Ol' Old Town…can't get away from it.
I had the privilege, honor, and opportunity to help "dig holes" there during the "restoration-renovation" some years back…and I've been thinking of that God Damned course ever since….not that it's damned, by all means no; but if there's a Lord, he surely pegs one up there on Sundays, wether we know it or not.
I admit it, being from Chicago; and pulling into a one Perry Maxwell Lane; the only thing I knew was that this was tobacco town, and that the cigarettes were a hell of a lot cheaper here than back there in the old Daley neighborhoods of Chicago…
Again, in all honesty, I knew a bit more than that…I knew it was good, at one point; and I knew my Boss once played there as a young Deacon, and that many others in the game had followed this hole in the fence towards the 12th tee…I even did the old photo tour on this here website to see what it was I was signing-up for; to bring the dog or to not bring the dog.
And to finally make a long ramble short ; I mentioned to Sir Dunlop about a year ago, that of all the "gigs" I've had the privilege of drumming on, Old Town may have been the most rewarding, the most satisfying....the one that made the most sense.
"Why", he asked.
Because sometimes you don't need the smell of the Long Island Sound, nor the crash of the South China Sea; sometimes you don't need the cliffs of Canada nor the winding entry roads of Pinehurst; sometimes you don't need sand, nor the rock outcroppings of the High Sierra….
No, sometimes you just need Golf, and good people….and a red-bricked clubhouse. Throw in a proper Magnolia Tree, and your already under par.
Sometimes you just need Golf, and thats what Ye' Old Town is…..
Cheers,
Q.
When describing the restoration at Old Town, Coore & Crenshaw associate and shaping specialist Quinn Thompson references architectural legends Maidstone, Shanqin Bay, Cabot Cliffs, and Pinehurst.
“Sometimes you don't need the smell of the Long Island Sound nor the crash of the South China Sea,. “Sometimes you don't need the coastal cliffs of Nova Scotia, the rocky outcroppings of the High Sierra nor the winding entrance roads of Pinehurst. Sometimes you don't even need sand. No, sometimes you just need Golf, and that's what ye' Old Town is.”
“Of all the land I've had the privilege of drumming on, Old Town may have been the most satisfying and rewarding,” Thompson added. “If there's a Lord, he surely pegs one up there on Sundays, whether we know it or not".
Good stuff Q, you're a poet!! Not lost is the message that good golf is not so much about the other stuff, the backdrop, the history etc.; its about the character of the land; it's more about the golf.