147+1 Custodians

[Ira Fishman]

No Mid Pines? Say it ain’t so.


Ira

[Tom_Doak]

Maybe they were the ones allowing music out of a golf cart?      It's not like Ran has been back to a lot of the other places in the past 18 months.

[Peter Pallotta]

This has been a serious wedge issue for quite some time -- I fear a schism is near at hand, and that a breakaway group might soon tear gca.com apart. In our increasingly partisan and pitched environment, there's a lot of push-back now against the PINOs (ie Pines in Name Only). I'm not sure if Ira has the clout or the numbers yet to win out, and of course the whole gca 'establishment' is aligned against him; but he knows how to work the room and the levers of power, and he's getting stronger and bolder by the day. I can see it already, the new kid on the block in the world of golf course architecture:
Ira@Mid-Pines.com

[archie_struthers]

 




Peter I'm at work and you just cracked me up. Ira might have the juice particularly if he lets Ran get in on that bad bet!

[Ira Fishman]

Peter,


I have hired a lobbyist, formed a PAC, and started a change.org petition. I am working on a good day for the March on the Run at Ran, but I figure post-COVID might be sound public policy. I also am putting together a group to purchase Golf Magazine.


Archie,


Bets to benefit my favorite charities always are good bets.


Stay tuned as the movement gathers momentum.


Ira

[Ira Fishman]

On a more serious note, it would engaging if Ran offered insights into why some courses fell off and others joined the list. It could even prompt some lively discourse.


In addition to MP, of the courses that I have played, Golspie remains a glaring omission.


Ira

[JMEvensky]

MAKE IRA GREAT AGAIN!

[Ira Fishman]

MAKE IRA GREAT AGAIN!

Slightly above average is probably the more accurate aspirational standard for my golf game if not more aspects of my life.


Ira

[Peter Pallotta]

MAKE IRA GREAT AGAIN!

Sure, the MIGA movement might not have anywhere near the same level of public recognition, and, granted, Ira himself is much more of an anti-populist beltway insider; but still, he speaks for many dozens if not hundreds of golfers, and one day they will indeed come together under the MIGA brand!

Wait! Even better and more resonant: Make Ira Slightly Above Average Again -- MISAAA!!!

(Apologies, Ira, for the thread-jack. Yours was a serious and legitimate question)

[JMEvensky]

MAKE IRA GREAT AGAIN!

Sure, the MIGA movement might not have anywhere near the same level of public recognition, and, granted, Ira himself is
much more of an anti-populist beltway insider; but still, he speaks for many dozens if not hundreds of golfers, and one day they will indeed come together under the MIGA brand!

Wait! Even better and more resonant: Make Ira Slightly Above Average Again -- MISSA!!!

(Apologies, Ira, for the thread jack. Yours was a serious and legitimate question)

He's I'anon?

[Peter Pallotta]

Shhh....

Do you really believe that Golf Magazine and Golf Digest are actually in *competition* with each-other?! That their respective 'rating guidelines' are anything but a campaign of *disinformation*?

Come on, man, look it up -- the panelists for both magazines: they went to the *same schools* for goodness sakes! Listen, I'm not going to do the research for you, but it's out there is all I'm saying.
 
MISAAA!!

[JMEvensky]

So Ira is out there fighting the DEEP GOLF STATE?

[Peter Pallotta]

So Ira is out there fighting the DEEP GOLF STATE?

Yes.
And so far, singlehandedly.
Not bad for a misanthropic mid-handicapper whose wife won't let them move to Scotland.
Change, real change, often comes from the most unexpected places.
But I should stop now.
We may have said too much already.
Ran doesn't post very often, but presumably he does *read* his own site.
Mum's the word. A wink is a good as a nudge to a blind man, eh?

[JMEvensky]

We should probably now let Ira get back to his regular scheduled programming.


(We can continue when there's another I drop).

[Ronald Montesano]

Not a fan of that last line for Rhode Island Country Club, the 148th Custodian: What did he understand, that other architects failed to grasp?

Extremes in writing always lead to polarization, and I'm not certain that any one architect has understood anything, that other architects failed to grasp. There are at least twenty architects, dead and living, that succeeded in grasping the greatness of playable, enjoyable, golf course architecture and construction.

[Kalen Braley]

Forget Deep State and alternate realities...

Sounds like what Ira really needs is a Festivus Party and the mic during the Airing of Grievances.

P.S.  I have my own to add to the list as well, the continued omission of Pasatiempo...

[Chris Kane]

MAKE IRA GREAT AGAIN!

Sure, the MIGA movement might not have anywhere near the same level of public recognition, and, granted, Ira himself is much more of an anti-populist beltway insider; but still, he speaks for many dozens if not hundreds of golfers, and one day they will indeed come together under the MIGA brand!

Wait! Even better and more resonant: Make Ira Slightly Above Average Again -- MISAAA!!!

(Apologies, Ira, for the thread-jack. Yours was a serious and legitimate question)

Stand by for an armed insurrection at GCA world headquarters.

[Ronald Montesano]

Another beef: The Dunes GABC in South Carolina. If I'm going after early RTJ SR for variety, this course is not in the top three. I place Green Lakes and James Baird (both NYS Parks course) and the original Durand Eastman course near Rochester ahead of it. Among later courses, Golden Horseshoe Gold and Crag Burn easily eliminate Dunes from the memory banks.


At Dunes, I enjoyed the locale and the fact that every hole reminded me of the previous one, until I reached 10-13. That was the only stretch I wanted to see, and the only stretch that remains in my memory as distinctive. The run-up doesn't exist, and forced carries win the day. Chances are excellent that you'll face either a pinched landing area in the drive zone, or a hard dogleg. Into the green, you'll deal with an elevated green with at minimum two fronting hazards.


It's a nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to play out my days there.

[Paul Rudovsky]

Maybe I am spending too much time reading the tea leaves...but with Davenport and Harvester joining Cedar Rapids, am wondering if Vaughn Halyard has talked Ran into running for Governor of Iowa.

[Ally Mcintosh]

Paul,


Which were the 5 GB&I’s that disappeared?

[Mark Pearce]

Paul,


Which were the 5 GB&I’s that disappeared?

I'm not sure but it strikes me that Elie, both for the "design" but also the huge junior membership (and the World's oldest junior comp, playing for a bar of chocolate) and the regular play of foursomes (at least three week long knock-out members tournaments a year) is a huge miss off a list which has less worthy UK custodians.

[Niall C]

I'll tell you what pisses me off, just last week I had "147 Custodians" tattoo'd up my arm. Not happy.

Niall

[Ally Mcintosh]

I'll tell you what pisses me off, just last week I had "147 Custodians" tattoo'd up my arm. Not happy.

Niall

I vividly recall getting on a bus in Glasgow during my student days; and ahead of me in the queue was a young fella with four different girl’s names tattooed on his body in four different places. And these were just the ones that were visible.

[Kyle Harris]

Odd that what is completely in control of the golfer (music volume) would get a golf course removed from the list.

The spirit of the list seems to be a "come as you are" sort of affair and things like music are most definitely in the realm of intra-golfer behaviors.

Could a course get dinged from a list if players don't fix ball marks and repair/fill divots, too?

[Niall C]

Kyle

I haven't read Ran's criteria for inclusion in the Custodian list for a while but IIRC it's largely about the club as much as the course and respecting certain core values. Allowing players to play music thereby impinging on other players enjoyment seems like a straight forward red card to me.

Niall