NORTH BERWICK WEST LINKS: 2024-25 Winter Tour

[MCirba]

Enjoy!!

[Brad Tufts]

Love the new posts…i have searched for redan images before (in sebastopol) with no luck, but this was a fun dive into war maps, and I think I know now where the Redan was in the modern-day (Ukrainian!) town.  Pretty damn cool.

[Sean_A]

Personally, I think it would be nice to cut a 25 yard approach fairway on the far side of the wall on the 13th but hey... small stuff...

Hope to be back next year for the first time since 2008...

I have long thought the green should be extended well forward.


Ciao

[Simon Holt]

Unfortunately that section in front of the green is getting narrower by the winter with coastal erosion.


Like many courses on the east coast, worrying times.


On a lighter note, the course is playing very nicely.  The best winter golf conditions that I've seen at NB for years, with lots of the bunkers being tidied up too.

[Marty Bonnar]

Simon,
We played NB a couple of months ago with Ian G. The erosion of the big dune at the 10th tee was quite, ehm, alarming! How is it?
Cheers,
M.
PS Time to update your 2011(!) strap line perhaps? 

[Simon Holt]

Hi Marty,


The dune by the 10th tee is pretty meaty.


It's all of great concern, but the attention is focused further east.


Re 2011, I'd not even noticed that....but I can confirm I've seen a few courses since!


Thanks,


Simon

[Sean_A]

Unfortunately that section in front of the green is getting narrower by the winter with coastal erosion.

Like many courses on the east coast, worrying times.

Yes, sadly, I have noticed serious erosion on 13. It’s alarming on the 14th as well.

Further away down the coast, my beloved Alnmouth Village has a serious problem with the 5th green. It is one harsh storm from being lost.

Ciao

[Sean_A]

The 2024-25 Winter Tour stopped in at North Berwick for several games. Please see the updated tour.

https://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,59363.msg1396567.html#msg1396567

Previous stops on the Tour

Winterfield
https://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,73508.0.html

Alnmouth
https://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,73480.0.html

Cleeve Hill
https://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,49796.msg1128469.html#msg1128469

Future stops on the tour.

NB Children's Course
Weston-s-Mare
Westward Ho!

Ciao

[Ben Sims]

If North Berwick isn’t a 10, why? It’s a frog hair behind TOC as a course I must play.

[Sean_A]

If North Berwick isn’t a 10, why? It’s a frog hair behind TOC as a course I must play.

NB makes a great case for a Doak 9. 10 may be a stretch if the missing even one hole is a serious criteria. But then I wonder if there is a course in the world which meets this criteria.

5 and 6 don’t add much to the course, not in any way which is critical. The 8-9 par 5 combo is a bit problematic. I dislike the concept of back to back par 5s, it generally doesn’t work very well. While individually each are fairly good holes, but both are pretty straight. I am especially perplexed by the 8th green. The fairway is wonderful roly poly stuff, but the huge green doesn’t mimic the fairway. To me this green is a perfect opportunity to create a load of contour that is still visually low key. Think of Woking’s 15th green or even NB’s 3rd and 7th.

Ciao

[Ally Mcintosh]

If North Berwick isn’t a 10, why? It’s a frog hair behind TOC as a course I must play.

Ben, there’s a better case for North Berwick to be an 8 than there is for it to be a 10…. But then it is all subjective.


I love North Berwick (a lot) but it is one that has perhaps become slightly overrated with the last 15 or 20 years of trends.


All that said, it remains a course of supreme variety and wonderful golf. It sits in with Prestwick at its own little level of greatness.

[Mark Pearce]

If North Berwick isn’t a 10, why? It’s a frog hair behind TOC as a course I must play.

Ben, there’s a better case for North Berwick to be an 8 than there is for it to be a 10…. But then it is all subjective.


I love North Berwick (a lot) but it is one that has perhaps become slightly overrated with the last 15 or 20 years of trends.


All that said, it remains a course of supreme variety and wonderful golf. It sits in with Prestwick at its own little level of greatness.

Completely agree with this (and Sean).  NBWL has some of the very best holes anywhere.  But 5 and 6 (and,, for me, 4) aren't terribly interesting and 8 and 9 don't feel quite up to what follows.  Also, 16 aside, the greens aren't as interesting as many of the very best.  NBWL is fabulous for its quirk but isn't quite the overall package of a TOC, or, for me, a Dornoch

[Tony_Muldoon]

Mark whilst the greens may not be the main draw at NBWL, I think you should look again at e.g 3,7,10,12,14,15!!! They offer all I want in a green.

[PThomas]

to only play NB the rest of my life, I wouldn't complain

[Mark Pearce]

Mark whilst the greens may not be the main draw at NBWL, I think you should look again at e.g 3,7,10,12,14,15!!! They offer all I want in a green.

You're probably right, Tony.


The thing is, I do think NBWL is fabulous.  But it does seem an example of the Group Think being discussed on another thread that it's on a level with TOC, Prestwick, Dornoch and others.  I just feel it's a small notch below.  I love Elie but would have to say that NBWL is just a little better than Elie.  But it's not quite as perfect as one might think reading commentary on it on this site.

[Niall C]

Yes, but it's the imperfections that make it so good. By imperfections I really mean its unconventional-ness.


Niall

[Ally Mcintosh]

Yes, but it's the imperfections that make it so good. By imperfections I really mean its unconventional-ness.


Niall

Its unconventional-ness makes it memorable certainly. In that way I always associate it with Prestwick. Two courses I love very much as being different. I also put Elie in that bracket of courses, but just a tad below in quality as Mark states (not much mind). All three have significant quirk married in with some wonderful design and a not insignificant amount of blander stuff. Key to their categorisation is the uniqueness of some of their features.


In the GB&I rankings I submitted, I had NB & Prestwick in the twenties, Elie fifties.

[Sean_A]

Yes, but it's the imperfections that make it so good. By imperfections I really mean its unconventional-ness.


Niall

Its unconventional-ness makes it memorable certainly. In that way I always associate it with Prestwick. Two courses I love very much as being different. I also put Elie in that bracket of courses, but just a tad below in quality as Mark states (not much mind). All three have significant quirk married in with some wonderful design and a not insignificant amount of blander stuff. Key to their categorisation is the uniqueness of some of their features.


In the GB&I rankings I submitted, I had NB & Prestwick in the twenties, Elie fifties.

While I don’t think 5 and 6 are stellar holes, they are not bland either.

Ciao

[Mark Pearce]

Yes, but it's the imperfections that make it so good. By imperfections I really mean its unconventional-ness.


Niall

There's nothing unconventional about 4, 5 or 6.  Or 8.  And none of those are less than good holes.  But they aren't great and they do hold it back just a little.  In fact, I'd go so far as to say that the front 9 at Elie is (comfortably) a better nine holes than the front 9 at NBWL.  NBWL's back 9, however, is magical.  Because of it's mix of great conventional holes (I think 11 is a wonderful par 5, 12 is very good indeed, 15 is one of the great par 3s) and unconventional, mad as a hatter brilliance (13, 14, 16).

[Tags:]

Tags: