Good topic Sean
George's list is very bizzare, but it is his, and it made me think about top 10 links I would most prefer to play again, rather than my insignificant view as to which were the "best" 10 links GCA-wise or otherwise. So, alphabetically....
Ballyliffin Old--not as good as when it was Ballyliffin Only, but what remains is still Eddie Hackett's masterpiece
Deal--the Elie of England
Dornoch--my "home" course since I first played it in 1978
Eden (St. Andrews)--most enjoyable course in St. Andrews, even with the Links Trust/Donald Steel butchery of what Colt built
Elie--in many ways the perfect links, and whilst posh, still very accessible
Kilspindie--the least "affected" of all the significant East Lothian clubs and courses and the greatest fun
Muirfield--so posh that it is the second least affected of the significant East Lothian links (and yes, it IS a links)
Mulranney--spent an hour walking it in 2008, still remains above Pine Valley on my "bucket list" of courses to play
Silloth--more remote than Dornoch but almost as enjoyable
Western Gailes--a nearly perfect blend of quality, simplicity and comfort
Rich
Great list, but as much as I loved Eddie Hacket, I think it's a stretch to attribute Ballyliffen Old to him. My understanding is that it is a home made course by a couple of members and the greenskeeper.
I think otherwise, Richard, based on previous research, published work and family connections in Ballyliffin, but I might have been misinformed.
Rich
I spoke to Marin Niland while researching the 2nd edition of
Links of Heaven. I believe Eddie may have visited, but this is what Martin told me:
The links that Faldo fell in love with was ‘built’ for just £5838. The club’s finely tuned budget called for an expenditure of £300 a hole, including £33 for each tee, £192 for each green, £50 for resodding and £12 for levelling. Whether or not anyone had an idea to smooth out the fairways, there was certainly no money to do so.
‘Some Scottish guys were brought in at one stage to have a look,’ says Martin Niland, a member of the club at the time. ‘But they were only a day and a half on site, and we were a bit dissatisfied with the time they spent and what they did. So we ended up doing it ourselves.’
The Scottish visitors were from Frank Pennick’s design firm. But when they departed it was left to Niland and fellow member Martin Hopkins to find a suitable routing on the massive property.
‘We didn’t have proper drawings,’ says Niland. ‘We just used stakes for the tees and the greens.’
What Niland and Hopkins did have was a good grounding in agricultural science, and among the first thing they did was set up a nursery for the natural fescue grasses they would later lay on the green sites by hand.
Over the years, finishing touches on what is now called the Old Links at Ballyliffen fell to the heroic greenskeeper Dennis Doherty. He did everything on his own with only one piece of automated equipment (a single mower to cut the greens), though in the summer he was sometimes helped by a lad or two from government job-creation schemes.