INLAND RECOMMENDATIONS

[Sean_A]

Jon & Niall


Thanks.  Yes, I do like low yardage courses which feature a lot of 400+ holes because generally there will be a good handful fo short 3/4s. Though I must say I don't recall hearing of Elgin previously. 


David D


I liked Roaring Gap quite a bit.  My hilly comments were meant as the prime reason why I don't think it hangs with the best of the courses I have seen.  The walk is tough and at times a slog, but not impossible.   


Whitty


I must see Kingsley someday. 


All five courses I would blanket recommend have already been mentioned. 


Ciao

[Michael Whitaker]

Sean - When are you back in Michigan?

[Niall C]

Sean


Elgin is in that region between Cruden Bay and Dornoch which is a bit of a black hole for travelling golfers, even more so when that course isn't a links.


Even though the course has hosted several Northern Opens, I get the impression it is little known outside of the north of Scotland. Certainly very few folk know about it down in the central belt but those that have played it rate it highly.


Niall

[Thomas Dai]

Elgin is worth playing. As Niall says par is 68-69-ish but with numerous par-4's over 400 yds. I also recall a rather fine longish par-3 that played over an old quarry. 14th or 15th maybe?


Atb

[Niall C]

Atb


I can't recall the number but that would be about right. Personally I think the first of the two back to back par 3's (6 and 7 ?) is better (and longer) with a shot over the shoulder of a hill. A bit like the second at Kingsbarns, in terms of the kick off the slope.


Niall

[Bill_McBride]

Sean


Elgin is in that region between Cruden Bay and Dornoch which is a bit of a black hole for travelling golfers, even more so when that course isn't a links.


Even though the course has hosted several Northern Opens, I get the impression it is little known outside of the north of Scotland. Certainly very few folk know about it down in the central belt but those that have played it rate it highly.


Niall

Niall, a black hole that includes Castle Stuart and Nairn?   Nice black hole!

[Bill_McBride]

Sean - Kingsley is one of my very favorite places to play... maybe top 5... definitely top 10. You would love it, I think.

The Traverse City area has a lot of opportunities to put together a great week.   Kingsley, Crystal Downs, Forest Dunes old and new Loop, Arcadian Bluffs to see what can go wrong on a great site...

[Niall C]

Castle where ?


Actually, I forgot about CS although I did think of Nairn which in fairness doesn't really attract the travelling overseas golfer so much. It's still an under appreciated part of the golfing world IMHO.


Niall

[Richard Fisher]

Sean - you asked.
Woodbridge (the Suffolk, UK one) is one of a very strong quartet of heathland-ish courses within twenty miles or so of Ipswich and it was (to cite a rather more distinguished authority than me) Bernard Darwin's choice as the pick of the bunch, even above Aldeburgh (of which BD was a considerable fan). It seems to have fallen off the radar in recent years, but for fun, value, consistent interest and decent challenge I think it represents exactly what GCA is about, and proves (again) the Doak theory about the strength of the UK second tier. Woodbridge has 27 holes (Aldeburgh has 36 nowadays), as opposed to the 18 at Thorpeness or Purdis Heath (Ipswich GC), and personally I think the first two are a cut above the second pair, although I know that both the latter have warm advocates.

The Eastern Counties Cup certainly was (and I am sure still is) a really enjoyable (and cheap) way of playing 36 holes at Woodbridge in open medal conditions, and last time I was there in c2012,  £25 for the twilight rate (which began pleasingly early) was an absolute steal. Sorry I don't have pix, and I can't find an obvious link to any earlier GCA postings of Woodbridge with illustrations (although may be quite wrong). It also has (and I suspect this will please you) some cracking short holes.

All best Richard

[Sean_A]

Richard


Cheers.  I must make it to Suffolk one day. I played Aldeburgh many moons ago and don't remember much except gorse walls     I have looked at the routing of Woodbridge and been quite intrigued. 


Ciao

[Tony_Muldoon]

Sean - you asked.
Woodbridge (the Suffolk, UK one) is one of a very strong quartet of heathland-ish courses within twenty miles or so of Ipswich and it was (to cite a rather more distinguished authority than me) Bernard Darwin's choice as the pick of the bunch, even above Aldeburgh (of which BD was a considerable fan). It seems to have fallen off the radar in recent years, but for fun, value, consistent interest and decent challenge I think it represents exactly what GCA is about, and proves (again) the Doak theory about the strength of the UK second tier. Woodbridge has 27 holes (Aldeburgh has 36 nowadays), as opposed to the 18 at Thorpeness or Purdis Heath (Ipswich GC), and personally I think the first two are a cut above the second pair, although I know that both the latter have warm advocates.

The Eastern Counties Cup certainly was (and I am sure still is) a really enjoyable (and cheap) way of playing 36 holes at Woodbridge in open medal conditions, and last time I was there in c2012,  £25 for the twilight rate (which began pleasingly early) was an absolute steal. Sorry I don't have pix, and I can't find an obvious link to any earlier GCA postings of Woodbridge with illustrations (although may be quite wrong). It also has (and I suspect this will please you) some cracking short holes.

All best Richard

I got to play Purdiss Heath and Woodbridge in the week before Christmas and was greatly impressed. After one play of each I'm not going to declare a winner just to say the should both be played as they offer a marvellous contrast to each other. One is flatter and more challenging through length and the other is rolling land with more basic but slopey greens, and yet it's hard to separate them in terms of quality. Both played superbly  in the set winter.

East Anglia is now close to top of the list for a resurrected March Madness.

Tin Man you know you were invited and that its time to stop listening to the seaweed!

[Thomas Dai]

An inland East Anglian course worth a visit is Thetford, a James Braid design I believe, on heathland.
Atb

[Richard Fisher]

Went back to Thetford on Monday, after an absence of nearly 25 years, as an interim stop on the way up to Hunstanton and Brancaster. To be honest, I was a bit less whelmed than I hoped or indeed expected to be. The new holes (post by-pass) are now, after 40 years, fully bedded in, but they remain long, flattish and frankly uninspiring with rather monotonous tree lines. The first five and the last five have plenty of heathland vim and challenge, with a much greater variety of surrounding trees, but the middle eight is, in essence, a slog. Bungay the week before was (to me) altogether more fun (and 800 yards shorter, which may answer its own question), as well as barely half the price.

[Mark Bourgeois]

A small handful is impossible so going with a regular handful of 5:
Augusta National -- have only walked it outside the ropes
Ganton -- actually a links
Pinehurst #2
Royal Melbourne West
Woking
Wolf Point
Yale

[Jon Wiggett]

Mark,


Ganton is not a links though it is probably unique and not fitting any of the standard types of course.


Jon

[Duncan Cheslett]

I believe that Ganton is built on land that used to be along the shore of an inlet of the North Sea which has subsequently silted up.


Geologically speaking, it is on links land even though it is now some miles from the sea.


Therefore it is a links course.


It certainly looks like a links course and plays like a links course.

[Mark Bourgeois]

Jon,

At the risk of piling on Duncan's excellent answer, if you prefer to take the strict definition of a links then it is simply a matter of your choice of geologic eras. And as we careen into the Anthropocene Era, I am confident (if saddened) that Ganton once again, as in the past, will tick all the boxes one can conceive that defines a links.

Helpfully,

[Sam Andrews]

Alice Springs

:-)!!!!!!!

[Sam Andrews]

Oh and I'd avoid Huntercombe, dreadfully tricked up course, starts with a boring par 3 and goes downhill from there!

[Jon Wiggett]

Jon,

At the risk of piling on Duncan's excellent answer, if you prefer to take the strict definition of a links then it is simply a matter of your choice of geologic eras. And as we careen into the Anthropocene Era, I am confident (if saddened) that Ganton once again, as in the past, will tick all the boxes one can conceive that defines a links.

Helpfully,

Correct but you have to take the course in the present day so it is not on the shoreline so no links nor is fast and firm exclusively a characteristic of links golf so just because it fits some of the things that links courses should have it does not make it a links. Still, pointless discussion so....

[Ally Mcintosh]

Even land that is inland and heavily forested may once have been open fore-dunes by the sea.

All links will eventually undergo primary succession to woodland if left untouched.

Not sure if that means I'm agreeing with Mark or Jon but thought I'd throw it out there. I'm sure there are some heavily wooded golf courses that were once links land too.

[Sean_A]

Jon,

At the risk of piling on Duncan's excellent answer, if you prefer to take the strict definition of a links then it is simply a matter of your choice of geologic eras. And as we careen into the Anthropocene Era, I am confident (if saddened) that Ganton once again, as in the past, will tick all the boxes one can conceive that defines a links.

Helpfully,

Stop trying to pigeon hole Ganton.  It very obviously ain't a links, but Ganton is something special. 


Ciao

[Colin Shellard]

How about a few courses all north of Dundee:


Edzell
Forfar
Letham Grange


And some lesser known but good fun/value ones:


Kirriemuir
Kemnay




I've enjoyed Elgin, and was quite surprised by it to, only played it the once though - so much to choose from in that particular "black hole"

[Carl Nichols]

I would put Shoreacres and LACC--and maybe Cal Club--in my top-five inland courses list.