The soul of golf.......Askernish

[Aidan Bradley]

There is also a small bunker at hole #11 if memory serves correct. Image below is of #8

[Garland Bayley]

Good eye Kalen

Your bunker slut title is well deserved.

[Chris DeNigris]

Just curious...I've only been to Scotland once but I never noticed other naturally formed sand bunkers like the one on 12 randomly scattered throughout the countryside...is that type of naturally occuring phenomena particular to the South Uist area?

I'm going back for another visit next week and I'll be looking for some more of these...

[Kalen Braley]

Good eye Kalen

Your bunker slut title is well deserved.

Garland,

I think the place looks really good and would love to play it and if they were put there by mother nature or with some help it doesn't bother me in the least. I just don't get why some would want to insist nature made them because its not a big deal what thier origins are.

To boot, fluffy advertising pieces such as the one found on the home page for Askernish can be nauseating even if done with good intentions....just be honest.

[Jim_Kennedy]

....... fluffy advertising pieces...... can be nauseating even if done with good intentions....just be honest.

As Roger Thornihill said to his secretary...... "In the world of advertising there's no such thing as a lie. There's only "the expedient exaggeration."

[Mike Hendren]

I'm not buying what everybody's selling. 

It's ugly, out of place and starkly contemporary.

That's my opinion - it ought to be yours.

For the last time, Melvyn, DO YOU LIKE IT?

Michael Edward Hendren

[Mark Pearce]

Just curious...I've only been to Scotland once but I never noticed other naturally formed sand bunkers like the one on 12 randomly scattered throughout the countryside...is that type of naturally occuring phenomena particular to the South Uist area?

I'm going back for another visit next week and I'll be looking for some more of these...

Chris,

Not just in Scotland.  Natural blowouts, of all forms, are found throughout linksland.

[Kalen Braley]

Just curious...I've only been to Scotland once but I never noticed other naturally formed sand bunkers like the one on 12 randomly scattered throughout the countryside...is that type of naturally occuring phenomena particular to the South Uist area?

I'm going back for another visit next week and I'll be looking for some more of these...

Chris,

Not just in Scotland.  Natural blowouts, of all forms, are found throughout linksland.

And throughout the world as well.

I've seen tons of them driving around in Utah and none of them have the smooth edges to them like you typically see in golf course bunkering.

[Chris DeNigris]

Mark,

I think the key part of my comment was "like the one on 12".

I've noticed several "natural" looking blowout type bunkers in some areas...just not anything resembling the one in the picture here. But I admit that I have limited exposure. I'll take your word that these same type of bunkers naturally occur throughout all of linksland, I'd just like to see some on my next visit...or perhaps some photo evidence...

How lucky for them that it was "naturally formed" in a convenient spot on that hole.

[Garland Bayley]

I'm not buying what everybody's selling. 

It's ugly, out of place and starkly contemporary.

That's my opinion - it ought to be yours.

For the last time, Melvyn, DO YOU LIKE IT?

Michael Edward Hendren

Bogey,

Do you always go around calling people liars? Perhaps being in the banking business the past few years makes you mistrust people.

The people on the ground at the course say it is a natural blowout, which would hardly make it starkly contemporary.

[Melvyn Morrow]

Garland

We must forgive the uneducated, the ignorant and the disadvantaged people of the world.

However, I do not feel Michael fits that profile, nevertheless we should also feel extremely sorry for his aggressive, arrogant and unpleasant disposition, as clearly he does not know any better.

The man may self-destruct at any time and is IMHO a mission impossible.

Melvyn

[Aidan Bradley]

Kalen,

I am really curious and somewhat perplexed. What does this mean and how does it pertain to the Askernish home page? What is "fluffy advertising" about the attached below. It's a photo and some copy, plain and simple. Did I miss something?

"To boot, fluffy advertising pieces such as the one found on the home page for Askernish can be nauseating even if done with good intentions....just be honest."

[Kalen Braley]

Kalen,

I am really curious and somewhat perplexed. What does this mean and how does it pertain to the Askernish home page? What is "fluffy advertising" about the attached below. It's a photo and some copy, plain and simple. Did I miss something?

"To boot, fluffy advertising pieces such as the one found on the home page for Askernish can be nauseating even if done with good intentions....just be honest."

Aidan,

I should have been more specific, my bad.  In my earlier post I was referencing the content and "story-line" in the streaming video on the bottom right hand corner....the home page itself is well done.

[Aidan Bradley]

Thank you, all is clear.....

[Melvyn Morrow]

Kalen

Clearly you do not know what “Coast” is all about. It is a BBC Open University programme covering the whole GB&I Coastline. They have just started a new series and if you feel interested their web page is   http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006mvlc . Read who the presenters are and what they do, it may give you more insight into why Askernish decided to use this clip. Then again it might not

Melvyn   

[Mike Hendren]

Melvyn,

Agressive and unpleasant disposition?  Fair enough.  Arrogant?  Well, with apologies to Buck Owens, you don't know me if you don't like me.  

Bayley, calling bullsh*t and saying a man is a liar are two different things where I come from.  It's a nuance, don't you know.

With the exception of Ralph (whose injection of ball type into the discussion fuzzied the issue), I have yet to read a single post by anyone who likes this bunker - not one.  Melvyn seems more interested in personally attacking me than answering the question I've asked three times - "do you like this bunker?"  Heck, I'm not even asking him to explain his answer.  

Mike

[Jim_Kennedy]

Melyvn finds it easier to attack than answer, as a simple look back on this thread shows.

[Mike Hendren]

To balance my proposition, I must say the the tandem bunker in the following photograph is an absolute thing of beauty and and reflects a style and maintenance wholly consistent with the balance of the golf course as depicted in the other photographs:



Mike

[Garland Bayley]

...
Bayley, calling bullsh*t and saying a man is a liar are two different things where I come from.  It's a nuance, don't you know.
...

Since I made no reference to a post where you called BS, your statement above makes little sense.

I like the bunker. I found it to be too primitive to be man made. I was surprised you came to what appeared to me to be a silly conclusion that it was the product of modern bunker building.

Kalen, the bunker fetishist, apparently has a better eye than you as he spotted the man made bunker in the pics.

[Mike Hendren]

Bayley, thank you for answering my question to Melvyn.  Just because my conclusion is different doesn't mean it's "silly."  Just frank commentary which I recall being mentioned somewhere.

Glad to hear the bunker is "natural."  My work is finished here but henceforth I will use the phase "Askernish-style bunker" in lieu of "frilly edge bunker."

Kindest regards (really),

Mike

[Kalen Braley]

Melyvn,

The coast looks beautiful, the course looks very cool, I'm sure I would thoroughly love a visit to the area/region.  I just didn't particularly care for the over-the-top, beard pulling, flowery fluff manner in which the piece was presented.  Do you really think they honestly feel its the best course in the world?  Which they didn't hesitate to mention on several occasions?

Just sounded like used-car salesman stuff to this yank, but maybe I'm just a bit jaded. 

That being said, let me state again so its crystal clear, I would love to check out the place and give it a go...its looks very neat indeed. 

Kalen

[Tom MacWood]

Could you explain why "the soul of golf" can be found more readily at Askernish rather than Machrie, Machrihanish or Musselburgh?

Tom,

I'm glad you asked because it gave me a chance to evaluate what the soul of golf means.  I've concluded that it is completely subjective.  It is the place you have your greatest spiritual golf experiences.  For some it could be Sand Hills, for some it could be Bethpage Black, or just as easliy a muni in an urban environment.  It really does not matter because it is individually based.

Fortunately I have played Musselburgh, Machrie, and Machrihanish.  To me personally, Machrie is tainted by the hotel and Musselburgh is violated by the racetrack, Ma Foreman's Pub, and the proximity to the town.  Machrihanish (and the other two) are pretty much fully developed and are not going to really get better.  

Askernish is a work in progress.  It's best days are in the future.  It is not yet drawing golfers by the thousands but by the hundreds.  My wife and I had the course to ourselves.  To me, the soul of golf is really far out of the way.  It is also a place where golf is as it was a hundred years ago.

St.Andrews has a few hotels; Willie Park-Jr. Willie Dunn, B. Hall Blyth, Charles Gibson and Willie Campbell might argue with your taint; and the soul of golf is elusive to Machrahanish because it won't get any better? The soul of golf is not found in a slick website or a sharp marketing campaign. Despite the PR campaign and the playing up of OTM and HGH Askernish is at the end of the day a modern golf course, and not a particular well designed one from the photos. IMO the soul of golf is found in great golf architecture and I don't see it in your images.

[Melvyn Morrow]

Tom

You have the right to your opinion, however as for your comment on the design of the course, I would just say have you played it and come to that conclusion?

My comments, re the Castle Stuart Course were based upon just a few of the visual features and the fake aging, not to mention the sleeper arrangement. I made no comment as to the quality of play of the course or the course design, never having been there.  Apparently, you must have an eye for design and quality of play that totally eludes the rest of us.

I can accept that it may not be the type of course that attracts you. Nevertheless, for many it represents the true face of the game they love. Well manicured, picture postcard courses are represented as the face of the modern game, but courses like Askernish are the reason why the game became so popular. It was affordable, enjoyable and challenging to the ordinary man in the street. Askernish is the real face of golf. However, you seem to prefer the overwatered, pretty and expensively constructed and maintained type of course.

Come over and play the course then argue your point of view. I presume you have played a few Links courses in your time.

Melvyn     

[Sean_A]

And Michael, what exactly is wrong with that bunker in the picture?

1.  It evidences man's intrusion upon nature.
2.  Its use is imported (think pond at The Eden)
3.  It's style is in vogue (think Bob Huntley wearing one of Anthony Kim's belt buckles)
4.  Its cleanliness is a juxtaposition to the course's ruggedness.
5.  Its placement front and center in close proximity to the green, coupled with its size (primarily width) is an afront to the ground game
6.  It requires maintenance on a low maintenance course
7.  It dominates the scene, diverting one's eyes from the spectacular background
8.  It requires the unnecessary expenditure for a rake

Otherwise, I have no problem with it.

Mike  

Well

I am glad to see one hillbilly is coming round.  This list should be glued onto the front page of all archies notebooks.

Ciao

[Mark Pearce]

Melyvn,

The coast looks beautiful, the course looks very cool, I'm sure I would thoroughly love a visit to the area/region.  I just didn't particularly care for the over-the-top, beard pulling, flowery fluff manner in which the piece was presented.  Do you really think they honestly feel its the best course in the world?  Which they didn't hesitate to mention on several occasions?

Just sounded like used-car salesman stuff to this yank, but maybe I'm just a bit jaded. 

That being said, let me state again so its crystal clear, I would love to check out the place and give it a go...its looks very neat indeed. 

Kalen

Kalen,

The video clip was not produced for the club.  It is an extract from a very succesful BBC series "Coast", now in its 4th series and which studies the British coastline.  It isn't, therefore, advertising puff in any sense.