Q&A with Brad Faxon

If a group of guys were looking for one spot, you'd say Northern Ireland?
That's a great spot. I love going to play great golf courses. I'm a big fan. I think there're a lot of places you can go in the U.K. You never run out of places to go. All over Ireland and Scotland. And there are a lot of course you've never heard of. But I also think you can do that in the United States. Obviously Pebble Beach would be everybody's first choice, but the Bandon Dunes trip now, going up to Whistling Straits in Kohler -- those courses are great. The places, that's what makes it. I think Pine Valley has a great membership, but they also have a great golf course, a great history and it's a great place to go and hang out. The practice facilities are fantastic and the course is always tough.

How man times have you been to Bandon Dunes?
Never. I have to do that. I'd love to go there. I'd love to go to Sand Hills and the Colorado Golf Club. I'd love to go to Bandon Dunes. I've been to most places in the U.S. but those are on my bucket list. Absolutely.

Where would you tell a group of four guys to go on a golf trip, taking into consideration value, restaurants and lodging?
No question: Monterrey Peninsula. It really helps if you know someone. Especially if they can help get you on Cypress Point.

So Pebble over Pinehurst and Bandon Dunes?
I always put Pebble first.

One course for the rest of your life?
Pine Valley.

How do you rank courses?
I ask, "Would I want to take a group of guys there?" That wouldn't include just the golf, there would have to be a few other elements. Is there a good restaurant? Is there a good place to stay? I've played 67 of your America's 100 Greatest.

And that's not the public list, right?
No. Because Pine Valley's on the list. The only one in the top 20 that I haven't played, and I guess that's subject to change, but it's Wade Hampton, which is Fazio's course in North Carolina. I've heard it's great. I haven't played Garden City or Somerset Hills. I haven't played Deepdale. I've played most of the courses out in the Hamptons. I haven't played Crenshaw's new course -- Friar's Head. But I've heard that's unbelievable.

You have played Sebonack?
I've played Sebonack. I thought it was great.

Did you get a windy day?
We had a nice day. It was a little breezy. Those greens are really fast, and almost too hard for the average guy. But I thought it was spectacular.

Are you into architecture?
Oh yeah.

Do you have a favorite old architect?
It's hard to say. It's hard to not love Mackenzie, Tillinghast and I grew up on Ross courses. Ross was all over Rhode Island. It was kind of hard to tell what really was a Ross course and what wasn't. How about Seth Raynor -- think about all the people who've gone to Pine Valley. Mackenzie courses have a fantastic look to them, but they have such great pieces of ground, too.

Isn't that what it's all about?
It is. It's hard to make courses in Florida look unbelievable. I like funky stuff. I like C.B. Macdonald. I don't mind blind shots. I don't mind weird bounces. It doesn't have to be right in front of me. I like deception and undulation.

Is there a modern architect doing recognizable work?
There are. Core and Crenshaw, Tom Doak, and I've done a little work with Gil Hanse and I think he's very talented. Those would be the best. It seems like everybody's going that way. Nicklaus did some work with Doak at Sebonack and I think he has learned a little bit from working there. I've seen Fazio going back to more natural look instead of blowing everything up. This guy, Keith Foster, he redid a course I'm a member at on the Cape called Eastward Ho. It's fantastic. Then there's David McLay Kidd.

Do you want to get into more course design?
I do have interest. I have a partner, Brad Booth, he and I have done a course outside the Cape called the Bay Club, which has been a very nice course. We were under construction in two different places, one in Maine and one in New Hampshire, when the economy died. So the projects are on hold but we were busy.

An architect to build you a course?
Gil Hanse. And I'd just stay by his side and watch and listen. I was really involved at the Boston Golf Club. The guys who developed it asked me to come on early and I spent a lot of time there. My partner and I, Brad Booth, we kind of got put together my a mutual friend, and we did our first course. It has turned out very nice, but it's not old style architecture. I think we're both seeing we could do a lot of things differently but, at the same time, a lot of people who play our course go, "We loved playing here. It was so nice." Not every course has to be Shinnecock Hills. And a lot of people don't like funkiness. Where I grew up, in the Northeast, there's a lot of history, a lot of old golf courses, a lot of Ross courses, you played the elements all the time, and you play a lot of holes with blind shots, you had a three or four foot putt and you played it outside the hole. I learned a lot of great short-game stuff up there.