Sean's world (pictures)

[Philip Gawith]

Sean has done a grand job of popularising Beau Desert and Kington on this site and I recently made my debut at both courses (with my father). I will not try to improve on Sean's analysis, but will just share a few pictures.

BD was a delight - a fantastic routing over a very undulating property, maybe the most up and down of any course i have played in the UK? There is great variety and interest to the holes and the greens really stand out - the course is not big in scale, but it has some enormous greens. I played the course when it was quite lush - and even then the challenges posed by the slopes, especially on the greens, was considerable. When it is dry it must be a monster. We also had an excelleint welcome.

I thought the stretch from 4 to 7 was particularly good, with the stand-out holes for me being the 5th and the 12th.

Kington is a completely different kettle of fish - much more out of "left field", a radical version of Brora, if that is possible, in terms of the way it is maintained, presence of animals. It markets itself as the highest 18 hole course in the UK and it certainly has some stupendous golf holes. BD is a more orrthodox golf experience, Kington a bit more a walk on the wild side - and both thoroughly enjoyable.

Beau Desert first...

[Scott Warren]

That looks amazing Philip. How is Beau Desert best accessed from London?

[Philip Gawith]

And not to wild and wacky Kington...forgive the lack of commentary (and repeated view shots!) but hopefully the pics speak for themselves. Maybe someone can link to Sean's commentary!

[Philip Gawith]

Scott, BD is north of Birmingham, near Cannock. Either via your own car or i expect you can get to some nearby train station and then take a cab.

[Bill_McBride]

Philip, there is a lot of elevation change at Beau Desert but I found it to be an easy walk, even for an old fat guy!  Fowler's routing is just one of the best.  Delamere Forest up near Manchester is another wonderful Fowler course, well worth seeking out for a visit.

For those who have played both, how does Kington compare to Painswick? 

[Bill_McBride]

Scott, BD is north of Birmingham, near Cannock. Either via your own car or i expect you can get to some nearby train station and then take a cab.

And have great directions for finding the course.  Mark Bourgeois, Craig Disher, my son David and I searched for several hours after leaving the M6, finally found it just before they closed up for the night - and we were staying in the dormie house!

[Carl Nichols]

I think this picture deserves a caption contest:

[Mark Bourgeois]

Philip

Perhaps Kington is the wilder of the two, but did you meet the gorilla in BD's bar?

Mark

[Philip Gawith]

Mark, I missed the gorilla but I did meet a nice lass - who seemed the friend of all - who was well disposed to South Africans which is much to her credit.

Carl, that is my father standing on the 12th hole - one of the best on the course. I am not sure what was on his mind at that moment - perhaps the fact that his buggy had malfunctioned on the previous hole and he was now using my clubs!

Bill i have played at Delamere - there is a certain similarity ( i have forgotten - but is Delamere also Fowler?) but I think BD is quite a lot more up and down (think of the 6th) and I certainly don't recall the greens at Delamere being as large or undulating.

[Jason McNamara]

Scott, it's Euston to Hednesford (1 mile from BD), 20 minutes to change at BHM New Street, 2:25

Question for Philip or Sean or anyone:  Which is better, Kington or Vardon's Llandrindod Wells?  Are they twins?

[Bill_McBride]

Mark, I missed the gorilla but I did meet a nice lass - who seemed the friend of all - who was well disposed to South Africans which is much to her credit.

Carl, that is my father standing on the 12th hole - one of the best on the course. I am not sure what was on his mind at that moment - perhaps the fact that his buggy had malfunctioned on the previous hole and he was now using my clubs!

Bill i have played at Delamere - there is a certain similarity ( i have forgotten - but is Delamere also Fowler?) but I think BD is quite a lot more up and down (think of the 6th) and I certainly don't recall the greens at Delamere being as large or undulating.

Philip, both are indeed Fowler.  We played Delamere the day before Beau Desert and the day after Wallasey in the 2006 Buda at Hoylake.  After the round at Beau Desert we speculated that the Delamere Forest greens must have been the victims of a flattening campaign at some point.  Fowler's greens at Beau Desert are spectacular.

[Sean_A]

Philip

Sounds like you took your dad on a wild ride - especially if you took a buggy round Kington - that will jar your teeth loose!

I am glad to see some folks are willing to step off the enlightened path of big guns and I hope you were well rewarded for the effort.  

You are right, #5 & 12 are excellent holes, but so are #s 2, 7, 9, 15 & 16.  In truth, there isn't an indifferent hole on the course.  They all require some thought and execution without being much of a muchness.  This year I have been paying attention to the greens much more and am astounded at their quality.  They are so difficult to read yet they don't appear at all severe.

You are right, Kington is a different story.  It is still a very savy course, but much more forgiving than BD in the vein of the indirect penalty for not earning the best angles of approach.  It is very easy to leak shots round this little course.  Plus, I love how the course is presented and the invariably excellent conditions of the course.  

Thanks for the pix.  

Jason

I don;t think LW is nearly as clever as Kington, but its still fun.  The difference for me is I believe Kington is worth a considerable detour while LW is worth a go if in the area - sort of like Church Stretton is.

Ciao

[Philip Gawith]

The reason for the buggy is that he has a dodgy back - before Kington i don't think it had ever occurred to him that a walk might be better than a ride! For the uninitiated - Kington has seriously corrugated fairways! We could not work out whether they mow the fairways or leave them to the sheep?! The greens were fantastically true to putt on - you could have been at Sunningdale.

Re BD greens - I think part of what makes them so challenging is not just the size (1, 15? and 18 and maybe others are certainly 3-4 club in length), and not just the internal undulation which maybe considerable without being eccentric, but the way they are wove into the landscape -this accentuates the need to put your ball in the right place. A good example would be the six which looks relatively innocent at distance, but the pronounced right to left slope means you are absolutely dead if you miss on the right.

[James Boon]

Sean's World, Sean's World, party time, excellent!

No wait, thats Wayne's World isnt it... 

Philip, thanks for the additional pictures to add to those of Sean elsewhere on here. I thoroughly enjoyed Sean showing me around BD earlier this year, and your pictures of Kington really do sell it as a course I should be heading towards!

Cheers,

James

[Sean_A]

The reason for the buggy is that he has a dodgy back - before Kington i don't think it had ever occurred to him that a walk might be better than a ride! For the uninitiated - Kington has seriously corrugated fairways! We could not work out whether they mow the fairways or leave them to the sheep?! The greens were fantastically true to putt on - you could have been at Sunningdale.

Re BD greens - I think part of what makes them so challenging is not just the size (1, 15? and 18 and maybe others are certainly 3-4 club in length), and not just the internal undulation which maybe considerable without being eccentric, but the way they are wove into the landscape -this accentuates the need to put your ball in the right place. A good example would be the six which looks relatively innocent at distance, but the pronounced right to left slope means you are absolutely dead if you miss on the right.

Philip

From my experience Beau Desert is unique in having grade level fronts and seriously raised sides and rears.  Fowler took out so much of the visual clues by abruptly ending green sites rather than extending them to the surrounds that it makes reading the break and speed of putts very difficult.  The greens appear much, much flatter then what they are.  Sometimes its hard to tell which way the ball breaks and on a hilly site that shouldn't be too hard to figure out normally.  I still haven't learned the damn things. 

BTW - the club continues to make inroads into tree clearing and to great effect. 

Ciao

[Andrew Mitchell]

That looks amazing Philip. How is Beau Desert best accessed from London?

Scott
Sean, Mark Pearce & I are meeting up at Beau Desert on Friday 6th November. If there's still a space for a fourth I'm sure you'd be welcome to join us.  Based on my experience from a first visit last year it's well worth playing!

[Philip Gawith]

That is a very interesting analysis Sean of what is distinctive about the greens at BD - i don't think i would have arrived at that of my own accord - I think i had noticed quite a lot about them, but not the grade level point.

[Jim_Kennedy]

I'll take door #2 Monty. 

[Bill_McBride]

BTW - the club continues to make inroads into tree clearing and to great effect. 

Sean, have they straightened out that double dogleg par 4 by cutting some trees? 

[Philip Gawith]

That would be the 12th you are talking about Bill where my Dad is taking a look at i don't know what! I thought it was a great hole - i loved the sweep. The tee shot is maybe not quite as tough as it looks off the tee - but certainly it requires an ability to shape the ball to play the hole well.

[Sean_A]

That would be the 12th you are talking about Bill where my Dad is taking a look at i don't know what! I thought it was a great hole - i loved the sweep. The tee shot is maybe not quite as tough as it looks off the tee - but certainly it requires an ability to shape the ball to play the hole well.

Philip

The greens really are something and I suspect they were larger back in the day.  #11 has a cool back left part swinging around the bunker which is cut to fairway height.  I would love to see that mowed as green.  I suspect #s 5, 7 (I am sure of this one), 11 and 17 all had greens extending further out front.  I also suspect that back in the day nearly the entire build pads on the sides and rear of the greens were all green.  NOw there is a healthy bit of fairway cut on most to allow for mowers.

The 12th is a great hole and of the few I have ever played in which I like how the trees dictate play.  Normally, I don't care for the indistinguishable mass of green foliage - especially when I see superb trees trapped in amongst the indifferent specimens.  There is something about this hole which is menacing yet looks innocent enough.  This hole gets me thinking about the two major options right away.  Its very hard to get a driver in play even if you are in the fairway - drives tend to run to the left unless severely cut, and if long enough (which is easy to do) get blocked out by trees.  However, one can lay-up to about 200 yards and take a shot over the corner of the trees, but the green runs away from the player and this causes problems when coming in with a long iron or baby wood.  Which brings us back to why there is a desire to get the driver out even though it isn't a smart play unless one can hit a hard fade on demand.

Ciao

[Rich Goodale]

I think this picture deserves a caption contest:

"Where did I go wrong?"

(with apologies to Georgie Best)

[Tony_Muldoon]

"Where did I go wrong?"

(with apologies to Georgie Best)

Rich I remember Philip describing his only round at Princes to me - and I can recall part of it verbatim.  He admitted that he hadn't taken much in, as business had kept him distracted throughout and that his Father who accompanied him must have thought "Where did I go wrong?"  

[Philip Gawith]

That is a great caption Rich - i may need to capture that for posterity! Alternatively he is thinking " I told the b*stard i needed a buggie and now it has conked out on me on the 11th hole. Little did he know that the corrugations of Kington the next day posed a still greater challenge to the older golfer with dodgy back!

You have a good memory Tony - it was a shameful day, full of mobile phone calls in the rough, hiding behind bunkers to send blackberry messages. I think it was just about worth my being there - though my father I am sure, and to his credit, had never had the misfortune of witnessing a similar performance. As I recall it had something to do with a Cadbury Schweppes bond offering! Well, needs must!