Christmas Golf Quiz 2006

[Jason McNamara]

68.  Ireland's greatest hickory-era pro golfer grew up on the grounds of this course.
   Royal Dublin

69.  Speaking of hickories, you might want to locate some in time for the restoration of this "re-discovered" Old Tom Morris 18-holer in the Western Isles.
   Askernish

Another I thought would be fairly obscure before a recent thread put more light on it!

70.  Maybe it’s that goofy metric system…  This newer must-play Irish links has 20 holes, including 7a and 12a.
   The European Club

71.  It’s the Lea, not the Mersey, but you will take a ferry ‘cross the river to get the 18th green at this Alliss / Clark course.
   Brocket Hall

Next year's quiz master will have to come up with his own Gerry Marsden reference.

72.  Which course’s mascot is the natterjack toad?
   Dooks

73.  Which course is known for two distinctive features:  the Chalk Pit and Paradise Green?
   Royal Eastbourne

74.  The Witches’ Stone marks the site where the last witch in Scotland is believed to have been hanged.  If you duff your approach on the 17th at this course, don’t blame you-know-who.
   Fortrose and Rosemarkie

75.  AC Doyle served as Captain at Crowborough Beacon, but before that he encouraged the founding of what Surrey course?
   Hindhead

76.  Now that Ian Woosnam is done with the Ryder Cup, you might find him here, overlooking St. Ouen’s Bay.
   La Moye

77.  No Rapunzel here, but this short links was constructed around the Maiden Tower.
   Laytown & Bettystown

78.  (How closely were you reading the forum last month?)
“Playing a singles match / L.D. Henshaw holed in one /
J.A. Wilson holed out for a half“   Which hole is this?
   The 12th at Woodhall Spa / Hotchkin

79.  The wee Ben Sayers was an accomplished club-maker, competitor, and instructor.  He also played a large part in the layout of this wee island 18-holer, which is a Beaut.
   Rothesay

80.  Sam Snead called it the “Magnificent Monster,” however the pro most closely associated with this course –did- win the U.S. Open (twice, in fact).  Which course?
   Waterville

81.  It’s pretty easy to get from the eponymous train station to this course’s clubhouse - walk across the 11th fairway.
   Denham

82.  Over 1,000 babies were born in this clubhouse, though Tommy Bolt was somewhat older when he threw a tantrum here in 1957.
   Lindrick

83.  Long before this club became Royal, it was a 9-holer at Lock’s Common
   Royal Porthcawl

84.  These twin villages share a railway station, a bridge over the Thames, and of course a Tom Dunn golf course.
   Goring & Streatly

85.  Thanks to the Ice Age, there’s a ridge running across the equator of Ireland.  Which Christy O’Connor Jr. course takes its name from the generic landform?  (Please dew have a whiskey after your round.)
   Esker Hills

86.  The Open’s shortest hole is the Postage Stamp at Troon.  Which is now the longest Open hole?
   Long, the 14th at St. Andrews

87.  It’s far from Colt’s longest course, but the brilliant quintet of one-shotters makes it his best – at least that was Colt’s opinion.
   Swinley Forest

88.  Vardon’s 18th at this course is a downhill, easily drivable par 4 with disaster lurking everywhere.  Must be why the hole is called “Death or Glory.”
   Llandrindod Wells

89.  "To put it simply, __________ revealed itself to be nothing less than the finest seaside course I have ever seen."  - Herbert Warren Wind
   Ballybunion

90.  Don’t worry about your score – just avoid the Great Sea Rushes, and your card should take care of itself.
   Royal North Devon / Westward Ho!

91.  A stone at this course marks the birthplace of the “great golfer… six times Open Champion.”
   Royal Jersey

92.  This Cornish course lost the Chasm, but still has the Ravine.
   Mullion

93.  So this game drives you to drink, eh?  Play your next round at this Welsh 26-holer, and you can stop at the Ty Coch for a pint.
   Nefyn & District

94.  If Mike Weir and Phil Mickelson wanted to retire in relative obscurity, they’d probably pick this short Inverness-shire course so as not to stick out like sore thumbs.
   Kingussie

Other courses do have lots of lefties, but none more so than Kingussie.

95.  Which course is sometimes referred to as Fixby, though that is more properly the name of the (club)house?
   Huddersfield

96.  Which course’s designers include an Open champion and a local schoolteacher?
   Portstewart

97.  Scotland's oldest continuing club first played here, for sure.
   Bruntsfield

98.  Gary Player is well known for not having a bad word (ever!) to say about any golf course, but he thinks highly enough of this venue to say it’s the only inland course he thinks could host the Open.
   Ganton

99.   This course has only 12 holes, but it's not ashamed.  In fact, the club's logo rather prominently features the numerals 1 & 2.
   Shiskine

100.  Hat-tip to Mark Rowlinson for this one:
While Dr. Stableford perfected his scoring system at Wallasey, he first tinkered with the idea here, where today a quirky layout has the 1st and 18th tee boxes adjacent to one another and playing in the same direction.
   Glamorganshire

Tiebreaker:
At which English golf courses must golfers wear red (scarlet, etc.)?
   Woodford, Wimbledon Common, Chingford (Royal Epping Forest)

I thought Royal Wimbledon was also on this list, but Mr. Rowlinson has corrected me.  Other possibles welcome.


Any other corrections, please let me know.  (There must be some.)

Congrats again Andy!

Jason

[Tony_Muldoon]

Congratulations to Jason and to Andy, great fun but what knowledge!  Coincidently(?) yesterday Andy opted in to the North Berwick trip this March and I’m sure as a part of the celebration he’ll make his winners acceptance speech  on the 13th tee.


I hope this can be an annual event. Thanks again

Tony (22)

[ForkaB]

Great stuff, Jason (and Andy!)

Ther was a lot to be learned in the questions and the answers, and I never even came close to thinking of Piltdown, even though I am very aware of the history of the hoax.  I'm happy with my 27/100 without any peeking (into books, the internet, Mark Rowlinson's brain, etc.), however....

I have a couple of possible corrections.

74--I thought this answer was elegant, in that the last witch burned in Scotland (Janet Horne, 1722) is also commemorated by a stone on a 17th hole (Witch's Pool, Struie Course (Royal Dornoch)).  So, if a witch was HANGED and commemorated near the 17th at Fortorse, how cool could that be!  However, a bit of research this morning tells me that the Fortrose witch (who happened to be male, BTW) was in fact burned to death in a tar barrle, and in the 17th century.  So the better answer is in fact, the Struie!

94--Kingussie does in fact have a lot of left handed players. It's all due to the number of shinty players in the area.  In shinty, like ice hockey, you do not have time to change grips in the heat of battle, so most players adopt a left-handed grip in order to allow for relatively equal power from each side (assuming that most players are naturally right-handed).  As a side note, many ex-shinty players who have not gone over to the dark mollydooker side play "cack-handed" (i.e. left hand bottom, right hand top, from the right side).

That being said, I think that Kingussie's rival club, Newtonmore, is the king of the mollydookers.  It was there that Bob Charles played a memorable grand match of lefties in the early 1980's.  I know because I teed off in front of him when he played Dornoch (with our lefty Captain of the time, Taylor Bulloch RIP) in preparation for that match.

[Mark_Rowlinson]

Jason, Where on earth did you learn so much about so many courses thousands of miles away?  I'm speechless!  Well done to Jason and Andy - impressive stuff!

[Andy Levett]

Thanks must go to my erudite friend, Mr G.O. Ogle, who eventually came up with over half of the answers.
Jason did a terrific job following in Mark’s imposing footsteps.
A bit like those people who buy all their Christmas cards etc for next year in the January sales, I feel I need to start planning now to properly discharge the duty and hono(u)r of setting the 2007 quiz. So any killer questions gratefully received.
Happy New Year to all

[Jason McNamara]

I never even came close to thinking of Piltdown, even though I am very aware of the history of the hoax.  

Too obscure on my part, do you think?  (If you search GCA for "bunkerless," you will find Piltdown in the top 20 or so posts.)

74--I thought this answer was elegant, in that the last witch burned in Scotland (Janet Horne, 1722) is also commemorated by a stone on a 17th hole (Witch's Pool, Struie Course (Royal Dornoch)).  So, if a witch was HANGED and commemorated near the 17th at Fortorse, how cool could that be!  However, a bit of research this morning tells me that the Fortrose witch (who happened to be male, BTW) was in fact burned to death in a tar barrle, and in the 17th century.  So the better answer is in fact, the Struie!

Well, I clearly got the hanged part wrong.  And someone may have to ask F&R to change their site.  :-)  Andy did say Dornoch, so that's another point for him.

94--Kingussie does in fact have a lot of left handed players. ...

That being said, I think that Kingussie's rival club, Newtonmore, is the king of the mollydookers.  

Since the question didn't have one truly correct answer, I accepted both K and/or N as answers.  Apparently K is *majority* left-handed (hence my "right" answer), but N hosts a left-handed championship.

[Jason McNamara]

Jason, Where on earth did you learn so much about so many courses thousands of miles away?  I'm speechless!  Well done to Jason and Andy - impressive stuff!

Um, well not to turn this into a gush-fest... but most of it is from reading GCA, and your UK Guide in particular.  (Your work has paid off immeasureably for me.  Thanks!)

For the quiz I burrow down a bit further, and find ways to work in other outside subjects (the Crucible, Llanfair PG, the Black Watch).  Since I majored in history, I tried to bring that in as often as possible - Plantagenet logos, Harlech Castle, etc.  A lot of it is just curiousity - how the heck does a Scottish golf hole get a name like Tel-El-Kebir?

ps to Andy:  I have a few ideas already for this year's quiz.  Let me know if you're looking for a co-conspirator.

[Mark_Rowlinson]

I think you have established an excellent tradition - that the winner of one year's quiz should set the next one.  At least that will prevent Jason and Andy winning them all!