in the vicinity.  Of course, the most epicurean and tasteful vendors would always serve them on a paper plate, replete with Wise potato chips and a pickle slice.  

Mike Golden;

LaTourette was designed by John Van Kleek (of Stiles and Van Kleek) in 1929.  Van Kleek had a hand in about 80% of the public golf courses in the greater NYC area.  

[wsmorrison]

My first favorite is certainly one of my present favorites.  As a youngster, I was not a golfer at the time I first saw the Merion Golf Club.  But I could tell there was something dramatically different about this place from other golf clubs I had seen.  It had a grace and beauty that others I had seen could not match.  This feeling does not fade.  The more I see of Merion, the more I marvel at it.  Now that I play the game...I marvel from a more complete perspective.

[Mike Hendren]

First, I apologize for previously hijacking this thread into a golf ball discussion.  Second, I apologize because this post has no architectural relevance, whatsoever.

BUT, I've got to know if anyone here trumped my $3.99 bid (by a whopping $0.25) for the boxed sleeve of Royal Plus 6 golf balls on eBay last night while I was out raising funds for the adoption agency whose board I serve on.  To add insult to injury, the name of the high bidder was "a volnteer."  

I stand ready to wire transfer $5.00 to the high bidder for the sleeve.  That is a 6,542% annual return.  

Miffed Mike