What it was like to be CB Macdonald's homie

[Jason Way]

Having just finished reading The Evangelist of Golf, it occurs to me that some of the men involved in the founding of clubs with Macdonald/Raynor courses spent ALL of their time playing around on Long Island on those M/R courses.  Rough lot in life.

Got me to thinking, if I could only play five courses for the rest of my life, and they all had to be worked on by the same architect, what would they be? 

After giving myself a headache, here is what I finally settled on:

(The straightforward/classic answer) Donald Ross - My roots are Rossian, and the kind of golf his courses provide never gets boring to me.
Old Elm
Pinehurst #2
Seminole
Aronimink
Wannamoisett

(The taking-liberties/modern answer) Tom Doak - Based on the range of Tom's work, the variety is gloriously endless.
Shoreacres
Old Macdonald
Lost Dunes
San Francisco Golf Club
Piping Rock Club

What say you?  (And to make things more interesting, feel free to take great liberties in interpreting/applying the phrase "worked on".)

[John Kavanaugh]

Nicklaus

East to West

Sebonack
Muirfield
Dismal White
Castle pines
Pebble Beach.

[Benjamin Litman]

I'll stick with your original duo:

NGLA
Yale
Fishers Island
Camargo
Chicago

[Jon Cavalier]

I'll stick with your original duo:

NGLA
Yale
Fishers Island
Camargo
Chicago

If we get CB and Raynor, I'm seconding you here (though I'm swapping in Shinny for Camargo). 

If not, I'm taking William Flynn:
Shinny (again)
Merion
Pine Valley
The Country Club
Kitansett

[Bill_McBride]

Nicklaus

East to West

Sebonack
Muirfield
Dismal White
Castle pines
Pebble Beach.

You're going to play Pebble #5 over and over and over?

And only nine holes at Sebonac?

[Ronald Montesano]

What does this thread lend to the study of architecture? It's nice water-cooler jabber, but in the end, it's more bragging about pelts.

[Ronald Montesano]

But if I must, it would be Alister Mackenzie

New South Wales
Jockey Club
Reddish Vale
Crystal Downs
Cypress Point

This way, I'd get to mingle with people on four continents and speak three dialects of English and some Spanish.

[Jon Cavalier]

What does this thread lend to the study of architecture? It's nice water-cooler jabber, but in the end, it's more bragging about pelts.

I see it more as a fun discussion along the lines of "which GCA had a hand in five courses that could entertain you for the rest of your days" type discussion (especially having not played most of the courses on my proposed "lists") ...

...but I see your point (and I dig your list).

[Jason Way]

What does this thread lend to the study of architecture? It's nice water-cooler jabber, but in the end, it's more bragging about pelts.

My intention with this questions is just the opposite of bragging about pelts.  As opposed to Top-100-ish trophy-course pursuit list, I am interested in knowing what experienced players like y'all consider to be the best and most worthy of "every day" courses.  I think this is an important standard.  What courses are both interesting and playable enough to be fun and challenging every day for the rest of your life?  Especially for many of the players on here who are accustomed to playing around quite a bit.  That is an intriguing GCA question for me to think about, because it implies a high GCA standard that a select few courses meet.  If it's not stimulating to you, that's ok.

Further, I specifically phrased the question with "worked on" rather than "designed" because I found George Bahto's detailed breakdown of Macdonald's and Raynor's work to be really interesting.  They had their individual and collective hands in so many courses, but often had collaborators, or started projects that others finished.  In this era, the waters are even muddier as the best modern architects are now working on restorations and renovations.  My hope in using that phrasing was that a group this knowledgeable would take creative liberties with attributing courses to architects.  Interesting and potentially educational to me from an art-design history perspective.  Again, perhaps not so for you.  Again, also ok.

In the end, I suppose that Ran will decide if my thread is worthy or not.

[jeffwarne]

Herbert Leeds
Palmetto-winter -late fall-early spring base

Bass Rocks
Essex CC (originally by Leeds)   summer bases
Myopia CC

Kebo Valley -summer escape