Sunday, January 31, 2010

Signature Courses

I have a renewed appreciation for professionally designed golf courses after playing golf with a friend at a "regular" course last weekend. It had been a while since either of us had played--life just gets too much in the way sometimes. We chose a nearby course with a fairly low green fee. We played. And it was fine; we got our golf fix.

But it just wasn't as satisfying an experience as I've had in the past. Sure, we got to hit the ball around and we both had decent scores; I had some good drives and even came close to breaking 100 (I consider that decent). But where was the creativity in the course layout? Where was the challenge? Where were the sand dunes and wildlife?

Ok, maybe the expectation of sand dunes is too much--it probably didn't help that the last time I played golf was during my last visit to Gulf Shores. But the array of signature golf courses in the Alabama Gulf Coast area has spoiled me. Courses designed by golf greats like Arnold Palmer, Bruce Devlin, and others offer so much more originality and beauty. These guys know the game, and they know how to create a course layout that presents a playable challenge.

Check out the Gulf Shores golf courses at http://www.golf.gulfshores.com/play/default.aspx.