Hands Down #1 Bucket List Golf Course

[Donn lost in San Diego]

Uh, too much good stuff.  At this point, 2 surgeries coming up, after rehab, I just want to play Twin Oaks here nearby SDIego north county, San Marcos and Rancho Bernardo Inn.     

[GolfSpy_APH]

On 1/26/2024 at 8:50 PM, TSauer said:

Man... scrolling through this thread quickly makes me realize why I love this game so much. There are SOOO many astounding courses all over the world.

I know I picked one... Or two. However the list is truly endless of courses I want to play.

[DaveP043]

31 minutes ago, GolfSpy_APH said:

I know I picked one... Or two. However the list is truly endless of courses I want to play.

Amen!  I know I'll never play them all, there will always be a new one to explore, more than plenty enough to last the rest of my life.  

I'll also add, most of the times I've made a trip for golf, including Ireland and Scotland, I've never approached it as a "once in a lifetime" thing, as if I'm ticking off boxes on a long list.  I prefer to think of exploring, with the option always available to return if I have enough fun the first time.  One thing I'll suggest for folks, take these "bucket list" trips as early in your life as you can.  I'm 68, and although I'm still good for walking golf courses (11 rounds in 10 days in Scotland last July), I know the time will come when I won't be able to do it.  I'd hate to have too many courses remaining on my "to-do" list when that time comes.

Edited January 29 by DaveP043

[Donn lost in San Diego]

On 1/28/2024 at 4:42 PM, Dy54 said:

Can’t believe nobody said Pine Valley. That blue dot is me in one of their massive bunkers. 

I was born 40 miles away in Trenton.  Ain't going back just to lose 11 strokes getting out of the hazards.

[Mrs. Golf]

5 hours ago, Donn lost in San Diego said:

I was born 40 miles away in Trenton.  Ain't going back just to lose 11 strokes getting out of the hazards.

Wow

[cksurfdude]

On 1/29/2024 at 11:22 AM, DaveP043 said:

One thing I'll suggest for folks, take these "bucket list" trips as early in your life as you can.  I'm 68, and although I'm still good for walking golf courses (11 rounds in 10 days in Scotland last July), I know the time will come when I won't be able to do it.  I'd hate to have too many courses remaining on my "to-do" list when that time comes.

Really appreciate your thoughts there!

I'm gonna be 68 soon and am kinda thinking this is the year I really need to start doing just that.

Didn't start golfing until my mid 50s and was still working too many hours .. and still windsurfing and surfing when I could, so golfing took a back seat .. and I thought I'd need to be a "better golfer" before trying to play on premier courses, otherwise it would be a waste of money and time...

But really it's the experience and the travel to a new destination that counts .. and not the number of strokes to get around on one of the bucket list courses!

[Dead Solid Bogey]

I had plans in March to actually play this course that I find so intriguing ….. Unfortunately those plans are off the table for now… But maybe someday….

[jaskanski]

ANGC probably. Probably not ever gonna happen either, but you're got to dream big, right?

[Donn lost in San Diego]

I do plan finally this year, after 2 more planned arthritis surgeries for 2024, to go to Birmingham Alabama.  What? And play the 2 Robert Trent Jones Sr. layouts there.  Oxmoor.  Designed by The old man, RTJ, not RTJ Jr. Not the kid.  Alabama talked Robert TJ Sr. into designing a series of courses across the state as a way to make the state a better place.  I've been hoping to play, I have a brother there to go and visit, but it hasn't happened yet.  Should happen in 2004, if the surgeons at Scripps Clinic in San Diego do the right thing.  One does surgery at Torrey Pines.  Yep.  Those buildings you see on TV at the Farmers Torrey event are Scripps Clinic. 

[RoyN]

Bighorn Mountain Course... because playing there isn't a pipe dream.

[Dead Solid Bogey]

4 hours ago, Donn lost in San Diego said:

I do plan finally this year, after 2 more planned arthritis surgeries for 2024, to go to Birmingham Alabama.  What? And play the 2 Robert Trent Jones Sr. layouts there.  Oxmoor.  Designed by The old man, RTJ, not RTJ Jr. Not the kid.  Alabama talked Robert TJ Sr. into designing a series of courses across the state as a way to make the state a better place.  I've been hoping to play, I have a brother there to go and visit, but it hasn't happened yet.  Should happen in 2004, if the surgeons at Scripps Clinic in San Diego do the right thing.  One does surgery at Torrey Pines.  Yep.  Those buildings you see on TV at the Farmers Torrey event are Scripps Clinic. 

I throughly enjoyed being toyed with and abused like a rented mule by the trail courses… If you love golf, there is always the possibility of being humbled if not outright humiliated by a course… Fun times; hope 2024 is the year of your dreams… Good luck. 
    On the arthritis issue…. Mine is not nearly as severe as what you are dealing with… So far a combination of medieval herb/heat and new age cryotherapy has kept the pain issue and functionality problems with my hands and wrists in the tolerable range. 

[Donn lost in San Diego]

8 hours ago, Dead Solid Bogey said:

I throughly enjoyed being toyed with and abused like a rented mule by the trail courses… If you love golf, there is always the possibility of being humbled if not outright humiliated by a course… Fun times; hope 2024 is the year of your dreams… Good luck. 
    On the arthritis issue…. Mine is not nearly as severe as what you are dealing with… So far a combination of medieval herb/heat and new age cryotherapy has kept the pain issue and functionality problems with my hands and wrists in the tolerable range. 

Which RTJ courses have u played?  My bro lives in Bham, there is a 2 course set there, Oxmoor, plus a shortie.

Arthritis runs in mother's family.  I have had 1 knee replaced very successfully, 1 thumb basal joint arthroplasty also successful.  Next up is rt ft big toe joint fusion, then rt knee replacement.  Left thumb has very little cartilege left but doesn't hurt unless I twist it or bang it.

[Dead Solid Bogey]

13 minutes ago, Donn lost in San Diego said:

Which RTJ courses have u played?  My bro lives in Bham, there is a 2 course set there, Oxmoor, plus a shortie.

Arthritis runs in mother's family.  I have had 1 knee replaced very successfully, 1 thumb basal joint arthroplasty also successful.  Next up is rt ft big toe joint fusion, then rt knee replacement.  Left thumb has very little cartilege left but doesn't hurt unless I twist it or bang it.

Oxmoor; the Valley course and Ross Bridge, both pre-Covid. 
  Right thumb basal joint as well as both wrists get my attention if I drive to long or play a lot of golf in a short period of time. My arthritis is self-induced from 40+ years in the field and from my much younger days, when using my hands  to make a point in a bar room discussions after those discussions quit being verbal in nature seemed like the thing to do at the time. 

[Donn lost in San Diego]

Surgery always sounds scary but my 2 so far worked well, as the doctors said.  I started small swings about 8 weeks after the knee, about 9 weeks after the thumb.  By 12 weeks I was back to almost full speed both times.  The knee is solid, now 3 years.  The thumb is susceptible to some pain if rough usage, and I keep strengthn exrsz on and off.  No large buckets at the range, just small or medium. I also have the Bracelab Push Grip for each thumb, they are $$ at $95 but they work well.  I wear it for a few hours or a day if either thumb gets twerked and then I am good to go. You can wear it while golfing.  It pushes the thumb joint back into the original position it is supposed to be in, before the arthritis wiped out a lot of cartilege.

[Dead Solid Bogey]

1 hour ago, Donn lost in San Diego said:

Surgery always sounds scary but my 2 so far worked well, as the doctors said.  I started small swings about 8 weeks after the knee, about 9 weeks after the thumb.  By 12 weeks I was back to almost full speed both times.  The knee is solid, now 3 years.  The thumb is susceptible to some pain if rough usage, and I keep strengthn exrsz on and off.  No large buckets at the range, just small or medium. I also have the Bracelab Push Grip for each thumb, they are $$ at $95 but they work well.  I wear it for a few hours or a day if either thumb gets twerked and then I am good to go. You can wear it while golfing.  It pushes the thumb joint back into the original position it is supposed to be in, before the arthritis wiped out a lot of cartilege.

Interesting about the BPG.. Will take a gander… Again good luck with the surgeries. 

[Donn lost in San Diego]

5 hours ago, Dead Solid Bogey said:

Interesting about the BPG.. Will take a gander… Again good luck with the surgeries. 

Bracelab is a small company, a lot of people don't even know of them.  My phys thrpst suggested it, I resisted at first then bot one for one hand, quickly bot for the other hand also.  It is small, simple plastic and velcro, a mini splint.  You can golf wearing it.  I put the glove on first and then the grip over the glove if I need to use it at the range or on the course.   

[Donn lost in San Diego]

On 2/3/2024 at 10:15 PM, RoyN said:

Bighorn Mountain Course... because playing there isn't a pipe dream.

Roy, where is PD Calif?  I am in Oceanside, near famous Carlsbad and Torrey.

[ILMgolfnut]

On 1/26/2024 at 4:28 PM, Pastor Chuck said:

Need I say more?!

Yep.

[ILMgolfnut]

On 1/29/2024 at 11:22 AM, DaveP043 said:

I prefer to think of exploring, with the option always available to return if I have enough fun the first time.

That's exactly how I approached Scotland, and sure enough I'm going back this summer. But there is definitely the thought in the back of my mind of doing this stuff while I still can.

[Donn lost in San Diego]

1 hour ago, ILMgolfnut said:

Yep.

where have I seen that bridge before????  Hm.  Is it near Gettysburg?   Tee hee hee.

[RoyN]

1 hour ago, Donn lost in San Diego said:

Roy, where is PD Calif?  I am in Oceanside, near famous Carlsbad and Torrey.

Know where that is, my BiL used to live down there. Palm Desert Ca., Coachella Valley/Greater Palm Springs area. Head north to Temecula and head northeast over the mountain for about an hr and if dumps you on the other side in Palm Desert. This course is built into the mountain and the first thing you pass.

 

[Donn lost in San Diego]

17 minutes ago, RoyN said:

Know where that is, my BiL used to live down there. Palm Desert Ca., Coachella Valley/Greater Palm Springs area. Head north to Temecula and head northeast over the mountain for about an hr and if dumps you on the other side in Palm Desert. This course is built into the mountain and the first thing you pass.

 

Oh, sure, I get it: Sinatra - ville. East of that giant 30 story tall building that appears in the middle of nowhere, and east of windmills that Quixote fought.   I own a Don Martin chipper and several Stan Thompsons.  

[Donn lost in San Diego]

24 minutes ago, RoyN said:

Know where that is, my BiL used to live down there. Palm Desert Ca., Coachella Valley/Greater Palm Springs area. Head north to Temecula and head northeast over the mountain for about an hr and if dumps you on the other side in Palm Desert. This course is built into the mountain and the first thing you pass.

 

Is it private or public?  Are u a member?  I'd like to take a whack at it sometime in the future, maybe October or November.

[RoyN]

9 hours ago, Donn lost in San Diego said:

Is it private or public?  Are u a member?  I'd like to take a whack at it sometime in the future, maybe October or November.

Lol i wish! It's private. And i don't have the 300k initiation fee, let alone the monthly dues! However I have customers who are members and my BiL has a client that lives there and has offered to bring the 2 of us as guests. October is overseeding month so no golf. Season opens in november.

[Donn lost in San Diego]

12 hours ago, RoyN said:

Lol i wish! It's private. And i don't have the 300k initiation fee, let alone the monthly dues! However I have customers who are members and my BiL has a client that lives there and has offered to bring the 2 of us as guests. October is overseeding month so no golf. Season opens in november.

OK.  I will set my sight on a public in the desert n mountain course.  $300K.  Hm.  let me check with Motley Fool for a stock pick.

[RoyN]

11 hours ago, Donn lost in San Diego said:

OK.  I will set my sight on a public in the desert n mountain course.  $300K.  Hm.  let me check with Motley Fool for a stock pick.

I can get you on several of the public desert courses, like Desert Willow, no problem. Private is another story... atleast until all my restraining orders are lifted.