Royal St George'sBarry and I were fortunate in that we had reserved the earliest tee time on the Monday, but it was off of the 10th tee, so we wouldn't be going off of the hole Pat Ward-Thomas chose as the finest opener in golf in The World Atlas of Golf. Or so we thought! Thanfully, we arrived earlier than the golf shop staff and the members on this fine fourth of July morning, so we got to have a coffee and a brief tour of the clubhouse:
The time was approaching 8:00 when the young golf professional noticed us milling about and asked us if we wanted to go ahead of the members and start on hole #1. We'd already prepaid our visitor fees months ago so in all of about two seconds we were sprinting out of the courtyard and toward the first tee.
I took only a few photos unfortunately but here they are:
It is obvious that Royal St George's is a special course. It has the ground game fun I enjoy coupled with some extraordinary terrain - which is beastly in places where the first time visitor can and will be intimidated mightily as the wind and the elevation changes conspire with the twisting dunescape to confound the golfer. The design to me is one I don't believe I can compare to any other links I've played, which is refreshing - I know I've grown tired of comparisons but unfortunately am my own worst enemy when it comes to making them - but to me St. George's is very much its own brand. A championship links with width, an excellent set of greens, great par 3s, short and long 4s, blindness(!!) (love it), quirk, in other words - variety. And it is big - spread out far and wide throughout the dunes next to the sea.
The golf course was in amazing shape too - yes the rough is brutal - but man oh man what excellent, tight turf to play off of and the greens were a couple of feet faster than the others we'd played so far. It was a real treat to play the course in such fine condition.
I said on another thread recently that if I had 10 plays at Deal and Royal St George's, I'd split them 5/5, with my first and last rounds at Deal. I mean that because, well, I really love Deal, but mostly I feel I'll play better there than at RSG. In that sense, the two courses remind me of two courses out on Long Island - Shinnecock and National (there's the comparison tick again). Part of the reason I prefer NGLA is because I have played better there. In that respect, these two courses, St George's and Shinnecock are maybe the best examples of courses I greatly admire and respect that make me wish I was a better golfer.
Everyone should visit Royal St George's.