Gordon
Thanks and well done. Commonwealth has changed their opening hole from a short 4 to a long(er) 4 as they believed it created pace of play issues.
Does 1 Panmure create any such issues? What's behind the club's discussion to lengthen, and is it anything more than idle talk? And would you characterize 1 as "gambling" or "risk-reward" or does it play really more like a long par 3?
If the latter, has the club discussed introducing higher risk for attempts to drive the green instead of lengthening the hole?
I like 7 green a lot. That dark spot front left: is it an "eyebrow" of turf or a pot bunker? If the latter, I very much should fear that flag.
My appetite to learn more about the course has been whetted by your pictures and text. Should you decide to extend your piece, might you:
A) tell us more about the founding of the club? Your description calls to mind HCEG and one infers a similar "tale of toffs" (no offense!) may be hiding behind your words. And what's behind the Calcutta connection? Surely there's a "Flashman" story lurking in that!
B) include a picture not only of every hole, but of every tee, approach, and green? I appreciate the pictures posted, those holes under such lovely blue skies, may well have taken 10-15 years to collect given the weather in that part of the world; however, one of the joys of this site is the opportunity to study a course in greater depth than is offered anywhere else.
Many thanks for the piece,
Mark
Mark,
There aren't any tee times other than Saturday and Sunday mornings, and we're a club more noted for the 19th hole than our great golfing and long driving ability, so the first doesn't create many issues congestion-wise. It is true that pros will go for the green, but most members just lay up and aim for a pitch and putt birdie which actually speeds play up as most people hit the fairway with a layup.
It's more rumour about lengthening the first... people talk about it from time to time about it happening potentially, but no firm evidence of a change yet!
If you're a 6 handicapper like me then it's gambling, as if you don't quite catch it and you hit a bunker on the ridge you have a second shot of about 60 yards from up against the face of a deep bunker - not sensible on a short par 4!! But if you hit it a long way, as the pros do, you can just blast it at the left of the green and a greenside bunker is the worst you can expect really.
On the front left of 7, that is a nasty bunker :-) and yes it isn't a good flag to go at! I normally just aim for the middle back of the green as the slope at the back stops it and you get used to putting from the same part of the green :-P
As far as the founding goes, it was one of the original 19 or so clubs that ran the amateur championship until it was handed to the R&A in (i think) the 1920s. And yes, Flashman was probably an out of town member, visiting when he wasn't out plundering the loot of the Empire. :-P
The Calcutta connection is that the nearby city of Dundee was a big port in those days that traded in jute from calcutta... so much of the money of many early members probably came from this, and many were, I'd imagine, ex-east india company or similar.
I would have liked to add more photos, but there is a limit apparently. I thought it better to give people an overall introduction and leave them wanting to see more, than just focus on a few holes and miss out on how the course changes as you go through the routing.
Gordon