[BobM]

You Suck! 

[putz]

Whenever Michael Jordan gets on the golf course and his friends ask the stakes of the game–how much money they’re betting against one another–rumor has it that his stock response is: “Whatever makes you nervous.”

PS, here's the view from my listening room:

What part of NJ did you say you're from?

[jhm731]

What part of NJ did you say you're from?

I grew up in Hudson County- Kearny.

[BobM]

Going down to Myrtle Beach next weekend to play some fine courses. I don't think any of them are "tour" courses (does the tour ever play in Myrtle?) but some are rated very high on the Golf Digest best 100 courses in the country.

Sat afternoon - The Wizard (a nice open course to start)
Sun morning - Myrtle Beach Natiional West (another warm up course)
Sun afternoon - Myrtle Beach National Kings North (now we're talking)
Mon morning - The Witch (a challenge to close it out)

Tues home.

[rollo]

  Played a few. The Black, Shinnicock, Torrey Pines, Doral, Dorado, Cogg Hill, Pinehurst no 1, Harbor Town, TPC Scotsdale. It was the length that was the only issue. Playing from the white tees not knowing the course was the biggest challenge. The speed of the greens as well.


charles

[ted_b]

  Played a few. The Black, Shinnicock, Torrey Pines, Doral, Dorado, Cogg Hill, Pinehurst no 1, Harbor Town, TPC Scotsdale. It was the length that was the only issue. Playing from the white tees not knowing the course was the biggest challenge. The speed of the greens as well.


charles

No.2 , but who's counting.     Yes, I agree that one of the tough parts of playing these resort/PGA venues is, well, unfamiliarity.  When you play a muni that is unfamiliar you likely don't get in too much trouble if you can at least see the trouble from your teebox (and then stay away from it  ).  For these incredible PGA tests, that trouble is purposefully hidden (or at least on a different visual plane) and you are like "oh s%it, I wish i knew THAT was there".    Which brings me to my resort golf pet peeve:  ridiculously designed target golf.   My no.1 candidate is a course called Tobacco Road in in the Sand Hills/Pinehurst area.  Ridiculous.  Penalizes good shots.

[jackman]

I have played Medinah course three several times as well as Cogg Hill and have played Whistling Straits right before the PGA.  Medinah is my favorite but it always makes me wish I was a better player. 

I've played Medinah before the PGA and Ryder cup but did not play from the pro tees.  The pro tee boxes are beyond my skill level and would not be fun.  Those guys are amazing and I'm not sure most people realize how good the pros can play.  Freaks.

[BobM]

Which brings me to my resort golf pet peeve:  ridiculously designed target golf.   

Oh that brings back memories of golfing in Phoenix. Played too much "target" golf out there. Now being from Long Island, and only playing golf 6-7 months of the year, and not year round like the locals, this was a big challenge for me. I played Boulders (pretty but ultimate target), Desert Mountain (ditto), Mesa CC, Quail Run, Superstition Springs.

I do like courses with elevation changes though, like those you find in Vermont and Pennsylvania. and NY. More fun for me than a flat Florida or Texas course. I guess they are more about hitting off a non-flat lie, rather than hitting a postage stamp sized green or missing the water.

I also never had much luck playing windy links-style courses. Probably because I have too much spin on my ball.

I love resort courses that are pretty, and shorter than normal, allowing you to enjoy the round with the unfamiliar set of resort rental clubs that you overpaid for. I have a course near my time share in Cancun like that that is fairly new. A Nick Price desgin called Grand Coral - nice course. The nearby Iberostar Playa Paraiso is a Pete Dye creation, with his usual false fronts and unfair fairways where the ball always seems to trickle into a pit, and hills in front of fairway bunkers so you are forced to chip sideways with no shot at the green. Not fun, overall.

[jhm731]

Played Kapalua Plantation many times and it's not any harder than the Dunes at Maui Lani.

My favorite course in HI is Mauna Kea, but it requires an interisland flight and a rental car.

12:03p tee time today at Pukalani CC.

Aloha.

[jackman]

No.2 , but who's counting.     Yes, I agree that one of the tough parts of playing these resort/PGA venues is, well, unfamiliarity.  When you play a muni that is unfamiliar you likely don't get in too much trouble if you can at least see the trouble from your teebox (and then stay away from it  ).  For these incredible PGA tests, that trouble is purposefully hidden (or at least on a different visual plane) and you are like "oh s%it, I wish i knew THAT was there".    Which brings me to my resort golf pet peeve:  ridiculously designed target golf.   My no.1 candidate is a course called Tobacco Road in in the Sand Hills/Pinehurst area.  Ridiculous.  Penalizes good shots.

I hope to play Pinehurst No. 2 someday.  I believe it is a Donald Ross design, as is Oakland Hills CC in Detroit.  I forgot to mention that I played the Oakland Hills course once, years ago.  I have a golf-obsessed friend who is a big fan of Donald Ross.  Whever we would travel to places with Ross designed courses, he would insist on playing any local (public) Ross designed courses.  I've come to apprecaite his style and appreciated all of the free golf I played on these courses! 

Here is a list of top courses in the US and the world.  Interestingly, of the top 100 courses in the world (ranked by Golf World Magazine), 52 are in the USA.  I've played NONE of them but if I had to pick one, I think it would be Cypress Point in California.  For the record, I've seen the course from a distance but have a better shot at the lottery than I do getting on this course. 

You guys have played at some impressive places.  I'd be curious to hear how many people have played any of hte top ten courses below. 
Cheers,

Jack 

Top 100 in the United StatesThe best courses in the United States in 2007 were:

Rank Name Location State Designer, Year
1 Pine Valley Pine Valley  New Jersey George Crump/Harry Colt, 1918
2 Cypress Point Pebble Beach  California Alister MacKenzie, 1918
3 Augusta National Augusta  Georgia Alister MacKenzie/Bobby Jones, 1933
4 Pebble Beach Pebble Beach  California Jack Neville/Douglas Grant, 1919
5 Shinnecock Hills Southampton  New York William Flynn, 1931
6 Oakmont Oakmont  Pennsylvania Henry Fownes, 1903
7 Merion (East) Ardmore  Pennsylvania Hugh Wilson, 1912
8 Sand Hills Mullen  Nebraska Bill Coore/Ben Crenshaw, 1994
9 Pacific Dunes Bandon  Oregon Tom Doak, 2001
10 National Golf Links of America Southampton  New York Charles B. Macdonald, 1911

[edit] Top 100 in the WorldHere are the top ten courses in the world:

Rank Name Location Country Designer, Year
1 Pine Valley Pine Valley  United States George Crump/Harry Colt, 1918
2 Cypress Point Pebble Beach  United States Alister MacKenzie, 1918
3 St Andrews (Old Course) St Andrews  Scotland Nature
4 Augusta National Augusta  United States Alister MacKenzie/Bobby Jones, 1933
5 Pebble Beach Pebble Beach  United States Jack Neville/Douglas Grant, 1919
6 Shinnecock Hills Southampton  United States William Flynn, 1931
7 Royal County Down Newcastle Northern Ireland Tom Morris, 1889
8 Muirfield Gullane  Scotland Tom Morris/Harry Colt, 1891/1925
9 Oakmont Oakmont  United States Henry Fownes, 1903
10 Merion (East) Ardmore  United States Hugh Wilson, 1912

[murphy11]

I've played Merion East twice - don't know how I forgot that or Congressional the day after the ATT a few years ago. I live 3 miles from Merion and drive by it each week - looks like it may be completely shut down in preparation of the Open. Should be a very interesting venue for the Open and glad the USGA thought outside the box.

[saeyedoc]

I had the privilege of playing Pine Valley years ago, flew out from Montana to do it. Very difficult, thought the endless sand would be the hard part, but the greens are really tough. Amazing place.

[BobM]

Well, I walked 2 rounds of the US Open at Shinnecock, and I can say it is a truly hilly, undulating and difficult looking course with a lot of blind approaches and greens that seem impossible to hold. I think you have to be a past president, or a ranked billionnaire to even play it, let alone be considered for membership.

[vinyl_guy]

I agree with Ted on target golf. I also don't care for Pete Dye designed courses (how many railroad ties can you fit into one golf course). I love the traditional courses and try to play as many Donald Ross, R.T. Jones, Sr and similar courses when I travel. The club I belong to is a member of the Private Club Network and that gives me access to some private courses for the price of a cart rental.

If you are ever in western Montana play Old Works in Anaconda. It is a Nicklaus design built with Superfund money on the site of the Anaconda Copper Smelter. The sand traps are filled with black slag and they left a couple of large slag piles and some of the smelter complex in place so you get a history tour of the smelter that produced most of the copper that electrified America while playing an enjoyable round of golf. Get an early tee time or the wind will wreck havoc on your game.

Wishing everyone lots of birdies.

[saeyedoc]

I agree with Ted on target golf. I also don't care for Pete Dye designed courses (how many railroad ties can you fit into one golf course). I love the traditional courses and try to play as many Donald Ross, R.T. Jones, Sr and similar courses when I travel. The club I belong to is a member of the Private Club Network and that gives me access to some private courses for the price of a cart rental.

If you are ever in western Montana play Old Works in Anaconda. It is a Nicklaus design built with Superfund money on the site of the Anaconda Copper Smelter. The sand traps are filled with black slag and they left a couple of large slag piles and some of the smelter complex in place so you get a history tour of the smelter that produced most of the copper that electrified America while playing an enjoyable round of golf. Get an early tee time or the wind will wreck havoc on your game.

Wishing everyone lots of birdies.

Yes, Old Works is a great course, and a bargain to boot.

[rodge827]

I had the privilege of playing Pine Valley years ago, flew out from Montana to do it. Very difficult, thought the endless sand would be the hard part, but the greens are really tough. Amazing place.

My Grandfather was a caddy there in his youth.
I never had the chance to play with him and the stories are legend in our family.

True story about Pine Valley.

About 15 years ago I was doing a job for a new client, and his wife told me this story.
It turns out her husband was the last President of the NHL before it went to a Commissioned entity.
He had a business meeting at Pine Valley and was driven by a member.
They lived out on the Main Line and he asked his wife to pick him up at Pine Valley on her way to their beach house.
She pulled up to the clubhouse and was greeted by the valet. When she tried to open her car door the valet held the handle and wouldn't let her get out of the car. He asked her to please stay in the car and he would bring her husband to her.
No women allowed in the Clubhouse!
This was back in the 70's and things might have changed by now?   

 

[JackD201]

I've played 2 PGA Tour stops from the regular men's tees. One former (?) Champion's tour stop and a former LPGA tour stop.

The 2 PGA courses were TPC Scottsdale about a week after the Pheonix Open and Kapalua's Plantation course 3 months after what was then the Mercedes.

What struck me about TPC Scottsdale was how the layout seemed seemingly in reverse to conventional course with regards to the placement of hazards. Fairway bunkers were usually on the left side of the fairways instead of the usual right and the greenside bunker locations were also mostly reversed. It was probably done this way to be more demanding of players who have right to left shot shapes. The lies were still very tight but the greens had slown to perhaps 10 or 11 on the stip. The greens however were VERY hard and I had trouble getting my ball to stop due to my steep swing. My brother had a lot less problems getting his ball to hold the greens.

The Plantation course as seen on TV is very wide with very large greens. It is actually a rather easy course from the regular tees. They planted shrubbery around the championship tees which are apparently only opened up for the season openers. Great weather, great views but easy none the less except one day when the tradewinds were really kicking. A stingered 3 iron would go farther than a driver with head on wind. Be in a hole with the wind at your back and catch a downslope and you can have a story to tell about your power. LOL. Just leave out the details!

The SPGA course is Turtle Bay (Palmer Course) near the North Shore of Oahu. Very scenic lined by ironwood trees and not a house in sight. Hole number 17's backdrop is surf. A real beauty. This is a challenging course and on the long side for the regular mens tee at about 6,800 yards BUT with wind a constant. The paspalum greens can be slick but usually isn't.

Lastly is Kapolei on the Leeward side of Oahu, a former LPGA stop. It's more a typical layout but is clean and well manicured. Some holes look too much alike for my tastes but the opening hole, a reachable par 5 with a small elevated green, will get your greed going from the get go. The finishing hole, a dogleg left with water down the entire left side, is a short pretty one. I've seen many a match lost on this cute little hole when second shots get flown into the landscaping behind the green.

My dream is still to have a weeklong vacation playing Pebble Beach and Spy Glass. Maybe someday. Hopefully soon. My distance is going away real fast.