Great 1st Tees

[Colin Shellard]

Royal Aberdeen

Not the best photo, but all I could do on short notice. Tees are infront of the clubhouse windows, practice putting green is in front of the Pro Shop which is the small building on the right.


Great views from inside looking out - I'll see if I can find one from the tee down the hole.

[Mark Greer]

I think Olympic Club Lake has a great first tee...

[Jonathan Mallard]

Is the one at Pacific Dunes close enough to the clubhouse for consideration?

[Dave McCollum]

I guess I’ve never paid much attention to first tees.  Royal Aberdeen and Merion for the pucker factor and Port Stewart for the dramatic view are the ones that made the biggest impression.  Aberdeen was the first course I played in Scotland.  I arrived as a single and checked in.  They told me they had a group event scheduled and could I go early before it started.  I grabbed a quick lunch and got ready.  By the time I got to the tee, the grill room was completely filled, behind the windows three steps behind the markers, seemingly, everyone watching the shot.  Thankfully, I didn’t screw up until the next one.

[Josh Bills]

Kilspindie's par 3 first right off the clubhouse and next to the pro shop with the final hole just yards away.  Seems like they could easily attach the final green and the first tee without any effort.  A very intimate setting on an enjoyable course.

[Thomas Dai]

Cruit Island - http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,58468.msg1514426.html#msg1514426
😊

Atb

[Carl Nichols]

Butler's 1st, up high next to the putting green introduces a pucker factor.

And Butler's 10th (the upper tee) is right there also--even closer to the clubhouse/pro shop. 

[Ari Marcus]

I really like White Bear Yacht Club's 1st tee, it's right off the edge of the putting green and right outside the corner of the clubhouse so everyone in the grill room can see who is teeing off.

[Frank Giordano]

For Tom Watson, the first tee of the Old White at The Greenbrier holds a special place in his heart.

[JBovay]

Royal Aberdeen

Not the best photo, but all I could do on short notice. Tees are infront of the clubhouse windows, practice putting green is in front of the Pro Shop which is the small building on the right.


Great views from inside looking out - I'll see if I can find one from the tee down the hole.

Here's a photo from the tee looking down:

[Matt MacIver]

Old Town first came to mind - sorry no picture - close to the clubhouse, adjacent to the putting green and 9th, just felt golf- ready with plenty of people watching. 


Bethpage Black, too - but you're gonna need a bigger hill. 

[Colin Shellard]

Here's a photo from the tee looking down:

That's saved me the bother then! All of the gorse on the left and a considerable amount of it on the right has now been removed, there is now very little gorse in play on the main course (Balgownie), although more still exists on the Silverburn.

[Thomas Dai]

All of the gorse on the left and a considerable amount of it on the right has now been removed, there is now very little gorse in play on the main course (Balgownie), although more still exists on the Silverburn.

Colin,


Why did they remove so much gorse? Rabbits or cosmetics or some other reason?


One of the things that used to make RAGC a really strong challenge was the gorse...it certainly buggered-up Greg Norman's chances in the Senior Open when he hit into it on the left side of the 16th and lost out to 'Mr Course Management' (aka Tom Watson).


Atb

[Niall C]

Colin/Dai,

I can well imagine Sean frothing at the mouth over your comments. Shame on you !

Niall

[Colin Shellard]

Colin,


Why did they remove so much gorse? Rabbits or cosmetics or some other reason?


One of the things that used to make RAGC a really strong challenge was the gorse...it certainly buggered-up Greg Norman's chances in the Senior Open when he hit into it on the left side of the 16th and lost out to 'Mr Course Management' (aka Tom Watson).


Atb

Thomas
I believe that the intent was to return the course to closer to the original design - old photos show that there was very little gorse in between holes, so that is the area on which they have focused. I also understand that left untended the gorse spreads more and more outwards and the plant in the middle effectively dies. The programme started long before I was a member, but is still in progress now. For instance the gorse between the 18th and the 1st holes was only removed after the Scottish Open a couple of years ago - this was where Poulter injured his hand in the last round if I recall.


What I would say is that it makes the course, IMHO, much more playable for the average golfer (member and visitor alike) - you are still punished for going off-line as it's still rough, but you are much more likely to find your ball as opposed to losing it in the Gorse. In the areas first cut it is starting to grow back now, and the new gorse is troublesome to play out of.


Funnily enough one hole where the gorse remains up both sides off the tee is the 16th, so Greg would still be in trouble even now!


Sorry we seem to have got a bit OT...