[Mick]

Anybody else sick of all the “Magnolia Lane,etc“  Horseshit? Cathedral of Golf my azz.

I've never been there.  I hear it's a magical experience.

I think those phenomena tend to be highly localized.  The first time Arnold Palmer crossed the Atlantic, he finished second at The Open at Royal Birkdale, a course on the west coast of England in Southport.  As he's being driven in, his hosts rhapsodized about the great beauty of the land-and-sea course.  As they're driving by the course, Palmer says "I'm glad it's not this cow pasture," or words to that effect.  Oops...

Separately, I can't recall if it was Muirfield or Carnoustie -- it was a pretty bleak weathery day, and the course wasn't gorgeous -- but the British announcer was going on and on about how the British course was the most beautiful pairing of water and turf in all the world, and his American counterpart sniffed that Pebble Beach wasn't too bad on that front.  Of course, nine of the 18 holes at PB are on the water.

All depends on where you're from.  My dad's a shareholder at Pasatiempo, but his favorite seaside course is Pacific Dunes at the Bandon Dunes resort in Oregon.

[Mick]

Anybody else sick of all the “Magnolia Lane,etc“  Horseshit? Cathedral of Golf my azz.

I've never been there.  I hear it's a magical experience.

I think those phenomena tend to be highly localized.  The first time Arnold Palmer crossed the Atlantic, he finished second at The Open at Royal Birkdale, a course on the west coast of England in Southport.  As he's being driven in, his hosts rhapsodized about the great beauty of the land-and-sea course.  As they're driving by the course, Palmer says "I'm glad it's not this cow pasture," or words to that effect.  Oops...

Separately, I can't recall if it was Muirfield or Carnoustie -- it was a pretty bleak weathery day, and the course wasn't gorgeous -- but the British announcer was going on and on about how the British course was the most beautiful pairing of water and turf in all the world, and his American counterpart sniffed that Pebble Beach wasn't too bad on that front.  Of course, nine of the 18 holes at PB are on the water.

All depends on where you're from.  My dad's a shareholder at Pasatiempo, but his favorite seaside course is Pacific Dunes at the Bandon Dunes resort in Oregon.