Golf Club Atlas
GolfClubAtlas.com => Golf Course Architecture => Topic started by: Mike Hendren on January 29, 2003, 02:22:28 PM
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My friends think I'm nuts because I day-tripped from Nashville to French Lick to play today's AOTD, about 4.5 hours each way. I can never convince them to join me for such a road trip ???
For all you hardcores in the Treehouse, what is your best (i.e., most extreme) "have clubs, will travel" escapade.
Regards,
Mike
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I was living in Spartanburg SC at the time (upstate, near Greenville), and a friend called me at 10:00 Friday night from Kiawah and said that they had an extra spot at the Ocean Course for 8:00 Saturday morning.
Needless to say, I packed a razor and some contact lens solution and drove the 3 1/2 hours to Kiawah. This was about 10 years ago, when TOC was substantially more difficult than it is now. But, it was worth it. :D
P.S. I would love to tell you that I broke 80, but not every story has a happy ending!!! :'(
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Does driving from San Jose, CA to Lafayette, LA non-stop to see one's college play in an NIT quarterfinal basketball game count?
I guess not, this is about golf.
I guess the stupidest, er I mean most extreme thing I've done recently is drive 6 hours through the night to SoCal to play in a tournament, then drive home the same day post-round. The course wasn't even that big of a deal... the friends who where there WERE.
Beyond that, me dropping everything for golf pre-marriage, and concluding negotiations that would make Trump proud for golf hallpasses during marriage, well... that's kinda my normal life. Too many stories to focus on one particular one here.
TH
ps - flying from CA to Nebraska for 2.5 days of golf last June is a good one... of course given the venues, I'd expect anyone on here to do the same thing... but try explaining to your wife that you need to miss a family trip to play golf in Nebraska. Oh would that there was a tape of that "conversation"....
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Tom,
Driving non-stop from San Jose to Lafayette...wow, you are a hard-core fan! How many hours did this take? Surely you had others to help out?
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Instead of playing in the US Open local qualifier at a course I knew in town, I drove 10 hours from TX to KS to play at the Prairie Dunes qualifying site. Great experience, bad score.
My wife and I drove 1587 miles from NC to play Cape Breton Highlands in Nova Scotia (with a couple of other stops--turned into quite a vacation).
Oh, and then there was my honeymoon, where my wife and I left together but she returned home alone because of my detour to play in the North & South Amateur at Pinehurst #2 (yes, we're still married)... Hey, at least I didn't play Pine Valley on the honeymoon and make her wait outside the gate like Jack did to Barbara way back when (not that I wouldn't have if I got the chance ;)).
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Gary:
Oh yeah, there were four of us in the car... it took app. 36 hours, with minimal stops, as I recall... yes, we did live and die for our beloved Santa Clara Broncos!
TH
Tom,
Driving non-stop from San Jose to Lafayette...wow, you are a hard-core fan! How many hours did this take? Surely you had others to help out?
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On Thursday of US Open week in 2001, we drove an hour plus (I got up at 5:00AM) for a 7:00AM tee time at Poppy Hills followed by a +3 hour drive to Paso Robles for a 3:00 PM tee time at Hunter Ranch, followed by a +3 hour drive to Pasadena, CA.
Up at 6:00 AM the next morning, for a 7:00 AM tee time at Brookside (North), followed by sitting in LA traffic on the Ventura Freeway in the sunshine, getting back to NorCal by 11:00 PM ...
My wife almost didn't miss me and yes Tom, fellow Broncos were involved ...
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Back in 1969 I drove from Santa Monica to Pebble Beach for an hours lesson with Art Bell, drove out to Carmel Valley Golf and C.C., now known as Quail Lodge, played a quick eighteen and drove home. Elapsed time about sixteen hours. On the way I travelled on Hwy 1 from Morro Bay up through the Big Sur. I had a Ferrari 275 GTB/4 and it was one of the best drives imaginable.
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New York City to Boltons Landing, NY and back.
New York City to Atlantic City and back.
NYC to Bedford Springs, PA (left late at night and arrived for first tee time in the morning) then drove from there to McDermott, OH from there drove to Toledo, OH to meet my wife and then returned home after resting for a night.
Over a two day period, I travelled to Vermont and NH and played four courses and from the 4th course (St. Johnsbury, VT), I made it back to NYC in 5 to 5 and half hours.
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:D
two good ones for me..
1) Martinez, CA 5:30PM Friday get off work, fight traffic down I-5 and tee off in Santa Barbara, CA 0700 Hr.. rental car.
2) Broadway, England, in the Cotswalds, SW part of UK island, 0500Hr at hotel door, cab and three trains later picked up in York around 1100 or so, travel to Ganton GC in Yorkshire for a spot of tee, a quick sandwich and 18 holes, then back off to York and missing the 5:30 train to Birmingham by a minute.. They have a very nice railroad museum there in York! Did you know the Vikings used to wreck havoc on York too? Overnight at a Monk's gate hotel and back to Broadway next day for a pint at the local pub.
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I had a Ferrari 275 GTB/4 and it was one of the best drives imaginable.
Bob,
A few questions ...
1. Did the lesson help?
2. What did you drive better, the ball or the Ferrari? ;)
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Mike.
1. Not for long
2. The car.
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Bob Huntley wrote:
On the way I travelled on Hwy 1 from Morro Bay up through the Big Sur. I had a Ferrari 275 GTB/4.
Just one of the many reasons you are my hero Bob. You are willing to make that extra sacrifice for the good of the game.
Dan King
"I can sympathize with everything except suffering."
--Oscar Wilde
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On a trip to check out potential sites for the US Mid-Amateur I played 36 holes at the Golf Club of Georgia, got in my car and drove as far as I could, slept for the night, drove up to Charleston, WV to play a round with Andrew Bernstein at his home course, which ended around 7, drove to Bridgeport WV, spent the night, played Pete Dye Club the next morning and drove back to Pinehurst for the first gathering of some of the fine folk from this site (actually we were on another site in those days.)
Later in the trip, went from Charleston SC to Kiawah where I played the River course, had lunch, toured Cassique while it was still dirt and then drove to Valdosta GA to work the NCAA Div II Championships for 4 days.
Ended by going from Valdosta up to play Cuscowilla, driving to Atlanta, flying to OK City and driving to Fort Smith AR in one day, driving in to Little Rock, playing Chenal and driving back to OK City where I played OK City Country Club the next day before flying home that night.
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I would have to say my best trip pretty much for golf in this manner would be what i did this past february. My father visits Hawaii once a year for business, and this year my whole family was going while I sat in class in freezing Vermont.
So, to surprise my dad, I flew to Maui to play two rounds of golf with him and my brother. The trip was, either way, a two hour drive to Albany from central Vermont, an hour and a half flight to Dulles, six hours to LAX, and five and a half to Kahului, Maui, hour cab ride to hotel. He had business the first day so I play at the hotel (Kaanapali North, a waste of time) but played the next day at Kapalua Plantation, one of my favorites.
Two and a half days later, I returned to Vermont exactly how I came. So basically for a round at Plantation and three hours of snorkeling, I traveled 18 hours each way. The look on the baggage guy's face when I boarded the plane in 25-degree Albany in shorts and flip-flops was priceless.
The Middlebury legend that surpasses this is the story of four guys who, fed up at the lack of quality snow in Vermont one January, drove 24 hours straight to Vail in Colorado for one day of skiing before returning the following day for classes.
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There are so many I have to laugh.
First was when I was invited to play Shadow Creek when it was exclusive. I was told by this person my father knew to fly down the next day and we would be playing with Steve Wynn. I flew down (at full fare), rented a car and drove out only to be turned away at the gate. They never heard of this guy and said Mr. Wynn wasn't around?? It ended up raining hard anyway.
Another time I flew from California to Charlotte and my suitcase got lost. My clubs made it though so I decided to drive 6 hours to play Wade Hampton. Thats a dark tough drive up in the mountains and I didn't have a hotel reservation. To make a long story short I arrived at 3am and slept in the car only to have to start it every 30 minutes to warm up. I drove over to the club at 7am but couldn't play because I was too tired (I'm a wimp) so I drove back to Charlotte and flew back to California.
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Joel -
I think we will have to DQ you from the contest, although they are great stories, to qualify for the award, I think you actually have to play golf on the journey ... ;D ...
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2002 Sydney to Newcastle GC and return, then Sydney to Royal Canberra and return.
1997 Stay with relatives in Derby. Next morning drive to and play Woodhall Spa, then reverse north as far as possible. Get up early and complete drive to Ganton, attend wake for greenkeeper killed in rabbit hunt on course, then back south past Woodhall Spa so I could get up for 10 am tee time at Royal West Norfolk, waiting for tide to recede from entrance road.
Dont know how many day trips from Portland to Bandon and return.
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Pete
how did the greenskeeper get killed or die during the rabbit hunt?
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David Schmidt, Esq.:
I was waiting for you to chime in here. You remain among the highest in my pantheon of heroes. I expected nothing less than these stories, and also assume these are only the ones fit for public consumption.
BTW, said Detroiter is abstaining from GCA talk for the time being, but is alive... I heard from him last week.
And now Mr. Benham: it figures more Broncos are involved in stories like this.
And finally to Mr. Huntley: your place in the pantheon of heroes is never in doubt, but this just adds to the legend.
Great stories, one and all... I love this stuff!
TH
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Hi, My name is Dan King and I am a recovering golfaholic.
My son was going to school at UCSD. Every so often I'd drive him to school and then play either Torrey Pines or Tijuana CC. I could have put my son on the plane, but I liked driving him there and then playing some early morning golf before heading home.
What was different about this day was I also had a tee-time early the next morning with some golfing buddies at Squaw Creek in Lake Tahoe.
We left home in San Jose at around 10:00 at night for the 450 mile drive to La Jolla, dropped Tony off on campus at 5:00 in the morning and then went to Torrey Pines to get in line. Got to tee off on the South course before 8:00. I ended up playing 36 holes. One of the guys I was paired with had a tee time on the North Course that afternoon and asked if I wanted to fill their empty spot.
Then it was back in the car around 6:00 that evening for the 600 mile drive to Tahoe. I arrived in Tahoe by about 4:00am, took a quick two-hour nap in my car and was ready for our early tee time. After the round, it was back in the car for the 250 mile drive home.
That was around 1300 miles of driving with plans to play two rounds of golf (that turned into three.)
That was the old Dan. The Dan that would often drive the 5 hour round trip to Los Banos to play the uncrowded Hunter Ranch in under 4 hours rather than play a Bay Area course in 5˝ hours. Now it feels like too much work to step out the back door and play the empty course in my backyard.
Dan King
If you drink, don't drive. Don't even putt.
--Dean Martin
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Coincidentally, I'm leaving Atlanta this afternoon in a rented van on an NC trip to pick up furniture. HOPE, if a really complicated set of plans all fall into place, to have a good post on a Palladin trip Sunday or Monday.
In any case, I have enjoyed reading of the sickness of others...
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It goes without saying the both Old Dan and New Dan have a place in my pantheon. But damn, that up and down the state trip is the stuff of legend.
Of course you know this, but Hunter Ranch is nowhere near Los Banos. Paso Robles, my friend. I know, what are two smallish CA cities amongst friends... As for taking a total of 9 hours for fast golf as opposed to 6 hours for slow golf closer to home... obviously you have no wife to answer to! It's times like these when the single life looks really good....
TH
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Oh..there have been many.....driving the 4 hours each way to the tip of Long Island and back any number of times (NGLA, Montauk).
Once, on the way back from Montauk, I got caught behind a horrible accident on the LIE, then missed a turn zigging around Manhattan and ended up in Chinatown on a Saturday night, desperately looking for signs directing me to either a tunnel or bridge outta there.
THe upshot is that my 4 hour drive home turned into an 8-hour odyssey. And that was just to play Montauk Downs...
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Mike - glad to hear I'm not the only one getting lost going through NYC. I may have told you this before but after our Applebrook adventure, on the way from Philadelphia out to Southampton, I missed a sign on the far side of the Narrows Bridge and ended up in what sure as hell looked like a scene from West Side Story... two gangs ready to rumble, idiot tourist me in the middle... I was lucky as hell to find a place to turn around (illegally), and with them yelling at me I hightailed it back on to the bridge and started over... Yes, the great state of NY or whoever the hell gets the tolls got me for $8 or something twice.
TH
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Some good ones y'all.
Pete above did the Portland to Bandon thing last year to join me. Stayed over night in North Bend, then did 36 with me at Pacific Dunes, with lunch and dinner (afterward), then drove home to Portland after dinner.
A few of mine:
While living in Alexandria, VA in early 1994, left after rush hour subsided on a Friday night down I-95 to NC, then tried to sleep in the trunk of my car (a hatchback) in a roadside motel's parking lot some time after midnight, but the activity of other people around and the police driveby's made me nervous, so I just kept on driving towards Wilmington, got there early and played 36 that day, then 36 the next day, then drove back to NoVa after that.
GCA-related trips last year:
While on a Vegas vacation w/wife's family, got up in the wee hours on Easter morning, drove to L.A., ate breakfast in Beverly Hills (saw a rather old-looking Larry King there), played at LACC, had drinks afterward, then chatted in the parking lot for about a half hour, then drove up to Rustic Canyon (about 4 weeks before it opened) to walk around a little and see things in person before the sun set, then drove back to Vegas, getting in just after midnight.
My trip that has had a few of you talking:
Left Friday night, drove though NC, VA, DC (a smidge), and MD and stayed at relatives in suburban Baltimore. Got up early for a 10:00 tee time in suburban Philadelphia, driving thourgh MD, DE, and PA. Couldn't stay for drinks, had to run to play Yale (it was June, sun set late), driving through PA, NJ, NY, and CT. Teed off around 5:45-6:00, played (walked and carried) the hellaciously hilly and wonderfully fun Yale, finishing at dusk, while playing through a group of what looked (and sounded) like Martina Navratilova (local resident) and 2 students. Then had dinner in New Haven, then drove back through CT, NY, and stayed in NJ. That was 6 states in one day, passing through 8 total, coming back through NY and NJ again. 9 states/districts in 2 days so far. Then stayed up late watching the hockey finals (local 'Canes went into 3OTs). Got up early for round at Baltusrol (Lower), then got tour of Upper course afterward. Drove to Plainfield to join a small outing of GCAers and had lunch. Going out to get my clubs, I noticed they weren't there. Left them on the bag rack back at Baltusrol, gotta go get them. Drove back, got them, on way back got lost trying to take shortcuts (death in NJ), missed first two holes, joined them on par 3 3rd. Chatted some afterwards, then drove back to Alexandria, VA to stay at sister-in-law's, driving through NJ, DE, MD, DC, and VA. Got a few hours sleep, got up and left by 4:45 a.m. to drive (too fast) back home to pick up my daughter by 8:00 to take to daycare and then go to work.
I was in 9 different states/districts and crossed borders 15 times.
There have been a few others, can't wait for the next one.
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I have had several whirlwind trips, but the most recent consisted of getting up at 5am on December 23, driving an hour to pick up a college friend of mine and then driving an additional two hours to World Woods (FL). We played 36 holes and finished around 4:30. We then convinced the pro shop that we could play and finish the short course before dark. So after playing 45 holes, I drove 3 hours back and got home about 9pm.
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Scott;
You're nuts! ;)
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Scott Burroughs - your recent trip out here was enough to crown you king, given the marital risk that was involved... but good god, I can't come up with a high enough honor for you for that mult-state trip. I am sitting here in absolute awe.
What's also very interesting to me is that I'd have to guess all of these stories mentioned were in the end "worth it", with Joel's sad aventures excepted, of course.
TH
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The multi-state trip sounds better than it really is, considering the small states in the northeast.
The Saturday is what got people talking. Rolling Green outside Philly (west) at 10:00, then Yale in CT in the late afternoon. That and forgetting my clubs at Baltusrol. ::) :-/
Hell yes, it's all worth it.
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By "multi-state" trip I just meant the whole saga you outlined above, Scott. The whole thing makes you legendary. Forgeting the clubs just puts you in a league by yourself. ;)
What we need to do is have a group rountable where the stories we CAN'T tell here get revealed... hmmm... potential topic of conversation for the next get together? I'd pay good money to here some of the real stories from Dave Schmidt, for example... and I HAVE heard some priceless ones already from Papazian/Stettner/Wigler....
TH
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Dan King.
In my book you take the biscuit!
After all that driving were you let down by Squaw Creek?
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Left Norway on Wednesday night together with my design partner Jeremy. Drove to Sweden, stayed overnight at airport hotel.
Flew to Denmark, then to Newark (with the usual 6 hour delay in Newark!!), then to Denver. Met up with other architect friend. Stayed overnight at Holiday Inn. (This is now Thursday night). Friday morning take bus to collect hire car. Drive hire car and colleagues to Sand Hills which took approx. 5 hours.
Graeme didn't know much about Sand Hills and mentioned that the place had better be good or he was going to beat me up after a 5 hour drive.
Surprisingly he now calls it heaven!!
Stayed all weekend talking to some of the greats in the business and then repeated the drive and flight to Newark to play som good courses in that area.
I think we worked out it took nearly 50 hours to get there.
But, boy was it worth it.
Anyone, who ever gets an invite to that place and turns it down shouldn't be allowed to talk about architecture again!!
Brian Phillips
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Anyone, who ever gets an invite to that place and turns it down shouldn't be allowed to talk about architecture again!!
Brian Phillips
I am with you 100% re Sand Hills, brother Brian, and wow is that some kind of ordeal you had to get there... I thought I had it bad coming from California...
But in any case, God I hope Rich Goodale reads your above quote. ;)
Or maybe I don't. I enjoy what he says about golf, architecture and life and the connections among them too much to disallow the middle topic.
TH
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Lynn,
The greenskeepers set up a night rabbit hunt on the course and he was accidentally shotgunned by another participant near the 17th green, close to houses and gardens. Ganton was basically closed that day, but they kept an assistant on because they couldn't reach me.
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Two adventures come to mind:
Flew into Shannon Airport in Ireland, landed by 7 AM, grabbed a rental car and headed south to Waterville. Played the course with another golf-crazy solo American. Loved the round, especially the 17th and 18th tee boxes. Finished the round and paid off the bet with a few Smithwicks in town. I checked the map and decided to make a run at Old Head. The road had spectacular views of the ocean and Irish landscapes, but many sheep got in the way and the trip was long. The tiny roads didn't help either, plus learning to drive a stick-shift with my left hand and staying on the left side of the road proved a challenge. I ended up on the 1st tee at 6 PM. The course was empty and the sky was cloudless. I played two balls all the way around and had a blast.
The second was this summer. I received a last minute invitation at Oakmont. I was in car by 4 am and drove from NYC to Pittsburgh. The trip took seven hours. I played the course, was blown-away by the experience. On the first hole my par putt lipped out and rolled forty feet and off the green! The trip home was faster, only 5.5 hours. I was home by 11 pm with a memory that will last all winter and then some.
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Ahh shoot!
I hadn't looked in on the Palladin Award thread before now. I didn't know what it was for but obviously I had the wrong idea. Even with my wrong idea I hadn't looked at the thread until now and I didn't think I would win anyway because I've got the gun but I don't feel like traveling.
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Mine would be as a result of some car troubles on a 1999 trip to Ireland. We flew into Shannon in the early morning and had a noonish tee time at Old Head, after which we were driving to Waterville.
Well, the van we rented from Hertz had a problem with overheating brakes, and it took us until 3:30 pm to get down to Old Head. We called Hertz, asked them to have a new van for us at the course around 8:00 pm, then went out to play. We get done at 8:15 pm, and find out in the clubhouse that Hertz has come and gone without leaving us a van. Over the next few hours, we spent quite a bit of time in the Old Head clubhouse on the phone with Hertz and drinking Guinness - thank God they were nice enough to keep the clubhouse open just for us. Finally, about 11:00 pm, we realize Hertz is not going to have us a new van anytime soon, and that we have had too many Guinness to drive to Waterville, so with some help from the bartender at Old Head we manage to hire a guy from Kinsale to drive us to Waterville. He picks us up after midnight and we make it to the Waterville House around 4:30 am, after many stops to "wet the bush" as our driver says.
We sleep for a couple of hours and are up early the next morning and play 36 at Waterville. The proprietor at the Waterville House, who is a saint, arranges for a weekly rental of a Mercedes sedan from a local used car dealer, has it delivered to the hotel, and it is much cheaper than the van from Hertz would have been. Best of all, no need to mess with a car rental company upon return, as they had us leave the Mercedes in the general parking lot at the Shannon airport with the keys at the information desk. You absolutely have to love the Irish.
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Three years ago almost to the day, Its freezing in Chicago and I've got the weather channel on at the office and it says "clear and warm in Alabama." I've got nothing interesting to do, bored as hell and the golf bug, so I leave around 2 from Chicago, drive to Birmingham to play the RTJ trail course there (didn't know you have to go through mountains), get lost, get a couple hours sleep at a Days Inn in central Birmingham because mapquest doesn't tell me there's a highway exit right near the golf course in the nice leafy burbs, play the short course and the valley course, which was utterly ridiculous, get some barbeque and more to bring home, and drive back to Chicago. Total time: about 40 hours.
Jeff Goldman
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Tom Huckaby writes:
Of course you know this, but Hunter Ranch is nowhere near Los Banos. Paso Robles, my friend.
In the words of Roberto, what a stupid I am. I even once owned property in Templeton, which is bordered by Paso Robles.
Bob Huntley writes:
After all that driving were you let down by Squaw Creek?
This is the point I meant to get across, but didn't.
It's not surprising when someone falls off the wagon for a dram or two of Macallan 30-year-old. It takes a special sort of sickness to jump off looking for a case of Ripple.
Traveling a long way to play Sand Hills, Pacific Dunes, Pine Valley, etc... makes sense. I drove all those miles, up and down California to play two mediocre courses and one bad one. To make matters worse, because how tired I was when I played Squaw Creek I figured I hadn't given it a fair shake, requiring a return trip a few months later.
Dan King
'Alcohol kills brain cells.
Brain cell: "Did you bring the oxygen?"
Blood cell: "The oxygen? Oh boy, let's see. I was in the lungs. I headed toward the head. And... I stopped to party with friends... I just forgot."
We take the only organ in our body that won't grow back and we kill it for fun!'
--Carey Odes
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No hassles, Dan. Paso Robles/Los Banos, heck what's the difference anyway? ;)
And re: "It's not surprising when someone falls off the wagon for a dram or two of Macallan 30-year-old. It takes a special sort of sickness to jump off looking for a case of Ripple."
Golf addiction is a strange illness indeed!
TH
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Got on a red-eye in Oakland Sunday night, arrived in Detroit at 6a.m., drove 4 hours to Kingsley Club, played 36 holes. Woke up in morning and played 36 holes at Crystal Downs, went out to dinner with member there we met that day and stayed out until 11p.m., drove south through the night to get to Lost Dunes to hook up with Shivas (we got 4 hours of sleep), after 18 holes we jumped in the car for a flat out run to Detroit to make our flight with 5 minutes to spare (I paid someone $60 to return our rental car). It was totally worth it!
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Jeff Goldman,
The next time you have the urge to flee winter, don't drive to Birmingham. Southwest flies each way to Nashvegas for $39! I'll pick you up at the airport and host you at my club where you can experience vintage containment mounding by Cupp/Kite. You can be back in Chicago by late evening!
Regards,
Mike Hendren
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Instead of playing in the US Open local qualifier at a course I knew in town, I drove 10 hours from TX to KS to play at the Prairie Dunes qualifying site. Great experience, bad score.
Chris,
You are my winner so far :D.