Open 2009 is at....

[Tony_Muldoon]

Turnberry.

Thanks to 'the brother' for this info.

[Sean_A]

Does this mean there will be 9 courses in the rotation?  Is this the first time  for so many courses to be in current use?

Ciao

Sean

[mike_beene]

Are they going to do a composite course as it was once rumored?I hope not.I would rather see a 5 course rota...Old Course,Muirfield,Hoylake,Prestwick,and Kingsbarns.Dream on.

[Sean_A]

Mike

What, and leave out the best course in England?

It would be great if Portrush could be considered again.  

Ciao

Sean

[Mark_Rowlinson]

I am not sure there is a rotation, but there is a roster.

[Eric_Dorsey]

Are they going to do a composite course as it was once rumored?I hope not.I would rather see a 5 course rota...Old Course,Muirfield,Hoylake,Prestwick,and Kingsbarns.Dream on.

and leave out Carnoustie?!   shame on you.  


maybe someday they'll drop Lytham and Troon.  

[mike_beene]

I try real hard to appreciate Carnoustie.I just feel depressed thinking about it.I don't even like to look across from Kingsbarns.When at Carnoustie I always wish I had stayed one more day in St Andrews.Sorry.

[Sean Leary]

I understand that during the last Open at Turnberry, they used an alternate tee box from the one used during normal play on number 18.  When I was there, I looked for it but couldn't find it.  Does anyone know where it was?

[Sean_A]

Mike

I am with you concerning Carnoustie.  I find it too difficult to really enjoy.  There are too many other courses around that are fun to play to give Carnoustie a go.  Having said that, the last Open at Carnoustie was very entertaining.  The course should get another shot based on the humility it lays on the fat cats.  

Ciao

Sean

[mike_beene]

Sean,I like the course more than the town.The other 18 tee at Turn. is left of 17.

[Mark_Rowlinson]

The 18th tee used at previous Turnberry Opens was the 18th of the Arran Course - I don't know if this has been affected by the Arran's reconstruction as the Kintyre.  I've not played the Kintyre, but it looked to be the real thing when I walked a few holes with my sons a couple of years back.  Anybody played it?

[Tom Huckaby]

Mark - I've played the Kintyre and found it to be great fun.... a bit more elevation change than the Ailsa, some wilder greens... We went into it thinking it was just a breather course warming us up for the Ailsa, came away arguing after the 36 as to which course is truly better.  My feeling is the Ailsa is the better championship test, but the Kintyre just might be more pure fun.

TH

[Mike Benham]

By awarding the 2009 Open Championship to Turnberry, that assumes that all the infrastructure improvements will completed ... which I believe was the reason why Troon got the 2004 Open ... Turnberry is not a simple place for 40,000 people to get to each day ...

[John Nixon]

The course should get another shot based on the humility it lays on the fat cats.  

It will. 2007.

[Mark_Rowlinson]

Tom,  thanks for that - wasn't it Donald Steel?

[Tom Huckaby]

Tom,  thanks for that - wasn't it Donald Steel?

Yikes.  You'd think I'd remember but I don't... checking...
yes, it was Mr. Steel.  Leave it to our friend Ben Cowan-Dewar to provide the info...

http://www.golftravelinformation.com/turnberry/kintyre/

TH

[Tommy_Naccarato]

As penal as Carnoustie is, I can't help but love the place.

It's as much as a championship test as any major championship venue in Golf, and while it's provided a lot of head-banging for the world's best to the world's worst (such as myself) Ultimately, when it is set-up right--and I'm not talking like it was set-up the last time--the course requires complete focus throughout the round. Ironically when playing Shinnecock this year, I couldn't help but to compare the two in how they match to the world's best. They contrast each other in many different places, with Shinnecock being a more fair, more beautiful test. But Carnoustie is a manly course for a manly game that doesn't suffer fools. (such as myself)

That being I can't wait to someday get back there.

[Mark_Rowlinson]

That's a glowing review from Ben.  How can I engineer a visit - I can't afford to stay at the hotel!  Those of you with deep pockets should dial up the hotel website and explore the wine list - Premier Cru claret from the 80s, burgundies from the Domaine de la Romanee-Conti....  Maybe we'll manage a bottle of Mateus Rose for Christmas.

[Tommy_Naccarato]

Mark, Hopefully the Iced Tea is good also! (which in Scotland, when asking for ice is like asking for cubes of solid gold.)

[Andrew Mitchell]

Just booked a trip to Turnberry for October next year. Its our 15th wedding anniversary.  They offer a "twos company" package - I get to play both the Ailsa & Kintyre courses (& a 20 minute links golf lesson) and my wife gets two days of treatments in the Spa!

Never been before - can't wait!  Think I'll be steering away from much of the wine list though!

[Sean_A]

Mark

I spent a weekend at Turnberry for my 40th.  The first night we were one of the first groups down in the restaurant.  Everybody at our table gasped after viewing the wine list.  It was fantastic to hear these same grunts of astonishment periodically crashing through the room.  The wine list certainly trumped the course.

Ciao

Sean

[Mike Hendren]

Borrowing this photograph from Ben Cowan-Dewar's excellent article on the Kintyre Course:  Why the front left bunker?



It doesn't protect a front pin placement as the surface immediately behind it doesn't appear to be pinnable.  Its symmetry with its sister on the right is not visually appealing.  Apparently it's a drivable par four so anyone who can hit the ball that far and assumes the risk isn't entitled to "safety."

Whadayathink?  

Mike  

[Tom Huckaby]

Good questions, Mike.

But this also might be used as evidence in another thread initiated by a common friend of ours.

This hole is drivable but only at HUGE risk - you hit out onto flat lands which then drop precipitiously down and to the right to this green, the fairway passage down to the green being extremely narrow.  To top it off, the right side of the upper area is very deep rough punctuated by a few large boulders.  Finally, that area behind the left bunker surely is pinnable - maybe not a few feet behind it, but one could move the pin in the picture directly left and have a legit pin.

The way to play this hole is a long iron out left to the end of the dropoff, followed by a wedge in.  Absent that bunker the wedge becomes pretty boring.

How do I know this?  I played the golf hole.  

[PThomas]

I agree with Tommy re Carnasty as a championship venue...before the last Open there look at whose won Opens there:  Watson, Player, Hogan, Cotton...as the late, great Peter Dobereiner (sp?) wrote "Mugs don't win at Carnoustie"...

...well, maybe not until the last Open there, and I guess we can blame that on the course setup if we wnat!