[Michael Whitaker]

[Niall C]

Thanks Clyde, and thank you for agreeing to play Cambuslang. And thanks for posting those pictures.


It's a course I've wanted to play for a wee while and now glad that I did. A terrific nine-holer although not quite Scotland's answer to the Sacred Nine. For one thing there isn't the splendid feeling of isolation that you get at Worlington as Cambuslang is pretty well hemmed in by the city all around. Neither does it hit the heights of Worlington's 5th however over the piece I reckon it is more consistent with the long holes being better. I wouldn't say it's the best nine holer in Scotland because I haven't played them all but I'd say it's the best one I've played. For sure it doesn't have the views of Traigh or some of the others but as a golf course I haven't played a better nine-holer in Scotland. Well worth a visit.


Admittedly my thinking might be coloured by playing fairly well on a beautiful autumn day with the course near enough to ourselves. It also helped that the course was in great nick with dry/solid fairways and greens good enough to show a fair bit of borrow.


As for our match, we both were a bit rusty but managed to play well enough to properly enjoy the course. Sort of "easy bogey, hard par" kind of golf. The difference was probably that my short game was perhaps a bit sharper.


Niall

[Niall C]

Jon and I played our match at Peterhead last Saturday on what turned out to be a relatively still if chilly winters day. It took Jon the best part of 3 hours to get there and me 3.5 hours. Not surprisingly then we both got off to slow starts with me topping my tee shot at the first into the rough resulting in a lost ball with my first shot ! Not surprisingly Jon quickly got into a 2 hole lead which I managed to peg back by the turn. As the game went on I managed to play a bit better and again getting a few up and downs, and with the number of shots Jon was having to give me, I managed to par him to death in the last few holes allowing me to win at the 16th.


As for the course, it lived up to its rep which is to say it has some goof fun golf but also is a bit uneven and in some respects disappointing. In the late 1960's the course lost the 15th, 16th and 17th to coastal erosion and these holes were replaced on the inland flatter land. At the same time you sense that they must have moved a few greens, tees, routing or whatever to accommodate the changes as it feels as though it has all the right component parts but not necessarily in the right places (to sort of paraphrase Eric Morecombe). At the time of the changes the club also had to build a new clubhouse for the same reason which more than likely used up most of their available funds, which is a shame as there is enough links land at the far end of the course to probably build another two courses.


Another couple of points worth mentioning is that on a couple of the holes it was obvious that landing areas had been bulldozed flat which was a bit disappointing and maybe done at the time of the 1970 changes ? It also, very disappointingly has areas of the most horrible ball guzzling rough imaginable but lets hope that is just a seasonal thing.


I'm conscious I've focused on some of the negatives but that's why it is a step or two down from the Moray's, Fraserburgh, Nairns and Dornochs but I'd still recommend it but not as highly as the others. However to finish on an up point, the members and staff that we met were probably the friendliest I've met anywhere and make the club a pleasure to visit.


Niall   

[Sean_A]

Harsh rough in late November in northern Scotland?

Happy Hockey

[Michael Whitaker]

[James Reader]

Looks like it’s down to me and you Niall.
I’m going to be in St Andrews over Christmas and New Year (21/12 to 5/1). If you’re around, shall we try find a day and venue that works for us both then?  My wife would have something to say if it was Christmas Day, but outside of that I should be OK!

[Marty Bonnar]

Looks like it’s down to me and you Niall.
I’m going to be in St Andrews over Christmas and New Year (21/12 to 5/1). If you’re around, shall we try find a day and venue that works for us both then?  My wife would have something to say if it was Christmas Day, but outside of that I should be OK!

Oh, I’m attending that!
F.

[Clyde Johnson]

Looks like it’s down to me and you Niall.
I’m going to be in St Andrews over Christmas and New Year (21/12 to 5/1). If you’re around, shall we try find a day and venue that works for us both then?  My wife would have something to say if it was Christmas Day, but outside of that I should be OK!

Oh, I’m attending that!
F.

There's no Old Course starter on Christmas or New Year's Day...just saying 

[Niall C]

As much as I love the notion of getting up early on Christmas morn and driving 2.5 hours to play a round of golf and then drive 2.5 hours back again, I'm not sure my family would be too enamoured of the idea either. However a game over the Christmas period could work for me.


If we are looking at Fife and not just St Andrews then here are some ideas;


Castle course - if I remember correctly this is a Doak -8 with the only redeeming feature being that it finishes adjacent to the car park for a quick get away. However, never having played it I'd quite like to see for myself.


Kinghorn - I've never played it however I've heard that it has some quite interesting lay of the land type stuff going on.


Aberdour - I have played here on a couple of occasions. Unusually starts with two par 3's and while much of it is perhaps hum drum park land it was the home course of our late friend Rich and it would be nice to go back.


Scotscraig - a course I played once about 25 years ago and keen to go back.


James - let me know your thoughts on courses and we can work out some dates. It might be nice to see if we can arrange a bit of a mini-GCA outing.


Cheers


Niall

[James Reader]

We’re agreed Christmas Day isn’t a good idea then Niall!  We’ve got plans for Christmas Eve and friends staying on New Year’s Eve and Day as well, but apart from that I can be pretty flexible on a date.


Of the courses you mention, the Castle course (which I actually enjoy) is closed over the winter. 


I played Scotscraig a few months ago, for the first time in 30 years.  I’d forgotten how good the front 9 is.  The back 9 doesn’t quite live up to it, but I’d very happily play there again.


I’ve never played either Aberdour or Kinghorn and I’d be interested to see them both.  Perhaps the latter might be a better bet at that time of year - particularly given all the rain we’ve had - as it looks like the land is a bit more linksy.


I didn’t realise how far from St Andrews you are though. If you’d rather go for somewhere closer to you, let me know.

Looking forward to it.

[Niall C]

James

Sorry, meant to respond sooner than this if only to allow Ran to book his flights so he can attend, and for the club to arrange marshalls to hold back what I'm sure will be huge crowds. 

Can I suggest we first agree the date. I think the 27th or 28th would suit me if you can let me know your thoughts. In terms of Kinghorn, I'll check whether the course is a) likely to be open b) can we book ahead of time, and c) whether it is likely to be a boggy marsh. If the weathers likely to be wet then we might want to move to a "pure" links as I suspect Kinghorn has more of a clayey soil however haven't checked my Charles Price in that respect.

Anyone else looking to join us ?

Niall

[Niall C]

James and I have been in touch and the current thinking is playing on the 27th or 28th with the venue depending on availability and conditioning (who wants to play in mud ?) which may knock out Kinghorn as a venue. Anyone wish to join us please let me know and if you have any ideas on venue pleased to hear that also.


Cheers


Niall

[Mark Pearce]

Congratulations to our 2019 Champion James Reader.  A mixed day weather wise at NBWL but I gather a good match with Niall.


Great to catch up with those in attendance.  I guess we need to start thinking about the 2020 version now....

[Jon Wiggett]

Well done James and bad luck Niall. Looking forward to reading the match report.

[James Boon]

Congratulations James, its always good to say you lost to the eventual winner... 


Well done Niall for getting to the final, and well done everyone who managed to play their games! Thanks also to Mark for organising and to Mike for the updates to the sheet.


Looking forwards to next years event already. Perhaps we need to encourage a few more gatherings of UK based GCAers that might make it easier to get some of these games played?


Cheers,


James

[Michael Whitaker]

[Marty Bonnar]

Well done, James. Bad luck, Niall. Match played with usual GCA sportsmanship on what was quite a miserable day on lovely NBWL. Gawd, I LOVE that golf course.
Thankfully, weather tempered by some charming company as always with much humour and general bonhomie despite the downpour.
Looking forward to next year!
Cheers,
F.

[Scott Warren]

Congrats once again to the UK contingent for managing to run this successfully — particularly the northerners with so many fewer forfeits. Great work by all, and interesting reading the rundowns of matches across some courses I’ve never heard of before.

[Niall C]

Thanks to all for their commiserations but let me assure you that bad luck had nothing to do with it ! Both James and I played some good stuff considering the conditions and apart from maybe one hole we had nothing worse than bogey on what was not the best day for golf. The game was always no more than 1 hole in it until the 15th when James got two in front and he held on to close out the match on the 17th. James was a worthy winner and fine company on the course. I look forward to playing more golf with James in the future.


Thanks to everyone else who showed up and in particular Sean and David for hosting. Roll on next years comp.


All the best


Niall   

[Sean_A]

It was fun to watch this match and take a few salient snaps. 

Both protagonists struggled on the opening hole.  Below we see Niall slashing his third from the rough after a bang on drive. Let him walk you through this hole 
 

Playing his 3rd (second from the beach), James hit a stunner to leave himself with a putt to win the hole. 


Things settled down on the second.




Among what I counted up as four very lucky/weird shots (three of them from FBD!), this one sort of encapsulates the match in a nutshell.


One of FBD's little beauties!


Congrats to James, who for all we know was an imposter  .  Niall falls to 0fer at North Berwick...heavy sigh, but he played well.  I reckon a fine time was had by all.  I hope somebody organizes a late winter/early spring GCA romp!

Happy Hockey

[James Reader]

If I was going to send an imposter, Sean, I’d have found one who wasn’t going to hit 2 of his first 3 shots on to the beach!


Thanks to you and David for hosting, to Niall for a well-fought match, to Marty for showing us how you’re supposed to use those bridges, and to Mark for not letting his sons play in the competition - by the sound of it I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have won if they had.  It was great to finally meet you all and to play North Berwick again after over 30 years.


As for lucky shots, I must have read a hundred times over those 30 years, that the way to play the Pit is to hit your drive as close to the wall as possible to give you a second shot straight down the green.  So that’s what I did!


Happy New Year to you all and I look forward to seeing you all again in 2020.

[Niall C]

See, this was what I was up against, playing a flat belly while some numpty was taking photos in the middle of my swing. Even Tiger couldn't have coped. As for the "slashing his third" jibe, what the writer of that comment failed to see was a controlled explosion shot that admittedly didn't work very well.


Niall

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