Kinghorn, Fife (Old Tom & Willie Fernie)

[Mark Pearce]

A net 76 this afternoon confirms my presence at Kinghorn tomorrow!  Cameron also failed to make the semis but he is waiting to hear what time tomorrow he's required for a conference call, so he's a doubt.

[Niall C]

Three cheers for Mr Mayhugh for starting this thread that inspired a gang of GCA'ers to give it a play. On a mostly breezy dry day, sometimes sunny and even a spot of rain, 5 of us turned up for a game and were absolutely charmed by a course that was nicely browned and huge fun to play. Any course that has a par 4 that is 167 yards, and it feels like a par 4 and doesn't feel like a gimmick clearly isn't conventional. I've no idea of the overall yardage or par even though I kept my (stableford) score. Somehow they aren't really relevant when it comes to Kinghorn.


I think Mark took some photos which hopefully he'll post to give others a flavour of the course.


Niall

[Mark Pearce]

Three cheers for Mr Mayhugh for starting this thread that inspired a gang of GCA'ers to give it a play. On a mostly breezy dry day, sometimes sunny and even a spot of rain, 5 of us turned up for a game and were absolutely charmed by a course that was nicely browned and huge fun to play. Any course that has a par 4 that is 167 yards, and it feels like a par 4 and doesn't feel like a gimmick clearly isn't conventional. I've no idea of the overall yardage or par even though I kept my (stableford) score. Somehow they aren't really relevant when it comes to Kinghorn.


I think Mark took some photos which hopefully he'll post to give others a flavour of the course.


Niall

The meaninglessness of par there was driven home by the fact that two of our three ball failed to finish the 167 yard par 4, with the other making bogey, while between us we took only 13 shots to play the 460 yard stroke index 1.  Wind, hills, firm fairways and quirk.  Just tremendous fun.

[Duncan Cheslett]

Kinghorn goes straight into my top 3 fun golf courses, along with Shiskine and the Himalayas at St Andrews.

[John Mayhugh]

Glad some of you made it there. I only wish I could have joined you.

[Garland Bayley]

Glad some of you made it there. I only wish I could have joined you.

I imagine there are a lot of us living vicariously through the exploits of our GB&I  brethren.

[David McIntosh]

Would’ve been great to have had you out there with us yesterday John, sure you would have loved it. Ashamed to say I’ve passed Kinghorn on a number of occasions over the years without venturing in but glad to have now played the course.

Fun best sums up Kinghorn and it’s telling that Niall, Mark and Duncan all used the same description in their posts. The course is laid out on a compact site with quite a bit of elevation change but it doesn’t feel like you’re constantly going up and down. It’s set across rolling linksy terrain with some of the fairways resembling lunar landscapes. The tightish site lends itself to a few holes crossing over each other, which just adds to the charm. Plenty of interest on the greens too which are defended by a fair bit of slope, including a couple of devilish front to back tilted surfaces, and a number of well placed fall-offs.

[Mark Pearce]

The first is a reasonably straightforward but gives a hint of the undulations to come:



A decent drive leaves the first half blind shot:




The second, a long par 3 into the prevailing wind, is properly blind:



With a built up green on the side of a hill:






3 is a drop shot par 3, with a twist:




More to come.....

[Marty Bonnar]

That’s Carlton, N and Bonnar, M striding off down the 4th in the background.
Love the North Berwickesque Par 3 3rd!
F.

[Mark Pearce]

4 plays back towards the clubhouse, and has a fantastic fairway:




The green slopes steeply from right to left (this pic taken from short left)

[John Mayhugh]

Thanks for the photos, Mark. The starting holes look pretty good.

[Mark Pearce]

I think the front 9 is the better 9.  There are one or two slightly meh holes on the back 9, though still enough there to engage and continue the fun.


The 5th benefits again from some fabulously rolling fairway land:




and another benched green with a steep slope in front:



The 6th is a short par 4.  Very short, as noted above.  Just 167 yards from the yellow tees.  This picture is from about 50 yards forward of those yellow tees:



That's Martin and Niall on the 7th tee in front (and you get a feel for the drive on 7 there, too).  A single small bunker ahead, and the right edge of the green just poking out from behind the bank on the left.  Like so many holes at Kinghorn, the green itself is very small and benched on a slope.  If I was playing this in a medal I'd lay up short of the bunker every time.

7 plays up to the top of the course, with a drive over a hill sloping from right to left.  A good drive leaves this:



The wall left is OOB and hugs the left of the fairway but the cant of the fairway and the steeper bank to the right make for a wider effective driving area than might appear.  Leaving a drive up on the slope on the right would leave a tricky approach, though.

[Mark Pearce]

At over 460 yards, 8 looks like a brute on the card, with another blind drive.  The wind was helping when we were there, however.




Three good drives took us over the hill, to reveal a downhill second, to a gathering green site:



9 is another short par 4:




10 another shortish par 4 over some fabulous rolling ground:



with a rise to a benched green:



A picture from the right of the green shows how small it is:

[John Mayhugh]

That is a really cool looking tee shot on 8.

Is 9 green as tough a target as it looks?

[Mark Pearce]

Is 9 green as tough a target as it looks?

Yes.  A par 4 that looks easily driveable on the card (where it looks like a par 3!) but, particularly in the right to left wind we had, very difficult to hit, I would have thought.  Certainly we didn't manage it. 

[Mark Pearce]

11 is one of a handful of holes on a piece of land with less heroic movement and which are less engaging for it.  A short uphill par 4, with mounding interfering with the most direct route to the pin:




Messrs Bonnar and Carlton have sensibly played down the left.

12 is a long but downhill par 4, with more interesting land in play again.  This from a decent drive:




Fans of greens running away from you will love this one.  This picture from back right:



The ball on the very edge of the green is the result of my third, played from a full 60 yards through the back.  It had been 3 feet from the hole before coming back down the slope!

13 is a long uphill par 4, which played into the wind we had.  It's not a bad hole but less memorable than most at Kinghorn.  The green is, again, built up in the slope:

[Mark Pearce]

14 is a 200 yard uphill par 3, with a less interesting green than most:




15 a mid-length par 3:



Together these 2 are perhaps the least interesting holes on the property.

16 is a short, blind, downhill par 4:



A decent long iron leaves this pitch, to another green running away:



The course finishes with two more par 3s, on the side of the hill.  17 is reasonably straightforward, though a miss right is unattractive:



The 17th tee overlooks Kinghorn itself, and the beach and cemetery:





18 from the yellow tees is a short par 3, to a blind green cut into the left to right slope.  Again, right is not the miss (nor, as I discovered, is long)



The medal tee here is a different matter altogether.  It plays 195 yards, from a tee a long way below the hole:



That's it, by the tree.  I imagine anyone without a high long iron shot in their game is forced to lay up, perhaps even with a 9 iron or so.  A picture of the green from behind shows it again running away from the tee and benched into the slope:



For a £17 green fee we got to enjoy some really interesting and fun golf.  There are a couple of duller holes and I might, playing there regularly, get slightly frustrated by the number of small, benched greens but these are very minor quibbles.  Kinghorn is tremendous fun and well worth a visit.  Many thanks again to John for firt mentioning it here and to David for organising.

[Marty Bonnar]

Hear, hear!
A splendid fun day in the company of fellow afflictees.
F.
PS Have you seriously played Crail, TOC and HCEG since last Sunday? Lucky b’std! 

[Mark Pearce]

PS Have you seriously played Crail, TOC and HCEG since last Sunday? Lucky b’std! 

Both Crails. And, of course, you forgot Elie,

[Niall C]

Mark


Well done with the photo tour. It's amazing how getting your picture taken from a distance of about 200 yards can make you look slimmer. 


The only hole I thought was devoid of any real interest was the long hole (relatively speaking) up the hill (12th or 13th). Every other hole had something of interest even if it was trying to judge where to land the ball short of the green to allow for the bounce and roll. Indeed on more than one hole I went through the back on a shortish chip that landed just short of the green, and the greens weren't that quick either.


Not a course that could be called "great" but certainly could be called "great fun".


Niall

[James Reader]

I’m really sorry I wasn’t able to make it but I’m back up in Fife for the last two weeks of August and may well put that right then.  If anyone else who missed it would like to join me, let me know.

[Marty Bonnar]

Looks like I have been wrong all these years on the land to the north of the course. Seems the council bought, sold, leased and then repurchased the area! (And the course never ventured further than the current boundary.)
https://www.scottishgolfhistory.org/oldest-golf-courses/1812-kinghorn/
Good reading!
F.