Fun golf courses

[Tommy Williamsen]

Golf Digest's "most fun" list got me to thinking, "What makes one hole fun and another not?" I thought of this analogy.  When my son was young we enjoyed playing catch.  It was fun and it was nice to be together. Periodically, however, playing catch in the back yard lacked a little drama and, if you will, fun.  So, we would play catch over the house.  We never knew where the ball was coming from. Catching it was an accomplishment. It was exciting.  It was a blast.

When my son played little league I would take him to the ball field and hit grounders.  Periodically, he would get a "bad bounce".  If he missed it I'd say, "It's ok son it was a bad bounce." Now suppose I took him to a field with uneven ground.  Most of the bounces would be "bad".  Knowing my son he would have loved it.

I hate predictability. I would rather play a hole and wonder if the architect lost his mind than play one that lacked excitement or was just plain boring.  A 450 yard par four with obligatory bunkers right and left off the tee with two bunkers fronting the right and left side of the green may be tough but it certainly scores low on the fun-meter.

I think the reason I love links golf is that not much is predictable.  You get a bad bounce, a blind shot, wild undulating greens, deep bunkers that actually penalize a poorly struck shot, and the ability to think a good shot that goes awry is not "unfair" it is just part of the game.

Give me a quirky hole or even a goofy hole.  I prefer it to a boring one.

[Mac Plumart]

Tommy...

I am with you 100%.  One of the big draws for me towards golf is the lack of predictability and having to handle those outcomes...good and bad.  This adds a test of character to the mix.

Regarding that list of "most fun courses", I really don't like it at all.  I like the idea of embracing "fun" golf, but there are too many Par 3 type courses on that list.  This kind of made me feel they were discounting the amount of "fun" that could be had on an 18 hole course and made "fun" akin to something other than what takes place on a full scale golf course.  I'm doing a bad job of explaining it, but I hope I'm getting, at least, a bit of my point across regarding that list.  Bottom line, it could have been better...but the concept should be embraced.

[Sven Nilsen]

If mixing up grounders, throws to first base and pop-flys is the equivalent of an interesting golf course, then throwing it over the house has to be a Strantz.

[Tim Gavrich]

The fun holes are the ones that make the largest numbers of players, even when they haven't hit a great tee shot or approach shot, think they have a chance at success.

[Mac Plumart]

So I'm trying to think of the most fun I've had playing golf and on which courses I was playing during those times.  Here are my Top 5 courses:

Old MacDonald--played it twice.  Both times nothing extra special happened, but it was simply a joy to play.  Fun shots.  Interesting routing...love going over the ridge to see the entire course open up.  And the ending is simply epic fun.

Shoreacres--pleasant fun.  Great walk.  Fun shots.  Interesting use of the swale.  Just a great vibe being at the club.

Crail Balcomie--perhaps the greatest moment of my golfing career.  Perfect Scottish weather...howling wind, stinging sideways rain for a few holes...then the rain stopped and the sun came out and the wind dropped to maybe 15 mph.  Great company...Colin Macqueen and I played together that day.  And the course kept building upon itself and seemed to get better and better.

Canterbury--another great walk, fantastic golf turf, straight forward good golf holes, and some wonderfully unique holes.

Harbour Town--this journey is incredible.  Wonderful walk, great transition from tightly tree lined course to the widest fairways on the PGA Tour.  Mindblowing mix of massive bunkers and small greens and diagonal hazards.  Simply fun to be there and being part of that journey.

[Wayne Freeman]

Fun to me involves quirk and lots of variety... being able to use backstops, hit all kinds of different shots, be really creative. 
   My top 3 courses that fit the bill here are:

                Yeamans Hall, White Bear Yacht Club, and Tetherow

[Tommy Williamsen]

Harbor Town, White Bear Yacht Club, Shoreacres are all very different from each other, yet they all require you to think outside the box.  The day I played Shoreacres I had played the Ameritech Club.  The friend that I was with loved the Merit Club, until he played Shoreacres.  He had never seen anything like it.  He didn't want to leave.  I asked him what he shot.  He had no idea but had the most fun he ever had on a golf course.  The first time I played Harbor Town I hit balls from all over the place just to see how I could get the ball on the green from different places. 

[Richard Choi]

I must be confused. I am not sure why a list of "fun" golf courses would be different than "best" golf courses.

The most fun I have ever had on a golf course, happened on courses that I like the best (namely Old MacDonald, Pac Dunes, Ballyneal, Sand Hills, Chambers Bay, etc.) Those course provide tremendous amount of fun and it is exactly what makes them great.

I guess we must have a different definition of what "fun" means...

[Kalen Braley]

Richard,

I can see how there would be a few exceptions to the rule.

For example, right here in Spokane we have Indian Canyon which is a really fun course to play....I never tire of it.  But I don't see it being much more than a 4 or 5 on the Doak scale given its lack of length, no fairway bunkers, and its tight corridors on many of its holes.

Its fairway undulations and neat greens give it a ton of flavor as you just don't see many modern courses like that anymore anymore.

[Chris_Hufnagel]

I must be confused. I am not sure why a list of "fun" golf courses would be different than "best" golf courses.

The most fun I have ever had on a golf course, happened on courses that I like the best (namely Old MacDonald, Pac Dunes, Ballyneal, Sand Hills, Chambers Bay, etc.) Those course provide tremendous amount of fun and it is exactly what makes them great.

I guess we must have a different definition of what "fun" means...

Richard, it sounds like your definition of fun matches pretty close to mine.  I have played OM, Pacific Dunes, and Chambers Bay - I will finally get to see and experience Ballyneal this next weekend.  You didn't mention Kingsley - so either you didn't think it was as fun or perhaps you haven't seen it yet. If you haven't been there, I would recommend trying to make the trip.  It is one of the most fun courses I have ever played and enjoy each and every round I play there - I don't know if that makes it "great" or a "best" course - I just know it works for me and can't wait to get back...

[Tommy Williamsen]

I think there are some differences between fun and great. Winged Foot is a great golf course, but it doesn't get mentioned when we talk about fun.  I think it is fun to score well on it but the making of the score is hard work.  Shoreacres has fun shots. 

[Michael Ryan]

I think there are some differences between fun and great. Winged Foot is a great golf course, but it doesn't get mentioned when we talk about fun.  I think it is fun to score well on it but the making of the score is hard work.  Shoreacres has fun shots. 

I love Winged Foot West and have had the absolute joy to play there more than 5 times and less than 10.  I don't think even one second of it was "fun".  Even the joy of hitting a good shot other than your last putt on 18 is met with the realization that your next shot is coming up and it's daunting, haha.

Thursday is a day of golf that is just as special and also "fun"...playing Newport CC in Rhode Island.  Depending on wind direction of course...things like challenging the bunker on #5, either trying to stop a wedge on the front of #6 or chipping an iron to run to a back hole location, taking a run at the drivable #11 and of course, trying to hit a "going draw" into the 14th are my definition of fun on the golf course. 

[Mac Plumart]

Richard...

I initially was thinking the same thing as you.  But as I was going through my Top 25 list I found myself mentally describing the golf courses on that list in words other than "fun."

For example, The Old Course brought to mind the phrases "thinking golf" and "mentally engaging", while The Golf Club brought to mind "Peaceful." 



Brian...

Along those lines, Dismal (and Sand Hills for that matter) brought to mind the word "magical."  Those dunes in Mullen are really something special.



Certainly "fun" in their own way, but there are courses which immediately bring to mind "fun" and they are not always my "favorite" or the "best".  At least in my weird world.   

[Will Lozier]

I would have to mention Yale as one of the most fun rounds of golfs I've ever played...including playing the last three holes in very very dark conditions.  I managed to make about a 45-footer on 12 for birdie and never found my second ball on 18!  Topped off by being locked inside by the 12-year-old neighborhood gatekeeper!  I got out.

Yale is so huge and interesting and, on some level, the minimalist (neglectful really) conditions made it almost more enjoyable in it's total rustic state.

Also, the Sheep Ranch!  Almost ancient!

Cheers

[Sean_A]

Fun can be all sorts of things in golf, but the most fun is when I can watch the ball react and when elements of doubt are presented.  Sure its fun to hit pure shots, but if I relied on those to keep me coming back to the first tee I would have quite the game ages ago.  The last time I laughed like a kid on a golf course was at Tobacco Road.  So yes, to me, fun and great may intersect, but not terribly often.

Ciao

[cary lichtenstein]

Oakmont...the most fun thing about that course was talking off my shoes and getting into my car as I was leaving

[Mark Pearce]

As suggested by others, I think fun golf courses tend to have the following facets: periods following the playing of a shot when the outcome is uncertain, because the ball is moving and you are awaiting the outcome of its interaction with the course, periods following the playing of the shot when the outcome is uncertain, because you cannot see the outcome, opportunities to score well and to be challenged and opportunities to make heroic recoveries.

These factors are all encouraged by fast and firm conditions, significant contours and reasonable length.  Hence courses such as Elie, Crail Balcomie, and Kington qualify in spades.  So too, however, do some more muscular courses.  Yale, Lawsonia and Charles River are examples that immediately spring to mind of the few I have played in the States, Dornoch and Ganton in the UK.

[Colin Macqueen]

Mark, as you suggest,
"....... I think fun golf courses tend to have the following facets: periods following the playing of a shot when the outcome is uncertain, because the ball is moving and you are awaiting the outcome of its interaction with the course, periods following the playing of the shot when the outcome is uncertain, because you cannot see the outcome, opportunities to score well and to be challenged and opportunities to make heroic recoveries.
These factors are all encouraged by fast and firm conditions, significant contours and reasonable length."

Well these chaps certainly seem to know a fun golf course when they find one! To get the flavour of it here is my better half's description of it! She is forever trying to entice me back to Italy and knows golf needs to be in the equation!

"BERGAMA is a small town which I would like to go back to in the future.  The Olde Town is high above the modern town which has sprawled out into the countryside as years have gone by.  A medieval walled city which you walk up up up up to – or as most tourists do – catch a funicular tramcar.      The streets are paved with small stones and the lanes are narrow and winding.  In Piazza Vecchia which is the largest piazza, a most unusual thing was happening.    STREET GOLF – yes 150 players, vast majority were men, playing with pro clubs, but synthetic golf balls.   Throughout the city they had holes up  laneways, up stone steps, around water fountains.   Each player carried a square of green synthetic grass which they used to prop their tee up with.    The greens were awfully bumpy because of the stones beneath. So even a easy looking putt went crazily off at a tangent sometimes.   I kept thinking of you Colin and I made sure I got a picture of the guy with the colored trousers - reminded me of your tartan trews. Lots of restaurants, and shops selling delicious cheeses and pastries – and many churches and lots of young students.    Very colourful – loved it."

Sounds to me that this has most everything covered; the religious aspect of golf with churches; young students for caddies; the halfway-house treats seem a cut above the norm; narrow fairways and tricky greens. Golf Club Atlas paradise!

Impishly yours,
Colin

Anticipation


Tee off


Down the fairway

[Mitch Hantman]

I seem to find an interesting pattern to my personal list of most fun courses:  Half of them are designed by MacDonald/Raynor/Langford.
NGLA, Shoreacres, Camargo, Lawsonia, Chicago, Piping Rock, Creek Club, Fox Chapel all are great fun, although most aren't the most difficult courses one encounters.  Over in Scotland, my most fun would include TOC, North Berwick,  Royal Dornoch, Brora, and Castle Stuart.

[Rich Goodale]

Mitch

How can you forget Kilspindie?!

Rich

[Mitch Hantman]

Rich,

I did forget that one.  It is a very enjoyable course. I wasn't sure if it was the course that was great fun, or the company! 

[Pete_Pittock]

As suggested by others, I think fun golf courses tend to have the following facets: periods following the playing of a shot when the outcome is uncertain, because the ball is moving and you are awaiting the outcome of its interaction with the course, periods following the playing of the shot when the outcome is uncertain, because you cannot see the outcome, opportunities to score well and to be challenged and opportunities to make heroic recoveries.

These factors are all encouraged by fast and firm conditions, significant contours and reasonable length.  Hence courses such as Elie, Crail Balcomie, and Kington qualify in spades.  So too, however, do some more muscular courses.  Yale, Lawsonia and Charles River are examples that immediately spring to mind of the few I have played in the States, Dornoch and Ganton in the UK.

Mark, then you'll love this thread by Cptn Kirk. http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,17958.0.html

The most fun course that I've played is Pacific Dunes. The most fun course that I've played that allows carts (making 36 a day possible) is Sagebrush.
The most fun golf course is one where total score is immaterial.

[Will Lozier]

The most fun golf course is one where score is immaterial.

I suggest this be the new working GCA definition of "Most Fun Course"!  I've dropped the word "total" simply because individual scores should be deemed irrelevant as well.

Cheers

[Brad Wilbur]

In memory of a fellow dentist, Cruden Bay.  Sorry, I should have spelled it Crudan. 

[Mike Hendren]

IMHO the conversation ends and begins with The Old Course.  I can't think of a close second.

Sean, I thought the same thing on my first play of Tobacco Road. Oddly, on my second go-round it felt contrived.

Bogey