Courses you need to see again because you hacked it around so badly

[Jud_T]

What really good courses did you play so far off your normal game that it clouded your ability to really see the layout for what it's worth?  Yeah, I know Tom Doak could shoot 130 after a 3 day bachelor party with no sleep virtually anywhere and get a pretty good lay of the land, and how you play shouldn't really affect one's impartial assessment of a course, but for the rest of us I'm not talking about shooting a few shots above your handicap or having a blowup hole that marred your card.  I'm talking about that 1 round a year where nothing is working and it happens to take place on a really interesting track.  Here's mine:

#3.  Rustic Canyon-  Snuck out of a conference one afternoon and headed up.  Rented some old lefty set that I just couldn't hit for the life of me.  All I can tell you is the course looked really cool and I need to get back there with my own clubs.

#2.  Kingsbarns-  After winning a boatload of money off my buddy all week we headed to Kingsbarns the last morning of the trip.  We were playing a 20 Pound nassau with automatic presses.  I proceeded to give back virtually all my winnings for the week as I was in my pocket on probably half the holes with a horrible case of the shanks.  Couldn't tell you much about the course besides the views were nice and Butch Harmon was in the house at lunch.  I can tell you that this is why I never agree to play automatic presses any more! The funny part is that I had taken another buddy's afternoon time at the Old Course immediately after our round at Kingsbarns.  I probably wouldn't have even played if it weren't TOC.  Imagine my trepidation on the first tee after hitting it sideways all morning!  Somehow I managed to relax and actually played reasonably well (coincidentally my whiskey flask turned up empty after the round).  

#1.  Westhampton-  I had just started reworking my swing with a new pro a few weeks prior to the round and literally only got a handful of balls airborn during the entire round.  I remember thinking the Punchbowl 3rd looked really cool just before launching a turf high line drive over the green. Of course my buddy who had brought me out, who plays off a 3 at Winged Foot, shamed me into springing for one of the best wine dinners of my life as a result and hasn't let me live it down to this day.  This combined with the fact that they had just topdressed the greens and have (I believe) done some work out there since means I need to get back out there soon.

[Mark Johnson]

for me, in no particular order

1) Primland -- I think i shot something like 51-33; one day after shooting 73 at Glenmore

2) Chambers Bay -- played it 4 days before the US am, actually swung the club well, but hit maybe 2 greens

3) Windsong Farm -- in the middle of a swing rebuild, may have hit 2 fairways (which is saying something since most are at least 50 yards wide

[Mark Saltzman]

Jud,

I understand completely.

3) Medinah #3.  All the holes blend together.  I was in the trees every hole.  I remember not thinking highly of the course, but it could very well be because of how I played -- I certainly did not play the course as it was intended to be played.

2) Inverness Club.  Played it in 37 degree weather.  Nevertheless, I was 1 under par going to the 7th tee -- certainly the hole I was most excited to see.  The caddie told me how great I was playing, especially given the weather and then boom, swing is completely gone.  I ended up focusing so much on trying to remember what I was doing the first 6 holes that I could hardly tell you a hole on the rest of the course.  On 8, after hearing the story of the Hinkle Tree, and being told that no one would purposely hit it that way now, I proceeded to snipe hook it down the parallel fairway.  I have no idea what the 8th hole even looks like.

1) Royal County Down.  I had been playing great and was so excited to be playing RCD.  Drove 2 hours or so from Dublin that morning for my own round at one of the world's 10 best courses.  I played so bad, couldn't stand my caddie or my playing partners.  I NEED to play Royal County Down again.  

[Ian Andrew]

Kingston Heath

54 holes the day before was an enormous mistake.
I remember every hole from "that" day (in great detail on most cases).

... I don't remember enough of Kingston Heath (which is very rare for me).
I realize now that I was just too tired to play or see the course.

... only day I would like back

[Jackson C]

TPC
But maybe that was the point of the course.

[Will MacEwen]

Chambers Bay.  3 hours sleep, shin splints and stomach issues.  

Sagebrush - I seem to hack it around every time there.

[Tiger_Bernhardt]

That could be all of them if I took myself seriously. It took 10 rounds to break 80 on Pebble. It took closer to 15 at Spyglass. It was the 5th time around at TOC. Otherwise the choke factor has not been part of my experiences. Unless I am playing in a group where focus is not in the cards, I usually play pretty well on good courses. I usually am very excited to see it and put some effort into playing the course as it was designed to play.

[Jim Colton]

I spent most of the time at Shinnecock in the heather trying to catch Lyme disease.  Thankfully I got the chance to caddie for a friend later in the year.

[JR Potts]

Pine Valley - the fairways are 70 yards wide...and for three days in a row...I drove it either 72 yards right or 72 yards left.  Just demoralizing.

I played Marion a day later and only missed one fairway.

Golf is a stupid game!

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

[Bret Swanson]

The Pete Dye Course at French Lick is built on top of the second highest point in Indiana. 40 mph winds all day long, gusts to 50 mph. Combined with an already shaky game that day, appreciating the course and judging objectively was difficult. Carnage for all 16 of us . . . . But fortunately a very good reason to return and reassess!

[Jeff Shelman]

I hit it all over the planet earlier this year at Medinah No. 3.

It was not my best effort.

[don_bartlett]

Blackwolf Run (River Cse) this summer.  Played Whistling Straits in the morning and BR in the afternoon.  Started off ok, but once we got to the 5th or 6th hole, all that could be heard throughout the course was the sound of a semi automatic firearm going off....  I wasn't sure if it was a disgruntled employee or some hillbilly gun fishing....  Anyway, got me off my game, and that course will punish you if you're not putting it in the right spots.  I still remember most of the holes and can still appreciate the design, but would love another shot at it!

[Cory Lewis]

I shot 90 the one and only time I played The Ocean Course.  I had to go back and look at the card for the specifics.  It was quite a round, 5 birdies, 3 triples, and a 10! It was the final day of the South Carolina Amateur at the course and the greens were running at about 13 on the stimp.

[Peter Pallotta]

Jud - maybe it's just me, but the underpinnings/assumptions of this thread are dangerously* close to the notion that only good players can judge the architecture, i.e. if an appreciation of the layout can be affected by being off one's game (in other words, by playing like a hack), then it begs the question as to whether or not hacks can EVER get an accurate picture of the layout.**

*Dangerous only if one thinks the theory is incorrect or malicious.
** Don't give this question much thought - it just occurred to me, and has been addressed in countless threads before.

Best
Peter

[Jeffrey Prest]

Royal North Devon at Westward Ho! Played it 30 years ago, long before I had any real clue about golf courses and I can only remember a lot of bullrushes, fluorescent tape around the greens to keep sheep away (which is never going to help the look) and the military man I partnered up with who said "Got to hit it, Peter. You've got to hit it..." before just about every shot he played.

Demotivation and a scorecard to match swiftly followed. I have unfinished business there, certainly.

[Joel_Stewart]

Winged Foot-  tried to play it all the way back. Disaster.

Shadow Creek- Las Vegas the night before, nuff said.

Crystal Downs- Weird story. I had to play under another persons name. (Skip).  Played with a real nice couple but played horrible.

[Frank M]

My golf game never effects my ability to assess a golf course's merits. As much as I love golf, I have become less and less concerned about my score/ability and take much more pleasure from my individual successes and the game of golf itself.

[Mac Plumart]

I hate to be the guy who posts that one exact response you aren't looking for

BUT

My golf game never effects my ability to assess a golf course's merits to be honest.

As much as I love golf...I have become less and less concerned about my score/ability and take much more pleasure from my individual successes and the game of golf itself.

Irregardless of whether I shoot 100 or 80, hitting a 30 yard hook around a tree and landing it exactly where I want or hitting a 70 yard bump and

run with a 5 iron and waiting to see where the golf gods will take it is where I find my enjoyment in golf...my score is almost irrelevant....this and golf design are why I play golf.

I'm with you Frank.

[Scott Warren]

It is this that has me thanking the golf gods that my driving is the cornerstone of my game.

I have shot in the 90s at some great courses, but generally I'm not one to have the ball in my pocket 200m from the green, or to be out on the next fairway, so even when I chop it around -- hit horrid iron shots, leave balls in bunkers or three-putt from six feet -- I'm playing the hole from tee to green and thankfully don't miss out on much.

The course I most want to get back to for another shot at not playing horridly is Pine Valley. My 90 there featured six pars, six bogeys, four doubles and two triples. The doubles and triples were silly and avoidable.

[Tommy Williamsen]

for me, in no particular order

1) Primland -- I think i shot something like 51-33; one day after shooting 73 at Glenmore

2) Chambers Bay -- played it 4 days before the US am, actually swung the club well, but hit maybe 2 greens

3) Windsong Farm -- in the middle of a swing rebuild, may have hit 2 fairways (which is saying something since most are at least 50 yards wide

Thanks, I had almost forgotten the dreadful way I played Primland.

[Peter Pallotta]

"The doubles and triples were silly and avoidable."

Ah, my friend, they always are. They always are.  The great courses, I suppose, are the ones that make you forget that, or fool you into thinking otherwise.

Peter

[Wade Schueneman]

1) TOC - I think I hit my first decent shot on hole 14.

2) Lahinch - I lost over a dozen balls in 30+ mph wind.

3) Most challenging courses that I play.

[Brian Potash]

Of the special ones I have gotten the chance to play -

Merion, Maidstone but most of all Quaker Ridge.

[Ian Andrew]

Jud - maybe it's just me, but the underpinnings/assumptions of this thread are dangerously* close to the notion that only good players can judge the architecture, i.e. if an appreciation of the layout can be affected by being off one's game (in other words, by playing like a hack), then it begs the question as to whether or not hacks can EVER get an accurate picture of the layout.**

So I guess if I shot lights out at Winged Foot West last year - that I now understand the architecture of that course?

Just funnin' you guys...  (but I'll put my card up against all you single digits and win most bets!)


What you shoot has nothing to do with what you learn. Tommy Paul said to me that while he was competative he noticed little about the architecture because he was too busy grinding out a round."

[Tim Martin]

Bethpage Black- After going to both U S Opens the anticipation was palpable. I made double on 4 of the first 5 holes and stuck the scorecard deep into the bag and did my best to enjoy the rest of the round. It was a very hot summer day and toting my bag made it that much more painful. I think I managed 4 pars the rest of the way but just felt out of sorts despite the magnificent Tillinghast holes that kept coming at me. Yeah it`s very difficult but I sucked plain and simple. I need another crack. I got a spot through the generosity of a GCA`er and the company made the day fun despite my play.