Golf in the Garden of Belhavenly Delight

[Marty Bonnar]

Dunbar Golf Club. Home of Belhaven Best and a Classic Old Tom Morris layout on the tightest little linksland site I've ever seen.

Hole #5 - brilliantly well-bunkered 147yd Par3 with nice push-up style green


Green of the delicious #7. Doglegs around l-r with this wall all the way along.


Cracking 500yd par5 #9. Rumpled fairway-a-gogo.


Absolutely marvellous dell green of #13. Brilliant!


#14 - wickedly bunkered r-l dogleg from elevated tee


Just to show you don't have to be in North Berwick for a great view of the Bass Rock


 a perfect RHYTHM OF LINES on #17...


...followed by the nifty shot over the burn to one of the nicest green and bunker complexes on the course


SUNNY DUNNY! Don't miss it the next time one is in the East Lothian area.

FBD.

[Brian_Ewen]

Thanks FBD

I enjoyed them !

[Tim Taylor]

Wow, those aren't bunkers they are ball-collecting pits of death!

I like how the fairway rolls down into the bunkers.

Tim

[Mark Bourgeois]

Saaay, Martin, those aren't different-sized flags, are they?

Or, dare I say it, different-sized flagsticks?

[David_Tepper]

Martin -

Thanks for the great (and most tempting) pics of Dunbar, a course I had not seen before.

I thought the poles propping up the rakes in the photo on #17 were interesting. Were they anywhere else on the course?

DT  

[Doug Wright]

Fine photos Martin. It's been awhile (17 years), but I found Dunbar to be a fine links course, enjoyable like, say, Elie on the other side of the Firth. As I recall, Dunbar opens with a couple of holes (across a road?) that were substandard vis a vis the rest of the course.  

[Marty Bonnar]

Brian, was that the photos or the Belhaven's!?!!

Tim, funny you should mention that. My over-riding impression of the golf course was of MASSIVE areas feeding into comparatively small bunkers. Beautiful contouring.

Mark, one or two very T-A-L-L (like, Mike Sweeney TALL!) flags due to hidden-ish greens. That one on 13 is the single tallest flag I have ever pulled! 13 btw is a marvellous dell/punchbowl combo. I hit it easily in two and four-putted the thing. Wicked cross-slopes and a huge back to front fall.

David, look more closely at the other pics. Those stands were EVERYWHERE. Lovely touch. Just a simple bent/welded rod. Very subtle.

Doug, yes, the opening two holes a wee bit dull (no road?), but a great drop Par 3 3rd then thru the wall to the real deal.

Just a great old Scottish links of maybe the second tier. Terrific, nonetheless.

FBD.

[Andrew Mitchell]

Great photos Martin.

I played quite a lot at Dunbar in the late 80s and early 90s when we had an annual trip to East Lothian.  Dunbar was something of a bargain in those days, I think the first time we played the green fee was about £15 for 36 holes plus a fish and chips lunch!

The first two holes have always been a bit dull, although they help get some sea air into the system to help recover from the Belhaven excesses of the previous evening!  The third was a good par 3 with the view from the tee giving you a taster of what was to come. However the walk through the wall to the fourth tee is magical, with the North Sea generally crashing against the rocks below the tee, and the green hard against the shoreline 300 or so yards down the fairway.  You've highlighted 5, 7 & 9 going out but 6 is a good hole with the wall in play for a slice and the burn threatening the underhit approach to the green.

The prevailing wind is generally against on the way back with the 13th being the only respite. 12 and 14 are both great par 4s into the wind, 15 is a good short par four and the par three 16th offers both the beach and the wall to trouble a poor tee shot.

A second tier course by Scottish links course standards but still very much worth a play when visiting the area.

[Doug Wright]

Doug, yes, the opening two holes a wee bit dull (no road?), but a great drop Par 3 3rd then thru the wall to the real deal.

Ah yes I'd forgotten the short 3rd and also the walk through the wall to the rest of the course, which as Andrew says is special. Second tier by Scottish standards; probably not if elsewhere...

[Brian_Ewen]

Is there any other way to pronounce it ?  

[Marty Bonnar]

shame about the cement works (?) - though I see a dozer in the background - has the place been torn down?

Sean,
Cement/Lime Works still there. MASSIVE earth moving equipment - luckily the huge lime mining device has currently gone 'Tech'. Quiet on sundays too!

green fee was about £15 for 36 holes plus a fish and chips lunch!

Andrew,
£12 as a members guest... Steak dinner about SEVEN QUID!

I adore the 'members guest' fee structure present at nearly all Scottish courses. So cool to introduce friends to the pleasures of one's home course for so little.

FBD.

[Andrew Mitchell]

green fee was about £15 for 36 holes plus a fish and chips lunch!

Andrew,
£12 as a members guest... Steak dinner about SEVEN QUID!

I adore the 'members guest' fee structure present at nearly all Scottish courses. So cool to introduce friends to the pleasures of one's home course for so little.

FBD.

Martin
Now that is good value

[john_stiles]

It isn't O/T if it's in the title....and I haven't had one in about 3 years now...this thread needs a photo of Belhavens Best or the label or something.....hmmmmm

I hope drool doesn't harm the keyboard.

[Steve Pieracci]

Martin, thanks for the photos.  Some of it is coming back to me.  It rained so hard the day we played Dunbar that this is the only picture I have.  I think it rained for all the holes on the east side of the wall!



I have a yankee version of a Belhaven label.  (No, it doesn't taste the same.)


I also have one that I beleive was smuggled out by Mr. Bonnar himself. (This one tasted much more like the real thing!)

[Darren_Kilfara]

I live in Dunbar and am a member of the club...oddly enough, I didn't see a picture of what is probably my favorite hole at Dunbar, the uphill 11th (a par 4 with a really neat, false-fronted green complex). I hope others coming to the area will look me up in the future!

Cheers,
Darren

[john_stiles]

Thanks for the photos of Belhaven's Best.

Certainly hope to visit Dunbar. Thanks for the course pics as well.

Cheers  

[Marty Bonnar]

Steve,
good to see the manna was spread around amongst as many GCA brethren as possible! Mr Benham, I presume?

Darren,
major apo-logies for forgetting your Dunbar domicile! We were guests of another member who is an old school friend of Nancy's. Kind of a last minute org, but sorry to miss you nonetheless! Next time!

By way of consolation, #11 (which my photo utterly fails to convey):


Truly phenomenal greensite!

cheers,
FBD.

[Bill_McBride]

green fee was about £15 for 36 holes plus a fish and chips lunch!

Andrew,
£12 as a members guest... Steak dinner about SEVEN QUID!

I adore the 'members guest' fee structure present at nearly all Scottish courses. So cool to introduce friends to the pleasures of one's home course for so little.

FBD.

Martin
Now that is good value

One thing that really pisses me off is high guest fees when the guest plays with a member.  My club just raised such fee from $70 to $90.  

[Marty Bonnar]

Dearest Uncle,
please, please, please allow me, next time you are UK-side, to have you play BPGC as many times as you wish as my guest.
We are currently a Tenner a time, Heck, I may even pay for one or two!!!

FBD.

[Bill_McBride]

Dearest Uncle,
please, please, please allow me, next time you are UK-side, to have you play BPGC as many times as you wish as my guest.
We are currently a Tenner a time, Heck, I may even pay for one or two!!!

FBD.

It will be my deepest pleasure.  Those nice photos of Dun-BAR really whetted my appetite for next year's trip your way.

[Marty Bonnar]

Dun-BARRRRRR (R's ad infinitum) really is a wee peach. Linksy and Quirky - surely qualifies it as a GCA 'Must-Play'.

Unc,
can't wait until next we golf. Isn't it REALLY about time you bought some Scottish Real Estate!?!?!

Note to all GCAers: As oft here expressed, ALL are welcome, when in Fife-shire, to join me at BPGC. Not the 'Links' for sure, but great fun and a nice post-round 'Best' in the Clubhouse will defo make up for the lack o' sandy lies!

FBD.