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Ran Morrissett

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Prestwick profile is posted ...
« on: July 18, 2013, 11:12:15 AM »
... under Old Tom Morris in 1850s and Courses by Country.

Great courses produce great winners is an important maxim to me; if it isn’t true, then what are we all talking about here?!

Happily, it holds true. Take Harvie Ward’s British Amateur at Prestwick in 1952. He won it, with style and ease. Prestwick once again identified the best player. I say that with pride because I have lived in Southern Pines now for fourteen years. I only met him once early on through Jim Lewis before he passed in 2004 but you can’t live here without being reveled by Harvie’s exploits. Many think he was the greatest player in the world – amateur or professional - for a certain period during the 1950s. Good on Prestwick for substantiating that!

Of all the host courses of the Open Championship, St. Andrews, Prestwick and Royal St. George’s are the quirkiest. Yet, they crown stellar winners. For example, the Champion Golfer of the Year of the twenty-five Opens played at Prestwick up until 1925 comprise a who’s who! I find that very interesting. These three courses have the occasional blind tee balls and approach shots, ‘unreceptive’ greens that fall from front to back, and wicked bunkers that have become household names. At various times during their evolution, they had the benefit of having controversial aspects. I write that because controversy can test character, which is a good thing.

Look at this week’s Open venue. Everything is frank and honest, if not straightforward. The landforms are more conventional and so are the holes with perhaps nothing that stirs the soul quite like the Alps, Narrows, Sea Headrig, Himalayas or Bridge.  The two clubs share kummel, great lunches and are both steeped in tradition but the golf courses could not be more different. With rare exception at Muirfield, you play between rows of hay. Meanwhile, at the home of the Open, you have a wall at the first, then a burn, later the Elysian Fields before playing south down the coastline, and finally entering a four hole finishing loop over landscape reminiscent of the moon! Bottom line: Some prefer Muirfield for its clear optics and others Prestwick for its variety. Vive la différence – how lucky are golfers to have both!

Imagine following in Old Tom Morris’s footsteps. Today’s Green Keeper is Murray Stewart and he has Prestwick pitch perfect.


Look at the texture. Canadian golf architect Rod Whitman battles along Goosedubs.


A band of rough frequently separates bunkers from fairways at other courses; not at Prestwick. The fairway contours and short grass work in unison to shunt tee balls into this pair of fairway bunkers along the left of eight. Find the sand and reaching the green some 180 yards away becomes impossible. How the golfer handles the occasional ‘unlucky’ bounces might well define the round.

Both Muirfield and Prestwick represent great golf, especially when their fescue fairways are tight and tan. At this stratosphere, I personally look for holes of a singular merit and ones that have influenced golf course architecture. Ever since 1985, I have taken various swipes at my own version of Pat Ward-Thomas world eclectic eighteen. Muirfield has always had two contenders (13 and 17) but Prestwick had more (1,3,13,15 and 17). In fact its 13th and 17th holes (both Old Tom Morris holes FYI) trumped the two corresponding holes at Muirfield. I never completed my PWT list for one reason:  I wanted to stick to one hole from one course. That’s fine 99.99% of the time but not for Prestwick. I was committed to the 13th for sure ... and the 15th ... and the 17th! I never got past that roadblock. Oh well, at least I tried.

My point in sharing that yawner of a story is to emphasize that Prestwick to this day possesses holes of alarming merit. In fact, the holes might be too good. Modern architects would be lynched if they built a green like Sea Headrig or a blind green complex as severe as the Alps.  Best case, they borrow design tenets from here but all copies come up short of the real thing. If you want to see something special and out of the ordinary, a pilgrimage to a place like Prestwick becomes essential. Few courses reek of originality; Prestwick is an exception, and therefore it possesses a vitality that is nearly unmatched in world golf.

Obviously, Prestwick is an exceedingly fond place to the Morris family and I would like to thank Old Tom Morris’s great, great grandson Melvyn Morrow for his perspective and wealth of information – he helped me put a lot of things in proper perspective. Also, thanks to Ben Cowan-Dewar for many of his photos that highlight Prestwick’s golfing beauty.

Ben and I post this course profile today in celebration of the 142nd edition of our favorite professional event, the Open Championship. We have posted a lot of material this week and I apologize for the frequent use of superlatives. In the case of introducing this profile, it is unavoidable. As you watch the Open, remember that it started here 153 years ago. Talk about history!

Then and now, Prestwick joins St. Andrews in setting the standard for links golf.

Best,

Jud_T

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Re: Prestwick profile is posted ...
« Reply #1 on: July 18, 2013, 11:48:50 AM »
Ran,

Thanks for this.  A must-play for any fan of GCA and a great addition to the Course Profiles section.
Golf is a game. We play it. Somewhere along the way we took the fun out of it and charged a premium to be punished.- - Ron Sirak

Tom_Doak

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Re: Prestwick profile is posted ...
« Reply #2 on: July 18, 2013, 11:57:22 AM »
I will never forget taking George Bahto to Scotland a few years back, just before we started work on Old Macdonald -- he had never been -- and taking him to Prestwick first.  After we were finished, he sat on a little bench outside the clubhouse, tired and just dumbfounded by what he'd seen.  After a while, the first thing he asked me was, "Where did we go wrong?"  It was that different from everything in America.

Mark Bourgeois

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Re: Prestwick profile is posted ...
« Reply #3 on: July 18, 2013, 12:03:40 PM »
They built the course so close to the airport for the same reason Civil War battles were fought in national parks.
Charlotte. Daniel. Olivia. Josephine. Ana. Dylan. Madeleine. Catherine. Chase. Jesse. James. Grace. Emilie. Jack. Noah. Caroline. Jessica. Benjamin. Avielle. Allison.

Tom Kelly

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Re: Prestwick profile is posted ...
« Reply #4 on: July 18, 2013, 12:53:23 PM »
Had my first Prestwick experience earlier this year on my own in Arctic conditions. I was the only person on the course for the majority of the round, the guys in the pro shop thought I was mad when I asked them how much it was to play! I only saw one other group out all day yet I absolutely loved every second of it and I will definitely get back whenever I can. I think I could spend all day playing the 13th hole over and over again.

Eric Smith

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Re: Prestwick profile is posted ...
« Reply #5 on: July 18, 2013, 01:20:10 PM »
I chose the same route Mr. Bahto did when he went with Tom, going to Prestwick on my first day in Scotland. Really glad I did too. I thought the golf course was fantastic with all its quirkiness and bold gca. I'd never seen anything like it! It can be a bit disorienting for the first time visitor, but thankfully we had a quality caddie along, as well as resident GCAer David Nelson playing in our foursome to shepherd us around the course.

Add in the wonderful clubhouse, the old hotels across the street, the Red Lion around the corner...it truly is a living history of golf and of the Open Championship, as Ran points out in his profile. I look forward to going back.



Connor Dougherty

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Re: Prestwick profile is posted ...
« Reply #6 on: July 18, 2013, 11:43:41 PM »
Bottom line: Some prefer Muirfield for its clear optics and others Prestwick for its variety. Vive la différence – how lucky are golfers to have both!

No truer words have been spoken!
"The website is just one great post away from changing the world of golf architecture.  Make it." --Bart Bradley

Thomas Dai

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Re: Prestwick profile is posted ...
« Reply #7 on: July 19, 2013, 06:53:04 AM »
Really enjoyed reading this profile. Thank you for sharing it. Yee Olde Worlde golf. Wonderful.
All the best

John Sabino

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Re: Prestwick profile is posted ...
« Reply #8 on: July 23, 2013, 05:17:13 PM »
Ran - A fantastic profile as usual, you captured the essence and spirit of Prestwick perfectly. What an opening hole, as Henry Longhurst has said about the first hole - "A tremendous wind is blowing and the slightest letting up will see your ball sailing away like a seagulls feather across the down platform of Prestwick station." A challenge to this day without warming up as you say. John
Author: How to Play the World's Most Exclusive Golf Clubs and Golf's Iron Horse - The Astonishing, Record-Breaking Life of Ralph Kennedy

http://www.top100golf.blogspot.com/

RichMacafee

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Re: Prestwick profile is posted ...
« Reply #9 on: July 30, 2013, 09:22:21 PM »
I've just returned from an extensive UK golf trip that will take a while to fully digest.

What I do know for sure is that as time goes on, the days I spent at Prestwick and North Berwick will never be forgotten, and only grow in importance and fond memories.

18 holes at Prestwick, followed by Kummel and lunch, then a one hour 'tour' of the clubhouse spent with the manager digesting the history of the course and club - it doesn't get better than that in my opinion.

I've already been asked to rank the courses I played on my trip. I find it impossible because of 'experiences' like this - and I think I'll stay away from doing it deliberately.
"The uglier a man's legs are, the better he plays golf. It's almost law" H.G.Wells.

Frank Pasquale

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Re: Prestwick profile is posted ...
« Reply #10 on: July 30, 2013, 10:45:12 PM »
Great course and one of the most fun rounds I've ever had.  Went in '11 as a single.  Without getting into too much detail... early morning round, chipped and putted a few balls, rushed to the first tee and got paired with another American tourist.  First swing of the day, no way was I going into the railway, so I proceeded to pull my tee shot into a horrendous spot, way left.  My caddie, Andy (highly recommended), tells me the club allows you to hit a "breakfast ball", aka mulligan.  Walking out to my second ball in the middle of the fairway, I say to Andy there is no way I'm playing that ball, I'm finding the first one.  I proceed to scrape my way to a bogey.  I'm glad I played the first ball.  I hung around, hung around, and then eagled 12 and 18 to shoot 71.  I average one eagle a year.  Two in 7 holes?  Stuff like that doesn't happen for me.

Anyway, sorry for the personal triumph story... I loved the course.  I felt it allowed me to play creatively but at the same time knowing danger was lurking, pretty much everywhere.  #3 was very awkward but fun - hitting a 5 iron tee shot on a par 5 was unique.  Aiming at a reflector on #5 was a first for me, the second shot at #6 reminded me of NGLA, the view from the tee at #10 was spectacular, and 15 and 17 were so difficult for me, but with 16 and 18 being drivable, it just made for such a fun finish.

RichMacafee

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Re: Prestwick profile is posted ...
« Reply #11 on: July 30, 2013, 11:32:54 PM »
I'm sure it has been discussed around here before, but Prestwick would have to be one of the best matchplay courses on the planet. We played a fourball match in our group which was great fun, a singles match would have been even more so (assuming you trust your opponent!)
"The uglier a man's legs are, the better he plays golf. It's almost law" H.G.Wells.

JC Urbina

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Re: Prestwick profile is posted ...
« Reply #12 on: July 31, 2013, 10:07:44 AM »
Ran,

Thanks for the profile and write up,

Prestwick was the first golf course I visited on my first tour of links golf in the UK in the middle 80's.  Seeing the Cardinal and Alps for the first time forever changed my approach to golf course design.  In Michael Robin’s documentary on the building of Old Macdonald I comment on the surreal feeling I had creating the Alps hole at Old Mac.  If someone would have told me that day in Scotland that I would be using the 17th hole at Prestwick as a model for a similar hole in Bandon Oregon almost 25 years later I would have said they were crazy.

On my last visit a few years back I walked inside the clubhouse and viewed the trophies and old photographs for over an hour.  I also sat by the first tee and watched groups go off marveling at the simplicity of the first hole.

Prestwick will forever be my sentimental favorite links course.

Jason Topp

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Re: Prestwick profile is posted ...
« Reply #13 on: July 31, 2013, 10:43:01 AM »
My memories from Prestwick:

The opening tee shot - no idea what to do

Hitting a tee shot on number 2 that hooked slightly left of the pin and my caddie immediately responding "no good."  He was right.

Seeing the Cardinal Bunker for the first time.

Wondering what the fuss was about 4

Thinking the tee shot on 5 looked impossible.  Hitting a shot I thought landed in the middle of the hill short and then seeing my ball on the green after getting over (or around I cannot remember) the hill.

A caddie in a sorry state telling the group behind to hit while we were putting on the Alps.

When we informed a caddie we were playing Troon in the afternoon hearing him remark "Boring"

Being depressed the round was already over walklng up 18.  I don't think it took much more than two hours. 

Western Gailes one evening followed by Prestwick in the morning is about as good as it gets.


Mark Pearce

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Re: Prestwick profile is posted ...
« Reply #14 on: July 31, 2013, 12:34:32 PM »
Prestwick is the sort of club, like HCEG and possibly Deal that almost demands a 36 hole day.
In June I will be riding the first three stages of this year's Tour de France route for charity.  630km (394 miles) in three days, with 7800m (25,600 feet) of climbing for the William Wates Memorial Trust (https://rideleloop.org/the-charity/) which supports underprivileged young people.

George_Bahto

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Re: Prestwick profile is posted ...
« Reply #15 on: August 01, 2013, 07:47:22 PM »
Tom Doak:   Thank you for remembering that day.  Course design turned down a new road for me.

We were on an Old Macdonald based "mission," basically for me to better understand what holes and design features Charles Blair Macdonald used as reference prior to designing his "Ideal" golf course. Any questions that would arise during the design and build of Old Macdonald would be referenced to what CBM saw overseas, not.from anything at National or ant of the many courses they built thereafter.

Of course I had read about it all in Scotland's Gift - Golf, but the near two weeks we spent visiting and discussing it all was quite an experience and very enlightening.

Tom was my guide and mentor - a period of time  I'll not forget.
If a player insists on playing his maximum power on his tee-shot, it is not the architect's intention to allow him an overly wide target to hit to but rather should be allowed this privilege of maximum power except under conditions of exceptional skill.
   Wethered & Simpson

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