Your Top 5 Most Pleasant Surprises

[Chris_Blakely]

Marywood GC, Battle Creek, MI Maurice McCarthy
The Balsams - Panorama Course, Dixville Notch, NH, Donald Ross (kind of got it all started with me )
CC of Greenfield, Greenfield, MA, Ralph Barton (made me think that Mr. Bahto was too hard on him)
or
Lisbon Village CC, Lisbon, NH, Ralphp Barton
St. Marys CC, St. Marys, PA, Devereux Emmet
Blair Academy GC, Blairstownn, NJ, Duer Sewall

I think I win for the all ecletic grouping of architects.

[Greg Taylor]

Tobacco Rd
Caledonia Fish & Country Club
Formby

[jonathan_becker]

In alphabetical order

Belvedere -MI
Black Bull - MT
Dunes Club - MI
Paiute Wolf - NV
Peninsula North - Victoria

[Mac Plumart]

Great call on Paiute Wolf.

Fun, fun, fun!!

[Ronald Montesano]

Webhannet
Putterham Meadows
Kebo Valley
Currituck
Miner Hills

[Ash Towe]

Arrowtown. NZ
Peninsula South Victoria
Moortown UK

[Tim_Weiman]

Michael Whitaker:

Without any doubt I would have to say Dooks is the most pleasant surprise I have ever had in my golf travels.

Others worthy of mention:

Flinders (Australia)
Burnham & Berrow (UK)

Also have to mention the Sheep Ranch in Bandon.

If I had to mention one course that is certainly well known and highly regarded but proved to be a "pleasant surprise" it would be Kingston Heath.

[Mark Chaplin]

Nancy Whitaker - an American rose, Mr Whitaker is a lucky boy!
Pennard
Ferndown
West Lancs
Old Elm

[Thomas Dai]

These days when there is so much information about courses easily available in books and on the internet with loads of photos and even videos etc it's in some ways quite difficult to be surprised but here are 5 UK courses that were not as I expected them to be beforehand -

Perranporth - memorably wild and wacky and crazy but just great fun
Brora - didn't think it would be that good, very special
Beau Desert - joyous heathland and wonderful Fowler greens
Muirfield - class, simply shear class, maybe even near perfection (?)
TOC - never thought the start and finish were so much 'in the town' and sooo tranquil out by the Eden

All the best

[Mike_Trenham]

Cassique - SC
Sakkonnet - RI
Shorty's - OR
Nairn & Port Noo (prior to the new very narrow holes) - IRL
Essex County - NJ

[Carl Johnson]

I rarely travel to play a course that does not have a great reputation.  Therefore, I have high expectations (probably unreasonable) and normally am not surprised at what I find, or if I am surprised, it's in the other direction, disappointed.  That having been said, one course I can think of that did pleasantly surprise me was:

The Glen Club (East Links, North Berwick)

[Scott Warren]

Whitaker's young bloke is also the kind of progeny you'd expect from that bloodline.

As for golf courses, five greatest pleasant surprises:

Silloth-on-Solway - But best that you don't play it from the ladies' tees like Muldoon and Arble...
Pasatiempo - I was floored from 1 tee to 18 green.
Prairie Dunes - One of the best five courses I have played, perfect terrain and fantastic variety and playability.
Hardelot (Les Pins) - Tom Simpson is God.
Golspie - Far from a redheaded stepkid between Dornoch and Brora. Has the best par threes of that trio & great flow.

[Brian Freeman]

Bandon Trails (thought it was going to be the weakest course at the resort... turns out it was amazing and unique)
Cruden Bay (knew it was good, didn't know how good)
Whirlpool
Thistle (best hidden gem in Myrtle)
Mid Pines

[Sam Morrow]

I guess my surprises fall into a couple of categories, the first being courses that I expected to be good but were much better than expected.

1. Wolf Point
2. Dismal River
3. Prairie Club Pines
4. Old American
5. Pine Dunes

The second are courses that I didn't really have a feeling on going in and came out very happy.

1. The Wilderness (Lake Jackson, TX Brauer)
2. Texas Star (Euless, TX Foster)
3. Grand Bear (Biloxi, MS Nicklaus)
4. Roman Nose State Park (Watonga, OK Davis)
5. Southwyck (Pearland, TX Kavanaugh)

[John Ezekowitz]

Marywood GC, Battle Creek, MI Maurice McCarthy
The Balsams - Panorama Course, Dixville Notch, NH, Donald Ross (kind of got it all started with me )
CC of Greenfield, Greenfield, MA, Ralph Barton (made me think that Mr. Bahto was too hard on him)
or
Lisbon Village CC, Lisbon, NH, Ralphp Barton
St. Marys CC, St. Marys, PA, Devereux Emmet
Blair Academy GC, Blairstownn, NJ, Duer Sewall

I think I win for the all ecletic grouping of architects.

Chris,

I would love to hear your thoughts on Blair. What did you find interesting about it? I played there a bunch in HS.

[Tim Gavrich]

Connecticut National GC (Mungeam)
Copake CC (Emmet)
Sugarloaf CC (PA) (Cornish)
Vermont National GC (Nicklaus)
Callaway Gardens - Mtn. View (Wilson)

[Keith OHalloran]

Bandon Trails. Agree with what Brian Freeman said
The Dunes Club Myrtle Beach. I had played a few years in a row in Myrtle and did not know this classic course existed.
Sand Hollow UT. Thought the course was a throw in after Mesquite, but it was a lot of fun.
The chilled beer steins at Merion. I knew about the Baskets, but the steins were a nice surprise.
Monroe GC? Played it after Oak Hill. Again didn't know much about the course, and it was great.

[Adam_Messix]

Here we go...

St. Germain (France)
National Moonah
Royal Sydney
Blue Mound
John's Island West

[JMEvensky]

Spring Creek Ranch
 

Just curious,what were you expecting?

I'm not a member but like SCR a lot.

[Jon Wiggett]

1. St. Enodoc. Did not expect much but was really impressed
2. Kilspindie. My favourite course to play despite lack of length or how small the property is
3. Wick great value links experience
4. Alwoodley. Did not know much about the course first time I played it but was blown away
5. Portmahomack. Stumbled up on this course and just loved it. Fun little 9 holer

Played many courses some of which are much better than those on my list but finding a place like Pine Valley was a just amazing was not a pleasant surprise but rather what I had expected.

Jon

[Chris Cupit]

1.  St. Andrews as a teenager in 1984.  On a trip with my dad and the night before we had dinner with some fellow American golfers who hated it and gave the usual complaints.  I had a blast and could play there every day.  Actually my surprises are all courses I could be "forced" to play if only given one course to ever play again.

2.  National Golf Links of America--played it twenty years ago when I was 24.  Played in college and had played lots of places but I was really starting to appreciate the "stuff" of courses.  Hadn't really heard alot about NGLA (unlike Shinnecock which we later played) and fell in love!

3.  Camargo GC.  Never heard of it and had zero idea of what to expect.

4.  Prairie Dunes.  The only thing I knew about PD was that the eigth hole was part of a golf puzzle (America's Best 18 Holes) I put together as a kid.  Got to spend a weekend there and it was terrific.  Unbelievable greens.

5.  Athens CC.  Of all the dog tracks we had to play in college (in the 80's courses still scheduled aerations for the week prior to some of our events (Iron Duke, Furman ), Athens was one of the few courses I even remember.  Not putting over manhole covers was nice but I remember thinking this course sure was a lot different (and more fun) than the other places we went.

[Keith OHalloran]

Oops, seeing Chris post reminded me that Rivermont was probably the best pleasant surprise. It is just a few miles from my in laws, so I thought it would be cool to play. I did not realize the course would be so good. The greens would get the Neil Regan stamp of approval, and the course even captivated Dr. Greco and Sheehy! 

[Scott Sander]

Had no or low expectations for all of these and they all jumped far over the bar.

Murphy Creek
Plantation (Ft. Myers)
Coyote Crossing (West Lafayette, IN)
Schaumburg GC
Glynn's Creek (Scott County, ,IA)

And you'll get change back from your $50 at all of 'em.

[Kris Shreiner]

A wild mix, but here goes...

1) Brora- A joy to play!
2)North Berwick-just awesome.
3) Kingsbarns-Really liked it more than I thought I would.
4) Citrus Course, Palm Springs CA- best non-traditional desert course I've ever played.
5) Palatka GC, Fl- another hoot of a place to tee it.  Great value, scruffy, challenging to play, and welcoming locals...perfect!

[Mike Hogan]

Not in and particular order.

1. Northland- Duluth, MN
2. Cuscowilla- Ga
3. The Golf Club
4. Wexford Plantation- Hilton Head, SC
5. Bandon Crossings- Bandon, Or

All caught me by surprise.
I knew some of the courses were good but All are really good, a couple are really, really good!