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James Brown

  • Karma: +0/-0
Just completed my first trip to Kent and writing while the impressions are fresh as I wait at Heathrow for a ride home.


Walton Heath (New)
  • Originally planned to play the Old, but closed for maintenance.
  • Teed off at 1730 and was the only golfer on the course.  Just me and my excellent caddie, Paul Farrington.  Shot 81 from the medal tees with 5 pitches out of the heather. 
  • Purest heathland course I have yet seen. 
  • Simple, natural, and pure. 
  • One of the toughest driving tests I have ever seen, even with only a slight breeze.  So many of the tee lines are oblique.  Huge reward for long well paced driving. 
  • The greens gave you numerous options.
  • I would say not as epic at Sunningdale New, but clearly a course that is underrated just because it is the relief course.
  • Would love know all the different cross country games the members play here. 
  • Favorite hole:  14
  • My Doak score:  8

Royal Cinque Ports


  • Wow, wow, wow.  One of the truest pure golfing tests I have seen.
  • With a one club wind, hit every club and shot in my bag.
  • Had a chance to hit every almost every shot I could envision hitting in a single round.
  • An endless variety of green contours that demand well executed shots, but not perfection. 
  • Got molested by the bunkers only once, on the par three 8th. Had an epic sand save from the left bunker on 12. 
  • Shot 78 from the member tees with another great caddie, Vincent Peacock.  Again had the place to myself. 
  • Loved the classic loop routing.  A bit like Western Gailes.  Could play here every day and would never get old. 
  • Favorite hole:  10
  • My Doak Score:  9.  Only one weak hole in #1 and number 18 seemed a little bit out of place.

Royal St. George's


  • Got to play 4 rounds over two days like the luckiest of lucky Devils.  Was the only American on the property. 
  • The course was not nearly as severe or random as I was led to believe from reading all the classic accounts. 
  • However, the degree to which the crossing bunkers influence play on 1, 12, 13, 14, and 15 was really interesting and surprising to me. 
  • The rhythm of the course was very interesting.  Not exactly sure how to describe it, but the course seems to manifest to me in 3-4 hole stretches.   1-3, 4-7, and 8-10, 11-13, and 16-18 all seemed to have similar feels to me.  This is possibly because the wind seemed to change enough to matter every hour, but hard to put my finger on why I had this sense.
  • Loved the way I which no two consecutive holes play in the same direction and the need to adjust constantly. Had 3 different principal wind directions in 48 hours.
  • Had the desire to play 54 every day if my legs were up to it.
  • Shot 78-76-81-75=310. Happy to see this is what Vardon shot I 1899 with hickory and a feathery.  My caddie was Chris Clearly, who was a hipster version of Simon Pegg and truly a pro. 
  • Favorite holes:  2,4,9,12.
  • My Doak Score: 10

None of my 6 rounds were played in more than 2:50, which only added to the pleasure. 


Having made my first trip to Bandon about 6 weeks ago, I did have one reflection after seeing Deal and Sandwich.  I thought this at the time, but did not fully process it:  Bandon truly suffers from a mono-directional wind.  Pity that. 
« Last Edit: August 12, 2016, 07:51:23 AM by James Brown »

Michael Felton

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: First Impressions of Sandwich, Deal, and Walton Heath (And Bandon)
« Reply #1 on: August 12, 2016, 07:57:11 AM »
Hi James,


Thank you for the nice write up. Out of curiosity, when you played Deal, where was the wind blowing? You can play 12 through 16 with nothing between a 3 wood and a wedge quite frequently.


At Walton it's a shame you didn't get to see the Old as well. I think the Old has the best holes on the property and also has a better flow to it. The New has a lot of really good holes. The back nine is a beast too.


I'm not sure I've ever seen anyone play cross country (meaning from one tee to a different green), but you can chop and change where you go when it's quiet so easily. On the New, you can go from the 7th green to the 13th tee or the 4th green to the 14th tee, or the 12th tee or the 16th tee. It's very easy to play a few holes without winding up in the middle of nowhere. Not to mention switching courses. 16 on the Old is right next to 7 on the New (also I think my favourite hole on the complex).

James Brown

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: First Impressions of Sandwich, Deal, and Walton Heath (And Bandon)
« Reply #2 on: August 12, 2016, 12:11:40 PM »
Teed off at 13:00 and Number 1 was wind out of the right and helping.   Wind started to shift pretty quick and by 12 it was almost straight across and only slightly helping.  18 was straight into the wind. 


Had the same shifting winds from NW to W to S the next two days.  Very cool. 

Sven Nilsen

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: First Impressions of Sandwich, Deal, and Walton Heath (And Bandon)
« Reply #3 on: August 12, 2016, 04:36:04 PM »
James:

Come out to Bandon and live through a winter.  You'll get plenty of variety in the wind.

Sven
"As much as we have learned about the history of golf architecture in the last ten plus years, I'm convinced we have only scratched the surface."  A GCA Poster

"There's the golf hole; play it any way you please." Donald Ross

James Brown

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: First Impressions of Sandwich, Deal, and Walton Heath (And Bandon)
« Reply #4 on: August 13, 2016, 04:45:54 AM »
James:

Come out to Bandon and live through a winter.  You'll get plenty of variety in the wind.

Sven


That's a good idea!  I must say I was pretty disappointed when I learned it blows the same direction every day in the summer. 

Sven Nilsen

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: First Impressions of Sandwich, Deal, and Walton Heath (And Bandon)
« Reply #5 on: August 13, 2016, 09:19:20 AM »
James:

Come out to Bandon and live through a winter.  You'll get plenty of variety in the wind.

Sven


That's a good idea!  I must say I was pretty disappointed when I learned it blows the same direction every day in the summer.


Whoever told you that had no idea what they were talking about.  In the Summer the predominant breeze is from the North, but we do get South breezes more often than you'd think.  The other day on Old Mac, on the first and second holes the wind was out of the Southeast.  When we got over the ridge on the third, the wind had shifted back to the north.  Over the course of the round it went from the Northeast to a breeze coming off of the ocean as the land warmed up.


If there's one truism about the weather out here it is that anything can happen.


Sven
"As much as we have learned about the history of golf architecture in the last ten plus years, I'm convinced we have only scratched the surface."  A GCA Poster

"There's the golf hole; play it any way you please." Donald Ross

John Cowden

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: First Impressions of Sandwich, Deal, and Walton Heath (And Bandon)
« Reply #6 on: August 13, 2016, 03:00:52 PM »
If the wind at Bandon is "mono-directional", then I don't understand the term.   I suspect your visit was rather brief. 

James Brown

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: First Impressions of Sandwich, Deal, and Walton Heath (And Bandon)
« Reply #7 on: August 13, 2016, 05:08:31 PM »
If the wind at Bandon is "mono-directional", then I don't understand the term.   I suspect your visit was rather brief.


All I know is that I was there for four days around July 4th and the wind blew from the North every day.  My caddie, who had been there 11 years, said the wind always blow from the North in the summer monthly every day. 

William_G

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: First Impressions of Sandwich, Deal, and Walton Heath (And Bandon)
« Reply #8 on: August 13, 2016, 08:27:24 PM »
one the best things about Bandon is that is plays differently everyday as well as AM to PM

not sure why I would trust James' opinion on GCA or anything   :o :o



It's all about the golf!

James Brown

  • Karma: +0/-0

William_G

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: First Impressions of Sandwich, Deal, and Walton Heath (And Bandon)
« Reply #10 on: August 14, 2016, 03:21:49 PM »
prevailing winds exist at Bandon summer and winter

there is no such thing as mono-directional wind

folks it's an outdoor sport on the place we call Earth

http://1252.photobucket.com/user/tequila4kapp/media/Bandon/Bandon_BandonDunes/Bandon_Routing_x_zps91cb0959.jpg.html

prevailing winds exist at St. Andrews as well

https://www.windfinder.com/windstatistics/leuchars

 :o :o :o
It's all about the golf!

James Brown

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: First Impressions of Sandwich, Deal, and Walton Heath (And Bandon)
« Reply #11 on: August 14, 2016, 04:10:20 PM »
Nice website, windfinder.com.  Thanks for sharing. 


'Mono-directional" was the wrong choice of words.  I think it is very fair to say that Bandon does have very strong prevailing wind directions for summer and winter.  I was really struck by this during my first visit, as I had never visited any of the great courses where the wind blew the same way for 4 days in a row.  And for my own preferences, I enjoy variable winds. 

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