inspiration: your view of the course & the river, clean, modern, class, timelessness... developed to work well in one color as any classic brand should...
The image is a little too busy. Too difficult to tell exactly what I"m looking at. It's not completely necessary to include a golf related item in the logo. You have what looks like a golf hole in the foreground, but maybe cut that out entirely and create a more clean image of nature. Also not crazy about the total reliance on green - This is not going to stand out, and looks too standard. I do like the one with the border better (#2)
revised... more simple, focused... river bend, oak tree... regarding color: I'll ensure it works well in one color for watermarks, etc... you can suggest what colors you might like to see... I personally like the blue/black for this logomark - emphasizes the river which is what is unique to your club... thanks again for your time/direction...
Now we're getting somewhere! You definitely created something in line with what I'm looking for with that one (#4). I'm not sure how to guide you from here to improve on it. Maybe just try different colors, but I do like the blue. Like you said, it highlights the river, and it's a unique/unexpected shade of blue that will make it a recognizable and memorable logo.
I was checking out the logo for Kapalua golf course, and it's a very recognizable shape, a butterfly. It looks great stamped on anything from a golf bag to a visor to a sticker on the back window of your car, and people know what that butterfly means, even without the word Kapalua under it.
Also, think of the South Carolina flag - the palm tree with the moon. I see it all the time on the rear window of cars, and I know what it means. That's what I want to be able to do with this logo. I'm picturing that oak in #4 with a curving blue streak wrapping around it. I don't know, just trying to work towards the simplicity of the Nike swoosh.
Check out this aerial of our course, this is where the photo South5_A2010 was taken. Do you see a Nike swoosh in there somewhere? Curving finger of land with river grasses on it surrounded by a river...zoom out to see more of the river and surrounding environment:
My one issue with #4 is that the oak you created looks just like the famous oak in the middle of the first hole on our north course (see Thunderbirdhills.com) and the river scene is on the south course. So your logo is kind of a specific view of the river, but that oak isn't actually there. Maybe you could explain it by saying it's a symbolic combination of two key features of our courses, so it's not a deal breaker, but it could be confusing to our customers. They'd say, I understand the river image, but why did you put the north course oak tree down there?
One more comment, here is where you can find the best photos of our courses and great shots of the river: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/pages/Huron-OH/Thunderbird-Hills/124619467551286?ref=ts
A couple more here... just going for something that captures the river, scenery, and simplicity your looking for... replaced the oak with something closer to my original entries... as you can probably tell, its basically a simplistic/symbolic version of the original image uploaded... thanks again...
Also, I'm concerned that there will be some things I'll want to put this logo on that would really clash with the blue. Can you provide the logo with one or two other options for the river color - maybe even outside of the blue family?
variation - added a bit more visual appeal to the river portion of the logomark... Also helps differentiate the banks/trees from the water when broken down to one color...
another variation to the river here... then I'll show how the 3 variations of the water element break down to a one color logo... I think they all break down well which in turn would make embroideries, watermarks, engravings, etc hold the same visual appeal as the full color option...
I agree, #59 is my favorite. One change - let's go with "THUNDERBIRD HILLS GOLF CLUB" instead of "THUNDERBIRD HILLS GOLF COURSE" We didn't like the look without that second row of text. Nice work!