# The Weirdest Name for a Golf Course I've Ever Heard Of. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 2, 2007, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-weirdest-name-for-a-golf-course-ive-ever-heard-of/398361 "2007-04-02T01:01:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Tikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5daacb/32.png) [@Tikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tikki)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2007, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-weirdest-name-for-a-golf-course-ive-ever-heard-of/398361/1 "2007-04-02T01:01:00Z")
Golf Course _and_ housing development, actually. I just came upon a [Craig’s List](http://seattle.craigslist.org/tac/apa/304170662.html) ad for a house for rent at Lipoma Firs. Wait a minute, said I, isn’t a lipoma some kind of odd growth people sometimes get? A quick check with Google showed that I was right. It’s a benign tumor made of fatty tissue. Left untreated, they can get quite big. Another check shows that there really is such a place and that it wasn’t just a typo. I have yet to find a reference to a fir or any other kind of tree called a lipoma, so what were the developers thinking when they came up with this name? Could it mean something beautiful or exotic in another language or did someone just not check their dictionary before finalizing the deal? Are there any weird developer-named places in your area? ---
**Author:** ![kittenblue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ba8739/32.png) [@kittenblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kittenblue)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2007, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-weirdest-name-for-a-golf-course-ive-ever-heard-of/398361/2 "2007-04-02T13:02:47Z")
Apparently the name of the developer is [Sam Lipoma](http://www.housingzone.com/probuilder/articleXml/LN571892500.html) You have to scroll down to the last six paragraphs. Still, with a name like that you’d think that you could do something else for posterity than name a golf course after yourself. Like maybe endow the Lipoma Center at a hospital. My ex-husband had a lipoma removed, and I just wouldn’t want that image to keep popping before my eyes whenever I wrote out my address. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2007, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-weirdest-name-for-a-golf-course-ive-ever-heard-of/398361/3 "2007-04-02T22:34:17Z")
Just north of Indianapolis (Zionsville, I think,) is Purgatory Golf Course. Golfers say it’s pretty tough. ---
**Author:** ![hermann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b487fb/32.png) [@hermann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hermann)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2007, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-weirdest-name-for-a-golf-course-ive-ever-heard-of/398361/4 "2007-04-03T00:01:37Z")
[QUOTE=kittenblue] Apparently the name of the developer is [Sam Lipoma](http://www.housingzone.com/probuilder/articleXml/LN571892500.html) You have to scroll down to the last six paragraphs. Still, with a name like that you’d think that you could do something else for posterity than name a golf course after yourself. Like maybe endow the Lipoma Center at a hospital. My ex-husband had a lipoma removed, and I just wouldn’t want that image to keep popping before my eyes whenever I wrote out my address. [/QUOTE] He did name it something else. The article at your link says this: > [@](#): > > The 27-hole Lapoma Firs Golf Course in Puyallup likely will go to housing developers sometime in the next decade. > > Sam Lipoma, who declined to be interviewed for this story I don’y know if the srory has a typo in it or if Mr. Lipona was smart enough to change one letter from his name. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2007, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-weirdest-name-for-a-golf-course-ive-ever-heard-of/398361/5 "2007-04-03T00:15:10Z")
Consider Lipoma Firs is right next to a former garbage dump, the naming may not be all that misleading. I played a round of golf there about 20 years ago and it was literally a cow pasture with some greens and the odor of the then still operating dump made for a less than pleasant day. Besides the old dump, it is also located at the end of an airport runway (Thun Field) and there is a shooting range across the street. ---
**Author:** ![Governor\_Quinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@Governor\_Quinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Governor_Quinn)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2007, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-weirdest-name-for-a-golf-course-ive-ever-heard-of/398361/6 "2007-04-03T02:13:18Z")
I like the fact that not only would they name a golf course Myopia Hunt Club, but that four of the first fourteen US Opens were held there. ---
**Author:** ![Tikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5daacb/32.png) [@Tikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tikki)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2007, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-weirdest-name-for-a-golf-course-ive-ever-heard-of/398361/7 "2007-04-03T02:14:28Z")
Myopia Hunt Club. _snerk_ Boy, it never occurred to me that it could be someone’s last name. I guess I should have delved deeper into the articles when I was googling. I wonder if some distant medical-minded relative discovered what lipomas are and managed to get them named after him? I also wonder if Sam ever got called Lumpy at school? Anyway, thanks for solving the mystery, **kittenblue.** You paint a pretty picture of the place, **racer72.** I imagine that it’s come a long way since its humble beginnings, dump and all. As for golf courses and airports, have you ever played at Tyee Valley? It’s right at the south end of Sea-Tac’s runways. “Sorry for that bump on the noggin, old chum. I yelled ‘fore!’ but that 777 must have drowned me out.” ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2007, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-weirdest-name-for-a-golf-course-ive-ever-heard-of/398361/8 "2007-04-03T11:40:59Z")
[QUOTE=Tikki] Myopia Hunt Club. _snerk_ You paint a pretty picture of the place, **racer72.** I imagine that it’s come a long way since its humble beginnings, dump and all. As for golf courses and airports, have you ever played at Tyee Valley? It’s right at the south end of Sea-Tac’s runways. “Sorry for that bump on the noggin, old chum. I yelled ‘fore!’ but that 777 must have drowned me out.” [/QUOTE] Yep, played there a number of times. We hope airplanes are landing from the south, the noise isn’t near as bad.