The downside of being a GCA nerd

[Emile Bonfiglio]

There are probably many but I'll list just one.

I just returned from a buddies trip to Chambers Bay and Gold Mountain in Western Washington. I found I could not help but explain to my architecturally illiterate friends the key features of the holes as we played them. When they liked a hole I could tell them why it was good and the same when they didn't....the silence from one of my foursomes after I explained the features of an Eden holes was the final indicator that I've reached a point of no return.....

My name is Emile, and I'm an Archi-holic

[Jud_T]

Architecture junkies are like caddies and children before the me generation; they shouldn't speak unless spoken to.

[Bill Brightly]

Sometimes when I am bored I'll just launch into a topic with 3 non-nerd friends and wait until I see their eyes roll backwards for the fun of it. They already know I am a gca nerd, right? Roll with it, it is fun!

[JNC Lyon]

Chicks don't dig the ground game?

[Terry Lavin]

Remember that your friends have the OPTION to tune you out. You could choose to utilize STRATEGY and speak to them one on one, let's say when you're both in a hazard looking for lost balls. Just try to speak in a NATURAL way and they will at least pick up a kernel of knowledge about our indispensable passion of gca. Try to fit in with them: be TRUE to yourself but wear Foot joys so you don't threaten them with too much gca hipsterism. Above all else, be a MINIMALIST and only play with the uninitiated at good tracks on an episodic basis.

Hope that helps. Not that we seek help; only adventure, spiritual enlightenment with small balls and a couple good eye candy photos to show the wife when we return from another trip to a BUCKET LIST course.

[Cory Lewis]

When caddying I will tell a group "this green has elements of a redan hole"  then try not to get mad at the usual response "What's a redan?"  This was particularily frustrating when I was caddying for a member of a Raynor course who didn't know what a Redan was.

[Steve Lang]

There are probably many but I'll list just one.

I just returned from a buddies trip to Chambers Bay and Gold Mountain in Western Washington. I found I could not help but explain to my architecturally illiterate friends the key features of the holes as we played them. When they liked a hole I could tell them why it was good and the same when they didn't....the silence from one of my foursomes after I explained the features of an Eden holes was the final indicator that I've reached a point of no return.....

My name is Emile, and I'm an Archi-holic

So they liked riding around Gold Mountain better than being a billy goat at Chambers Bay?

[Ally Mcintosh]

The downside is that you end up critical about everything.

It was so much easier when I didn't know.

[Jud_T]

The downside is that you end up critical about everything.

It was so much easier when I didn't know.

Exactly.  Now if conditions aren't right or the course doesn't meet some minimum standard, I'd generally rather do something besides golf.

[John Kavanaugh]

If you can't keep from trying to prove how smart you are you will find yourself only playing in GCA outings. There is a reason some GCA nerds only play 10-20 rounds per year.

[Terry Lavin]

It reminds me of my days trying medical malpractice cases. My shtick worked for the jury because they were a captive audience. My normal buddies had little interest in my ability to understand and translate medicine for lay people. Same is true for gca.

[Carl Rogers]

Being a nerd is a self conscious decision you as an adult choose to make.  The 'my way or the highway' is both tiresome and wrong.

In the past couple of months, I have discovered and played a reputed to be old Ross course, Sewell's Point in Norfolk, VA.  Not even close to his 50 best, but something tells me it is close to its original design simply because the Navy has been too cheap to re-do it.  It has to be on the list of best values.  I have come to like the course.

[John Kavanaugh]

I actually caught myself telling a playing partner while at Quail Crossing that if you squint hard enough it is just like being at Pacific Dunes.

[Tim Martin]

I actually caught myself telling a playing partner while at Quail Crossing that if you squint hard enough it is just like being at Pacific Dunes.

I am signing up right now to follow you on Twitter. Will there be prizes and parting gifts at Victoria National? Will the Dismal Devil be in attendance and can I wear shorts? I`m not interested in anything healthy so please go easy on the salads and fruit on the buffet.