Too bad the AirBNB didn’t have one of these:
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It’s more than just a design kerfuffle. The clear implication from Darius’s piece is that Mike wasn’t up to the job on a complex build, struggled with the nuances of true links golf and that he wasn’t collaborative. He was sent home after only 3 months and had built only 3 holes in that time. He came back for a week near the end of the build to shape part of your beloved 16th.
Duncan Andrews (the original owner) doesn’t really refute Darius’s claims and has made public comments that Mike was “a bit overwhelmed”.
Mike to his credit seems to have stayed above all of this, he has not much to gain from weighing in I guess.
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Late to this episode watching it yesterday. What a strange mix of thoughts.
Tron believing it’s one of the best episodes they’ve ever put out. The guys going out of their way in the video to make it clear they firmly believe these are courses and a place worth visiting. And they do seem awesome. All the while, I’m not sure I’ve ever watched 80 minutes of travel content that made me not want to go somewhere more.
Truly think its the first episode of TS, Strapped, anything where my immediate, visceral reaction was “absolutely not for me. no chance.”
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If I had to explain the origin of the term hater blockers it would be these sunglasses.
Who even makes these?
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They’re Oakley Katos
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I’ll be honest, I got very excited when the team said it was their favorite episode ever. And while I thought there were some excellent parts (the drone fly out at the end was magnificent!), I just didn’t have that same feeling on this episode. Not sure why yet. And maybe it’s like some other seasons where it took a while for episodes to grow on me. Or maybe it’s just a “me” problem. I’ve enjoyed each of the episodes so far this season, but this one didn’t hit for me.
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I totally agree. I think it sits somewhere in this gray area of that it was an insane, amazing life experience that I genuinely believe they want us to believe its worth experiencing, but the on screen product just screamed at me to not go there. Life threatening wildlife where you’re uncomfortable walking around. Golf courses so rugged that they seem borderline unfair.
I think a lot of it is Randy saying CW was worth only playing once for him. There are golf courses and life experiences you only get the opportunity to experience once. But after having done it, to say you’d never really want to do it again weighs very heavily for me.
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I think that’s part of it for me, but I also struggled with the flow of the episode. I actually liked the 36 hole match idea, but I remember feeling at some point like it was just a never ending sequence of shots, and not to turn this into Hampsterdam, but I lost the context. And it lacked some of the non-golf aspects that I enjoy. I was tired when I watched it, so maybe I just wasn’t paying close enough attention.
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This was me for the first 11 minutes of the episode where I watched folks commute.
LOVED everything after that.
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To me, Wickham is the biggest golf adventure I’ve ever taken.
You can only get there on a tiny plane, and then drive 45 mins up to the tip of a tiny island, and it’s a phenomenally beautiful but rugged place.
There are phenomenally beautiful views and a lot of fun holes at CW, but when you’re there the wind typically howls and there’s tons of long grass and signs warning you to not go in because snakes live there. The fairways are wide, but they need to be because of the conditions. There aren’t many bunkers as well, because I suspect sand would be blown out of the bunkers if there were more. There’s a very small crew taking care of the course, and they have very few golf carts if you want one.
In many ways, I think Wickham is the type of place we should be promoting: a remote, far-flung place that is phenomenally beautiful and has pretty great golf. It supports a tiny, friendly community that might not get a lot of traffic otherwise. I honestly wonder how the course will do in the next 20 years and how sustainable a business it is. It is a hidden gem and should be celebrated, but I shared the sentiments about the course that it was really good but didn’t ascend to phenomenal for a variety of reasons.
Was I concerned about being bitten by a snake? Absolutely! Meant I didn’t go looking for balls in the long grass and it was effectively a hazard anywhere there. Can the wind be very strong? Absolutely! Are some of the holes not my favorite based on how they actually play, not how they look? Absolutely! I didn’t really like how 15-17 played even though they are beautiful holes.
Would I discourage someone from going? Absolutely not. It’s a unique experience, but it is an absolute adventure and was not a “comfortable” round of golf. It probably depends how much you value that comfort vs pushing yourself for a sense of adventure. It’s about as adventurous as a top-100ish course in the world gets so far in my experience.
But IMO the conditions seem like they impacted how the course played (in addition to some design choices I didn’t love) that it didn’t ascend all the way to the height that I think a place as beautiful as that could’ve gotten to.
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Just a wild episode, personally I wish they played Wickham as a one large group, it seemed like they had the entire course to themselves. Honestly Wickham reminds me of their version of Tobacco Road but turned up to an 11, with venomous snakes sprinkled in.
Also I’m one million percent stealing @Soly’s “Dana Carvey” call
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I’ve never played Tobacco Road but…would it be sweet with venomous snakes? Or like, maybe just replace one of those huge bunkers with an Indiana Jones-style snake pit. IDK. Someone call Doak to make it happen
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Tourist sauce or watching stanford win a National Championship…tuff
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Well, that hole was sick.
I missed what course this is and am too afraid to ask. Looks sick though
Is that a new “Solomon shot 88”?
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@djpie just want to confirm that the haircut from Aki is sick. Great decision
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Dad back is a tough scene
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King Island 9 hole course. Don’t skip it.
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