The Craziest Links in the World

[Mike Hendren]

A future GCA Ryder Cup venue no doubt.

Paul,

Thanks.  Looks like the perfect place to loiter with intent.

Mike

[Gene Greco]

Mike:

   Kinda looks like that other place we first loitered intently, doesn't it?

[NAF]

I'd love to see a bunch of guys play Perranporth with plus fours and some hickories.. Then again, we can do that at Deal as the club pro is organzing events like that at Deal.  At Perranporth, I'd reckon no one would break 100 and certainly would lose some balls.

[Dan Kelly]

Paul Turner --

Thanks for the annotations.

You know, of all the many things I love in those pictures, I'm growing particularly fond of that little "GUR" sign in the picture with the three pulpit greens.

Thanks again.

[Robin_Hiseman]

Exceptional pictures Paul.  Noel's enthusiastic review of the course was spot on.  This looks like a must-play for quirkaholics.  

Incidentally, I played Hilton Park, near Glasgow yesterday.  They have a nice stone plaque outside the clubhouse presented to them by Perranporth GC, to commemorate their 75th anniversary.  The stone had the usual inscriptions and the club crest of both Hilton Park and Perranporth engraved upon it.  Given the 'Grim Reaper' motif of the Perranporth logo, it was with not a little irony that I noticed that the adjacent Hilton Park club flag was at half mast!

[Ed Tilley]

Just returned from a holiday in Cornwall - they should have played the Masters there, the weather was absolutely stunning. I managed to persuade my father in law to make a bit of a trip to play Perranporth, one of my favourites, which I hadn't played for some years. To my eternal discredit, particularly on account of the weather, I forgot my camera. I've therefore revived this old thread.

I would say that this really is one of the most fun courses on the planet. It's not a course to grind around with card in hand as, with all the blind shots, it can be a bit unfair - I absolutely smashed a drive right over the number on the crazy par 5 5th and never saw the ball again. However, I know of very few courses that present so many options on every shot.

You could go round this course without taking driver - there are no par 4's over 400 yards. Equally you could hit driver on every hole - most of the shorter par 4's are into the prevailing winds. On a number of holes you can safely play to one side of a fairway or green, only to leave yourself with a very difficult approach. There are some absolutely magnificent green sites - 2,3,4,5,6,7,8,11,12,13,14,16,17 are all superb and the others are good too. The greens are far from flat and it really doesn't pay to be downhill and downwind, even on a relatively calm day.

If you can't enjoy playing here you have no golfing soul. This course feels like it hasn't changed much for 50 years, and is all the better for it. Plus it has just about the coolest badge of any club - I now am the proud owner of a Perranporth 'grim reaper' polo shirt.

Finally, with a 2 for 1 voucher, the cost per day of this fantastic course is an extortionate £17.50!

[Doug Siebert]

Can you post a pic of that "grim reaper" logo on the shirt?  Sounds cool....and appropriate!

[peter_p]

This link should get you to the logo:
http://www.perranporthgolfclub.co.uk/

[peter_p]

TEPaul,
Those are deluxe trailers owned by the club and rented out to golfers. Info on their web site, see link on earlier post.

[Tom Yost]

My only comment is about how very out of place that cart path looks in that setting.


Tom

[D_Malley]

it seems like caravan parks next to a golf course in this part of the world are a sure sign of a good golf course.

[Ed Tilley]

Caravan parks in the UK, like links courses, are frequently located in or around sand dunes. The caravans you can see are actually owned and rented out by the club. There are  only a few and they are not visible from the majority of holes. The 'cart path' in front of the 18th green is actually the road to the caravans.

There is actually a much bigger caravan park to the right of the 11th and 12th holes. This is located on a massive area of dunes (3 or 4 times the size of the current golf course) which would make a fabulous course if environmentalists ever allowed.

[D_Malley]

are there many other good links courses in the UK which are in close proximity to caravan parks?  i would have to guess there are alot.

[G Jones]

my club, Panmure, has a caravan park next to the 8th hole. I have often dreamt of finding it's been blown up by a gas leak (when there is no one staying there, of course).


That course in those photos looks like a heart attack waiting to happen... looks very nice though also!

[Andy Levett]

are there many other good links courses in the UK which are in close proximity to caravan parks?  i would have to guess there are alot.

Almost all of them - I started to list them and then realised it would be easier to name a top links not in close proximity to a caravan/trailer park, power station, flour mill,wind farm, sewage farm, airfield etc.
Anyone?
On the topic, I spent a week at Perranporth with my family, in the caravans/trailers in October 2005, as a result of Paul and Noel's evangelising. I'm not sure I played more than one or two 18s but I played lots of short loops and really don't think I can fault the place.

[Pete Lavallee]

That course in those photos looks like a heart attack waiting to happen... looks very nice though also!

I played there just days after Paul and Noel posted those photo's. There was a Sunday morning shotgun and the sight of over 100 golfers, all on foot, swarming over the dunes and steep hill by the Clubhouse restored my faith that golf could be a walking game almost anywere if the locals could do it here. I doubt many US cartballers could make it through the front 9 never mind all 18.

Just a fantastic links with many outstanding holes. A worthy addition to any trip which incudes nearby St Enodoc.