I'd like to hear your worst experience playing a course for the 1st time.

[Slippin_Jimmy]

This is more of an overall bad experience versus bad round.  Was driving from Orlando to Ft. Myers and stopped midway to play Streamsong, I got a morning tee time on the Blue.  Stayed the night before at the Best Western in town (not good).  Got to Streamsong as early as possible to get the heck out of the BW and get some breakfast at the resort.  Slow service at the restaurant, which the server attributed to the fog delay making it busier than normal (there was no fog delay and the restaurant had only a few patrons).  2 Eggs, Ham, and choice of bread was $20 (yikes).  I went with English Muffin.  When I got the bill I discovered there was an additional $5 upcharge for English Muffin!  That is borderline criminal.  I only paid it without complaint b/c the service was so slow and I just wanted to leave and hit some balls before my round.

 

I got paired up with 3 nice guys and took a caddie.  My bag was really full, it was winter and I'm from the NE so I just had a lot of crap in it.  The caddie asked if we could take off some weight, we took out mostly balls, probably 12-15.  Most new in sleeves and some slightly used, ProV1s.  The caddie says they'll keep it in a locker and get it back to me after the round.  Fine with me.

 

The round was mostly good, I was a little rusty but played OK.  The Caddie Master told me that caddies typically receive $100 plus a tip.  Same as I had experienced at Bandon, and I would usually pay $120-$125.  The caddie coming up 18 tells me that he usually gets $160-$180 per round.  Sure smelled like BS.  I would have given the guy $120 but I gave him $140, I just figured good karma, etc.  You hate that feeling like you were taken advantage of for being a nice guy, but I honestly just wanted to leave without hassle at that point.

 

We finish the round, I grab my clubs and start to walk out to my car before I remembered about the 12-15 balls that were taken out of my bag.  I went back and told the starter I had just finished and just needed to get the balls I had taken out of my bag before the round.  The experience to get these balls back was by far the worst part of the day.  Nobody knew anything, gave a crap, or wanted to help.  I talked to probably half a dozen employees and was sent here, there, and everywhere in the clubhouse trying to find someone to help.  The guy in the pro shop has me fill out my phone number and address and says if they find them, they will mail them to me, and clarified that I would have to pay for shipping.  Nice service, especially after spending about $500.

 

Finally, I walk out to my car and am loading up my bag in the trunk, when I see my caddie come out in a golf cart with my bag of balls.  So thankfully I did get them back, just after about an hour of running around asking for them after the round.  Anyway, long-winded rant, but I'm not in a big rush to get back to Streamsong.  I should say that the Blue Course was very nice at least.

[phizzy30]

First time playing Lost Canyons many eons ago as a teenager was an absolute nightmare.  It's target golf at it's finest.  That day I lost a ball on every hole and had many cuts on my leg trying to find the damn balls in the hazards.  I stopped counting my score after the 12th hole but if I had to guess I probably shot in the 90's.  The course is closed now and I have no intention of ever going back even if it reopens in the future. 

[kozubs]

Glen Abby.

 

Pro shop had lost our tee time.  Starter put us out in in the middle of a bachelor party but apologized as 3 groups had already teed off... a foursome and 2 threesomes.  They were in just about every bunker and never picked up a rake.  They sucked and were ungodly slow.  We get to #10 and I see 6 carts on the block and 10 people standing around.  We pulled up.  They looked at us and said they wanted to tee off together so the groups in front waited for their buddies.  After all tee'd off the marshal drove up and flipped out.  Made the 1st foursome play while the other group waited.  By the time we tee'd off there were 4 groups on the blocks with the 5th putting out on 9.  Total disaster.

 

I just wanted to play the course before it got turned into a housing development.  No loss once the houses go up.  

[jordan2240]

There is a course in Carlisle PA called "Eagle's Crossing" that is my worst experience every time.  In fact, whenever I think I'm getting decent, I go play it, and realize I still suck.  Greens are hard, fast, and undulating, and there is virtually no good place to miss.  Also a great course to play when I want to get rid of some old balls or ones I just don't like.

[MikeW2]

The Dunes Club in Myrtle Beach. It was my first golf trip about 30 years ago and I had never played in Bermuda grass before. Back then the senior tour played their tour championship there. We played it the Thursday after the tournament and the rough was still up and deep. That was a truly humbling experience, really had no idea how to do anything around the greens, couldn’t manage to make solid contact from anything in the rough. Before heading down my previous 20 rounds were all in the 70’s, I made 1 birdie thanks to a really good approach shot on 18 to a foot to come in at a nice smooth Gretzky.

[boyd59]

I'd have to say it was the first time I played The Long Bay Golf Club in SC. It's a Nicklaus course with what seemed like an infinite number of bunkers and I think I found every single one of them. I left that course with a bad taste in my mouth. I did go back eventually. I played better the second time but I still didn't really enjoy it.

[Bubbleshaft8337]

Me and my dad had one course that was just god aweful. What I mean by that is the stuffy, stuck up vibe and crappy regulars who play there.

 

So me and my dad were going to play golf about two months ago. I always went to the courses driving range and practice facilities, but never got to play the course. The course was always looking beautiful and was a very well-groomed course. The courses name it's Brighton golf course, it is a town of Tonawanda NY municipal course.

 

So after always going to the driving range here I wanted to play it. I ask my dad if he wants to go, he said yes we went that weekend. We get there in the morning, tee time was at 8:22am. We get there around 7:30am so we can practing chipping, pitching, and putting. We check in at the front desk, and the lady running the shop was the best part of this experience. She was nice, thanked us for coming told us the course was nice, it's a great day to play, and all that stuff. It's when we meet the starter things changed.

 

We go to the starter and tell him we're 8:22am tee time. He was an older gentleman who was not nice.... Being quite frank he a f****** *****. He tells us two groups in front of us then we can go. The two groups go so we get on the tee box. When we get on the tee box the old ***** looks at my dad and says "get off the the tee box I tell you when to go....." He said it so mean and like were stupid. 

 

Then his friends come up to the tee box and chat him up. He lets 3 groups of his friends go before us. I was furious! Especially the way he talked to my dad pissed me off the most.

 

I went to the pro shop and said "Is the starter this mean and basically let's his friends go before people who payed to be here all the time?" The ladyshook her head and apologises and says "Oh my Lord... He's doing it again isn't he?" I said "if you mean being a ***** and an a****** then yes." "I am so sorry he has been getting alot of complaints like about 5 a day he's on his last straw he's prolly gunna have his last day today... Ugh" then shakes her head. Then she apologises again and hands me two sleeves of prov1's, and says "here for your experience I'm so sorry, these are for you and your partner have fun out there"

 

Halfway though our round some golf course staff came on golf carts to the three groups of golfers in front of me and my dad and kicked them off the course. Apparently they actually didn't even have to pay either. The starter was just letting his buddies play free golf if they sneaked on the golf course and came to the tee box.

 

Basically after our round he was no where to be found I'm assuming he was fired. Apparently again this was a huge issue with him. I asked the lady at the front desk where he was now, she said "he was fired and the town is thinking about sueing him for letting people play without paying for the rounds. There is going to be an investigation." I was thinking holy s*** good let that f***er drown in his own s***. I laughed and got in the car with my dad he laughed a little also!

[xkilgorextroutx]

Ponkapoag here in MA. It's two courses, #1 and #2 with #1 being the nicer one. So we make a tee time for a Sunday afternoon, check in at the pro shop and hit the putting green. We make our way over to the starter with 10 minutes to go and are immediately lectured about how we needed to check in with him no later than 30 minutes before our tee time and how we're displaying poor etiquette. One of our group apologizes, says it's the first time we've played the course, no one at the pro shop said there was a specific timeframe to check in since we all paid well before our tee time, and showed him our receipts. "Too bad" he says, now we need to wait for 3 more groups to tee off OR we can go play the lesser rated course. We waited around to tee off on the course we paid for, while one of our group went to the pro shop to let them know our displeasure at how we were treated ("Oh well, we're a state-owned course" was the response).

 

We finally tee off, and I'm excited because I've heard great things about this course. Well, among all the things I had heard, foot-long rough just a few feet off the fairway on nearly every hole was not one of them. No word of a lie, I lost over a dozen balls that day. And that was AFTER I stopped pulling out my driver. It was ridiculously bad. 

 

This was 4 years ago now, I've not gone back nor do I have any plans to ever again.

[bodhi555]

About 20 years ago I was lucky enough to go to the University of St Andrews, and as part of that you got a ridiculously cheap Links Ticket - like £82 for as much golf as you liked over the year on 6 courses, when a round on The Old Course was £70 - so took full advantage. Played a few rounds on the New and the Jubilee, building up to the big one - TOC of course.

 

Wasn't paying a huge amount of attention to the score on the way round - was just soaking up the atmosphere and marvelling at the size of the greens. We got to the 17th tee, and being a cocky 18 year old playing off 7 thought to myself - I know what's going on here. Having watched it for years on the telly I decided to aim for the "T" in Old Course Hotel - and promptly double crossed it into the hotel. Luckily I got a ricochet and my ball came back into play, so tried again from about 60 yards in front of the tee and.....did the same thing again. Two shots on the 17th, hotel hit twice and me looking very sheepish as I walked down the rest of the hole.

 

Bigggest takeaway for me? If you're on TOC and playing 17, don't go over the hotel. Go left and hit a cut - much safer, and gives you a wider landing area into the bargain.

 

To be fair we played it again a couple of months later, and the guy I was playing with put a ball through the window of The Jigger Inn past the hotel from the tee - only about a 300 yard carry in the late 90's! Last I saw they'd mounted his ball on a plinth and displayed it on the wall.

 

Oh, there was also my attempt to play the 2010 at Celtic Manor, but that was so bad I've pretty much blanked it all day. I was known as Johnny One Par for a while after that one....

[DivinDave]

20ish years ago.  Me and 2 friends went to DFW and played a course none of us had ever seen.  I dont even remember the name of the place but it had all sorts of invisible tricked out "gotchas" all over the place  Never been so POd on a golf course in my life.  It was a terrible round.

[Robert L.]

Back in 2005 I was invited by the president of the company I worked for to play in a tournament at the club which he was a member at, Cohasse Country Club in Southbridge, MA. It's a Donald Ross designed 9-hole course, with lots of elevation changes and tricky greens. I remember we played the course twice for 18 holes, and I got my butt spanked severely. I don't remember what my final score was, but it was awful. One of the par 3s was a 175 yard shot over a small gully. I hit a 6 iron over the green, with a downhill comebacker. I recall my boss telling me that they called the area behind the green Death Valley! I found out why when I got there. A very tricky downhill putt on a fast green which I barely tapped, but which sped off the green and halfway down the embankment in front of the green, leaving me with a tough pitch shot.

 

After the round I went to the clubhouse and got my free meal, and stuck around for the awards ceremony. I was so bummed out that it was the last round of golf I played for the next 15 years, until I started playing again this summer.

[SurfDuffer]

My first visit to Stone Harbor Golf Club in NJ.  It was listed in Golf Digest's most difficult courses in the world at one time.  I was a 7 or 8 handicap at that stage.  The course just ate me alive.  There is a lot of water on this course with blind landing zones on t-shots, forced carries, visually deceptive shots, tricky winds and risk reward holes everywhere.  Shot 104.

 

They've now made this course significantly easier but it is still a course that will beat up a newcomer really bad.  If you ever visit it and you are a fairly long player off the tee my best advice is to lay back off of the tee and play longer shots into the greens until you figure it out.

[GoletaGolfer]

On 10/18/2020 at 3:30 PM, nick_CO said:

My first year golfing was 6 years ago. I shot consistently in the 90s and every now and then would get an 88 or 89 that year. That was while playing municipal courses where the rough wasn’t too thick and if you went too deep in it you were hitting off another fairway. Toward the end of the season my buddy took me to Murphy creek, a real golf course. I was playing a full set of Adams clubs that I bought at the beginning of the season. Anyway, on the first par 3 I sent my 7 iron head flying into a desert feature with cacti in it. On hole 9 or 10 I noticed a puncture in my driver from the previous drive. Then with only 2-3 holes left I tried hitting out of some native with my 8 iron and that head came off as well. I shot over 120 and came away with a new respect for how difficult this game is.

The game is particularly difficult with s h i t t y clubs. Not your fault there.

[lefthack]

I don't know that I have ever had a great first round  I am usually just excited to suck somewhere new.

[2ball]

On 10/12/2020 at 12:33 PM, SilverBullets said:

Whistling Straits - Straits.

 

I showed up playing to a 5 or so index at the time.  We played Erin Hills on the way up and I shot an 82 where I made a couple of doubles down the stretch.  Played Blackwolf Run River the day before I shot 78.

 

I step up to the first tee, put it down the middle. Hit it to 12 feet and make the putt for birdie.  I scramble for pars on the next 2 and am sitting at -1 through 3. I was thinking 'here we go, let's shoot 75'.

 

Then the wind kicked up.  Oh boy did the wind kick up.

 

I think I made 1 par on the final 15 and it was from basically lake Michigan where I hit the most ridiculous flop shot to 5 feet of my life.  I shot 93.  

 

We played the Irish course immediately after.  The wind died down, the irish course is also more protected from the wind.  I shot 74 LOL  Missed a putt on 18 to make it a clean 20 shot swing.  

Played the Straits on a March day where the wind was about 25mph and the temp was 38 degrees (Got a great deal). It was either the 3rd or the 7th hole (par 3s). Our caddie told us to hit our 235 club into a 175-195 par 3. We thought he was a bit crazy but I hit my 3 wood into a 25 mph wind and it barely got there. By the 16th hole on the lake where were frozen. Not a day to go low.

[2ball]

Just now, 2ball said:

Played the Straits on a March day where the wind was about 25mph and the temp was 38 degrees (Got a great deal). It was either the 3rd or the 7th hole (par 3s). Our caddie told us to hit our 235 club into a 175-195 par 3. We thought he was a bit crazy but I hit my 3 wood into a 25 mph wind and it barely got there. By the 16th hole on the lake we were frozen. Not a day to go low.

 

[me05501]

Many years ago I got a call from my buddy who lives in Birmingham. He said "I need a player tomorrow for a round at Shoal Creek. Hit an ATM on the way down here and pull out the daily max, we need to pay the member in cash." 

 

Wow! Shoal Creek! Fantastic. 

 

Then it rained...all...night...long. The course was soaking wet, but we were committed, so we were playing. It was a long, messy, hot, humid slog. Our caddy was named Budweiser and he was an odd bird. The member was a bit of a stick in the mud. The club has very strict rules over where guests can go or not go. It was just an awkward and disappointing experience all the way around. 

 

 

 

Several years later the same friend called and said "I need a player tomorrow for Greystone. Hit an ATM and draw out the daily max. You're gonna love this place." 

 

This time he was absolutely right. That course was great and I had a fantastic round that day. 

 

 

Win some, lose some. 

[BigVolGolfFan]

Played Atlanta National, nice private course here locally.   Brought 3 other guys with me, one of them being a “friend” just

because I needed a fourth.   It was my first Pete Dye experience.  Let’s just say the game wasn’t there.  At the time I was a 6 handicap, and yeah... I played AWFUL.   The issue wasn’t the course.  It was the “friend” I brought to play as well.  He’s pretty bad and decided that it was great to make

fun of me playing bad.  The course kicked my tail and my buddy constantly laughing at me didn’t help any...   needless to say, he never got the golf invite again.  

[Obee]

The Castle Course In Scotland at St. Andrews. Just ... awful. 

[RSinSG]

First time I played Torrey Pines South. Warm up round the day before the California Police Olympics and I stopped keeping score after I couldn’t keep out of the gully’s and barranca. I did have enough balls to finish but is only because I found a bunch. Demoralizing.

[jas904]

9 hours ago, Obee said:

The Castle Course In Scotland at St. Andrews. Just ... awful. 

I’ve been on three once in a lifetime trips. The Castle Course is the only one I left thinking that I would never play again. 

[sheppy335]

Played this Mom and Pop course near my house, owned by a local PGA Pro that is a legend. I won 2 18 hole rounds at that course, so i not thinking only bring like 10 bucks, thinking golf is paid and only need food/drinks for me. 

We get to the club house and the lady says this doesn't mean free it is discounted. I argued but she wouldn't budge, so we figure out what 9 holes would be put our money together and played. She was rude to us and made us feel like we were inconveniencing her that day. Starter was rude to us, wouldn't let us out the front 9 nine saying where were only playing 9 holes. Again i was like seriously! The day ended with both of us not happy, we have never gone back and never will. 

[nitram]

I was fortunate enough to play Bethpage Black for the first time on a Wednesday following the 2009 US Open. I was playing off a +3 at the time and we were playing from the tips. I made the turn 2 under and parred #10.

 

On 11 I had to take a lost ball on the tee shot. It was a 3WD on my intended line with a 5 yard draw that should've left me a perfect 115 to the pin. But that grass is THICK and had to hit another tee ball. My approach (4) found the right green-side bunker and was plugged into the wall to where there was none of the ball above the sand. I blasted the first shot and it didn't clear the bunker. So I hit my second bunker shot and it found the green about 2 yards past the pin. And it kept rolling and rolling until it was off the green and into the cabbage. So lying 6 I popped a SW under the ball, hit my spot exactly where i wanted, and the damned thing glanced off the pin and hit a little ridge, forcing it to roll into the left green-side bunker. My next shot (7) hit within 2 ft from the pin but spun too much and ended up off the green about 6 ft between the bunkers. I intentionally hit the chip shot (8) a little short and ended up with an 8 footer for a 9 and promptly 3-jacked it for an 11.

 

It's the worst score I've ever posted on one hole in 40 years of golf.

[Ghostwedge]

SIL lives in Seattle and invited me out to play Chambers Bay when it opened. I was a 6 hcp. back then and figured I'd post 80-85 first time around it. 

I broke 100.... barely. 

Fly out there couple times a year to play it and a few other courses now.

 

[ChipNRun]

Two types of courses always give me trouble on the first play: courses with really large greens, or courses with a marshland terrain.

 

Grew up in Midwest with public courses and several country clubs (caddying) containing smallish greens. If you hit the green, you had a viable birdie putt.

 

Courses with really large greens, I can laser-range the pin but actually hit a rise 10 yards in front, hit what looks a nice shot and you end up with a 35-foot putt. Also, likelihood of multiple nodes means you can be on the green, but in a strange place. It can sometimes be easier to get close if I have a 30-yard wedge shot and can pitch ball over three or four direction changes on way to flag, rather than trying to putt through several small left and right turns.

 

As for marshland courses, big water hazards are marked on the diagrams and show up on BlueGolf. But, the little ponds and ditches don't. It's the case of being two yards off the fairway and ... in stealth water!

[blitzgolf]

Probably a vacation I took out east for 4 days of rain and no-one notified us that there was all temp greens. We left early!!

[Socrates]

Reminds me of Feb 2019 in Huatulco Mexico.  I've been there 6-7 times for winter vacations and they have one golf course there.  It is really good and fun to play.  Go for holidays Feb 2019 and find out the course is closed due to storms and flooding last October.  Was I pissed.  Not a thing about being closed on the website or from the hotel we were staying at.  Walked most of the course and it was in near perfect condition.  It took 8 more months to re-open.

 

Course is owned by one of the richest guys in Mexico and he could care less if anyone other than he played it.  He only lets people play it because the gov't makes him.  He did the same thing about 6 years previous when he bought it and made changes to the course.  They forced him to open it for tourist season.  To spite them, for a year he charged more than Pebble Beach.

 

Huatulco is still a favorite place to go and I love the course.  Hot as hell, but never bad weather (Dec - March).

[llewol007]

Worst time playing a course for the first time was playing a course in Las Vegas called badlands. Built in the desert with a lot of rock and desert surrounding the golf course. For some odd reason that day, the golf course was not fitting my eye. Every single shot off the tee was either in some form of desert or rock that I would have to take a drop or risk scratching the heck out of my golf clubs. Best round playing the first time was Harding park in San Francisco. Felt the energy of just playing the course after a tournament was hosted there and it was awesome. Tough but manageable. 

[LeftDaddy]

Kiawah Ocean Course. I was about a 23 handicap at the time but got there early to practice. Hit a lot of good shots at the range. Felt confident I’d play decent that day. I’ve since learned that scenario should scare me (feeling confident prior to a round). And then, as we chat with the starter, he basically says “there’s no OB here. Play it as it lies and play the sand as a bunker”. Something like that, but that made me feel better because I thought not having OB would also save me a bunch of strokes. How stupid was I?

 

Anyway, the wind was howling that day and seemed to be against me on every single shot. I played about as badly as I could play, also not to mention the course is literally one of the hardest in the world especially with the wind howling. 
 

I shot 70-60: 130 that day. Yes, you read that right. It was miserable, and honestly I had no desire to ever play it again. Except that I had a work outing there several years later. I was a much better golfer at this point, AND the wind was mild. Shot an 85 this time around. I also played it a 3rd time again as a work thing...shot 84 that time. So now I’m a fan of the course...but I’ll never forget that 130. Yuck!