"True golfers pray for wind, but they must not pray too earnestly." - John Low
My test of wind enjoyment is absolutely golf course and maintenance specific. It has always astonished me that memberships - or the general public who can vote with their feet on daily fee layouts - tolerate punitive, intentionally frustrating conditions. The older I get, in combination with the inevitable accumulation of physical injuries, the pickier I become when and where to tee it up.
Excepting the last few holes of Bandon Trails in a summer wind, each course out there is perfectly playable in a three club breeze provided you've got enough creativity to use the contours of the ground to direct your ball. That asserted, a four club wind anywhere is best negotiated from a clubhouse chair with a single malt in hand.
I've long railed against indulgent architecture that excludes 90% of the golfing populace, including women and seniors who don't have a prayer getting around the course without losing three sleeves of Top Flites and a two pints of blood. Who do these assholes think are going to play these monstrosities? Put aside golf courses intended specifically to square-off with Tour Pros - and self-flagellating amateurs with an expense account AmEx.
Grand Cypress North, South, East; Dove Mountain; Industry Hills; Cascata; Old Greenwood; Las Sendas, PGA West Resort Course; Ruby Hill; Bodega Harbor; The Ranch; The Bridges - one tick above a whisper of breeze and these so-called golf courses transform into 18 lashes from a horsewhip while enduring electroshock testicle torture.
Is hacking your ball out of four inch rough on a uphill, 465 yard par-4 against the wind supposed to be fun? And I'm going to pay for it too? In my view - having played a zillion courses over 54 years - the most egregious mistake an architect can make is a series of severely elevated greens surrounded by hazards in a windy corridor. Yet I see it over and over and over. WTF?
We cannot figure out why people are running from the game and courses are going busteroo. Well, how about presenting courses that middle-handicappers can play without needing to carry a sickle, climbing ropes, pitons and an extra-length ball retriever?
If I had my way, 99% of the courses built would pay close attention to the New Course at St. Andrews or the Duke at Rancho El Dorado. Designing a golf course using the game chutes & ladders as a guidepost gives everyone a different opportunity to get the ball in the hole commiserate with their ability and strength. Why does everybody love NGLA? Uh, because even the hardest holes have multiple options to skin the cat - regardless of the wind.
Why do so many come back from the U.K. with a renewed enthusiasm for the game? Because the courses - though often difficult - are FUN to play. With a slack wind, the course is easier today - in a strong breeze, that bump shot from 100 yards looks pretty good. Try that shit at Butler National and you'll get your rectum rerouted.
Drawing a 5-iron into a stiff wind on #4 at Bandon and watching the ball scamper onto the green is the essence of golf. Trying to figure out a way to hold the same shot on an elevated ribbon of cement - atop a steaming pile of architectural ego surrounded by pits of perdition - is the reason the game continues to shrink like a johnson swimming in the North Sea.