Your favorite golf course

With The Masters approaching, thought I'd throw this topic out there again. Always fun to hear about those moments we come in contact with a course architecture we simply love.

It can be a course you've played, walked, or just seen on TV. Let's just, well, hear it.

 

The Orbitz pop-up ad.

 

The one with the six-foot deep bunkers where they play the British Open on occasion ... Troon, I think ...

 

I'm hardly what you would call an avid golfer, but I've played Pinehurst No. 2 twice and walked it another couple dozen times while covering events. It's my favorite because it's the only one (outside of Augusta because of television) where if somebody mentions a hole number, I can immediately visualize it down to the last detail.

 

Favorites I have played;

Buffalo Dunes- Garden City, KS
Sand Creek Station- Newton, KS
United State Air Force Academy Courses- Colorado Springs, CO
Boiling Springs Golf Club- Woodward, OK
Colbert Hills Golf Club- Manhattan, KS *Doubles as one of the toughest I have played as well.

Faves on TV-

Muirfield Village Golf Club- Dublin, OH
Augusta National- Augusta, GA
Castle Pines Golf Club- Castle Pines, CO
Sahalee Golf Club- Seattle, WA
TPC @ Sawgrass- Ponte Vedre Beach, FL

 

Hmmm.

Anything designed by Stanley Thompson or Thomas McBroom, particuarly Thompson's Banff Springs in Alberta, Hamilton Golf & Country Club and McBroom's The Links at Crowbush in Prince Edward Isand, one of the great undiscovered courses in North America.

The Old Course. Muirhead. Pebble Beach.

And that course with the clown.

 

Got a chance to play Firestone Country Club's South course in Akron once last year, and the thing which struck me was how soft the fairways felt in comparison to any of the normal publics I've played.

It was also strange to play it, because it was about a month before the WGC event there, and they were constructing bleachers and towers and concession stands as well. But it made watching the tournament the next month exciting, because I knew the layout they were playing.

Plus, I could show my wife the concession stands I was constantly hitting with errant drives and approach shots.

As for the best course I've ever played, that would have to be Port Royal Golf Course in Bermuda. Played it on my honeymoon, and as nice as the course itself was, I have to say the views were even more impressive of the ocean on Nos. 8 and 16.

 

Two favorites I've played:

— Black Lake Golf Club in Onaway, Michigan

— Scarlet Course at the Ohio State University Golf Club - An Alister MacKenzie design. I'm not holding my breath I'll ever play Augusta, so this was as close as I'll probably come. Great track.

Favorites on TV:
Ever since I got an HD TV a year ago, damn near every one.

 

Pirate's Cove in Branson, Mo.

That waterfall just drives me crazy.

 

Ones I've Played:

1) Portmarnock (Ireland).
2) The Country Club (Ma.)
3) Carton House (Ireland).
4) European Club (Ireland).

 

TPC at Sawgrass. Played it twice from the blues, never broke 90, only put one in the water at 17. I played well both times, but I don't hit the ball far enough off the tee to avoid some of the waste bunkers.