How do your non-Scottish-course experiences compare?

[Peter Pallotta]

I didn't want to side-bar Sean's thread, but reading it brought a question to mind that I'd be very curious to hear your answers to:

If you take the one Scottish course that you've played already but want most to play again, the question is: how did the experience of playing that course compare to your best ever non-Scottish-course experience?

Thanks
Peter

*Take this in any direction/angle you choose, but please note that I'd hoped to focus the discussion on your subjective experiences as golfers of your favourite Scottish course compared to your favourite non-Scottish course.       

[Ronald Montesano]

I must be the least emotional guy out there. A great course, with great company, and great weather, and it matters not the location.

[Mark Pearce]

I'm sorry, Peter, but I have no idea what you are getting at with this question.  It makes no difference to me whether a course is just north of the border or south of it.  A golf course is a golf course and I can't see how which country it is in can make any difference to my experience of it.

[Peter Pallotta]

Mark - I'm glad you asked, as others might be confused as well. I'm not going anywhere with it, I'd simply like to hear from folks who have (since I haven't) played Scottish links courses like Dornoch and North Berwick and ToC etc etc:

How do they compare the experience of playing their favorite Scottish course with that of playing their favourite non-Scottish course, say a Walton Heath for example or a Merion or a Sunningdale or a Pine Valley or a Pinehurst 2 etc.

So far the answer seems to be "there is no comparison"...
Peter

[Sean_A]

Pietro

I will take your "experience" to mean favourite course because to me the experience aspect relies heavily on people, the weather, my mood etc. 

North Berwick is comfortably my favourite Scottish course and it couldn't be any more different than my favourite course...Kington.  First off, the experience is touristaville VS a real townie course which doesn't get many touristas. So you are meeting members who are are mix of Welsh and English.  At N Berwick, playing during the visitor times you are just as apt to meet a Scotsman as you are a Swede.  Second, the houses are totally different in that N Berwick, try as hard as it might, with all the touristas rolling thru, it feels quite corporate whereas at Kington its very low key.  Third, the courses are totally different starting with the dramatic differences in terrain running through total length, styles of features and use of land.  Regardless of all the above, my golfing life would be far less satisfactory without the existence of either Kington or N Berwick.

Ciao   

[Mark Pearce]

Sean,


Aren't those differences as much down to the status of NBWL as anything?  Wouldn't all the same comments be true if you were comparing the experience of, say, RSG and Kington?

[Sean_A]

Sean,


Aren't those differences as much down to the status of NBWL as anything?  Wouldn't all the same comments be true if you were comparing the experience of, say, RSG and Kington?

Mark


Well, teh status of a club speaks directly toward the experience.  However, in my experience, most of the big gun English courses are not nearly the tourista targets as the Scottish counterparts....its all very much lower key. That said, there is a reserved air about these clubs which makes it harder for the visitor to get in step the way one does at Kington. 


Ciao

[Mark Pearce]

All true, Sean, of those clubs that get lots of tourist traffic.  It's one of the things I like about Elie that it doesn't get that many visitors.  I'm not sure my experience of Elie would be much different to, say, RCP.  I think of both as relatively low key members clubs.

[Peter Pallotta]

How's this:

Is the experience of playing your favourite links course (in Scotland) better than your experience of playing your favourite golf course that is not a links course in Scotland?

Do you like playing (what is for you) the best Scottish golf course more or less than (what is for you) the best course that is not in Scotland?

Or is that 9/10 is a 9/10 is a 9/10 wherever you go?

[Sean_A]

Is the experience of playing your favourite links course (in Scotland) better than your experience of playing your favourite golf course that is not a links course in Scotland?

NO

Do you like playing (what is for you) the best Scottish golf course more or less than (what is for you) the best course that is not in Scotland?

I prefer playing Kington to NB, but its neglible, something like 52-48    Both courses are among the 10 or so essential and fundamental courses for me.

Or is that 9/10 is a 9/10 is a 9/10 wherever you go?



Ciao

[Michael Moore]

Timely. I just got back from Ireland where I immediately developed a substantial preference for the dunes, hollows, clifftops, thigh-high rough, immaculate pathways, rainbows, lasses, mountains, waves, aura, hospitality, and folklore.

[James Brown]

Scotland is the cradle of golf for good reasons. 

[Sean_A]

Scotland is the cradle of golf for good reasons.

Would one of those reasons be....because Scotland is the cradle of golf?   


Ciao

[Eric Smith]

Well, I have been on cloud nine ever since my trip to Scotland this summer. St Andrews, it is easy for me to say, is my favorite place in golf. But I just got home from Nebraska yesterday and can honestly say that there is no place I'd rather be with my golf clubs than out there in the sandhills.

[Peter Pallotta]

Funny, Eric, I never pegged you as a Sophist! 
But I'm glad you can be all in, wherever you are.

[Ken Moum]

Mark - I'm glad you asked, as others might be confused as well. I'm not going anywhere with it, I'd simply like to hear from folks who have (since I haven't) played Scottish links courses like Dornoch and North Berwick and ToC etc etc:

How do they compare the experience of playing their favorite Scottish course with that of playing their favourite non-Scottish course, say a Walton Heath for example or a Merion or a Sunningdale or a Pine Valley or a Pinehurst 2 etc.

So far the answer seems to be "there is no comparison"...
Peter

Well, since I've played all of the former and none of the latter, I'm not sure how to approach this.

But, how about comparing my experience on a common Scottish links course to a common inland American course where I live and play.

I'd say nearly everything about my local golf eother pisses me off or makes me sad.

Starting with the fact that people can't keep their GDed hands off the ball. Dan King called it "handball."

Give me a pleasant afternoon at Dunbar, Golspie, Fraserburgh,  Cullen, Lundin, Tain or Kilspindie and I'll be far happier than on any of the courses my friends consider great around here.

And even when we try to emulate links golf we can't seem to get it right, Wild Horse being as close as I've seen.

[jeffwarne]

In general......


the difference I've found is......


it's just golf over there.
Maybe there's a net by the first tee....maybe not-maybe a practice fairway-but it's usually deserted as far as a "warmup"


You show up, check in, and off you go.


No mandatory caddies, no speeches about how great your day will be.


Here when you play an "iconic" course, it's often so much more than golf, and the plce is littered with people who wouldn't know golf if it bit them in the arse.


Low key.


That said, one can get either experience in either country-just have to know what you want and where to look for it.
We've managed to export a bit of the garbage overseas (Trump mainly), but it seems to keep the arseholes contained for the most part.

[Peter Pallotta]

 

Thanks Jeff, Ken.

I learned something: that if I ever go over and play those low key and arsehole-free courses, I may end up playing the rest of my golfing life either constantly pissed off or sad!

Hmm.  Maybe I should just stay home. It might be better never to have loved at all....

[Niall C]

Peter

Be aware, you do get arseholes over here. It's just that they are a different breed of arsehole.

Niall

[Peter Pallotta]

 
Thanks, Niall. I imagine you're right, but I tend to think they'd be a better class of arseholes -- at best, maybe like  Michael Caine or Sean Connery when they're in bad moods, and at worst someone like Thomas the mean butler from Downton Abbey.  Both are at least more interesting than the garden-variety, run of the mill arseholes we get over here...

[Jay Mickle]

Peter what makes me want to return and play a course again is how much fun I had playing it the first time and my expectations that it would continue to be fun. That is true regardless of country. In Scotland that course was North Berwick, in England it was Walton Heath,  in Ireland it was Lahinch,  at home it is my beloved Mid Pines.
All lend themselves to enjoyable play whether with hickory or modern clubs providing innumerable lies asking for an endless variety of shots.