[James Boon]

I'm sure plenty of you are aware of the charms of James Braid's Brora GC, about 30 mins drive north of Dornoch? For many of you (me included) I suspect that charm comes from the genuine world class links course subtly disguised behind the sheep, electric fences, down to earth nature of the club and oh yes its par of 69...

However, recently the club decided that it would like to become a par 70 by stretching one of its par 4s, and they chose the 11th. On my trip to that part of the world a month or two ago, I managed to play Brora and though there was low cloud and a lot of top dressing applied to the tees, here is what I saw...

A new sign to direct you back from the old tee to the new one


Looking back towards the new tee from the old


The new marker


View from the new tee. That's the old tee to the left.


A decent drive now leaves you back a little from the ridge that crosses the fairway, forming the upper plateau, so your second shot is somewhat blind


From closer to where drives would have finished from the old tee, you can see the burn and the various rough humps and hollows that now await a layup


Anything out to the right is going to find a tricky rough lie, which means off to the left is probably safer even if it brings the bunkers into play? Here is the view of the green from short right




The old hole was 412 yards par 4. The hole now plays 497 from the whites and 491 from the yellows, as a par 5. This takes the overall length up to 6,211 from the whites while still keeping the yellows below the mystical 6,000 at 5,951.

I don't know whether this will see the start of a number of new tees or other changes to the course? What other holes are there to be lengthened / adjusted? The 11th was probably a decent choice to extend to a par 5 but after one play I'm not sure whether its a better hole or not? Would it have been better as a lengthend par 4 of around 460 or 470? Could another hole have been lengthened instead to get a better par 5? 3, 10, even 17? If the only aim was to increase the par to 70 then its clearly been achieved. Whether it needed to be or not is another matter?!

But in all honesty, the par of 69, though cherished by many of us here is afterall just a number and Brora still has more than enough charm left to make it a must play for any golfer!

Cheers,

James

[James Boon]

Just remembered that David Tepper started a discussion regarding this last year...
http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,55715.0.html

Cheers,

James

[Niall C]

James (and DT)

Thanks for that. At 497 yds, is the hole more or less a 3 shotter every time for us average hitters and how does that fit into the sequence of holes before and after ? From memory the hole before is the par 3 ? Can't recall, probably counting sheep at that point.

Niall

[Thomas Dai]

I remember playing wonderful, enchanting Brora with a member who mentioned that lengthening the 10th was under consideration. Afterwards we discussed with some other members (obviously not Committee members) in the Clubhouse numerous holes that could be considerably extended. Then we all came to the same view - why bother, it's great as it is (was).

Special place, indeed a special part of the world.

atb

[Brett Hochstein]

I think the view from the old tee was much better--one of the best on the course if not the best--and I'm not sure anything is really gained in the quality of the hole by adding yardage and par besides a number, which to me rarely dictates quality anyway.  This seems a downgrade to me. 

[John Cowden]

Great photos.  Haste ye back! 

[James Boon]

Brett,

Thats a very good point. The view from the old 11th tee was a very good one from a high vantage point looking down on the fairway with plenty of the the course to be seen beyond. I dont recall the view from the new tee being half as good.

Niall,

It sits in the middle of:
8, shortish par 5
9, medium par 3 with green by the sea
10, long par 4
11, now a short par 5
12, shortish par 4, often overlooked but one of my favourites
13, short par 3 over the stream
So its not actually too bad on the flow of the course, but suspect I preferred it as the par 4 just over 400 yards. But that may be because I was so used to it.

Thomas,

There seems to be so much spare space at Brora, it could be stretched to a "Championship" length very easily but would spoil the fun for me.

Cheers,

James

[Rich Goodale]

James

I ws told a few years ago by an ex-Captain of Brora that Peter Thomson had submitted a proposal for a redesign to stretch over 7,000 yards.  I think the proposal still lies in some drawer somewhere at the club.

Rich

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