British Courses 15

« **on:** September 10, 2004, 02:40:54 PM »

Minor courses of North Wales

This is really a sampler. I'll do the big courses in time, but there is so much fun to be had on some of the little-known courses. These are but a few.

Abersoch 17th, 326 yards par 4. Until recently Abersoch was a delightful 9-hole course played among tumbling dunes. A few years ago the course was extended to 18 holes, but the new 9 are inland meadowland - not the same thing at all. The original holes have been left untouched and are still a joy to play.

Anglesey 14th, 402 yards par 4. Anglesey is a really old fashioned links course on the south coast of the island. The great Royal Liverpool amateur Harold Hilton designed it, though it has had some alteration since. It is flat and windswept and it is sometimes hard to discern where the fairway is. But it is the real thing, divided by the main railway line to Holyhead. The rushes, reeds and sheep remind me a little of Westward Ho!

Baron Hill 6th, 321 yards par 4. Baron Hill is a 9-hole layout on the Isle of Anglesey a little way inland from historic Beaumaris. It's not a great course but it certainly is fun. There are rocky outcrops, plenty of gorse and a stream very much in play. This is a wicked right-angled dog-leg.

Ffestiniog 5th, 279 yards par 4. There was a course at Ffestiniog from 1893, but it closed in 1935. Happily it was resurrected in 1967. This is wild, rugged mountain golf. Its 9 holes cover 2511 yards to a par of 34. The ground undulates vigorously, there are rocky outcrops and grassy banks, ponds, marshes and some very mischievously placed greens. It's tiny - rather like a temperamental 2-year-old.

Holywell 15th, 134 yards par 3. Holywell is 700 feet up yet it plays like a links, so well-drained is it. The moorland turf is crisp, rolling and well cropped by the sheep which roam freely. There are any number of gullies and mounds on and around the fairways (relics of former lead mining), some cunningly raised greens and good use of natural materials. This short hole is located in a pit from which stones were once dug.

Porthmadog 12th, 360 yards par 4. This lovely links enjoys some great natural holes such as this one. You tee off beyond the picture, to the left, so your drive flirts with St Samson's Bay on the left. Then you pitch steeply uphill to a shallow but broad green which commands superb views over Tremadog Bay to Harlech and Snowdonia. Clive Brown (GB and I Walker Cup Captain 1995) plays here, as does Bryn Terfel the great Welsh baritone.

Ruthin-Pwllglas 3rd, 225 yards par 3. Ruthin is a 10-hole course - it has completely separate 9th and 18th holes. You play here for the glorious views over the Clwyd Valley and up to Moel Fammau, for the wonderful birds and flora hereabouts and for the unique atmosphere of its clubhouse, once an army officers' pavilion. The 3rd is unusually strenuous for a 235-yard hole - uphill all the way.

St Deiniol 14th, 528 yards par 5. St Deiniol is a tough little course on a hill overlooking the university and cathedral town of Bangor, the Menai Straits and the mountains of Snowdonia. It is tight, remarkably punishing, but fun, none the less. Norman von Nida once said so, too.

« **Reply #1 on:** September 10, 2004, 02:45:26 PM »

Sorry, they're miles too big now, quite unworthy of being enlarged so greatly. back to the drawing board!

« **Reply #2 on:** September 10, 2004, 02:52:14 PM »

Mark,

These features are great, but the pics are too big. I had a
couple of guys (stuck w/dial-up) tell me in private that some
of my AOTDs were too big and that's just one pic.

If you have a photoshop-type software (even MS Paint which
comes free on all Windows PCs works fine), you can open the
pics in Paint, then re-size them proportionally smaller and re-
save.

« **Reply #3 on:** September 10, 2004, 02:57:22 PM »

Mark-

Thanks for your continuing efforts. The pic of Abersoch is VERY compelling. Where in Wales is the course located? It is not listed in my copy of "1000 Best Courses in Britain and Ireland."

I would like to visit Ffestiniog just to buy a hat/shirt with the club logo on it. I would imagine walked around wearing one is guaranteed to be a conversation starter!

DT

« **Reply #4 on:** September 10, 2004, 03:22:17 PM »

You don't even need photoshop or any other tools, just use the img height and width functions.

For example the above was done with height=409 and width=642 which is about 50% of the original.

Just put "img height=409 width=642" within the first square brackets. See the help function for an example.

« **Reply #5 on:** September 10, 2004, 03:36:24 PM »

John's method is the quickest way to remedy the problem, it
just doesn't save in your web site space. If you re-save by
re-sizing by half (50% on each side), that's at least a 75%
reduction in size of the file. Sometimes if you re-save in a
different software, it shrinks it in size additionally because
the sharpness is reduced or if the original was a different pic
type (.bmp, .gif, etc)

« **Reply #6 on:** September 10, 2004, 04:10:38 PM »

As the one who requested bigger pictures...
Those are perfect!
Thank you.

I will save every single one of your pics and put them all in a single folder, and view them at will when a respit is needed.
Thank you.

« **Reply #7 on:** September 11, 2004, 04:30:43 AM »

Thanks for all the advice - I'll give it a go next time. Abersoch is on the far end of the Lleyn Peninsula in North Wales. As you look at the map that's the bit sticking out into the Irish Sea at the top left-hand corner. I doubt if you'd get anything in the way of a souvenir at Ffestiniog. It's a very basic place, with little more than a hut for members to change in, probably only open at weekends. I expect there will be an honesty box for visitors to pay greens fees (£5?) on weekdays - you will probably be the only person on the course. I have a friend who lives there. I'll get him to explore the souvenir possibilities.