Best golf course you've ever played

Not seen, but actually gone out and played a round on ... probably would have some pretty diverse answers here, especially from those who won the lottery and played Augusta National.

Anyway, the best for me still remains the Canyon Course at Forest Highlands in Flagstaff. You have to know someone who knows someone else who might groom your dog to get on, but it's one hell of a serene golf experience.

Kingsmill in Williamsburg looks fabulous, but I've only ever covered an event there, not played it.

Have at it all ...

 

Pebble Beach

 

Miniature Golf on Atari 2600.

 

Honors Course, Ooltewah, Tn.

Don't laugh; it rocks...

http://www.golfcourse.com/search/coursedtl_ga.cfm?source=GA&courseid=7982

 

Not to be hometown parochial, but University Ridge in Madison, Wis., is absolutely fabulous. One half through rolling farmland, one half through the woods, everything first rate.

(There's another one up there with potential called The Oaks that winds through environmentally sensitive marshland. If you venture five feet where you're not supposed to be, your GPS-equipped golf cart notes it, warns you, and if you don't move out right away, it shuts off -- and it takes contact with the clubhouse to turn it back on. Fastest greens I've ever played. But it's still a little new to be "great.")

Finally, Torrey Pines is a great setting, and being upgraded for the U.S. Open.

As noted on here before, I was offered a chance to go up to Augusta for the Masters weekend and play the course on Monday -- and turned it down because I was "too busy" at the paper. My son still reminds me what an idiot I am a few times a year.

 

Royal Kannapali in Maui. On my honeymoon. Can't really say anything else comes close.

 

I guess I could explain my choice a bit, since it's a bit obscure. Forest Highlands is this major, ritzy private course that a lot of rich Phoenix people summer at, since it's up in the mountains. The Canyon Course runs through the mountains, with great little streams and creeks and stuff all over the place. You get to Nos. 16 and 17 and you feel like you're in a different world. It's deathly quiet, almost like you're up at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon with nobody around you. I've just never had another golf experience like it.

 

Pebble. Cliche, I know. But I could never win that damn lottery when I used to cover the Masters.

 

TPC at Sawgrass Valley Course. Overshadowed by the Stadium Course (site of The Players Championship) but it doesn't beat the hell out of you. Wider fairways, bigger greens, a lot of fun if you're hitting it reasonably straight off the tee. You can get screwed for marginal or even good shots on the Stadium. On the Vailley, if you hit good shots you'll get good results.

 

hondo, I know they played Sawgrass for the ACC media days this weekend. Not sure which course. It definitely wasn't the stadium course. Is the Valley Course the only other one there?

 

I played the Oak Bridge Course there once--that was a while ago. I miss media days.

 

Country Club of Virginia, the Westhampton Course.
Not Pebble Beach or anything, but a definite step up from my normal public course.

Second choice, Delaware Park muni, 5359 yards of pure inner-city heaven, then on to Cole's or Jimmy Mac's for ice-cold refreshment.