Your Home Course

[oldironman]

[quote name='tiger's idol' date='10 March 2010 - 11:35 AM' timestamp='1268249734' post='2307003']
."Tiger's idol, enjoy the fact that you have a course nearby that you can afford to take your children out to play dump or not."

Oldironman,
Believe me I do. I'm walking the fine line of promoting golf & not pushing it. I let them decide when they want to go & the only thing I stress when playing is the respect toward the other players. They know to be quiet when others are hitting or putting. Otherwise we are laughing most of the time & having fun. I hold the course in high regard for what it does. I'm no golf snob. I've played Tour stops & would not trade my rounds with the kids for any of them.
[/quote]


That's great. Probably the biggest reason I gave up golf in the early 80's was being a single father of 2 young sons I just couldn't justify the time it took to play, as niether son took any interest in the game. I have a couple of buddies who's children join them on our rounds and it seems to be real quality time for them.

[PSUH]

My home course about 10 minutes from my house is not so bad. The girls that run the pro shop are pretty cute and nice. The starters are old retired men that smoke cigars and talk sports all day are all pretty cool as well. The course has 54 holes as well as a nice grass driving range. I believe back in the day it was a privately owned course, but now the Arnold Palmer golf club as taken over the course. I bought the Players Club membership there, which allows you to pay $35 a month for free twilight (1 PM) green fees with a purchase of a cart only ($16). Your also allowed to go to any of the other 3 courses around Houston as well. If you practice a lot like I do, this is the best deal in Houston. I get my money's worth from the amount of time I spend at the range alone.

[fats]

[quote name='oldironman' date='10 March 2010 - 02:23 PM' timestamp='1268249033' post='2306979']
As someone who grew up in the San Diego area I can remember playing Torrey Pines back in the late 60's, it was at that time what i would call a dump, 4 or 5 different types of grass in the fairways, greens that calling them inconsistant would be a compliment. My point is that todays dump could be tomorrows jewel or vice-versa. Tiger's idol, enjoy the fact that you have a course nearby that you can afford to take your children out to play dump or not.
[/quote]

Old Fats was around SD then...how 'bout Balboa Park?...LOL...I played a lot at the Caliente course in TJ, Singing Hills, Flying Hills, and the old Bonita 9 hole course in those days. Thanks for bringing Torrey up...brought a smile...

[csiachos]

My home course, Chanticleer, in Greenville, SC is awesome. Many pros, including Lucas Glover, Charles Warren, Bill Haas, Brent Delahoussey, and a few other nationwide guys are members there. Pretty cool to see the guys and practice along side of them, and get to know them.

That being said, I have a 2 year old and one on the way, and have not played in 3 weeks, and before that it was a month. What I'm getting at is that I am sick of paying so much a month for dues and not even getting to play. At the rate I'm going, it'll be $1000/round. But, when they're old enough, there are plenty of activities on and around the course for young children. If I can just hold out until then.

[Stick E.]

The course I grew up on...on the East side of Houston... is by far the best Pasture around! It was founded as a retreat for the old oil workers for Texaco and they slowly put in a 9 hole course in the 30's and then added the back 9 a few years later. The fairways are green at times - with clover patchs and those damn little sticker grass things - the greens are slow and firm and don't really hold for anything. The course is about 6400 from the tips - one par 5 over 500, one par 4 over 400 (431)...

The course has struggled financially for many years and the course had trouble paying taxes and what not - The Chevron/Texaco company "gave" the course to the city of Houston as a tax write-off some 4 years ago and the city of Houston has done nothing for the course as far as maintaining it or funding it...

I played there for the first time yesterday in a year and compared to my new home course - it is night and day... I had 6 birdies and an eagle, but the clover around the greens screwed up a few of my chips and some putts on the greens broke the opposite direction - damn the crab grass on the green.

My new home course is by far a quality golf course that actually I can use nearly every club in my bag any given day...

[Atyler]

Yes, it's a dump, but that gives me the excuse to travel to the coast and play.

[oldironman]

As someone who grew up in the San Diego area I can remember playing Torrey Pines back in the late 60's, it was at that time what i would call a dump, 4 or 5 different types of grass in the fairways, greens that calling them inconsistant would be a compliment. My point is that todays dump could be tomorrows jewel or vice-versa. Tiger's idol, enjoy the fact that you have a course nearby that you can afford to take your children out to play dump or not.

 

Old Fats was around SD then...how 'bout Balboa Park?...LOL...I played a lot at the Caliente course in TJ, Singing Hills, Flying Hills, and the old Bonita 9 hole course in those days. Thanks for bringing Torrey up...brought a smile...

 

Fats, did you ever play Mission Bay under the lights, golf at its finest LOL

[shorrrno]

OP, where is your home course

[gir2]

I play a univesity course about 5 minutes from where I live that is $10 to play if that tells you anything. The place has some potential with some decent trees and vegetation, but the turf is pretty shabby. In the spring and summer, they try and keep it watered well, but it's really an issue with the underlying soil where they need to sand it or whatever. Either they don't have a groundskeeper who knows how to maintain a course, or more than likely it's a matter of $$. They're putting in a big pond, but before they did that, they should have looked at working on the fairway soil.

[outwardnine]

My home course literally is "a dump" or should I say in UK terms a "pit tip". For those of you who don't know what this is, a "pit tip" is the spoil heap from a (now disused) coal mine. My home course was built on such a thing and has about 4" of topsoil over what is essentialy contaminated land. They cannot use it for any sort of agriculture so they put a golf course on it. Next door there is a heavily guarded slurry lagoon that was once the benzene run off for the coal mine. They keep promising to clean it up but the funding never seems to arrive.

On the up side, we have a massive course improvement programme going on at present, with 5 new greens and masses of landscaping. All of this isnt costing the members a penny as all the earth required is coming from local construction projects and the club is charging the contractors to deposit their rubble, soil etc on the course.

Right now the front nine looks like The Somme but it won't be for ever.

[mylo]

My home course is actually in a different country. I live in Fort Erie, Ontario right by the Buffalo boarder. Most of my friends live in the US so I mostly play in the suburbs of Buffalo. My home course is only $16 to play because my friends are residents of the town. The course is always in really nice shape, fairways are beautiful, greens are large are always quick. Its a one of the toughest courses I've played compared to others with similar yardage. For being a muni course its by far the best i've ever seen.

[billhager]

what course in ft erie

[Bonneville85308]

My home course (club) isn't a dump. The greens crew does a great job. But some of the members, especially the more transient ones, don't take care of the course. So there are sometimes a lot of unfixed ball marks (that I end up fixing), wear from cart traffic where it shouldn't be (how hard is it to keep all 4 wheels on the path!?), unraked footprints in sand, etc.

[ttaylor0024]

Yup, sand greens too!

Here is a link to my topic on it: [url="http://www.golfwrx.com/forums/topic/370104-sand-green-golf-courses/"]http://www.golfwrx.com/forums/topic/370104-sand-green-golf-courses/[/url]

[One_Putt_Blunder]

Not at all, I have two courses that I would call my home tracks.
During the winter months I play 90% of my rounds out of Vista Verde, It is a hidden gem here in Phx wonderful design and a great test of golf at just over 7200 yards. Almost always in great shape and can usually play in the mornings in 3.5 hours and for less than $60.

During the spring/summer/fall and where my handicap is based out of is Wekopa which has 2 courses both are ranked top 100 public courses and usually ranked in the top 5 in the state. They are always in pristine condition and two very different courses from each other. Saguaro is a Coore/Crenshaw design that makes perfect use of the land and has the toughest closing hole I have ever played, 508 yard par 4 that plays into the prevailing wind and a massive ridge you need to carry at 250 out to have a shot at the green.

Here are some pics of all three tracks. [url="http://www.golfwrx.com/forums/topic/234271-vista-verde/"]
[/url][url="http://www.golfwrx.com/forums/topic/234271-vista-verde/"]http://www.golfwrx.com/forums/topic/234271-vista-verde/[/url]
[url="http://www.golfwrx.com/forums/topic/215615-wekopa-saguaro-course/"]http://www.golfwrx.com/forums/topic/215615-wekopa-saguaro-course/[/url]

[JunkBondTrader]

Eh, from a design perspective it's okay, just boring.

From a condition perspective, also okay, for most elements, but it is completely overrun with geese. It is completely out of control.

[v10king]

My buddies home course is really bad. It is only a par 9 though but full length. I think he gets on for 15 bucks a round. I would play it though since its across the street from his house.

[DCott]

My home course (Franklin Park in Boston) is a good, old course with a rich history (Bobby Jones practiced there while at Harvard), but short yardage-wise. It's an inner-city muni, and gets kind of a bad rap for being in a tough neighborhood. There are lots of barbecues/festivals/parades in the various parks around the area and a zoo across the street, so there is often loud music playing/people around. The first 2 holes are along city streets, and people honk during your swing...

But I love it.

I get a city resident discount on an already affordable membership, which gets me into George Wright in Hyde Park as well. It's where I learned to play and the people at the course are great.

[marrigo]

Greens are top notch, they run true (although incredibly hard to read) and they can get them ridiculously fast. Fairways are mostly good. Tee boxes not so much. But for $20 a round walking, and $650 season membership dollar for dollar I think my course does an outstanding job.

[pd570]

My home course is actually quite nice. Paxton Park, in Paducah, KY.
it's a muni, of course, and well kept up. The pro is Danny Mullen, son of the previous pro, Kayo Mullen. They're always making some improvements, and the greens are always in good shape, and consistent. In fact, probably the best greens in the area. Greens fees and memberships are quite reasonable, and they have GPS on the carts (only course in the area with them).

My only beef is that during the great ice storm of 2009 that buried everything here in 4 inches of ice and destroyed hundreds of trees, at Paxton--all the ball-eating trees survived!

Kenny Perry and Russ Cochran grew up playing this course, and every year they come back for a fundraiser. They put on a clinic, hit shots with your group, the whole nine yards.

[swbyps]

My home course is Windrose in Spring, TX. Its not necessarily a dump, but its not great either. When the greens are in good shape, which they are not right now, I would give it a C+ grade at best. What it is however is convenient and cheap. There is a $399 a year ($40 monthly) membership that includes unlimited range and good discounts on green fees, food, and pro shop. I can play anytime for $29, for $18 after 2:00, and $12 after 4:00. They also have free clinics a couple times a week where they address different aspects of the game. This deal works out great for me because I typically only go there during the week after 4:00 anyway. I can get in 18, practice until dark, or practice and play some holes. It serves its purpose and im happy with it. It helps me keep my game sharp for when I play the nicer courses on the weekends.

[SpinMill75]

I could rant about this all day long........

My home course is ok at best. The greens are pretty good.....

Biggest complaint - the price for what you get. Its twice what it should be ( this is a muni). I don't mind paying top dollar for a nice course, but it should be in great shape nearly all the time.

Sorry for the ranting. I'll stop now.