ASKERNISH photos -- the par four 16th ("Old Tom's Pulpit")

[jkinney]

As with the 12th, "Old Tom's Pulpit" merits its own thread. Just a sensational hole this is. From an elevated tee, one surveys a narrowing fairway that has on its right a swampy lateral hazard, and, as it narrows, encroaching deep grasses on the left. The prudent drive is therefore a lay up, leaving a long second up and over the pulpit to a hidden green that slopes away. Simply marvelous ! Unless the tee shot is perfect, the wise second is to be short of the pulipit and then to feather in a sand wedge, hoping to get close (no given, for sure).

The green narrows and falls away from front to back, and if an approach stays up on the pulpit, getting down in two is a monumental task. Proceedings on the green are watched with great interest by players teeing off above on the 9th.

[noonan]

Great pics! - awesome hole!

[Mac Plumart]

I can't decide whether 12 or 16 is my favorite at Askernish.

Looks like another trip needs to be made to decide!   

[jkinney]

Mac - IMO 12 & 16 are equal.....photofinish dead heat.

[Tom_Doak]

Mac - IMO 12 & 16 are equal.....photofinish dead heat.

To each his own, I guess.  I'd take the 7th or 8th hole over either of these, any day of the week.  And I'd take the 12th over the 16th, every time.

[jkinney]

Tom - In terms of shear beauty, the 8th is my favorite by far. The 6th and 7th tees are also favorite spots. And I rank the 11th way up in my pantheon of great par 3's. But there are no designs that I've ever seen even remotely like those of the 12th and the 16th, and as difficult as they are, I appreciate them more each time I play them.

[Bill_McBride]

Ashkernish looks like a great cow pasture course.   Is that unfair?

[Mac Plumart]

They sometimes have cows on the course, so I suppose it is fair.

What was it that Snead called The Old Course?

Askernish is a really good golf course with an unbelievable stretch of holes through the dunes.

[Mac Plumart]

Mac - IMO 12 & 16 are equal.....photofinish dead heat.

To each his own, I guess.  I'd take the 7th or 8th hole over either of these, any day of the week.  And I'd take the 12th over the 16th, every time.

Tom..."to each his own"...absolutely.  I think that is what makes golf (courses) so much fun and interesting.

I'd love to hear why you love 7 and 8 so much.  

I really like those holes and I feel that 7 begins the epic run of holes that ends with 16.  For me, 12 is so cool with the dual fairways and unique green.  Simply something you don't see very often at all...and makes for fun and exciting golf.  IMO.  16's approach shot is, again, unique.  I love the Alps meets Punchbowl feel of it.  Fun golf.  IMO.

[jkinney]

Ashkernish looks like a great cow pasture course.   Is that unfair?

Bill - The fairway lies are tight, with the ball sitting nicely on top of the grass. Sheep and cattle graze it during the winter, and the rabbit warrens are plentiful in sheltered spots. All that being said Askernish is as far from being a "cow pasture" as I could imagine !

[Bill_McBride]

Ashkernish looks like a great cow pasture course.   Is that unfair?

Bill - The fairway lies are tight, with the ball sitting nicely on top of the grass. Sheep and cattle graze it during the winter, and the rabbit warrens are plentiful in sheltered spots. All that being said Askernish is as far from being a "cow pasture" as I could imagine !

Thanks.  I'm trying to plan an EDI-Dornoch-Askernish-EDI trip for next May.   Ideas?

[jkinney]

Bill - FlyBE.com has a flight that goes Glasgow to Benbecula (Askernish's airport) to Stornoway (Isle of Harris ) to Inverness. so you'd want to go to Askernish first. My wife & I will be doing that sequence for next year's Askernish Open. United flys daily from Newark to Glasgow, with the plane touching down around 7am. After a proper Scottish breakfast in the airport, there's a mid morning flight to Benbecula. It's then a 25 minute or so drive to Askernish.

[James Boon]

I'm sure when I played askernish about 4 years ago the green was on top of the "pulpit" rather than behind it?

I didn't mind it playing that way and I don't mind the look of it now, but I'd certainly not put it up as my favourite the way I'm remembering the course? 1, 4, 7, 8, 9, and 11 all stand out strongly in my mind. I think I'd probably need to play 12 a few more times as i didn't play it well. Must dig out my old photo thread to jog my memory a bit more...

Cheers,

James

Edit: found it, here are some pics from several years ago...
http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,41817.0.html

[Adam Lawrence]

Mac - IMO 12 & 16 are equal.....photofinish dead heat.

To each his own, I guess.  I'd take the 7th or 8th hole over either of these, any day of the week.  And I'd take the 12th over the 16th, every time.

I'm with Tom. The Pulpit, IMO, is daft. Seven and eight are both great holes

[Tom_Doak]

I'm sure when I played askernish about 4 years ago the green was on top of the "pulpit" rather than behind it?

James:

That's almost correct.  The original green was both on top of the Pulpit AND behind it, but the behind part was pretty small and pretty uneven. 

When Mike Keiser asked me to have a look at the place and make some suggestions for improvement, I was quite taken with the course, but I thought the 16th green was pretty silly.  It looked like they had tried to force the green up on top, but it just wasn't big enough.  [That part of the green was perhaps 2500 square feet, and 7-8 feet higher than the rest.  It's slightly higher in front, too.  And, of course, it's a links course that is really firm and the hole is sometimes downwind.]  I just didn't see how anyone could keep their approach shot up there with any measure of predictability ... I managed to do it one play out of three, and it seemed like an accident.

My recommendation was to eliminate the Pulpit (and just keep a ridge in front) and make the back of the green bigger.  That was a very controversial suggestion, and after much discussion, the compromise was to enlarge and soften the back part of the green, without doing any grading to the front [because so little grading was done in rebuilding the course].  I wasn't sure if they were going to take it out of play as part of the green or not, but with the marker post right in front of it now, it seems that they have.

If I really believed the Pulpit was Old Tom's idea, I would have been more sympathetic to keeping it. 

[jkinney]

Tom - Thanks for the explanation on the 16th green. Having only played it with the pulpit itself as fairway, I can't imagine having it any other way. It doesn't seem reasonable to ever think of it in my mind's eye as green - - just as I'd never consider the summit of an Alps hole as such. I agree with you that Old Tom Morris would have had his green behind it.

Too bad we've got no records. What a joy it would have been to be there with Old Tom in the beginning !

[Terry Lavin]

The photos are impressive. I'm stuck thinking how much better it could be if bulldozers came a calling.  Just one man's opinion.

[Mac Plumart]

Terry...that is an interesting comment and one we all might want to seriously discuss.

I remember playing with Ralph out at Askernish and, I can't rememer which hole it was but, he said that the hole we were playing was built for $5,000 in total.  Not $5,000 for the bunkers.  Not $5,000 for the tee boxes.  But $5,000 in total.

So, could the course be touched up with modern construction techniques?  Sure.  But in all seriousness, is it worth it on a cost/benefit basis? 

I don't know, as I'm no construction or golf course operations expert.  But for that low level of expense, it seems the hurdle rate for profitable operations is low and, therefore, sets the foundation for affordable golf both from the players persepective and the club's perspective.