Slightly OT--Original Posters

[JLahrman]

I caddied at and worked in the bag shop at Camargo as a teenager. Around 2003 I got into a golf conversation with a guy in grad school who was a good player and knew a little about a lot of courses. He had heard of Camargo and was asking me about it. I searched online for some pictures or articles about the course and came upon Ran's writeup. For about the first two years I didn't even realize there was a discussion group; once or twice a week I'd read a different course review.

[Jeff_Brauer]

During a phone conversation with Ron Whitten, he mentioned Golf Digest called him on the carpet for using swear words in his interview here, and banned him from participation.  So I came on right when he left.


From my profile, looks like that was December 2001.   Profile also notes 1.9 posts per day average...…..probably built up most of those arguing about Merion back in the day.  Interest comes and goes, waxes and wanes but I guess I am still here, upping my average post count today at least.


At that time, I didn't really have any staff who really loved to discuss architecture.  It seems I tend to keep the nose to the grindstone guys when times are a bit tough.  So, it filled in for what once had been nearly daily pretty lively conversation about our profession.

[Donnie Beck]

I like you found the site searching for courses and stumbled on the courses by country. I had been using the site off and on for a few years when I hired a new assistant in 2002 and he noticed I was looking at courses on the site and he asked " Wow your on Golf Club Atlas" Do you post on the message board? I was like what message board ?  He then showed be where to click and I have been here ever since.

[Steve_Lovett]

I stumbled across the site and became mesmerized by the AOTD (Aerial of the Day) that Carlyle Rood used to do. This dates back to 2003 or so. It's been great resource and clearinghouse of information, expertise, and interesting discussion - and have met a few really good folks through this site.

[Jeff_Brauer]

Posted this in the Austin CC thread, but repost here, as one example of outside interactions with gca.com types, lurkers or otherwise.



I visited many years ago and toured with superintendent Doug Petersen, whom I had met before.  He was apparently a gca.com devotee because I had been in several threads that week with Tommy N and others about the possible need for catch basins around greens.


Somewhere in the tour he suddenly (as if he just remembered) and pointedly noted, "see, there's no need for catch basins around greens here."


Back in those days, I was probably the only non Doak architect to post here, and often lambasted by the group for things like

not being like Doak,

being in ASGCA, and some technical answers (see above) that went against the site's then more dogged mantra.  The upside of that was that at nearly every GIS or other golf industry event, someone would come up to me to encourage me to keep "telling it straight" and "keep giving them hell!".


Another memorable moment, when someone accused main stream designers of "mailing in designs" I posted a summary of my design thought process, which was, "Design started", followed by as much blank space as I could get in, and concluding with "Design Finished."  I got several calls from other architects laughing their ass off and congratulations for a job well done.

[George Pazin]

Nice to see some who don't post much chiming in.


I joined in '99 (before there was an informal application process, otherwise I wouldn't have made the cut...). My own journey through golf started late, at age 29 in '96 - started playing at the prompting of a friend, and as an avid reader, read a bunch of instruction manuals (none worked), histories of the game, eventually a bunch of bios. Read Pete Dye's Bury Me In A Pot Bunker, started wondering about why certain golf courses were considered great and others less so. Read the Top 10 You Can Play article in Golf Mag, was intrigued by Tobacco Road GC. Played it, came back, searched the web (probably with a search engine that no longer exists...). Found the interview with Strantz on here. Read a bunch of other interviews, seeing guys like Tom Doak and Geoff Shackelford, names I knew from books I had recently read. Read all of the interviews, eventually clicked on the Discussion Board link.


I still remember a few of my early posts. Weren't any better than the recent ones.....


I've had a few proud moments, won't bother to mention them. More embarrassing moments, can't seem to forget them. Hopefully others have. I count maybe a half dozen who've posted on this thread who've been around longer than I have. But I know there's more.


There are few early posters who still post on any sort of regular basis. Some have good reasons, others don't. Most are just talked out. We used to have knock down drag out political threads in the early days, man, some of those were ugly. In a good way... Tons of guys used to share deep insights but no longer do. Fortunately, there are a lot who have stepped up. If work ever eases up (and I'm hoping it doesn't, it's been too slow for too long for me), I'll start a "Where are they now?" thread to see where some of the early posters are.


If you are adept at the search function, look for early 2000s threads by Tom MacWood, Pat Mucci and TEPaul. Although those do come with a "be careful what you wish for" warning. Some of the 2000-2003 threads on places like Garden City, damn, those were fun and special.


Thanks everyone, and I mean everyone, for all the fun over 20 years and counting.

[Peter Pallotta]

Not even close to an original poster, but I thought out of deference to him I’d mention that Tom Macwood was the reason I joined when I did - specifically his Arts & Craft essay. I don’t remember what I was searching for when I came across it or what year it was - but it was a revelation to me, or at least a nourishing deep breath of fresh air. That golf courses looked (and played) like the golf courses they did for a wide range of socio-economic, historic, aesthetic and philosophical reasons seemed to me to be, then and now, just about the only thing worthy of discussing when it came to gca, or worthy to be called discussion, or worth the effort to discuss. A much much valued contributor was Tom M.

[Doug Wright]

I think I came across GofClubAtlas.com in the fall of 2000, while looking for information about Sand Hills. I remember emailing my best golfing buddy, saying something likely "Holy #@%$ you need to look at this website!" It's been a highly enjoyable part of life for me lo these many years. thanks Ran et al. 

[Jon Heise]

Simple Google search for "Crystal Downs."


Probably 2005 or so.  There was not much out there at the time...

[Dave McCollum]

Like many others, I found the site researching a trip - Lahinch - 2004. 


I did not discover the discussion group until well after that point and joined in December of that year.

I'm a johnny-come-lately (11+ years), but this is exactly my story.  I too, read Tom Macwood's Arts and Craft piece with interest and may have asked "who are these guys?" before discovering the DG.  I don't remember, exactly.  Thanks for the buggy ride. 

[Steve Wilson]

 During the summer of 2001 I was preparing to attend a Donnell Ross Society meeting in Knoxville Tennessee. I was trying to find information  about Holston Hills where we would be playing. My Internet search turned up Ran’s review of Holston Hills and I applied for membership.  I turned up at Enniscrone outside of Philadelphia a few weeks later and so began a long trail of Dixie Cups, Budas,  two outings at Pete Dye Golf Club in West Virginia and joining two outing organized by Jim Sherma in central Pennsylvania. Through this site I have met a lot of great people and played a lot of great golf courses that I would’ve otherwise never seen.

[Tim Leahy]

I joined in 2002 after reading an article about the site somewhere or other; my memory is that it was in Sports Illustrated, of all places, but I'm just not sure now.
Those were great days, with some brilliant, passionate, and knowledgeable people who are long gone now from the site for a variety of reasons.  I learned more faster than I ever imagined possible.

I also read the SI article and in researching Rustic Canyon that was mentioned I found the discussion group. Saw pictures of Tommy in the article and thought he had a body shape like mine and thought I could play with these guys.
Knew nothing about architecture but had played a lot of courses in Cali. Played in multiple King's Putters and have enjoyed a those I have met.

[Colin Macqueen]

Gentlemen,
My goodness I haven't even reached my tin anniversary on this site becoming an initiate in April 2010.


I was (am) a golf tragic and also had an abiding interest in golf courses but mainly the agronomical side of things having been brought up near classic links land and being inculcated with the idea of minimum watering, minimum fertilisation and maximum aeration. I hadn't thought much about the architecture as such and I googled golf architecture and lo and behold this big, wide world was laid out before me. Was it T.E. Paul who had an iconic phrase about golf and a big world? I was so pleased to find this brethren that I wrote to Ran and actually (as a Scot mind!) offered to make a contribution as I was being thoroughly entertained! Ran intimated that a perfervid, hugely golf-passionate Scot freely offering moolah obviously should be enrolled ....and so it was! I haven't offered pearls of wisdom but have very much enjoyed the information, insights, discussions and meetings with fellow members. My moment of greatness was when Ran "pinned" my offering to this group of a list of threads which I had compiled running from green complexes, to bunkering to GCA navel gazing!


One thing that I have never seen and never will, I guess, is the offerings that Dave McCollum throws up...well not quite..... as according to Dave half his thoughts and "bon mots" get lost in the ether, gobbled up on the airwaves whereupon we get an abject apology and his second iteration! But he does run a golf course and not many of us can say that!


So as others have said"Thank you Ran" for this valuable and fun extension of my golfing obsession.


Cheers Colin

[archie_struthers]

 


Think I logged in in 1999 or 2000 when we were building Twisted Dune. At the time I was voraciously reading anything on golf architecture I could find. Loved the site immediately and had known one of the more famous posters ( TEP )in another life

[Mike_Trenham]

Around 1999 my father told me Bill Kittleman had purchased a computer and was on the internet but only looked at one site.  I had to check it out.

[Mike Hendren]

The referenced SI article had a photograph of Tony Nacarrato and reported his intentional shot into the Devil's A**hole at  Pine Valley.   

It was Scott Burroughs who posted the hundreds of Aerials of the Day.  Speaking of Carlyle Rood, Barney once commented that "even his bag is tight."

I joined the site in 2003 when it hit me that I needed to know Bob Huntley and Gene Greco.  Score.

In all seriousness I doubt there is another member of the treehouse who has been enriched by this site as much as I have. 

Mike Hendren

[Dave McCollum]

Gentlemen,

One thing that I have never seen and never will, I guess, is the offerings that Dave McCollum throws up...well not quite..... as according to Dave half his thoughts and "bon mots" get lost in the ether, gobbled up on the airwaves whereupon we get an abject apology and his second iteration! But he does run a golf course and not many of us can say that!


So as others have said"Thank you Ran" for this valuable and fun extension of my golfing obsession.


Cheers Colin

Probably a good thing and partly explains your continuing interest in this site and the game.  Want to play more golf?  Don't get in the biz.

[John Foley]

The register says Dec 2001 but I know I was on here prior to 9/11. I go back to the Bravenet group - that was a LONG time ago. Came here when Tommy posted the reply to the question of where everyone was at w/ "They are over at GCA!". Magic ever since.


Met a bunch of folks (last one was random pairing w/ the illustrious Bill Shultz @ WeKoPa!) at some of the events (First Kings Putter was a blast but dinner w/ Mucci, Tom Paul & the rest at the Hidden Creek outing was the best) and as Bogey stated we've been enriched beyond belief. The old posts on NGLA, Merion, The Bridge, Pine Valley were just EPIC reads. Every now and then I get lost in the old stuff.


We all owe Ran and the team a big thanks for fostering this environment to share our passion.

[George Pazin]

The register says Dec 2001 but I know I was on here prior to 9/11. I go back to the Bravenet group - that was a LONG time ago. Came here when Tommy posted the reply to the question of where everyone was at w/ "They are over at GCA!". Magic ever since.


Met a bunch of folks (last one was ) at some of the events (First Kings Putter was a blast but dinner w/ Mucci, Tom Paul & the rest at the Hidden Creek outing was the best) and as Bogey stated we've been enriched beyond belief. The old posts on NGLA, Merion, The Bridge, Pine Valley were just EPIC reads. Every now and then I get lost in the old stuff.


We all owe Ran and the team a big thanks for fostering this environment to share our passion.

Indeed, John, I'd guess you pre-date me, and I was well before 2001. I think the site reorganized under a new administrator at some point, hence the date. And the old threads you mention were indeed epic, as was the HC outing.


The early days saw a lot of posts by redanman, JohnV, Geoffrey Childs, Brad Miller, Tommy Naccarato, Mike Benham, Mike Golden and many many others, not to mention authors and thinkers like Geoff Shackelford, Brad Klein, Daniel Wexler, etc. Much of the other stuff in My Home Course and In My Opinion is from those early days as well.

[Wayne_Kozun]

I started on the Golfweb Golf Architecture discussion group which I came across around 1996-7. I used Dan King’s Scotland on my Mind blog to plan my trip to Scotland in 98. That site was bought by CBS and the community moved, I think to Tradtionalgolf, and then here.

[Duncan Cheslett]

I turned 50 in 2010 and decided that it was finally time that I took up golf - a game that had intrigued me since childhood but which I had not played since the age of around thirteen.


I bought a book on Amazon called "The Golf Courses of Cheshire" by one Mark Rowlinson. Undecided as to which club to honour with my subscription I emailed Mark to ask his advice. He pointed me in the direction of Reddish Vale and linked me to a course tour he had done a few weeks previously of Reddish Vale on GCA.


Within a day or so I was a member of this discussion group - all this before I had actually started playing golf!


Nine years on I remain indebted to Mark for introducing me to this marvelous group of enthusiasts. It was through a GCA meet that I discovered Cavendish, and which later prompted me to make the move to one of England's most alluring unheralded gems.


I might not have been here as long as some, but GCA has defined my entire golfing life...

[jim_lewis]

Sometime in the late nineties, I made the move from Bravenet.

[Pete Lavallee]

We had just gotten computers at work in 2001 and I googled some golf course and stumbled on the Courses by Country section. I remember being particularly impressed with Victoria National and Garden City GC, neither of which I had ever heard of. I peeked into the Discussion Group and thought they were an odd bunch; that TEPaul sure could ramble on! When I got a home computer in 2002 I joined the Discussion Group.


Shortly thereafter I found out that 30 of these crackpots were coming down to San Diego to play the newly built Barona Creek in an event called the King’s Putter. It was a star studded cast of West a Coast GCAers along with Shivas came from Chicago, JakaB from Illinois, Mike Nuzzo from Texas and Tiger Bernhardt from La.So I invited all of them up to the house after golf for a BBQ; I hadn’t met a single one of them but figured that golfers would “leave the course better than they found it” so I shipped the wife off to wine country in Temecula and all but 2 came up.  It was then that I found out that there’s one thing GCAers like better than architecture its a good feed! We went through 60 chicken legs, 2 Tri-tips, 3 pork loins and 3 corned beefs!  The best compliment I ever received in golf followed when Bob Huntley said that that simple act of graciousness set the tone for the many GCA events to follow.


Again none of this would have been possible if not for Ran! Sure he had some help along the way but his trail blazing has really united a community of people that share a unique passion.

[James Bennett]

Pete Lavallee
your post reflects so much of the GCA experiences.
Who would invite 30 unknown individuals into their own house, that they have only met on the internet?Who would travel across the world to stay and play with someone they have never seen before, and possibly never spoken too?What spouse would accept that someone completely unknown was coming to stay and play?
And, after the first meeting of a GCA nerd, the spouse is completely relaxed about such invites in future.
Well done on the Barona Creek BBQ - I'm sure many have fond memories.
Benje

[Ed Brzezowski]

I believe it was 2004 when a friend emailed me a post about Rolling Green on the site . I joined to rebut Tom Paul calling us a member course.

via Tommy Paul, wish he still was a poster.