Saunton West Course with pics

[Ed Tilley]

Played Westward Ho! on Tuesday followed by the West course at Saunton on Wednesday. Two very different courses. Westward Ho! is a complete throwback and will definitely not be to everyone's tastes - as has been shown on previous threads. Pictures of that to follow. Saunton is just complete class. Immaculate links condition. Firm and fast, rough down slightly due to the time of year, and just about the best greens I've ever putted on.

A couple of points before I start the hole by hole. Firstly you have to play this course off the white tees. It is only 6100 yards off the whites but the yellow tees are 600 yards shorter in total which is unnecessary. Also, a lot of the raised and exciting tee shorts are moved well forward and down for the yellows so it is a much inferior course.

Secondly, I'm not sure I know of a better entrance to a golf course or a better golfing view from a clubhouse. As you enter the car park the whole expanse of the two courses opens before you. The view form the clubhouse (looking down the East 18th) speaks for itself:



While I was eating my sandwich and drinking my pint of tribute a 3 ball came down here. One of the guys holed a birdie putt of about 20 feet and set off doing the full Hale Irwin dancing around the green and high fiving his playing companion. I think there might have been a fair bit of money involved!

The first hole is a lovely looking hole winding right through the dunes to a beautiful green. At 343 yards from the whites it is a gentle start. I played this one from the yellows at 318 and, after hitting 7 iron wedge, decided that it had to be whites from thereon.









The second is another lovely short hole with plenty of trouble around. 350 yards. Reminded me a lot of Enniscrone the first two holes here.





Looking back





The 3rd is a short but tricky par 5 at only 464 yards. The tee shot is straight forward but the difficulty is the second as the target is raised and very small. A feature of Saunton I felt was that the greens were often very penal if you missed even by a small margin. Given such a short course I didn't mind this at all.









The 4th was a drop shot par 3 of 191 yards that had big trouble just right of the green. There was plenty of room to miss left but a big drop off which makes up and down very tricky.







5 - 397 yard par 4 is a lovely links hole with a bumpy fairway and very well defended green.











6 goes back on number 5 and at 376 yards is a similar hole - although obviously they will play very different on windy days.







7 is a 413 yard par 4 winding right with a lovely raised green. Stroke index 1 this is a very tough hole with ditches both right and crossing the fairway. A bit of "sea mist" started to descend so photos were limited of 7 and 8.





8 (358 par 4) looking back and from the side of the green.





9 (141 yards) over a pond. An OK hole but a bit out of character really.





More to follow later

[John Mayhugh]

Thanks for the photos.  I've been around the East a couple of times, but some group was on the West and I couldn't get out.  Looks more interesting than I expected.

[Ed Tilley]

10 is a 501 yard par 5 dogleg right. A pair of bunkers 90 yards short complicate the lay up froma  wayward drive. This was a good hole but the stretch from 8-12 is definitely the weakest part of the course away from the prime land.









11 is a 199 yard slightly downhill par 3. Big green and not a lot of trouble assuming you clear the ditch 30 yards short.



12 is a reasonably straightforward 466 yard par 5







13 starts a very strong finishing stretch. The next 3 are all similar types of hole. Par 4s doglegging left round big dunes to a raised green. However, the varied lengths of the holes mean that they feel very different. 13 is 371 yards.











14 is a tough 432 yard hard dogleg left with a lovely drive from a very elevated tee.











14 green from the side



15 is a short 4 at 305 yards although a weakness is that you can't really drive it and you are better off laying back to give a full wedge rather than a 50 yard pitch.







16 is a 177 yard par 3 with a huge drop and a fabulous view over the whole property and much further. The hole that everyone seems to remember.







17 is a short par 5 which is a real half par hole if you can avoid the ditch left of the fairway and short of the green.





18 is a really strong par 3 at 183 yards. The only problem is that it is a bit of an unsatisfactory end being a 3 and also being a few 100 yards from the clubhouse.







All in all a hugely enjoyable golf course. If there is a better "second" course at a UK and Ireland links I certainly don't know it. Saunton members are very lucky indeed.

[Tommy Williamsen]

Too many folks play the East Course and miss the West.  It is wonderfully fun. I stayed in Barnstaple and played Saunton every day and was not disappointed in either course. it is a great place to have a golf vacation, especially with side trips to Westward Ho! and St. Enodoc.

[Thomas Dai]

Very nice tour Ed, well posted. Photos from rear and side angles too, very nice to see.

The West is a fine course in it's own right and for the members to have both it and the East, which is a bit longer and tougher, is pretty unique. I've only played them both from the white tees and recall quite a few longer second shots on the East, although curiously the par-3's on the West are much longer, and there is one more of them, which does alter the 'yardage game' perspective a bit I guess.

I wonder which of the two courses the members play the most?

A few links clubs/locations have 36-holes - Ballyliffin, Rosapenna, Ballybunnion, Lahinch, Royal Portrush, Portstewart, Royal County Down, Royal Dornoch, Royal Aderdeen, Formby (inc FLGC) and St Enodoc come to mind, some with a lesser standard of second course. Any others, apart from the perhaps slightly different ownership and historical arrangements at the likes of St Andrews, Gullane, Carnoustie, Montrose, Monifeith etc where there are several 'clubs' sharing more than one course.

Atb

[Ryan Coles]

Nice pictures Ed.

Saunton is the only club I know that allows members to play as 5 balls.

[jeffwarne]

Too many folks play the East Course and miss the West.  It is wonderfully fun. I stayed in Barnstaple and played Saunton every day and was not disappointed in either course. MIT is a great place to have a golf vacation, especially with side trips to Westward Ho! and St. Enodoc.

Great Tour, While I enjoyed both courses, I much preferred the West.
I'm always amazed when people say a course is better because it's longer and tougher, then play something other than the back tees on the course that's "too short" (when given a choice of course )

[David_Tepper]

 "MIT is a great place to have a golf vacation"

Tommy W. -

Pardon my ignorance, but what does MIT stand for?

DT

[Garland Bayley]

Too many folks play the East Course and miss the West.  It is wonderfully fun. I stayed in Barnstaple and played Saunton every day and was not disappointed in either course. MIT is a great place to have a golf vacation, especially with side trips to Westward Ho! and St. Enodoc.

I couldn't understand why anyone would leave their home parkland course to play the East Course. Flat soft fairways, and soft, not particularly interesting greens means not much of a different experience than playing at home. Only difference hitting from ball sucking rough as opposed to from stands of trees.

[Tommy Williamsen]

"MIT is a great place to have a golf vacation"

Tommy W. -

Pardon my ignorance, but what does MIT stand for?

DT

It was my auto correct. Not MIT but simply "it".

[Josh Stevens]

You were fortunate to get it firm.  I have only played Saunton twice and it was far from firm.  Being on the west coast it does get a lot more rain than say Kent and Sussex and never sees the fire you get at Deal or Rye.  I was probably unlucky

Having said that, it is nice, although I preferred the east, and I preferred North Devon to both of them.  Both Sauntons just seemed the teeniest bit pedestrian.  That is probably very unfair, and perhaps just in contrast to RND. 

[Ed Tilley]

I wonder which of the two courses the members play the most?


Atb

I was supposed to tee off at 9.30 as before then is reserved for members. I got there at 9 and went straight off as there was no sign of anyone else on the West. I saw one guy on 16th when I was on the 4th or 5th. Apart from that I saw no-one on the course until I got to about 17th when there seemed to be a number of fourballs going off. At the same time the East course certainly wasn't busy - as you can see from the photos it was overcast and forecast to rain - but I did see 7 or 8 groups of golfers. These would all have been members so that probably answers the question.

[Thomas Dai]

As to softness or non-firmness at Saunton, I believe the ground comparitive to some other links to be particulalry low lying over much of the property, hence the number of ditches. This was notabale when the general locality and especially the nearby village/town of Braunton suffered from severe flooding a couple of years ago, when many of the holes on both courses were shut for quite a long period. The right side of the 16th on the East for example, up towards the green was covered in flood water for a very long time afterwards. It's just the way the terrain is.

Apart from a few holes on the West, like 1-2 & 13-18, the proporty doesn't use the biggeest dunes, they'll all part of some protected area and are in any case pretty damn massive and extensive. I imagine that unless you got the relevant permissions to let some big machines and operators have their head and turn the more significent dunes into something akin to a Ballyliffin Glashedy or a Rosapenna Sandy Hills or a Trump Aberdeen lookalike-playalike, then they aren't really suitable for golf at all, whilst although being drier/firmer they'd be too severe. Which I guess is pretty much why Herbert Fowler routed his original holes where he did and why after being used for WWII tank training they were put back together the way they were.

atb

[Ryan Coles]

Large parts of the course were under water as recently as this January info February. It's easy to forget that parts of England saw the most ever recorded rainfall and the huge problems of flooding that winter.

It will take a while for the water table to return to something like normality. Lots of Clubs suffered badly. Broadstone, another free draining course lost their 18th fairway due to standing water.

In my opinion, anyone who doesn't get Saunton, doesn't get links golf and the variety of conditions it can offer. Too many watch re-runs of the 77 Open and compare every course to that. As for greens, I think there is plenty going on in terms of interest.

Glad Ed liked it.

[Sean_A]

Ed

Thanks for the tour.  Generally the West is under-valued and I am not sure why.  Saunton has had its share of flooding issues in the past few years as have practically all courses in sw England and southern Wales.  Remember, Deal had serious water issues as well this year.  Its a great shame, but thats the way it goes.  The really unfortunate thing is I don't see the general trend getting drier.  Clubs will have to find ways to cope better or suffer the financial consequences. 

Anyway, I have a lot of time for the West an think it is actually one of the best modern designs in GB&I. 

Ciao

[Jon Wiggett]

Sean,

I believe many courses will need to go back to offering a summer golfing type of operation getting away from the wetter winter and all the expense that comes with it. You cannot beat nature in the long run only change what the customer wants.

Jon

[Sean_A]

Jon

My club has wisely decided not to offer a winter rate this year (I was never in favour of one).  The course needs a bit of a break more than the club needs the money.

Ciao

[Jon Wiggett]

Jon

My club has wisely decided not to offer a winter rate this year (I was never in favour of one).  The course needs a bit of a break more than the club needs the money.

Ciao

The path of wisdom maybe???

[Tom Kelly]

Jon

My club has wisely decided not to offer a winter rate this year (I was never in favour of one).  The course needs a bit of a break more than the club needs the money.

Ciao

Unfortunately I doubt there are many courses that can say this.

[Duncan Cheslett]

Jon

My club has wisely decided not to offer a winter rate this year (I was never in favour of one).  The course needs a bit of a break more than the club needs the money.

Ciao

I couldn't resist a wry smile when I read this, Sean. It was you who put me onto the idea of taking advantage of cheap winter rates to play classic links and heathland courses which are prohibitively expensive in the summer!

You are quite right though. Courses do need a breather and if the club can afford to get by with lower footfall in the winter it makes a lot of sense.

[Marc Haring]

Understand the West has undergone a bit of a revamp recently. Tom Mackenzie is doing the work. Involves an additional 300 odd yards and several new bunkers.


Does anyone know anything?