Part 1: Pinehurst 2, Whistling Straits- what really makes a golf course great for the average player?

When I first began playing a lot of golf my freshman year of college I was always eager to play a new course, especially one that had received a high rating in one of the premier golf publications. I took every chance I had to play these “great courses", and I would always rave about the experience when I returned. The only problem was that I didn’t really have my own opinion of what I considered to be great qualities in a golf course, so I was usually basing my opinion on the fact that I didn’t believe a “four-star” golf course could actually have flaws. In the past year, however, after having played many “great” golf courses, I have a better sense of what a course must have for it to be outstanding in my opinion, because I’m tired of being dissappointed in “4 1/2″ star courses.

First and foremost, a course has to be fun to play for me to consider it great. Obviously the word “fun” is totally subjective in this case; some people consider a course fun only if they can score well, while others have fun when they can come home and talk about how difficult a course was and how badly it humiliated them. I fall somewhere in the middle of the two aforementioned categories. I’ve played Pinehurst 2, and while I agree that it is a fabulous course, I don’t think it is that much fun to play (certainly not $250 worth of fun). Similarly,Whistling Straits, which is just about as different from Pinehurst 2 as two courses can be, was also not that much fun for me for entirely different reasons. At Pinehurst, there are no holes that stick out in my memory as distinctively unique golf holes. If not for the history of the course and the area, I’m not sure I would specifically remember many details from #2. At Whistling Straits, there are several holes that stick out in my memory, but for a different reason- they’re just too damn hard. There are four or five holes at that course that I think are totally unfair (especially the 18th) and as a result are just not that enjoyable. I’m not trying to imply that it wasn’t a great experience playing at these venues, I’m simply saying that we are not obligated to enjoy a course just because it flaunts five stars.

I’ve decided there are certain standards that must be met in order for a course to receive my highest praises. While others might use stars or “thumbs up” for their rating system, I’m going to use pirates (five pirates implying that the course is a must play), because quite honestly, what could be more fun than pirates? Besides, they’re no more pointless than stars or thumbs up when you think about it.

Look for my criteria in Part 2 of this piece.