Rate St Enodoc

[Andy Levett]

The collective votes of GCA members and lurkers have been tallied and Augusta National has just edged ahead of Royal Portrush into third place in the fledgling rankings.
Next up is the first course from England, St Enodoc. Lower profile than its predecessors but seems to garner almost universal praise whenever it crops up here.
Register your mark on the Doak scale by clicking here and justify your verdict, if you want to, on this thread. There's a link on the polling page for anyone wanting a reminder of the Doak scale, plus archived polls and links to the discussions on the courses.

[Ed Tilley]

I've given it a 9. I think based purely on the Doak scale that an 8 would be the mark. It does have it's drawbacks - number 13 is a nothing hole and I don't like number 10, although many people consider it the best hole on the course. The flipside of that is that it touches rare heights - the start and finish are magnificent links holes in a stunning setting. On a beautiful day there is not one course that I've played where I'd rather be. For that reason I've marked it up to a 9.

[Tommy Williamsen]

I'm not sure I would give it a 9 as Sean suggests but I would not balk at it either.  It is about as special a place as you can get.  Ten is unusual, to say the least, but every course needs one hole to bitch at.  All I can say is, I would drive a long way to play it.  The members and staff are as welcoming as anyone could expect.  All in all it makes for a great day.  Go and eat breakfast, play.  Eat lunch. Play.  Eat Supper.  Play til dark.  Have a drink and fall into bed.  My idea of a perfect day.  On second thought, 9 is about right.

[Philip Gawith]

9 feels about right to me too - though I would say that by this reckoning I doubt more than 10-15 courses at most are going to score 10. It may be that there are courses - think of celebrated Open championship courses, US Open courses - which have fewer obvious weaknesses, but do they have the magic, can they conjure up the same highs? The answer must be No. I think the first seven holes are a magical start, especially 1-4 (I think the 3rd and 4th are probably the two best back to back holes?) and the finishing three are wonderful. But even when you are at the weakest section of the course around 11-14, you are in such a memorable place - the church and the mound and the proximity of the sea - that the experience still fills magical. I would even go so far as to say that while the 10th is absolutely not the best hole on the course it is, challenging/infuriating in an interesting sort of a way.

The club could learn to be a little less stuffy around the whole topic of handicap certificates, but that is a quibble in the grand scheme.