Quote:
Originally Posted by tomwed
1977?
38 years ago it was difficult to get on- 4 hours.
The person I quoted said you need to get in the parking lot the night before. I've heard that same story for many years. Playing that course with my younger son is on my bucket list. Golf is golf. Who cares if it's difficult? Golf balls are cheap. It's not like your swimming the English Channel.
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The get to the parking lot at midnight so they sell you a ticket at 4Am to tee off at 8 nonsense only started after the 1st open there. I have no idea how it is now, but probably better. It wasn't difficult to get on in the 70's, you just had a long wait to tee off. Then an even longer round, especially on the Black. anything under 6 hrs was good, I once had to leave after 13 on account of darkness, 8hr and 45 min after teeing off. The problem was the course is VERY difficult, there was 6-8 inch rough from the tee to about 220 yds out where the fairway began. You got the see that in the open, especially on #11 where pros were having trouble reaching the fairway in poor weather conditions, and they were not using 1970's equipment. People would play the course who had no business ever getting near it, hit it 100 yds off the tee then hunt for their ball forever. This was complicated by # 2 being a tight dogleg left with the fairway 13 yds wide in the landing zone. I once got to the 2nd tee and 13 foursomes were waiting!!!
So naturally I am a strong proponent of ready golf and playing the course in the time suggested, but I also laugh when golfers complain of "slow play" in TV---if you don't need a calendar to time the round, it is fast compared to Bethpage in the 70's