Is this the best opening tee shot in links golf?

[Philip Gawith]

[David_Tepper]

Philip -

Given your numerous golf travels, have you played Portstewart, in Northern Ireland?

The opening tee shot/first hole at Portstewart would have to be a contender for this title. It is one of the few opening tee shots hit from an elevated tee that I have seen on a links course.

DT

[Philip Gawith]

I have David - I think this one wins it (and the photo can't capture it all - you need a wide angle lens) because the full Dunes vista is I think probably without equal and the course waiting in front of you to play it is just so inviting.

[Jay Cox]

Better than Macrihanish, Philip?

[Philip Gawith]

They are a little different - Macrihanish asks more of you as a golfer, but this offers the more compelling links panorama. Nice to have to choose! It was grey and wet when I was at Macrihanish but I think I would stand by my view even on a good day.

[Ed Tilley]

"It is clear to me, as I present this course among my favorites, that most American golfers are not prepared to see Westward Ho!" -- Tom Doak.

Better than Royal County Down 1, Philip?

Even fewer are prepared to see Saunton!

The view from the Saunton Sands hotel or from the entrance to the Saunton beach car park is the most mouthwatering I have yet encountered. 5 miles of huge dunes stretch out before you. Sadly, the two courses at Saunton skirt the edge of the dunes rather than go deep into them.

Royal County Down is still the best opening tee shot in links golf IMO.

[Philip Gawith]

Mark - you are starting to confuse me. This thread is about the quality of the view/vista which you get standing on the first tee of Saunton (east) - the picture here. If you like links golf, it is difficult to think of a better start to your round. Indeed, I cannot think of one.

The other thread is about the magnificence of the 6th hole at Westward Ho! I will post some more pics on that course another time. Truth is, once I had seen Mike Miller's picture I was very keen to photograph that hole in favourable light and yesterday I was a lucky boy!

[Mark Bourgeois]

oops, I did mix my posts! Let me edit above...or delete as it is an unsalvageable mess!

[Mark Pearce]

No.  Machrihanish and Muirfield are both far better opening tee shots and Machrihanish may be more attractive.

[Philip Gawith]

Mark, as confessed above, I was making a rather lowbrow point - as opposed to highbrow GCA observation! -  that I could think of no better links aspect when starting my round.

 Macrihanish is a good contender, I agree, but Saunton is certainly the most compelling dune-scape I have seen and when you stand on the first tee, it feels like you are surveying the battlefield before you descend into the engagement.....It is a fantastic place (and what follows is very good too! I will post some pictures sometime).

[Rich Goodale]

Philip

From the picture (not been there) I'm willing to accept your proposition, for the time being.  It's main competitors (of the one's I've played) would be Muirfield, Machrihanish, Birkdale, Newcastle and Balgownie.

Rich

[Mark Pearce]

Saunton has a fantastic aspect.  One of those memories that has stayed with me is of sitting outside the clubhouse as the sun started to set with a cold drink and watching the shadows started to form on the 18th fairway.  A magical place.  Which, of course, brings up the question of venues for BUDA VI.......

[Mark_Rowlinson]

I'm not going to agree or disagree with the suggestion that this is the best opening tee shot in links golf, but I've always felt that Saunton East goes off the boil a little on those flat holes at the far side of the course (6th, 7th, 8th, 11th from a very imperfect memory) and that there are some really top-class holes on the West course.  I have no idea if you could route a super composite course by using the best of both.

[Adrian_Stiff]

I'm not going to agree or disagree with the suggestion that this is the best opening tee shot in links golf, but I've always felt that Saunton East goes off the boil a little on those flat holes at the far side of the course (6th, 7th, 8th, 11th from a very imperfect memory) and that there are some really top-class holes on the West course.  I have no idea if you could route a super composite course by using the best of both.

Mark- I think a composite would be tough to achieve, I agree with you on the holes you have picked out as being the duller ones although 7 is very good, the problem lies in that the course really gets going from the 12th tee, so you would need to play 11 (the very worst hole at Saunton IMO) perhaps 5,6, 7 & 8 could be ommitted and 4 holes from the west used. Saunton falls down on other logistics unfortunately to hold the real big stuff, which is a shame as generally as a course its ticks a lot of boxes.

[Tom Roewer]

IMO one can not leave Crail Balcomie out.  With the old building and wall and the long vista up and out to the North Sea, It doesn't get a whole lot better!

[KBanks]

Philip,

That is a wonderful photo, and Saunton's first definitely seems a contender for the title.

I'm partial to Machrihanish. In terms of aesthetics, Royal Aberdeen should be in the running as well, as it's opening tee shot has such a strong sense of invitation to the seaside site spread before you. But, whereas RA's first takes you down to the sea, Mach places the golfer next to the sea for the first stroke. This, coupled with the classic strategic question it poses, makes it the best opener for me.

Ken

[Jerry Kluger]

If the reference is to the visual side of the equation my thoughts of great opening vistas has to bring Sand Hills into the equation.

[tlavin]

Sure is a beauty!  Is the tee by that little hut?  Or is that the forward tee that you have to hit over?  I'm a little confused, which is my ordinary state...

[Philip Gawith]

Terry, Sean is right. The picture is taken from the back tee. The green is in the distance, just to the right of the hut, in line with the prominent dark tree you can see in the middle distance. It is about 470 yard par 4 which does not really play its distance, but has a tricky green and you normally walk off with one more than you think you should have!

[Adrian_Stiff]

I have played Saunton many times and I did not recognise it easily, this pic almost looks like it was taken from the 1st tee of the West.... or have the altered the old 1 st tee?

[RJ_Daley]

Philip, this is much more what I had in mind that I posted on the other thread of Westward Ho.  This is what I like to see.  I am betting that there are still plenty of micro hills and hollows out there that offer varied lies and stances, without appearing to be simply golf across untamed links and dunesland.  This is the moderating sort of features I referred to, and as long as most of the course was indeed more moderate than that photo of Westward Ho, I could live with the isolated quirk of a hole or two, with this sort of general playing corridor and condition.

[Aidan Bradley]

Portstewart #1 tee Box

[Philip Gawith]

Thanks for the pic Aidan - there is no doubt as David suggested that that is a wonderful opener. I had forgotten how good.

Adrian - I think I probably took it from the right hand side of the tee, hence confusion?

Dick - Saunton is a different animal from RND and more in line with what you describe. I will try and post some other pics which give you a better feel for the amazing dunes which lie mostly on the West course and between Saunton and the sea.

[Adrian_Stiff]

Philip - yes I have finally grasped it, it is a super pic. Did you know that the first green has been changed several times over the last 50 years and at one AGM there was a suggestion to 'next time build it on wheels' before the present position it was about 50 yards to the left making it a straight hole.

[Aidan Bradley]

Lest there be any confusion re., the image from the first Tee Box at Portstewart, the green you see straight down the middle is actually the 8th green. The first green is tucked away in the dunes on the right.