I just completed a small MacKenzie North Yorkshire "study" tour this weekend…
Four courses: Sand Moor, Moortown, Ilkley & Alwoodley…
In short, Moortown met and surpassed expectations… Ken Moodie’s bunker work was to my liking and the course had a more open heath feel than I was expecting (although not so much as nearby Alwoodley)…
Knowing that Gibralter had originally been the eighth, it was quite easy to work out that the current 6th and 7th were the new additions… They have been cut through the woodland and are both good holes if a little more enclosed… 6 plays to a lovely raised green against the angle of play and I could swear that they have cleared all the trees behind the 7th green since James took the photo’s above… That green now sits quite prettily…
The major let down with the course is the sardine effect of 11, 12, 13 & 14… You could see where there was a par-3 previously (now confirmed by the cigarette card above) and it’s interesting to note that the final one of these holes (14) used to be a 4 and then a 3 because I did feel the green site felt a little squashed in…
These holes are quite good in themselves (albeit with 2 blind drives and 2 blind approaches) but heading back up that hill away from the clubhouse again on 13 was slightly demoralising…
Still, the course had a variety of very good to excellent holes… Gibraltar was the pick of the one-shotters but they were all good… There were a variety of approach bunkers adding deception… It was playing very firm and fast (recent drainage works are still obvious and bedding in)… Green sites and undulations offered different challenges also… Perhaps my favourite hole of the bunch was 18 which was reminiscent (but better) of the closing hole at Blairgowrie Rosemount…
Maybe I’ll start a quick comparison thread between the 4 courses I saw…