Playing a "Goat Track"?

[Chef G]

Have you ever driven by a course and made the quick decision not to play it because of what you see from the road?

I am guilty as charged! Spring Valley in Salem , Wis from the road doesn't look the part. Maybe it was the really small greens,

or the"Periscope" hole, or the not really good looking grounds.... But I gave it a try the other day and can't wait for some nicer

weather to give it another go.

 

It's a Langford design before he did Lawsonia and was built in the 20's. Really smallish greens, ALL grass bunkers and plays

to par 70 at @ 6400 yds. 5 par 3's and a real short par 4 make it play a LOT longer. This is the kind of course they don't make anymore but with some TLC and probably a cash infusion it would be on a lot of lists. I think it's a family operation but that just adds to the charm.

 

So don't be like me and give a Goat a Chance.

[Golfer from MO]

But that drive by curb appeal is soooooo important, courses should really boost manicure and landscaping on visable road exposure. Too many times if it walks like a duck....

[golfgirlrobin]

I kind of like goat tracks. Some old run down place that costs $17 to walk and run by the same folks for a hundred years. Hard as a rock in summer and a bog in the rainy season.

 

I'm probably more likely to pull over and play. Not every round needs to be a bucket list experience.

[Awesomeguy887]

Love courses like this. They have more character. Staff are usually friendly and the prices are better. The track I play at home is probably only a couple steps better than the adjacent pastures but I have a blast playing there.

[Roody]

I try to make a point at least a couple times a season to get down and play the old "goat tracks" back around the area where I grew up. There's something about those courses where I started learning how to play golf on. Nostalgia, cheap, easy. Good times.

[Drudersh]

I made this mistake with a course called Moselem Springs. I used to drive by it on the way to go hunting in Berks County, PA and you could only catch one fairway and one green from the road. It probably didn't help my thinking that it was in the middle of nowhere farm country, but I always thought to myself "Who is driving up here to play this out of the way cow pasture"?

 

Then it came up on our interclub schedule and friend of mine told me I absolutely had to go play it. I did, and now it's one of my favorite courses. Best finishing par 4 I've ever been on.

[longleft]

I play the one by me a few times a week. It's close, cheap and easy to get a 6am tee time for a quick 9 during the week. It's baked out in the summer, soggy (but open all winter).

 

I play the executive course (it's more of a mid-level manager), but they also have a par 3, an 18 hole course and a few practice holes. I knock it when I'm asked, but deep down inside I like it just fine.

[596]

Most golfers are extremely spoiled in that they demand a super manicured course every time they play no matter how much it costs. For $30 those greens better darn well roll like Augusta or they'll write a bad review on some stupid web site.

 

Golfers are spoiled by what they "think" they see on television every Sunday. Our Super. was at Augusta and took a few pictures you'd never catch on television......weeds.........in the fairways!!! You won't see that on TV, but they are there.

 

I like playing the regular courses that made the game what it is. I don't need perfectly manicured grounds to enjoy a great round of golf. I play a course right across the street a few times a year. The greens are....yikes.....I won;t comment. Some of the greens are so small I doubt you could park a car on a few of them. It's a blast playing this course and remembering what golf is really supposed to be.

[Chef G]

It was a soggy mess the day I played, but I enjoyed the hell out of the layout! The par 5 4th hole was just the kind of hole that makes you appreciate

the thinking behind using the property God gave them.

[Springsteennut]

I have one about 5 minutes from me so I run over there quite a bit. It's over a hundred years old. The course has one of the toughest and funnest par 5s I've ever played. It's a fun place to play.

[nikegal]

I kind of like goat tracks. Some old run down place that costs $17 to walk and run by the same folks for a hundred years. Hard as a rock in summer and a bog in the rainy season.

 

I'm probably more likely to pull over and play. Not every round needs to be a bucket list experience.

HaHa, I learned to Play on a goat track. I came from a single parent home and my friend's parents owned a course/range like you speak of Robin and they let she and I work around the shop and we got to play and hit balls in leu of paymemt, lol. Then when Pete left Richard's club and "retired," he bought this little course/range that epitomized "goat track," lol. So much so that Richard and his BFF found this big goat placard and put it out front by the course sign as a joke however Pete liked it and left it there, hahaha. Its funny because it was a goat track however if you stopped by it was like the king and his court as you could see Pete's brother Sam, Bob Ford, Rick Martino, Rick Smith when he was in town, not mention Jay Sigal, Mike Souchak, Harvey Ward and Duke Delcher, to name a few more, lol. So even though it wasn't much to look at, it had character and a lot of big money games were played on that goat track, hahaha. Have a nice week Robin :) Maddie

[Loki]

Our Super. was at Augusta and took a few pictures you'd never catch on television......weeds.........in the fairways!!! You won't see that on TV, but they are there.

 

How did your super get in the middle of a fairway at The Masters?

[larrybud]

I'm skipping any course with lousy greens. Takes all the joy out of golf for me.

[AppAlum]

Our Super. was at Augusta and took a few pictures you'd never catch on television......weeds.........in the fairways!!! You won't see that on TV, but they are there.

 

How did your super get in the middle of a fairway at The Masters?

 

Crosswalks

[farmer]

My home course would be considered a goat track.

[RSinSG]

The opposite can also be true. For years I used to drive by Thunderbird CC in Rancho Mirage. Every day when I was in college I would drool over the perfect fairways and greens that were visible in quick glimpses from the road. It was (still is) ultra private, and for a poor student playing exclusively on muni's all I could ever do was covet.

 

Fast forward 30 years and my regular partner makes friends with the super, and I finally get to play the course I've dreamed of since I was a teen. I'm not saying it is a goat track by any stretch, but I am saying it didn't live up to my expectations. It's a very nice course, but not near as nice as many other courses I've played. It was like I finally got to date the most beautiful girl in school who everyone wanted to be with and I found out she couldn't put two coherent words together. Big disappointment.

[Chomper]

I worked for a year at a goat track - 27 holes of flat golf w water. It was a blast! A great group of characters frequented the course, good times. Goat track or not, those guys could play.

[Bsgolf53]

If you don't have a goat track on the rotation you're not playing enough...

[HoffTTM]

So long as you have a friend with you and you don't get ripped off almost anything is excusable for me.

[teejaywhy]

It's a Langford design before he did Lawsonia and was built in the 20's... This is the kind of course they don't make anymore ...

 

In most cases, I would rather play an interesting design with iffy conditioning than a perfectly manicured but perfectly boring cookie-cutter modern style course.

[prsgtrman]

i started on goat tracks because that was all i could afford. plus even i could have afforded a nicer track i didnt see the value in playing it. i still really dont mind playing them as long as the greens are decent(dont have to be great just not super weedy).

[DTXgolfer12]

There are some good bargains out there. But there are also some courses i would prefer to never play again.

 

That being said you get what you pay for most of the time

[jvalhalla]

As long as there is grass in the fairways, greens and tee boxes, I'll play it. The only courses I won't play are those that have more hard pan than grass in the fairway. I played enough of those as a kid.

[Imhappyinthe80s]

I made this mistake with a course called Moselem Springs. I used to drive by it on the way to go hunting in Berks County, PA and you could only catch one fairway and one green from the road. It probably didn't help my thinking that it was in the middle of nowhere farm country, but I always thought to myself "Who is driving up here to play this out of the way cow pasture"?

 

Then it came up on our interclub schedule and friend of mine told me I absolutely had to go play it. I did, and now it's one of my favorite courses. Best finishing par 4 I've ever been on.

I only played Moselem one time, wonderful course, they don't build them like that anymore. I play out at Berkleigh, went public a few year back, but another very solid older track.

[El Shanker]

Goat tracks are fun on those beer drinking days. Some of the best rounds of my youth at goat tracks!

[Argonne69]

Ultimately it's about value. Did you get your money's worth? I've played uber-expensive courses one day, and a cheap g-track the next. At times I've felt I got a better deal at the g-track, as expectations are not particularly high. As long as the greens are putt-able, and there is something resembling grass in the fairways, I'll give it a go. Of course, I'm probably not going to play them every week, but on occasion, sure.

[ZAP]

The condition of the course is not why I play golf. I like to play those places where the "clubhouse" is actually someone's house and the family has owned it for generations.

[Juice__25]

I play a wide variety of courses, including goat tracks. It's a different experience and fun in its own way. I have 2 near me. One has terrible greens but I see a lot of really good players there. The other is definitely known as THE goat track and you shouldn't go there unless you don't really care about course conditions and want to drink plenty of beer.

[Divot License]

I kind of like goat tracks. Some old run down place that costs $17 to walk and run by the same folks for a hundred years. Hard as a rock in summer and a bog in the rainy season.

 

 

 

This sounds like the course I grew up learning to play on. Even know I can't resist the urge to play these little GOAT tracks. A few have been some of my most enjoyable rounds.

[snoilr1]

I love playing old courses that have a double wide for a clubhouse, or where the course owner lives on the course. Those places usually have the most interesting people.

 

However, when i lived in Scranton, PA in the mid 90s for a year a buddy and I decided to play a new 9 hole course that was $9 walking. On a Saturday, the fairways looked like they were cut to 1" with a homeowner quality lawn mower several days earlier. There were dandelions, flowering clovers, and lots of bees in the fairways. The greens and tees appeared to be the same grass as the rest of the course, only cut at typical muny fairway length... Also several days earlier. It was like temporary greens mowed in a fairway in front of the real green during a repair. I think a farmer literally decided to turn his property into a golf course, just mowed the grass with equipment he already had and put up signs and markers at the tees and cups and flags at the greens.

 

Hole number 5 finished near the clubhouse and we just kept walking to the car.