Discuss your home course (more)...

[imsys0042]

My home course is Treesdale in Western PA. It's a challenging layout. Not long but penal, target golf. 6600 from the standard men's tees and with 27 holes there are slopes of 142 - 145. Lot of single digit players and a number of plus handicaps. The people who work there are great and the head pro really helped me with my swing. He changed my grip from a weak one to a strong one, helped me eliminate a lot of movement and got me started on the right path for a takeaway. I used to throw my hands open at about the 9:00 position. Out of the 27 holes there are only 3 holes where you are in any way adjacent to another hole. Otherwise it's you and OB or hazards on 25 of the 27 holes. Yes, two of the par 3s have OB so far away you'd have to throw it to get in trouble. I've yet to play with a single ball for 18 holes. Best I ever did was 12 holes or so. It is big time target golf. I'm currently working on eliminating my driver when I play there because there is really only once I would have to pull it on 2 of the 9s and the third 9 would be twice, but only under wetter or windy conditions. They have a nice pool, tennis, good dining and a lot of social events. Many of the members are working guys who are serious about golf. It's corporate owned, so it's not as stuffy as some private clubs can be, but it is really clique-y. Very fair to women members and encouraging of young members. All in all a nice place. Wish there wasn't so much OB though.

[Boyder]

I carry a membership at Countryside Golf Club in Kaukauna, WI. Its a nice public course, within 10 minutes from my front door. Its not too long, not too easy. The greens are about the best around our our area and once I figured out the best times to play to avoid the leagues, I can pretty easily get at least 9 holes in every day, 18 most days.

Weekends I can typically get 18 holes in and be home before my wife even gets out of bed (she's not a morning person).

Countyside isn't anything fancy, but its a nice course run by really nice people.

[chasm]

My home course is Brancepeth Castle, about 5 miles from Durham City in North-East England. It's a parkland course of 6400 yards off the competition tees, laid out in 1924 by Harry Colt. There's a stream running through the course that has carved a ravine, and Colt made us of that to create some fairly spectacular and intimidating holes. In particular, four of the five par 3s on the course demand that you carry the ravine - two of them are just over 200 yards - to plateau greens. Miss them and you're going to struggle to get up and down. It's a decent challenge, looks excellent - great views from the course, including those of the mediaeval castle for which it is named - and is a pretty friendly place. Visitors welcome, so if any of you Americans happen to find yourself in the vicinity while on vacation...