[Kalen Braley]

My eye opening moment also came at the Bandon Resort, years before I became a member of GCA.com.

I was driving down Highway 101 on my way to Cali, and knew about the resort, so thought I would stop in and take a look around.
I didn't have time to play a round, (which didn't matter because I couldn't afford it at the time anyways).

To this day I can still remember very clearly walking up to the back patio for the old temporary snack bar at PD and seeing the 18th hole and 1st holes unfold right in front of me.  I was awed by the sheer wildness/rugged/untamed look of the place and it was such a revelation as I had never seen anything even remotely like that before.  Previously everything I had known was always clearly a designated "golf course"...but those holes at PD were something entirely different and just blew me away.

I then took a short jaunt over to see the 7th green and fairway, and was even more dumbstruck by what I was seeing...

[cary lichtenstein]

Pebble Beach...a graduation gift from my dad

[Keith Buntrock]

Blue Mound and Lawsonia

[Garland Bayley]

I had played a few course that were top 100 this, or best new that, mostly Golf Digest ratings, and always wondered so what's the big deal. I reckon part of the reason the courses were ranked was the infamous resistance to scoring criteria. This high handicapper can do with a lot less resistance to scoring, and a lot more accommodation for golfing my ball around without it disappearing here and there. Then I heard about this course they were building in University Place. Just going to look at it from the trail along Grandview Drive told me, now this is a big deal. Eventually courtesy of Tiger's friendship with John Strawn, I got to play it on a GCA outing before it opened, and I was in love.











Oh, if you didn't know, the course is Chambers Bay.

[Don_Mahaffey]

Part 1 - While I was a sports turf manager at a college in CA, my brother got the job as assistant super at Riviera. After a few visits I knew I had to get into golf.

Part 2 - After visiting St Andrews, I learned how I wanted my course to play

Part 3 - After playing a newly opened Apache Stronghold, I learned how I wanted my course to look. 

[PThomas]

i'll say two of them:

1. Blackwolf Run - played there a lot many years ago, and those courses were on such a grand scale with dramatic hazards and challenging greens.....so different from the many blah parkland courses I grew up playing in Chicago

2. Pacific Dunes - at a Sox game MANY years ago I sat behind a guy with a Bandon Dunes hat...I asked him how was the course -this was when it was the only one there - and he raved about it....for my 40th birthday my wife said i could go to any golf place...I was familiar with Tom Doak from his books and playing a few of his courses, and Pacific Dunes was opening that summer, so I made a reservation to go to Bandon 10 days after Pac Dunes opened....I know a LOT more about architecture now than I did then but even so I just knew after playing both courses there that Bandon Dunes, as good as it was, was outshone by PD...PD is only one of three courses i have ever given a 10 too..it is so fu*$&ng good

[Tim Bert]

Many have impacted me, but two stand out that triggered dramatic changes in my golfing life.

Pacific Dunes - the first course I can recall where I did extensive research on a hole by hole basis prior to the trip.   Also the first course that really inspired me to want to see as many of the great courses as possible.  Finally, the course that brought me to this web site during my pre-trip research.

Kingsley - The course that made it possible for me to imagine being a part of something so far from home. Ironically, also the course that will likely prevent me from having the time to see many of the great courses in the future.  

These two in many ways play the role of bookends of my golden decade of golf course architecture education.

[John Shimp]

Palmetto.   Got to play there my jr year in high school in the Southern Cross and had never had to think and hustle like that to make a score in my life.   It wasnt the prettiest course i had been on it just played the prettiest. 

[Jason Walker]

Southern Hills CC.

As a youngster in Tulsa getting to play there in junior golf and seeing the course during the 1982 PGA, I just knew there was something different about the place than the courses I played.  I went from a young kid drawing course routings during church to seeing the impact of bunker shaping and greensites.  Moved to Atlanta in 1983 but it never left me and I was hooked from then on.  Brought it full circle by attending the 2007 PGA and playing the Monday after--one of the great experiences of my life in terms of 'walks down memory lane'

[Sam Morrow]

Southern Hills CC.

As a youngster in Tulsa getting to play there in junior golf and seeing the course during the 1982 PGA, I just knew there was something different about the place than the courses I played.  I went from a young kid drawing course routings during church to seeing the impact of bunker shaping and greensites.  Moved to Atlanta in 1983 but it never left me and I was hooked from then on.  Brought it full circle by attending the 2007 PGA and playing the Monday after--one of the great experiences of my life in terms of 'walks down memory lane'

Jason, where did you grow up playing?

[Joe_Tucholski]

The course that really started my golfing life is the least regarded course owned by the Pebble Beach Co.  Del Monte golf course was free to golfers under the age of 18 one hour after twilight and I took full advantage through high school and my addiction to the game began.  Despite what many say about the Pebble Beach Company and the exorbitant prices, before The First Tee existed the Pebble Beach Company and AT&T ran (and I assume still run) a great junior golf program in the Monterey area.

Rustic Canyon is the course that changed my outlook on a golf course and what I want in courses.

[Matthew Essig]

I had played a few course that were top 100 this, or best new that, mostly Golf Digest ratings, and always wondered so what's the big deal. I reckon part of the reason the courses were ranked was the infamous resistance to scoring criteria. This high handicapper can do with a lot less resistance to scoring, and a lot more accommodation for golfing my ball around without it disappearing here and there. Then I heard about this course they were building in University Place. Just going to look at it from the trail along Grandview Drive told me, now this is a big deal. Eventually courtesy of Tiger's friendship with John Strawn, I got to play it on a GCA outing before it opened, and I was in love.











Oh, if you didn't know, the course is Chambers Bay.

I was beginning to think I was the only one who felt that way about CB

[Eric Smith]

Pinehurst in 1982. Knew it from Golf Digest as being a special place, but man oh man what an eye opening experience spending a few days there with my dad, my grandpa and my best friend. Played the great #2, which was so different than anything I'd ever played at the time. Extremely challenging around the greens. Maddening really! Combine that with taking caddies for the first time, guys who had caddied in the past for the likes of Messrs Sarazen and Hogan (!), helped make an indelible impression I am likely to never forget.

[Tom ORourke]

Playing Ballybunion, back around 1971 with my dad. Playing past the graveyard and then getting on the tee next to the Atlantic, with the wind howling from the right, heather on the left, and deciding to aim at Bermuda and let the wind blow it back, that opened my eyes to what golf could be as far as mixing fun and challenge. My dad was, on his best day, mediocre. But he always said it is not how you play but where you play. And when he made a birdie on one of the par 3s at Ballybunion he was thrilled beyond belief. That is golf.

[Ian Andrew]

St. George's Golf & Country Club

In 2000 I was asked by the GM and superintendent to attend a meeting about the future bunker work. They asked "me" to do the work because they liked what I had done at other historic clubs around the city. I was suprised and immediately felt a lot of responsibility since this was one of Thompson's two best courses, but I was also thrilled to have the opportunity. They trusted me and the work was very well received by everyone including the media. The project gave me the recognition I needed to find work and go out on my own.

[George Pazin]

No surprises for guessing, for me the eye opener was Oakmont during the week of the 2003 US Am.

[David Stamm]

Pasatiempo. I played it it for the first time on a trip with Pebble Beach and Spyglass Hill (also for the first time), and I found myself thinking about it more than the other two, and I love Pebble Beach. 7 years later and I'm still blown away by that place.

[Philippe Binette]

march 30th 2003... Crystal Downs.

first time I saw a real golf course... after 10 years of playing golf in Quebec.

[Lou Cutolo]

Bethpage Black. Growing up on Long Island in the 70’s our parents would drop us off and we would spend the day. Behind the counter, were you paid your green fee was a large chalkboard listing the waiting time on the courses. The other courses always had 1 to 2 hours waits but the Black was only 20 to 30 minutes so not wanting to wait off we went. The first part of this experience and I miss it to this day, was the sound of the metal spikes on the brick floor in the main hallway.

 Bethpage Black was the first course I played with an out and back routing, which was new to me and made the round feel like a great journey to be enjoyed. At the time I did not appreciate the architectural merit of the course but with more plays I began to realize that the bones were in place to convert this into one of the world’s best layouts. I fell in love with the Black and it started my addiction to golf for which I have not yet been able to kick.

[Jeff_Brauer]

Everyone can diss me if they want, but the first course I saw was Medinah, 2 and 3.  Played 3 holes on the old No. 2 and then first full 18 on a Monday on No. 3, at age 12.  Fell in love with the oak trees, the ambiance, etc.  Made me a golf course architect that day.....even then, I wondered why all the greens were basically "bunker left, bunker right....."

[Tim Gavrich]

I've never played it, but Pine Valley, probably.  My dad played it and came back with a book full of pictures of it.  I looked through the book ALL the time.  I had to have been no older than 8 or 9.

But in terms of courses played, count me as #3 who names Yale.  I initially found GCA when looking for pictures of Yale and when I ended up playing it, it was mind-blowing.

[Harris Nepon]

Ballyneal did it for me. Changed my whole perception about what kind of courses I wanted to play from now on.

[Mike Hendren]

The first one I ever stepped on.

Rolling Hills CC in Ripley, TN.

Originally, only two tree lines and one big sycamore on a gently rolling former cotton field.   Tiny pushed up dirt greens sloping severly from back down to front.  Fairway maintained around the entire green.  Greens and tees only irrigated.  Ridiculously wide fairways.  Nine holes, 3000 yards, par 36.  Classic architecture circa 1971. 

Bogey

[Chris Johnston]

Sand Hills.

[Andrew Lewis]

But in terms of courses played, count me as #3 who names Yale.  I initially found GCA when looking for pictures of Yale and when I ended up playing it, it was mind-blowing.

Add me to the list of those whose for whom Yale opened the Pandora's Box that is GCA.  The scale of the holes; the wildness of the greens.  And the special mix of consternation and exhilaration one feels when preparing to hit the second shot on 18...

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