[JJShanley]

http://www.northberwickgolfclub.com/the-course/hole-13/


I had the pleasure of playing NBGC for the first time with Tim Gallant and Michael Graham last Tuesday.  (I had walked it before with my father as he played a team match there in March 2015.)  I had particularly looked forward to playing Pit (passive brag alert!) which I parred, into the wind, with a driver and 6-iron to 8 feet.  (Very poor attempt at birdie in the end, alas.)


I wondered: did MacRayBanks or the like ever try to replicate this home?  Could you do so without it looking twee?  Could you substitute the wall for a fence, or a grass berm, or a small dune?  I recall someone, possibly Tom Doak WRT Renaissance along the road, suggesting that he took care to integrate the remaining walls on that property to leave as natural a look as possible. 


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vMpfbuI9FY (Sorry, not sorry!)

[Jon Wiggett]

JJ,


I guess you might take any green where a hazard/obstacle right across the front of it such as a bunker might be considered as copying the 13th at NB. What makes the hole so fascinating to me is the angle of the wall to the line of play. Strathpeffer has a wall across the front of the 18th though most of it has earth banked up from the approach side.


Well done on the par by the way.


Jon

[JJShanley]

Jon,


I should have mentioned the qualification of the barrier playing some degree of the length along the hole.  A bunker in such a position would intimidate to a certain extent, but I think the wall would cause greater problems for the approach shot, given the (I would imagine) random bounce you'd get if you didn't clear it.

[James Brown]

Royal Aberdeen #14 is the closest I can think of for replicating the free side wall.

[JJShanley]

Royal Aberdeen #14 is the closest I can think of for replicating the free side wall.

For reference.  You should be able to identify the dyke positioned from 10 o'clock to 4 o'clock by the green.

[Thomas Dai]

A week or so ago the European Tour played an event in Mauritius. Anahita was the course and on one hole, either the 14th or 15th, a par-5 I think it was, there's a 3-ft high stone wall running in a slight arc down the centre of most of the length of the hole, even immediately alongside the green. During its length there are two or three 10 yard or so gaps in the wall and it's positioned such that there is fairway on both sides of it.


On this satmap it might look like a ditch, but it isn't! - https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@-20.2677254,57.7887634,18z/data=!3m1!1e3



Atb

[Keith Phillips]

#7 on Wentworth East has an interesting 'grass berm' or hedgerow moving diagonally across the (par 3) fairway from left to right, with the tee shot crossing it to reach the green.  This is a long par 3 so the approach is played with a far different club than at The Pit, but since you mentioned 'grass berm's I thought I'd point it out.

[Niall C]

Keith


I recently laid up with a 3 wood on my second shot at the Pit and I expect locals will have approached that hole with nearly every club in the bag at some point.


Niall

[Keith Phillips]

At 387 yards on a windy site I guess that makes sense.  I've only played North Berwick once, and it was early in my days of caring about golf architecture.  I was aware of The Redan and looking forward to it, but had never heard of The Pit and was just blown away...we must have been downwind as I hit PW or 9-iron close and was smiling the rest of the day - truly one of the coolest holes in golf.

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