shihtappens

Arcadia looks wonderful. Hilly. (Like Chambers Bay.) An associate in Spokane is always talking about Black Rock and I might get there this summer. You played Pronghorn in Bend?

@breakingeighty -- Yeh, and Astoria has been on my list since I played Gearhart Golf Links. I've played three rounds @ GGL - one of them was one of those "on" days when everything clicked and that always enhances the memory. But, notwithstanding my one ON day there (an 81, from the back tees in rain-sleet-snow, but no wind), it is a unique and appealing place. I am intrigued by what they did with the trees now and will report back. Hoping to go in late Feb for a week or so. I played GGL once with the food + bev mgr at the McMenamins there, who used to be an assistant pro at Astoria and he preferred Gearhart, which he also ranked well ahead of The Highlands and Seaside (nearby 9-holers). He parred Gearhart the day we played - managing a sizable hangover/late night of work. :-) Good luck on your Top 100 quest. What whales have you landed so far? I have played Bandon Trails and Pacific Dunes and want to play them all (incl the Sheep Ranch) eventually. Have played Chambers Bay 3X and going again in March. (I am fast becoming a links fanatic.) My other notable is Banff Springs - though it's seldom on Top lists anymore. Gold Mountain and The Home Course in Tacoma region are great too, as is Washington National up in Seattle. I hope to play Salish Cliffs and Capilano (Vancouver) this summer. Working on a trip to Ireland, likely around Galway...

Those are some crazy drives they're crushin.

77 @ my home mud pile: par 70 Meadowlands - an old school track. Lovely day with a band of exceptional brithers. Had my first sub-par nine-hole score of 34 on the back. I love BC!

Tips on finishing strong? You r comin into 16-17-18, with a tight lead; or need to score well to catch up; or you are sitting on one of your best scores ever and are feelin the HEAT. What are some physical-mental-emotional techniques to manage the distractions scurrying around in the ol brain cage?

Frozen greens are hilarious to play! We usually play low shots into the green, landing them short and running them up. Low shots bounce truer. But if you ever hit onto the green - BOING! - you are way past. Prodigious drives can occur, just as prodigious side-ways bounces can put you in a neighboring pasture. We use rubber tees (like the ones driving ranges have) cuz u can't stick a peg into the frozen turf. It's a whole different game, and yet, it's still golf. We also suffer from the dreaded variable conditions u play in CO. You play it to be frozen and it's not -- the top crust often thaws out -- and it plugs 20 yards short instead of kangarooing up to the green. We've learned to look at the place where u r landing on our heavily treed track and figure out if it's been in the sun for a while -- that generally means a sloppier landing. But there are no guarantees, except that some cinnamon whiskey will get consumed.

Hands can be a problem, but we just wear gloves and reduce expectations a wee bit. Complaints are met with the predictable coarse and vulgar name-calling, bullying and feline accusations (quit bein a *****) that we all enjoy so much. The courses that stay open here have some of the best greens in the area, so the argument about not letting players on frozen greens cuz it wrecks the greens does not appear to be true. Frost is another story. Our club has us play some temp greens (especially those in the lee of a little mountain here that shades several greens from the sun) and we tee off in front of the tee boxes, to allow them to recuperate over the winter. Power carts are not always allowed. Yesterday was basically perfect and we had a great time playing.

Play frequently here in the green Fraser Valley on frozen course at 20*. That is fun, as long as the wind don't blow!

79, in 9* Celsius (balmy 49*F) Dec 15 on a mucky course (not frozen, no snow). Not many east of us playing golf, unless they are quite a bit south of the 49th parallel, so we enjoyed our special status, here on the glorious west coast. Ya gotta strike ball first or it is fat-city. Putts are struck firmly (!) and balls check up without too much persuasion. It was sooper.

Fair nuff. But Lee Trevino might allow that he, in part, enabled Tiger to be as good as he was, after Lee and others (in all walks of life; including buses, school steps, and olympic podiums) went first and got people used to the idea. The whole racial topic will all be as strangely archaic as insisting that golfers wear only collared shirts (a rule Tiger and Nike eventually bent) - once 40 more years go by and the US is largely Hispanic and Canada predominantly Asian. Sorry for another VEER, but some people like salt, pepper, hot sauce or ketchup on their eggs, as opposed to, more eggs. But, truth be told, it's the INTERNET, where 300-yard drives from 20 handicappers rule supreme, so a little "moderation" is NOT a bad thing! :-)

But it's no big deal. Just tryin to post something that hasn't been said a million times already in this thread. :-)

I am challenging the premise. If Lee Trevino had not accomplished what he did, Tiger would not have been a golfer. No Lee, no Eldrick. Trevino bust the mold and made it possible for a non-Wasp, non-wealthy, non-professional to get into an exclusive members-only sport. In addition to changing golf (and the social landscape) in this way, his amazing accomplishments, given the number of strokes he was spotting the world, put him in the conversation.

In my obnoxious opinion, without Trevino , Tiger's dad does not even CONSIDER golf for his son. Lee Trevino came so far, against so much. He's why slobs like me can even get near a golf course (without making a delivery).

Yep. Here's a terrific take on the subject (and a few more), plus the correct quote from Alister MacKenzie (that I mis-attributed to Old Tom). http://www.golf.com/tour-and-news/waking-alister-mackenzie I love playing springy turf links courses and falling into the "zone", where I am absorbed in the game like a kid playing marbles or something and it's all feel and not so much mathematical (no staring intently at the yardage gizmo and then pronouncing that I am "between clubs" -- which is another way of announcing that I am packed full of what horses deposit on the ground after eating a lot of hay. It's like curling (for them wot ken) on grass, kinda, and it is fun. Trees, ponds with geysers, paved cart paths and lost balls need not apply.

Took lessons from a good teaching pro when starting and he taught me to draw the ball. He was good instructor - I was open to his direction & practiced lots. But, after that found out "not everyone who can ride a horse is a jockey". Lots of BS teachers w quirky, very individual ideas. That and $ & time as others wrote.

I have only played a few true links courses (accdg to Peper & Campbell) so I can't claim to be an expert, but since the first links courses were in Scotland, I'd say "Scottish style links courses" is logical and correct. I've def read that term often enuf. "Euro style" is accurate too, IMO, cuz Europe - including Ireland, Britain, Wales & Scotland - has a lot more links golf than America (both the stupid ass and the smart ass regions). C Bay is a wonder and will host a remarkable open. It is NOT given true links status by some, but I would put my two-bits in favor. Ditto for lovely lil Gearhart about 3 hrs south just past Astoria on the coast.

Leo, an avid 17 index, was intimidated but got outta here in one. (Easter 2013) This bunker on the par five 18th fairway is one of only two bunkers @ Chambers Bay. The other one covers most of the other 17 holes and large parts of the rest of 18. There's me on (in) #3 @ CB on Nov 1, 2013, wondering whether to use my SW or the rake. Leo (L) and Rob look on mockingly. (I made a 4.) My shot made it almost pin high, but right of the green and then fed back to this location, where some womp rats were eyeing it, warily.

Well said. Golf is played on turf, not on color. Watering increases costs needlessly. Playing links style low running shots rather than "high, vulgar shots that stab the green" (loosely quoted from Old Tom Morris) is just another way (the original way?) to play the game and is a skill that can often be used on lush, green courses too -- witness numerous low running hooks that Kucher, Tiger and others had to play this last weekend. Give yourself over to the low "Scottish" game and you will find it fun, rewarding and fascinating; especially on a beauty like Chambers Bay.

Informative video here:

81 -4 celcius ice golf on rock hard frzn course brite sunshine NICE

Any other Cobra lovers out there? I am a recent convert. Evangelical, even. I finally bought some new technology --- well, 2012, anyway. AMP driver, 3W and 5W. Very impressed. My R7 is very bitchy these days, staring at me with hatred from her cold station in the garage... I lust the 2014 Bio Cell+ -- the technology all seems legit. (That slightly slanted sweet spot - cuz we tend to hit low in the heel and high on the toe - just makes sense.) Will wait a bit and hopefully can score some next spring, on da bay. (Chris Farley - RIP - "DA 'bay." I can just hear it.) Plus I really like doing the cobra-arm-snake-strike-hissing-motion-sound after DARTING a 5W onto a par 5 from waybackthere. Confirms my playing partners' common belief that I am, at best, a childish assbag with a mustard-stained golf shirt. Know thyself, I always say. Stay classy out there.

I play a dawn patrol round in the summer, before work, and there is usually a member twosome in a cart that start a hole or two behind me. I walk, and if I dawdle on a hole, they will catch me. It's amazing how efficient you get - same course, same club for the same shot, etc. I usually cover 2886 par 35 in 1:05 or 1:10. Try as they might, fast visitors (even those from Dover) will seldom be able to stay ahead of fast locals.

Be quick, but don't hurry. To quote the beguilin' Agatha, "Oh, golf is for smellin' heather and cut grass and walkin' fast across the countryside and feelin' the wind and watchin' the sun go down and seein' yer friends hit some good shots and hittin' some yerself..."♣ Golf is a sport; I like my heart to pump blood at a rate not less than it does while I am sitting at my DESK, waiting to go golfing. I want to feel strong and fit and active, stopping only when someone else is shooting near me. A steady, brisk pace without long breaks is my ideal and I'm willing to sacrifice to get this. ♣ Page 64, Golf In the Kingdom, Penguin, 1997

I love this course, the clubhouse, great staff and wonderful food & beer. It's a links course, but in the 30's they planted trees along the fairway edges and so, it could not pass the links snob sniff test. OK, I get it - fast, springy, rumpled fairways built on dunes, salt spray from the Pacific Ocean hanging perpetually in the shorepine-scented air - air btw, that is often moving sideways at 40 miles per - not good enuf for TRUE links, because trees do not a links course make. Now they have cut them down -- they were dying (according to the website) anyway, having reached the end of their salt-stunted life span. I want to try to get there this winter, but until then - any reports?

Busted. Wife and mistress @ the same party .