Cumbrian Couplet: SILLOTH ON SOLWAY GC Winter Tour 2024-25

[Niall C]

Have they postponed/paused the proposed changes to holes 11 and 12? It does seem so, as the score card on the home page is unchanged.


When we were at the Silloth BUDA, the president/captain (I think his name was Peter Carey) mentioned that they were considering buying the land south of the 10th hole; although it's farmland today, the soil beneath is all sand.

Donal


I don't know that any real changes were ever considered or indeed required for 12 irrespective of what a gca might have come up with. The real problem areas have been the drive on the 11th and the drive on the 18th. They have cleared out a lot of the area to the left of the 11th fairway and I believe might make it semi or even fairway in order to encourage more drives away from the OOB on the right. However that is only for the short to medium hitters. The long hitters are still trying to cut the corner on the right and it is them that are spraying the ball into the caravan park.


On the 18th, everyone is hitting the fairway at an angle and the line of play depends on how far you can carry. Again the issue is the big hitters who just need to block one right and they end up carrying the rough and fence and end up on the road/houses. That's just the big hitters. The rest of us don't get beyond the rough.


I'm not sure what the current thinking on the 11th is but understand that straightening the 18th in some respect is being considered but not sure how they can do that without having to shift the 1st fairway over to the practice ground as Ben suggested.


Niall


ps. Peter Carey is the writer, it was Peter Cusack you were thinking of and who is still going strong from what I gather.

[Dónal Ó Ceallaigh]

Thanks Niall.


I knew he had an Irish surname, and had a feeling when I wrote it, I was going with the wrong one. 

[Sean_A]

Have they postponed/paused the proposed changes to holes 11 and 12? It does seem so, as the score card on the home page is unchanged.


When we were at the Silloth BUDA, the president/captain (I think his name was Peter Carey) mentioned that they were considering buying the land south of the 10th hole; although it's farmland today, the soil beneath is all sand.

Donal


I don't know that any real changes were ever considered or indeed required for 12 irrespective of what a gca might have come up with. The real problem areas have been the drive on the 11th and the drive on the 18th. They have cleared out a lot of the area to the left of the 11th fairway and I believe might make it semi or even fairway in order to encourage more drives away from the OOB on the right. However that is only for the short to medium hitters. The long hitters are still trying to cut the corner on the right and it is them that are spraying the ball into the caravan park.


On the 18th, everyone is hitting the fairway at an angle and the line of play depends on how far you can carry. Again the issue is the big hitters who just need to block one right and they end up carrying the rough and fence and end up on the road/houses. That's just the big hitters. The rest of us don't get beyond the rough.


I'm not sure what the current thinking on the 11th is but understand that straightening the 18th in some respect is being considered but not sure how they can do that without having to shift the 1st fairway over to the practice ground as Ben suggested.


Niall


ps. Peter Carey is the writer, it was Peter Cusack you were thinking of and who is still going strong from what I gather.

Both recent rounds I was in the left rough off the tee. The OoB and caravans definitely played on my mind. I wonder if they shouldn’t expand the fairway left. I would take some earthworks, but the drive could be recreated by shifting the fairway 10 yards left. The angle of the dogleg won’t be as graceful, but it would help ease the problem.

Ciao

[Niall C]

Sean


If you went left you will have seen that they have done a lot of clearing out on the left, perhaps as a precursor to making it fairway although that won't dissuade the big hitters trying to cut the corner on the right. If they can do that on the right line then they can kick on to about half wedge distance from the green. However if they push it slightly or come off it slightly then it doesn't take a lot to go in the caravan park.


Niall

[Mark Pearce]

Sean


If you went left you will have seen that they have done a lot of clearing out on the left, perhaps as a precursor to making it fairway although that won't dissuade the big hitters trying to cut the corner on the right. If they can do that on the right line then they can kick on to about half wedge distance from the green. However if they push it slightly or come off it slightly then it doesn't take a lot to go in the caravan park.


Niall

When I played there last year the left side had been cleared out and wasn't lost ball territory but you were lucky to get a decent lie there.  Aren't you starting to get quite close to 13 if you make it fairway at the bottom of the slope?

[Sean_A]

Sean


If you went left you will have seen that they have done a lot of clearing out on the left, perhaps as a precursor to making it fairway although that won't dissuade the big hitters trying to cut the corner on the right. If they can do that on the right line then they can kick on to about half wedge distance from the green. However if they push it slightly or come off it slightly then it doesn't take a lot to go in the caravan park.


Niall

When I played there last year the left side had been cleared out and wasn't lost ball territory but you were lucky to get a decent lie there.  Aren't you starting to get quite close to 13 if you make it fairway at the bottom of the slope?

There is a bit of room, not much. There isn’t much choice unless the hole is redesigned.

Ciao

[Duncan Cheslett]

Silloth11 by Duncan Chrslett, on Flickr

To cut the corner requires a 300 yard carry. To my mind all that needs to be done to make it not worth taking on is to grow new gorse on the top of the mound in the corner of the dogleg. The view from the tee would be intimidating. Currently there is little peril for landing on the mound. In fact, it gives you a good view of the green.


There is plenty of room to move the fairway left by 10 yards. The "adjacent" 13th fairway is atop a dune and well out of the way.

[Mark Pearce]

Silloth11 by Duncan Chrslett, on Flickr

To cut the corner requires a 300 yard carry. To my mind all that needs to be done to make it not worth taking on is to grow new gorse on the top of the mound in the corner of the dogleg. The view from the tee would be intimidating. Currently there is little peril for landing on the mound. In fact, it gives you a good view of the green.


There is plenty of room to move the fairway left by 10 yards. The "adjacent" 13th fairway is atop a dune and well out of the way.

It occurred to me this morning that this may be one of those rare occasions where gorse on a golf course may be a good thing.  As to the view from the top of the mound, it's good enough that Iain Greenshields, who was at the Goswick BUDA, has made a two from up there.

[Niall C]

Duncan/Mark


It is possible that you get a good lie but the grass on that mound is notoriously lush relative to what you get elsewhere on the course. The other issue about shorter hitters going up the right is that the slope of the mound bounces the ball to the right and allied to a wind that often quarters in over the left shoulder means that very quickly OB comes into play. More than once I've landed on the fairway and still had the ball go out of bounds.


But going back to the caravan park issue, on Duncan's line the big hitter only needs to block it slightly or come off it a bit and the wind can easily do the rest. There's only about 40 yards between that line and the caravan park. The best solution I can see is moving the green to the left to straighten the hole up a bit. Maybe bench it in below the 11th tee.


Niall

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