Home
Stretch—England and Wales June 12-19
Eight rounds on eight courses planned. I landed at Gatwick airport south of London
the night of June 11 and plan was to play West Sussex )also S of London) the
morning of 6/12, then drive about 3 hours to pick up me wifey in The Cotswolds
that afternoon, and we would proceed to Royal Porthcawl (about 25 miles west of
Cardiff Wales) to play it 6/13, then drive down to Devon and Cornwall to play
St. Enodoc 6/14 and Saunton-East 6/15.
We would then drive to London on 6/16 (no golf that day!!), and spend
6/17-19 playing some of the great courses of and near Surrey. That is the plan.
West Sussex June 12
Arrived at West Sussex at 7:30am for an early game arranged
by the Club Secretary, Andy Stubbs. Our
friend Steve Smith (Toronto and Pinehurst) is a member from his days working in
London and is to be playing that day, but not till the afternoon, so we could
not play together. Andy had arranged for
me to paly with an Ass’t Pro, Joe Queen, who just started at the club this
spring. Very nice young man with a good
game.
Another great one and makes the “hidden gen” list. Completed around 1930, this heathland course
is currently rated #54 on Planet Golf.
Never been on any of the other prominent World 100’s. Perhaps it is its par of 68…but what does
that matter? Yes its longest hole is #1
at 488 yards, but the is really a superb heathland track. And while it is only about 6400 yards from
the tips, that is with a par of 68…so do the math, not so short and you will play
a lot of testing par fours here (unless your last name is McElroy).
Designed by Cmdr. G W Hillyard, Sir Guy Campbell, and Major
C K Hutchinson (the latter two having designed Woodhall Spa and worked on some
revisions to North Berwick…two fabulous sets of links).
Best holes are:
#5—158 yard
par 3 with green sitting with bunkers short and left and sharp run offs in
back…gorgeous setting, and green with subtle breaks
#6---downhill
225 yard par 3 over march and to geen with major back to front slope, protected
on the right side by two large bunkers
#7---440 yd
par 4…tee shot is visually stunning as fairway is raised about 20’ above tee
level and runs flat to green from there and creating blind tee shot with major
trouble left (lots of heather and rough as I can testify). Green slopes L to R.
#13—378 yd
par 4, gently uphill, with heather all along the right side and a large fairway
bunker menacing the left. Green is
raised, slopes back to front, narrow, and protected in front and to the right
by two large deep bunkers. Visually
stunning hole in totally natural setting.
Course has no weak holes, and is one I could play every day
without getting bored. Wonderful sand
based soil and perhaps the best collection of heather I saw on the trip (except
when I was in it...then not so pretty). Had
my lowest round so far on the trip (78) and really started to feel good about
how I was hitting the ball.
After the round, the drive to The Cotswolds was long but
happily uneventful. As always, so
special to see Wifey. She looked great
and had a wonderful time on her garden tours.
Hit some traffic getting to Porthcawl, giving us a chance to catch up on
each other’s adventures. Made it there
by around 6pm and had a nice dinner at the hotel.
Royal Porthcawl…RAIN…June
13
I had played Royal Porthcawl in July 1981. Then last fall I was asked to coordinate an
interclub match between Brookline and RPGC’s Erratics Golf Society (no, that is
spelled correctly, there are two r’s and it is an “a” not an “o”). I realized that while I recalled it to be a
great track, I could not remember many details (after all, those were my
drinking days). So when I started
planning this trip, I made sure to include a stop at RPGC.
Club founded in 1891 and moved to its present site 4 years
later. Revised by Harry Colt in 1913,
then by Hawtree and Taylor in 1925 and Tom Simpson in 1933. Excellent blood lines. Ratings-wise, Golf Digest had it as #44 in
the world in their initial list last year, the latest GM World list has it as
#95, it is #67 on Planet Golf, was #73 on Links Mag’s last listing, and is #86 top100golfcourses.co.uk…net
net a solid Top 100…and a course the Seniors simply raved about at last year’s
Senior Open (which is returning there in ’17…in fact there have been rumors
that the R&A is evaluating RPGC for a possible slot in the Open Rota).
It was overcast when we awoke, but it had started raining by
breakfast time…and it was cold and windy.
By the time we arrived, it was pretty nasty. We had coffee with the two members we were
scheduled to play with Huw Evans (the current RPGC Captain) and Margret (missed
her last name) who is a former Ladies Captain.
Both are fun wonderful people. It
was clear that no one was enthusiastic about going out in the weather (which
was forecast to get worse)…and I was ambivalent at best, so we passed.
The drive down to Cornwall in SW England was long and
arduous, with the last 20 miles through dense fog…so in retrospect, the
decision was a good one. Past sunset
those last 20 miles would have been pretty tough to say the least…and frankly,
this old body did not mind the rest.
St. Enodoc (Church)
June 14
After a very nice dinner, sleeping late on Sunday was most
welcome (we were scheduled to play around 3pm).
After breakfast, we drove around this beautiful area (which is a popular
summer resort in the UK) and Pat wanted to go visit Port Issac…the center of
which was down a very steep hill from where we had to park with a vertical drop
of probably 300’. You know the old
expression “whatever walks down must walk up”?
Well, during that morning stroll I thought about how the afternoon round
would feel.
We got back to the club and had a nice lunch there, meeting
the current captain, and teed off around 2pm.
Suffice it to say that this is
certainly another hidden gem. The club
was founded in 1890 and the course, designed by James Braid was completed in
1907. Over the following 80 years,
improvements were made (including construction of the 9 hole Holywell course)
but the club’s real breakthrough came in 1987 when it purchased the land it had
been leasing for almost 100 years. This
changed the perspective of the members and led to a series of major
improvements, including a renovation of the Church course led by Peter McEvoy
in 2003 and continuing on since then. St
Enodoc was ranked #99 in Golf Digest’s 2014 World 100, is at #90 in Darius
Oliver’s Planet Golf listing, and #93 in
Links Magazine’s final World 100.
The land here is fabulous, sitting high over a beautiful
estuary…it rolls and heaves in very direction.
As expected, it is very very hilly but given the land and the views, was
a joy to walk. So many great holes,
including #3, 4, 6, 8, 9, and 16-18.
There are a number of blind tee shots and several blind approaches, but
the only hole I might question is #10, which seems cramped by a huge dune right
and a creek and woods left (but plays more open than it looks). It is a brutal par 4, and looks even tougher
off the tee.
Given the wild wild land, very hilly terrain, and quantity
of blind shots, in some way it reminded me of Cruden Bay. But net net, it is fair, challenging, and
just a ton of fun. Tier One hidden gem
for sure.
After the round, met Simon Pain, a member of the club who is
involved with getting this hidden gen to become more visible to the golf
world. Turns out Simon also has a home
in Pinehurst so we look forward to seeing him there this fall.
We left the club at 8:30 and took a water taxi across the
estuary to the town of Padstrow, to enjoy a fabulous meal at Rick Stein’s
Michelin rated Seafood restaurant. After
dinner, almost got lost looking for the return water taxi, but made it back
safely and tired, but we were both so happy about a wonderfully special day.
Saunton-East June 15
After an early breakfast, it was time to “hit the road
again” for a 90 minute drive up the coast with good weather. It was interesting to see what we could not
see two days before in the fog.
Golf was first played at Saunton in 1897, and the present
East course was designed by Herb Fowler (who also designed both courses at
Berkshire and Walton Heath) and completed in 1919. It is a pure golf course…fair but tough, very
few tricks, and superb. Surrounded by
large hills, with the Atlantic Ocean to the west, it is on a beautiful piece of
land that, while lacking the drama of St. Enodoc, is a wonderful test. Sergio Garcia made his first breakthrough by
winning the British Boys Championship there during the club’s centennial year
and celebration in 1997. It was rated
#82 in the world on the Golf Architects survey.
We had the pleasure of playing with the club’s chairman,
Paul Vicary and his wife Sue, who are simply delightful folks and very good
players. We would love to see them
either at Brookline or CCNC in the future.
The course has as tough a start as one can find, and
finished the same way, with #16 being its great signature hole. A 434 yard dogleg left, downhill off the tee
and then uphill on the approach, the green banks severely left to right off of
a large dune that blocks any view of the green from the left half of the
fairway…making the hole play much longer.
This is a first class track and did not treat my game with very much
respect. Think I was tired from walking
hilly St. Enodoc the previous day.
On Wednesday June 16 we made the 4 hour drive from Saunton
to London, where we were staying at The Sloane Club, in Sloane Sq. (also stayed
here in May 2013). Luckily, we beat the
rush hour traffic coming into London.
Berkshire Club June
17
On this day, Pat was off to museums and Buckingham Palace
while I had to battle with The Bershire Club in Surrey, a beautiful 36 hole
facility (Red and Blue courses) with both designed by Herb Fowler (designer of
Saunton East). Berkshire opened in
1928. The Blue is rate #87 by the Golf
Architects survey, and the Red #86 by Planet Golf. The Red has an unusual hole configuration (6
par 3’s , 6 par 4’s and 6 par 5’s), while the Blue is more conventional. I took a caddy out at 8:15 on the Red and
started off with 7 straight pars followed by a double bogey on 8, and a par on
9, for a 2 over 38. Cooled off a little
to a 40 on the back for a 6 over 78.
Only weakness of course is its par 5’s, of which 4 are less than 500
yards. Plenty of room to extend many of
the tees here, but the club (one of the best in the London area) wishes to keep
its “feel” as a member club.
Went right back out again to play the Blue which is very
similar in feel. After a slow start,
ended up with a 76…best round of the trip.
Both are classic heathlands courses covered with beautiful heather. Both have a “big” feel to them, or perhaps
majestic is the better word.
Was good to get the last double-header behind me (six on the
trip), norw just two courses left…Woking and St. George’s Hill.
Woking GC June 18
The home club of Bernard Darwin, perhaps the greatest golf
writer ever, and grandson of Charles Darwin, this is what appears to be a very
simple course while standing outside its clubhouse. However, it gets more interesting and complex
fairly quickly. More so than any other
course I can remember, this one really grows on you as the round
progresses. Totaling 6600 yards, it
starts with what appears to be a benign short par 4 (277 yards), flat for most
of its length and then downhill to the green.
With the slope just short of the green being downhill and a very very
firm green sloping from front to back, it quickly became less benign as my well
struck wedge went bounding through the green and 20 yards down an
embankment. Also known as an early
wake-up call. The second is a 221yard
par 3 to a green perched on top of a rise, with a false front. And then #3 is 420 yards, dog leg right downhill off the tee and then
up to a raised green with a deep bunker protecting the front of a highly
contoured green. You are now fully
awake, and I was 3 over wondering if a par was to be available today. With the exception of two holes, played well
the rest of the way and had an 81. Loved
#9 which is a 470 yard par 4, dogleg left, flat off the tee and then sharply
uphill…reminding me very much of Tillinghast’s infamous 15th at
Bethpage Black. Playing it from 420
tees, hit two career shots (for a 70 year old), just short and then got up and
down. Paid for that with a lost ball
double bogey on par 3 #10…with everything sloping right to left and a hat field
to the left of the green (which still holds my Titleist 3). Holes 11-14 wind through some beautiful
heather.
Course was in fabulous shape with very firm and fast
conditions, especially on the greens.
Built in 1893 by Thomas Dunn it is a wonderful old traditional club,
without the fame of some of the other great courses near London. Ranked #100 by the Architects Survey. While I would not put it in a World 100…it is
an excellent course.
St. George’s Hill GC
June 19
Well scheduled trip that obeyed the dictate “save the best
for last”. Well, if not the best, this one is pretty damn close. Designed by Harry Colt and opened for play in
1913, the complex was originally designed to include houses, and today a series
of simply magnificent homes and estates line the golf courses. It was originally 36 holes, and now is 27,
with an 18 holer (Red and Blue) and the nine hole Green. The terrain here is what makes it so
different than most of the great heathland courses outside of London…it is very
hilly and the course is brilliantly designed to take full advantage of the
terrain. And trust me, the homes do not impinge
on play one iota.
This was another beautiful day and the course is simple
wonderful and gorgeous. There are no
average holes here…they are very good or better. IMO, the great ones start at #4…a downhill 272 par 4 protected by three large
bunkers in front which often result in a long bunker shot…perhaps golf’s
hardest; brilliantly designed and it ate my lunch. #5 is an uphill par four of 388 yards, with
perfectly placed bunkers along the left and right sides of the fairway and a
very large cross bunker about 320 yards from the back tee…which looks very
menacing if you miss the fairway off the tee.
#8 is a 179 yard par 3, slightly downhill to a large round green that is
effectively very very small due to its very false front, sides and back. This upside down bowl is also protected by
three very very deep bunkers in front, which are feed regularly by said very false
front.
The back nine is even better than the front and I started it
with birdies on 10 and 11, and a 15 footer for a birdie (missed) on 12. Then I lost my concentration but loved the
rest of the way in. This course contains
18 different golf holes that blend together into an incredible layout which
flows like few others I have ever seen.
It is #77 on Golf Digest’s initial top 100, #23 on Planet Golf, #58 on
Links, #89 on the architects survey, and #96 on top100golfcourses.co.uk, many
of these seem way too low for me, not to mention that it has never made the
Golf Magazine Top 100. Certainly another
hidden gem…a brilliant one and a wonderful way to conclude this adventure.
Summary
Through June 19, 23 days of traveling and golf, including
two days without playing (one planned for the Saunton to London trek, the other
the Royal Porthcawl rain out), and 6 double-headers (May 29 & 31, June 3,
5, 6, and 17) with June 6 being 45 holes.
So 27.5 rounds on a like number of courses in those 23 days. I certainly was tired some days (often the
day after a grueling walk), but had no problem handing it.
Met a wonderful new group of friends, including two part
time residents of Pinehurst, and best of all, had the opportunity to enjoy five
of the great English tracks with my loving and so lovable bride. She is the best.
Of the 27.5 courses, 24.5 were first timers for me, and I
saw a whole bunch of special ones, even among these “lesser known”
courses. Have heard many times about the
incredible depth of great tracks in GB&I, including courses unknown except
to the true affectionato’s…but it takes a trip such as this one to drive that
point home.
So, you are certainly asking yourselves…where does he stand
on his bucket lists…well here is the update:
--6 more courses (4 in Asia, 2 in Australia) to be the
second person to play all of the Golf Magazine World 100 lists (“GM World 100
Ever”) which totals 190 courses.
--6 more (all in Asia)
to finish Golf Digest 2014 World Top 100 (their first world list)
--4 more to complete Darius Oliver’s latest Planet Golf Top
100
--0 more to finish the final Links Magazine World 100...this
one is done!!
--1 more to finish the Golf Course Architects Survey Top 100
--3 more to finish the Top100Golf website listings published
in ’14, ’12, ’11, ’09, ’08, and ‘06
--3 more to finish the first two editions of Rolex’s Top
1000 (courses with scores of 100 or 95…87 courses in Edition II and 88 in
Edition I
--in total, there are 261 courses that have been on one or
more of these listings, and at the start of this trip I had played 219, one no
longer exists, and I needed 19 (15 in Asia/Australia/NZ) to complete this
bucket list.
Therefore, you can guess my next trip plans.
Best/greatest courses on the trip:
1. Lahinch
2. St.
George’s Hill
3. Royal
Aberdeen
Hidden Gems:
1. St.
George’s Hill
2. Silloth
on Solway
3. St.
Enodoc
4. Royal
Hague
5. Island
Club
6. West
Sussex
7. Rosses
Point
Thank you as always for reading. Hope your insomnia is cured!!
No comments:
Post a Comment