Trevose was, for me, a real tale of two halves. The front nine excited me no end. Despite playing alone, I was moved by more than a few shots to exclaim aloud how wonderful they were. The back, however, moved to the less dramatic inland area of the property and was a bit bland on the whole.
The opening five holes was a rollicking start, the first two running towards the coast, before turning to run along the beach for the next couple then back inland and uphill on the 5th. Standing on the 6th tee, I was in heaven and I struggle to imagine a more enjoyable stretch of golf anywhere.
Trevose lost its greens about five months ago, all 18 of them reduced, I am told, to dirt. The grass is growing back, and looks pretty good in the pics, but is still horrific to putt on, and should provide some nostalgia for anyone who played the pinball machines a lot as a kid! The ball, as it slows, cannons from tuft to tuft, making it pretty hard to hole anything longer than two feet. The close ups give a better impression of the state of the putting surfaces.
The club website hosts a
fantastic fly-over of each hole.
Not a bad way to start the day. An amazing view of the Atlantic and a panorama of countryside. The 1st tee is in the foreground, with the opening hole running away down the hill, through the saddle of the dunes, framed by bunkers either side.
A pretty straightforward second shot awaits a tee ball that splits the dunes, but the small rise short-right hides a front bank that allows the ball to be run onto the green, angled to kick the ball left onto the putting surface.
Trevose doesn't have the dramatic dunes of St Enodoc just five miles north, but as this shot looking back up the opening hole demonstrates, it's far from the open, flat paddock it sometimes gets labeled. The front nine has a much more rugged terrain than the back, and is much more enjoyable and memorable for it.
The 2nd hole, a par four from an elevated tee, reminded me a fair bit of the 4th at NSW.
While the 2nd fairway is quite open, the left-hand bunkers provide room to tuck the pin and reward placement off tee.
Might just be me, but the NSW GC comparisons continued at the next, which had more than a hint of the 11th at La Perouse. The left feeds the ball down, but a grass bunker looms, ready to capture anything tugged too far to the safe side.
Looking back up the 3rd, the strong slope and obvious strategy is clear to see.
The 4th is a par five swinging left to an oceanfront green, with the fairway bunkers offering the greatest threat to a birdie, or even eagle. Cut off as much of the left-hand dune as you dare, but more bunkers loom, hidden from view almost until you reach them. Downwind it played for me as a driver and an eight iron, but the beauty of links golf is that the next - just 20 yards shorter on the card and played as a par four - was a driver, six iron and wedge!
Just 140y left on the 4th, but the shot it totally blind..
... before gradually showing iitself as you move nearer...
... and finally revealing an open green site (which I like to see coupled with blindness), and an amazing view, made all the better in a raging sea.
The 5th swings left at the driving zone to play up to a skyline green.
Looking back down the 5th. A drive that leaks to the right won't find trouble, but cutting off the dune to the left and flirting with OOB will cut valuable distance off the length of the second shot.
The 6th is a straightfoward short four. All there to see. The two fairway bunkers aren't in play for most, so the play is to either fly the rough-covered mound short of the green, or play to your favourite pitching distance, with an agreeable angle to the flag...
The second shot on the 7th is great fun. Water left off the tee pushes the eye right for a safe landing, from where there are a few options for accessing the hole. Use the hill on the left side of the green? Run it up the front over the false front? Fly the right trap and let it trickle down to the flat back shelf?
The 8th is somewhat similar to the 3rd, but the major threat is not as obvious as the bunkers on the 3rd: a steep hill looms unseen to the right, falling away at the edge of the putting surface. The green is much larger than it appears from the tee.
The front nine ends with a tantaslising reachable par five to a blind green atop a dune. A good drive will clear the small "speed bump" in the fairway...
... and set up this approach, with the land falling away from the left of the green, and thich rough catching anything that heads right. It's not as blind as it seems - the greenkeeper, I discovered after climbing the hill - had forgotten to put the pin back in after mowing the green!
The 10th is a pretty non-descript long four/short five playing over a burn at the driving zone to a wide open green, but the beautiful flow of the green makes staying in the same swale as the flag crucial and helps the approach, played with a long iron or fairway wood, find the flag if positioned correctly.
The 11th green slopes significantly from back to front, but a steep rise in front makes a running approach difficult. Strange for a hole of 200y or so.
The flag fluttering away in the distance on the 12th, a long par four, draws the eye to the left, but unless you back yourself carrying the fairway bunkers 270y away, it's best to stay right, leaving a 200y uphill approach over a bunker 20m short that hides a smaller pot in front and to the left of it.
The 13th runs back down the hill, right where the duneland and pasture meet. The drive is along the dune between bunkers at varying lengths, setting up a tempting second down the hill.
For me, the highlight of the back nine was the 14th, a par four of 300y or so, hugging the OOB housing the Short Course and greenkeepers' shed. The aggressive line is over the edge of the OOB, with a blow of 240y required to clear the string of four bunkers (one obscured). A 10m-wide neck allows access to the green, or else you might find one of the three greenside traps.
Moving right as you head down the hole, the left-hand fairway bunker is visible, and the safe play is obvious. But that old chestnut "I didn't come all this way to bloody well lay-up" had taken hold...
... and alas I was just 10m from the flag, but could not have been in a worse position. I ended up taking seven!
The 16th was blind, with a carry of 170m needed to run the ball down the dune and onto the green, with rough-covered ridges short left and bunkers right.
The home hole crosses a creek at the tee, with the bush visible in the distance showing the line as far left as you want to be.
While a tee shot down the left, flirting with OOB means a shorter second, you have to carry a deep bunker in front of the green, while taking the safe line to the right opens up the green.