Little behind on the series but needed to parachute in and say that the Grand Rapids episode is easily a Top 5 piece of content ever put out not by just NLU but by any golf media company.
It does a great job of capturing the spirit of a buddies trip/traveling but also highlights finding value and significance (Diamond Springs, Pilgrims Run) in unexpected places (Grand Rapids, Michigan). Well Done Gentlemen!
Yes. Turtle Point. Itâs a Nicklaus and itâs fucking terrible. Though Iâm being a bit dishonest, as we didnât walk off the 18th green because we quit after 17. The big selling point are the three holes that play along the ocean. In honesty, there are two holes that play along the ocean, and one that plays toward it, and if you didnât have a sense of geography, you wouldnât know that the ocean is there because thereâs a six foot berm of sand between the course and the beach. Itâs possibly the worst course Iâve ever played.
Did pace play in to walking off on 17, or strictly the course?
A little bit of both. There was a group in front of us, but I donât recall waiting on them all day such that it put us in a bad mood. And I should add, it wasnât like there were 14 decent holes and we were put off by 15-17 failing to live up the hype. The whole thing sucked. We played Cougar Point later that day, which objectively may only be a little bit better, but it was like an oasis in the desert after playing Turtle Point.
Thatâs a mistake from me, sorry!
Curious if playing it as part of an actual competition changed how some of the guys felt about The Loop, too.
It seemed like there could have been a ton of shots where, if you werenât in a competition, youâd want to hit the crazy bump and runs over mounds or whatever instead of going with a safe, stock wedge to try and keep par in play. Courses can just take on a different feel when posting a score matters.
There have been courses I donât like, and there certainly are courses I would rather not play again. But Iâve never played a round of golf and said to myself âI wish I had not played that round of golfâ. I just donât understand that thinking.
This is my exact thinkingâŚlike I can understand some shitty design elements, or bad breaks, or shitty conditioning, etcâŚbut I also know playing golf anywhere is probably a heck of a lot better than whatever the alternative might be
Having actually had beers with him on a few separate occasions, heâs not that bad. I mean, thereâs something to be said for hanging around with and conversing with someone at the top of their field. I always find that somewhat interesting regardless of the field. Youâre probably not going to be giving each other shit back and forth, but heâs not entirely impersonable. I certainly wouldnât turn down an invitation to spend time with him if it ever comes up again.
Totally fair question. Any golf is better than no golf. So to answer your question directly, no.
I think it depends on the situation. In my case, there were other courses we could have conceivably played. So maybe it was âI wish I had played that round of golf at a different course.â Iâve heard similar sentiments about, for example, Lawsonia Woodlands.
I had a similar experience but I had a lot of edibles that day. Made the best of it. What you gonna do?
I mean definitely getting yâall some upgraded food/accommodations/transit would be a big bonus! Iâm just wondering what about the substance of the series could be changed for the betterâwould even a small camera and sound crew be obtrusive to the point of causing issues with some courses? Would getting the filming out of your hands free yâall up to cover more ground or would yâall still want to âdirectâ the crews? Shot-tracer? Iâm just curious about what the form of this series would be with zero budget constraints but still keeping the spirit of the thing as it was cultivated to this point, I guess.
I have not played a single course in my life that I walked off of saying âthat was too hard/unfairâ that wasnât that way solely due to being super tight/lost balls/OB. Thatâs a bummer.
The fact that thereâs a course that makes low cappers like Tron and Neil get so far inside their own heads that they canât even hit normal shots (I know selective editing but doak didnât make Tron hit those shots fat) because theyâre so wrapped up in their own brain should be celebrated and makes me want to go experience it so so so bad. And as evidenced by the plentiful 15 cappers above loving it and playing well, it seems fair from the outside.
Maybe Tron just struggles with chipping, and Neil misses in bad spots with irons often and this course exposes both of those weaknesses?
Other than being painfully hungover saying âI should have stayed in bedâ the only time Iâve come close is Lost Marsh. Think I lost five balls on the first four holes, and shockingly it wasnât because I suck. Drive on 1 hit the 150 or 200 plate on the fly and bounced directly into the water. Just bad design.
Incel porn
You might be on to something, mightâve forced that course out of my long term memory. That early par 5 is the worst.
I think I feel kind of the same way about his courses. Ballyneal, Streamsong, Pac Dunes - Iâve never walked off of 18 excited to get back on the first tee again. For places that seem like they should be really fun, I always feel like I just got the shit kicked out of me.
One exception is Commonground - love that place. I wonder if the considerations he took because of the amount of play it gets conformed it a little more to my liking.
