Containment Mounding At Dundonald?

[David_Tepper]

I am enjoying watching the 7 hours of golf from Scotland (DP/Euro Tour at Fairmont St. Andrews and Ladies Scottish Open at Dundonald) on the Golf Channel. There is a lot of sunshine on both coasts of the country there today.

I have not seen either course in person. The aerial shots of Dundonald make the rows of mounding/dunes between the fairways look very obvious and artificial.     

If anyone has been on the course, how does it look at eye level walking down the fairways?

[Ally Mcintosh]

As you describe it, David. The links holes are very good but the desire to keep each hole isolated from one another on the more inland holes has resulted in this mounding. I’ve seen worse but it could have been a lot better.

[Niall C]

David


It looks as obviously artificial when you're on the ground. The site was originally quite flat with not a huge amount of elevational change. What you refer to as containment mounds are really just spoil heaps from when they pushed the top layer of topsoil to one side.


Niall

[David_Tepper]

Niall -

How would you compare the mounding at Dundonald to the mounding at Castle Stuart? Which looks better/more natural to your eye?

DT 

[Niall C]

David


I think it's a different kind of artificiality with those two courses. At Dundonald, particularly when the course was relatively new, the spoil heaps still looked like, well, spoil heaps ! They had a rather sharp look to them. I haven't been for a few years but from television it still looks that way at least in part.


At CS, on some of the inland holes on the upper level you feel like you are in a mini canyon. It seemed bizarre to me after the success of Kingsbarns in creating a natural looking landscape that Mark Parsinen would do that and then the penny dropped at one of the Scottish Opens. What he'd created (or so it seems to me) was level platforms to act as viewing areas and somewhere to put catering tents etc.


Niall