Day 6 – Southport, England

 

I'll finish the week by covering the last two courses and then share some stories from the trip.

 

Royal Birkdale

 

 

The apporoach to the 2nd at Royal Birkdale

 

The original plan was to walk Royal Liverpool (Hoylake) in the morning. When we realized how much extra time it was going take to make this happen before a noon round, we choose instead to go directly Royal Birkdale, so we could “enjoy the day.� In retrospective this was definitely a smart move.

 

Royal Birkdale is considered by most to be one of the greatest links courses in the World. I can understand their perspective. The golf course has no weak holes, plays through very large dunes that frame every hole, feature beautifully positioned green sites, the course is sprinkled with lots of beautiful and well placed bunkers, features many elevated tee shots down into the dunes, and features one of the best threes in golf.

 

 

The par three 12th at Royal Birkdale

 

My only issue with the golf course lies in the consistency of what you have. Every hole is routed between the dunes. Every hole is well framed by the dunes. The dunes are not part of the playing experience, unless you get wayward along the way, they make the setting rather than influence play. After playing so many courses up and down Wales where the undulation of the land and surrounds were the key feature, I was quite stunned at how little the dunes played a part in the play at the Birkdale.

 

The landing areas are all remarkably flat, with the exception of the 9^th and 10^th, which were far more fun because you had to deal with some rumpled land for a change. I found myself enjoying the architecture of every hole and I could find little fault with the design, but because each hole was in such a similar setting I began to find “sameness� in the overall presentation. I found the sum to be less than the parts, which is one of the few times I have ever felt that way about a course.

 

 

The wild and completely out of character Hawtree green on the 17th at Royal Birkdale

 

What Birkdale lacks is variety. Yes the green sites are different and the detailing of bunkers and green contours offers the variety, but at all time the dunes are the surrounding frame when I would have liked them to become part of the links itself. It’s still a great course, but after playing so many links where the raw undulations makes the game so much fun, I wished they had left more of the contour in the landings and more of the variety of situations and stances that creates.

 

I’m glad we didn’t rush around in the morning and it was probably a big factor in why I played very well. I got to enjoy the day a lot more because I spent time looking at the history in the clubhouse, I warmed up at my own pace, and I enjoyed the fact that I felt fresh and ready to play. I think some of my next trips might need to have fewer 36 hole days and more 18 hole days.

 

 

Wales – Day Five

 

Royal St. David’s

 

THe 12th at Royal St. David's

 

I must admit that I went into Thursday not real anticipating the morning round at St. David’s. Nobody had really mentioned the course as one we had to see, so we went expecting very little. It turns out St. David’s is considered one of Wales best, and I think to some degree it was by us too.

 

The course is not one that overwhelms you with great holes, but from start to finish the course is solid all the way through. When you add in the spectacular backdrop of the castle and the run through the dunes at the end on holes 14 through 17 and you really have a course that is well worth seeking out.

 

The architecture is the key to why the course is good. It’s better than all the rest since we left Royal Porthcawl. The opening eight holes are played over largely ordinary links land, but the green sites and bunkers are well enough designed that the holes have a great deal of interest throughout. Once you reach the dunes on the ninth, you play along the dunes and eventually head through the dunes for the last three before the 18^th. The back nine is the class of the golf course, but all of it is well worth playing.

 

Nefyn and District

 

 

THe 12th at Nefyn - the green is at the lighthouse!

 

After four holes we wondered why this course wasn’t on everyone’s must play list. We knew that we still had not seen the famous peninsula holes, yet we saw a series of excellent holes set along the ocean to open that had few peers for setting. These holes were every bit as good as the 9^th and 10^th at Pebble Beach, the only difference was that the architecture was not near as good.

 

In fact that sums up the weakness at Nefyn. The routing is really good (outside the problems with the 12^th hole) and many of the holes are trulyy great. Nefyn has at least four holes, if not five, that have few rivals in golf. In fact the 12^th may be one of the greatest holes in golf!

 

The green contours are simple, the bunkering is pretty poor and the grassing lines are simply what can be cut. The golf course has a setting that takes a back seat to none and yet the architecture adds almost nothing to the course. If the course were built by someone like Colt, this would have easily been a top 100 course in the world – the setting is that great! I think Nefyn is the one course that could rival Royal Porthcawl for the title of best course in Wales, but it will need a lot of work done around the greens and landing areas to create an interesting golf course to play – rather than an interesting course to look at.

 

 

 

 

Aberdovey

 

 

The new bunkering on the 4th

 

The opening stretch at Aberdovey is a real cracker! The first plays along the main coastal dune line and over some wonderfully rumpled land. The second plays off the coastal dune and continues through more of that rumpled land finishing in a fantastic green site set into the “middle dunes� that run right across the property to the rail line. The Cader hole (3^rd) is a brilliant little par three that would be world famous if the sand crater it used to play over was restored. The combination of blind shot over the dunes played into a punchbowl green is a must see. Finally the fourth plays off the middle dunes and hugs the coastal dune finishing against the dune creating another wonderful four.

 

The routing is a figure eight and the next seven holes go away from the coastal dune. They are built over the section of property that is fairly featureless. The holes are good, but without much undulation, never quite equal the opening or closing holes. There are some brilliant bunkers in play on the 8^th and a great green site on both 9 and 11^th which make for some clever holes, but largely you are anticipating a return to the dunes. The small fronting dune on the 11^th green was creative complication that I really liked.

 

 

The 12th to the top of the dunes

 

The 12^th is one of the more famous holes on the course where a short three plays atop the coastal dune to a high plateau. This is the best look you get of the beach and the can on the course. The next set of holes hug the coastal dune and are quite solid. Finally the 15^th moves back to the interior for the finishing run, completing the figure eight routing, but fortunately the green finishes right up against the “middle dunes.� The 16^th is the most famous hole since it doglegs around the rail line on the left. To reach the green you must play over the rail line and bend the shot back towards the green! The landing is very rumpled and the backdrop on right is the middle dunes. The green site is in a beautiful setting framed on three sides by dunes. I thought it was a great hole.

 

The 17^th plays over the same rumpled land as the 2^nd landing and finishes out to a green on flatter land. The final hole plays off one last low isolated dune near the rail line which affords a great view out to the 450 yard finisher which is framed at the side by the clubhouse. All in all this was a great golf course and one I really enjoyed.    

 

 

 

 

Wales – Day Three

 

Royal Porthcawl

 

The fantastic 9th at Porthcawl

 

There is always a certain expectation to going to see any course that is recognized as being one of the 100 Greatest Courses in the World. Royal Porthcawl exceeded all my expectations.

 

The opening stretch of holes that runs along the ocean features three truly exceptional par fours. Each is uniquely interesting, over undulating land and requires a different tactic to score. The holes turn inland with a stunning long three over a valley with a green cut between the dunes with a six foot false front. The first five and next three are two more compelling holes while the other two are solid but not exceptional. The front nine finishes on the best hole on the course, a magnificent middle four played diagonally over a beautiful valley and up to a wonderful plateau top green.

 

The back nine features a series of exceptional par fours with the 15^th and 16^th being the two that standout. The par threes on the back are both spectacular with the 14^th being as good as anything I have ever seen. I have seen. It’s only the two fives that are a little plain, and in fact it’s the fives in general that are the weakness to an impressive collection of holes.

 

Colt and others like him have always believed that the threes and short fours should have excellent terrain and that the long holes should be the ones to traverse the plainer sections of a property.

 

 

Pennard

 

The 7th at Pennard

 

I was really looking forward to playing Pennard. I’ve always embraced some of the more controversial golf course designs and have never been troubled by blind shots or holes that are difficult to play due to some quirky features. I kind of embrace them. As long as the green site justifies the blind tee shot or the design accommodates the complications involved I’m quite happy to deal with a hole that requires discovery or an element of faith in my play. My top 10 courses include Royal County Down, Prestwick and North Berwick which all have unconventional holes.

 

Pennard is a golf course that makes me wonder if there can be too much quirk. There were a number of great holes like the 7^th and 16^th which featured some quirky features, that worked wonderfully because the holes were interesting to play, but also there was an opportunity to manage the more unusual features of the holes. But at Pennard, so many holes went beyond being quirky and in the case of a hole like the 17^th simply cross the line into bad design.

 

The setting for Pennard is spectacular and you must play this course just to see the incredible views and golfing terrain. This is one of the most interesting links sites that I have seen.

 

The problem is with the routing and architecture. There are too many blind tee shots, too many safety issues, too many places where the grade falls the opposite way of the dogleg, too many steep slopes that run any shot into trouble, too many holes where there is no place to play to. I look at a course like Porthcawl that has all of those features, but the holes were enough well designed to accommodate them. The course is also so well routed that the rest of the holes provide some balance to the round. I think you can have quirk, but it can’t all be quirky, because at a certain point it moves from charming to disappointing. With a great architect Pennard would have been a much better course.