Great Britain, Ireland, France, and Sweden May 16-28, 2016 (Part V)
Drive to London took longer than
expected as last 10 miles were in town.
Time will tell how many “low emission tickets” I get in the mail over the
next 90 days! My schedule for Thursday
and Friday May 26 and 27 was very very busy.
On 5/27, I played Addington GC which is within London and south of town;
then I played Liphook GC which is southwest of London about 20 miles past the
great Surrey collection of courses. I
had to drive to Heathrow Thursday afternoon to catch a flight to
Copenhagen.
Addington and Liphook are both
on the MacWood spoof list, and after playing these two I had only Manoir
Richelieu (95 miles east of Quebec City) left to play to complete the MacWood
list. I stayed at the hotel at the
Copenhagen airport Thursday night, then headed east into Sweden and then north
to play two former Solheim Cup courses.
Playing these two Swedish tracks completed all of the overseas “Cup Ever”
courses. I then stay again at the
Copenhagen airport Friday night and on Saturday morning flew to Dublin and met
Pat there (she had been traveling with Sharon Lawson…Sharon and her husband
Carnie are close friends from Pinehurst), and then we flew back to Boston Saturday
afternoon. And no, I did not play golf Sunday May 29!
Addington GC, May 26, 2016: It seemed very strange to be at a course
inside London. Until I studied the
MacWood list and planned out how to complete it, I had never heard of Addington. Addington was designed by J. F. Abercromby and
opened around 1914. About 10 years later
Abercromby built a second 18 (“New”) that many considered even better than the
Old. However, during WWII New was for
military purposes and toward the end of that war, it was purchased (under the
English version of eminent domain) for housing and no longer exists. Frankly, who knows if the Addington listed on
MacWood’s spoof list was the Old or the New?
In either case, I have completed what still remains of the list since I
have now played the Old and the New no longer exists!
The course is only 6300 yards
(par 69) from the tips and I played from those tees. The first hole here is an uphill par 3 of 155
yards. The pin was way up front so I hit
a five iron to the front edge and sunk the putt for a birdie…and then proceeded
to par the par 5 second and par 3 third…one under through 3!! Thought I might get something going but then
my semi-ugly twin showed up on a few of the other holes. Finished the front with a 3 over 37, and then
played well from 10-13 (four pars).
Reality then reappeared mixed in with a couple of more pars and I played
finished the back nine with a four over 39 for a 76.
The course has “great bones” but
its “skin” has suffered mightily of late.
While the land is reputed to be among the best of England’s heathland,
years of neglect are quite evident. The
most striking and memorable aspects of the course are the numerous ravines the
dictate play on so may holes, and the rickety old wooden bridges (most of which
probably date from 1914) used to cross the ravines.
I think the best and most
interesting holes are:
#6—375
par 4, downhill off tee and then the approach shot must skirt a ravine (with a
rickety old bridge over it) short and right;
#7—150
yard par three (over another ravine and with another rickety old bridge) to a
very narrow but deep green (shaped a little like Myopia Hunt’s #9, but not as extreme);
#12—485
par 5 acclaimed in some literature, but very strange…fairway stops at about 250
yards then drops down to a shallow shelf about 8-10 yards deep…then falls off
again into a deep ravine before rising up to the green (this ravine is akin to
the moon);
#13---230
yard par 3with a long carry to the green front; often compared to #5 at Pine
Valley but me thinks this comparison is overdone (but will note that I got my
par here);
#17—195
yard par 3 over another deep ravine and crossed by another rickety old bridge.
In summary a very unusual
course. Needs to remove thousands of
trees, but I somehow suspect a major tree removal program (which would be
required to promote healthy turf) would not be warmly received in this part of
England.
Liphook Golf Club, May 26,
2016: After a quick thank you and goodbye, it was back in my car and off to
the southwest and Liphook Golf Club.
Liphook plays to just about exactly Addington’s yardage but to a par 70
rather than Addington’s 69. The club was
founded in 1922 and had 18 holes completed by the following year. Originally designed by Arthur Croome, it was
to be Croome’s only course. Later, Tom
Simpson, a business partner of Croome’s made significant modifications to the
course…and it should be noted that their firm was named Fowler, Abercromby,
Simpson, and Croome. Is the same
Abercromby who designed Addington? Who
knows?…I have seen it spelled Abercrombie and Abercromby.
It is a stunningly beautiful
course and has been working over the past decade to bring out its beauty and
improve the features of the course. I
played with John D., a member of the Board who had worked for P&G in
Cincinnati and Europe and is now retired.
Like Addington, Liphook also starts with a par 3 but this one is a stout
202 yards and is a beautiful hole with a tough green to hold (slopes left to
right). Both John and I managed to par
it but my game went downhill from there (observant followers of this blog will
note the lack or quantification of my game that afternoon).
I thought the best stretches of
holes were 7-10, and 12-16. #7 is a
short 149 yards slightly downhill par 3 to a green that is difficult to
hold…two tiered and narrow in front.
When you stand on the 7th tee, the view goes past 7 to the 8th
which follows the same direction…reminding me of two par 4’s at Swinley Forest
that offer a similar view. Additionally,
the 13th tee is just to the left of #7 and the view highlights #13
as well. #8 is an excellent mostly
uphill par 4. #12 is a brute of a par
4, 440 yards and uphill to the green.
#15 is a short (357 yards) but very tough par 4 that goes uphill from
the tee and has a very very deep bunker (I can testify to that fact) at the
corner of the dogleg right…this is a spot to be avoided! Finally #16 is a very downhill dogleg left
par 4 of 371 yards whose fairway narrows considerably about 230 yards off the
tee, and whose green is very tough to hold.
Sum and substance…a course one
could play every day and always enjoy it.
Tough greens, firm fast conditions, and great character. A good choice for MacWood’s list even if not
well known.
After finishing the round, had a
quick chat with both John and the Club’s Secretary John Douglass), I headed to
Heathrow for my flight to Copenhagen (8:30pm departure). When I hit the M25 (the Ring Road around
London), I hit some big time delays. As
I watched the clock tick down and the ETA get extended on GPS, I sorted out
another route. But then, when I arrived
at Heathrow, I saw there are separate car rental locations for each company…and
there were no signs for Europcar!!
Finally found someone who directed me the correct way but pulled into
their car return station at 7:37, all of 53 minutes before my departure
time!! Seemed like no way. I rushed into the office and shouted, “you
guys are well hidden and I have a flight in 53 minutes”…and out came a guy from
behind the counter who said “give me your keys”. The following 7-minute drive to my terminal
was like driving with Jack Bauer!! Pat
would have gone nuts. We got to the
terminal at 7:45…and tipped the Europcar driver, rushed to SAS and jumping into their “priority”
area. The woman there asked if I was
business class or priority and I said “no but my flight leaves in 45
minutes”. She checked me in within about
90 seconds. Fortunately, because it was
late in the evening security was quick, and I arrived at the gate by 8:08,
boarding with time to spare. If I wasn’t
tired yet, I certainly was now.
All I can say about my choice of
a hotel right at the Copenhagen airport is that I was most pleased with that
choice. Quick walk to the hotel (rental
car scheduled for pickup in morning) and I needed my sleep!! Last day of golf for the trip coming
tomorrow…36 holes in Sweden.
Barseback G &CC-Masters
Course, May 27, 2016: After picking
up my car, I headed east over the beautiful bridge/tunnel connecting Denmark to
Sweden. I had made a similar trip in
June 2015 to play Falsterbo (and then flew north to Stockholm to play Bro Hof
Slott). This time, instead of turning
south to go to Falsterbo, I turned north heading toward Barseback G&CC,
which had hosted the 2003 Solheim Cup, a choice pointing to the importance of Annika
Sorenstam to the Ladies tours.
At Barseback I was met by Johan
Lindeberg, a Swedish golf journalist who is a friend of a friend of a
friend. Johan is about my age and has
been playing golf for 58 years. He
played both rounds with hickories, which was my first time playing a full round
with someone using them. I was astounded
how far he could it the ball (and how well) with them.
The Masters Course was designed
for the 2003 Solheim Cup and totals almost 7300 yards. It is part of a large resort and conference
center with 45 holes of golf and the Masters Course has three main
sections. Holes 1-7 are in fairly open
areas; holes 8-11 are near the water and very exposed to the wind, and holes
12-18 are in a heavily wooded area. The
best holes are #8 and #11. At the 8th
tee, we were joined by Henrik Stenson’s father, Ingemar, who played 8-18 with
us. Very nice guy and fun to be
with.
Thoughts on the course? To be fair, I was very tired that morning,
and anxious to see Pat and get home. But
even accounting for that, the course is not one that I would want to play on a
regular basis…it rarely offers the golfer options and rarely presents
captivating risk/reward situations. Good
course?, maybe. Anything better?, no!
After the round we headed north
to Halmstad, stopping at Johan’s house to switch cars (I wanted to minimize the
amount of driving I needed to do…and also wanted to maximize available time for
napping on the way to and from Halmstad.
Halmstad Golf Club-North
Course, May 27, 2016: Halmstad was
hosting a BMW corporate event that day so our tee off time was to be around 4pm
and we were assured that we would be able to play the course with no one in
front of us. We played with Michael Brostrom,
a young journalist friend of Johan’s who is a member of Halmstad and a very
good player (and very long hitter).
Halmstad hosted the 2007 Solheim Cup (Annika’s importance again). From the back it is about 7050 yards and is
located in a very heavily wooded area with almost all of the holes separated
from other holes by the dense trees. We
zipped around quickly for the first six holes but then hit a wall and it was
excruciatingly slow from then on (members had started at various holes after
the shotgun event concluded). But at
this point, being so close to finishing all courses outside of North America
that I had on any conceivable bucket list, I wanted to finish. Actually playing much better than in the
morning.
While this is not my type of
course, I liked it more than Barseback, and Michael is a nice guy (Johan is as
well). We finished about 25 minutes
before sunset, and Johan and I headed south, first to his house (to retrieve my
car) and them me solo to the Copenhagen airport, where I arrived at about
10:45pm…a very tired puppy.
The next morning, I flew to
Dublin and waited for Pat and Sharon’s flight to arrive from London. Was wonderful to see her and then get home,
even with the cold that I had caught the week before!
************************************************************************
So that ended the trip. Of course, I owe you the story of my suitcase
shipment using DHL. That will be in
another post.
I am writing this on June 29,
2016 (only 4 weeks in arrears). My two
previous days have been spent at Brae Burn CC in West Newton, MA and Skokie CC
in Glencoe, IL, hosts of the 1919 and 1922 US Open’s respectively…completing my
US open Venue Bucket List covering all venues through history, as well as all announced
venues for future US Opens. So now, only
Cabot Cliffs remains for me to complete my three primary Bucket Lists!!
I am scheduled to play Cabot
Cliffs on July 8 and will bring you up to date with my golfing activities over
the past 30 days before that time.
