Who’s It For? Why I don’t Like to Rate Courses- Henry Shimp
I was on the range a few mornings back at my oh so beloved Country Club of Charleston (a place that works for more people than most) and overheard one of the more sobering conversations I’ve heard in a while between two elderly women getting ready to peg it. First off, how great is it to see a couple women who clearly have grown grandchildren to worry about playing on a hot Charleston day? Second, the conversation I heard them having substantiated one of my long-held opinions on golf courses and why we shouldn’t try to rank them in some objective, take this as gospel, sort of manner. Finally, before we actually get going here, allow me to shamelessly plug our Tie Course Reviews podcasts where the concept I am about to explain comes to life.
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So, I’m getting ready to go play what was my 10th round of July (and probably 11th of the year…) and I hear one of the two ladies start to talk about having recently been at Shinnecock for the first time. Her post action review was about as good a description of how I believe people should think about golf courses as I can imagine. She said “well, it was amazing. Such a beautiful landscape for golf, but frankly, I hope to never play it again. For me, it was way too hard and not enjoyable. I don’t nearly have the ability to play a course like that anymore, but I’m still so happy to have seen it an experienced it for myself.”
I mean c’mon, that’s just flat aces. Acknowledging how cool of a place it is to play (can confirm), no emotional “the place is over rated” due to inability to play, and full candor on not wanting to play a place that was too much for her. This fully describes how I think of golf courses.
Allow me, as always, to liken this to restaurants. Try sending someone who doesn’t eat raw fish to a great sushi place. Not going to go over too well. A vegan at a steakhouse? No dice. Someone who is health conscious to your favorite Tex-Mex joint for enchiladas and queso? Try again. People have preferences and tastes in everything.
Food, people, music, TV, books, and, of course, golf courses. (Coffee withstands from this conversation. The Mudball Half Caff from our friends at Goodwalk coffee is the GOAT and there is no debating it. Hammer the link above and use code THETIE to save some coin)
Attempting to create lists of the “best” golf courses just doesn’t make much sense to me. Is it a futile exercise altogether? No, not quite. It creates for a nice guide for people to know what places they should think about going to play so that they can evaluate for themselves what courses they like given the game they have, their preferences for what they consider to be an enjoyable golf experience, and maybe, just maybe, be thought provoking for an evolution of someone’s knowledge for and passion of the game.
The most astute architectural eyes must see many different types of golf courses to be able to properly opine on their own preferences and any sense of what may be a top in class golf course. This however does not make them able to tell someone else what they should or shouldn’t like, it merely makes the odds a bit better that they can provide apt recommendations to different golfers.
So, with that all being said, let’s stop doing a couple things. One, trying to convince ourselves we like courses based on what a list tells us. Two, and I cannot stress this enough, trying to convince SOMEONE ELSE they should like a course based on what a list says or what we believe personally. Finally, let’s make an effort to evaluate courses based on whether they are truly enjoyable for us, but most importantly, not confuse a course we don’t like with a course that someone else may like. Once again, everyone has preferences for things and golf courses are no exception.
Cheers,
HS