On each of my first two trips overseas for golf there was one course that I had an opportunity to see but was unable to schedule a round as a player. Both courses come to mind quite frequently and surprisingly it's the "lesser" of the two courses (by most estimations) to which my daydreams return again and again. No doubt the daydreaming is more intense now that Summer 2009 has passed without a trip to the UK.
The "greater" of these courses is Royal St. Georges. I walked the course several times during the Amateur Championship in 2006 and feel that I have good appreciation for how it play, at least for elite players in a stiff breeze. How it plays being, of course, quite difficult with the lost ball an ever present worry when driving the ball. I have every intention of playing there one of these summers but recalling my frustrations with hitting the ball wildly out of play last year at Royal Dornoch (especially the first two days) tempers my enthusiasm for tackling Sandwich unless/until I regain some degree of control over the direction my golf ball travels. The memory of seeing some of better amateur golfers you'll ever want to meet hitting provisionals off 4, 5, 6 or more tees and finishing the round with multiple stroke and distance penalties is a hard one to shake when bemoaning the state of my own game.
The course I truly, madly, deeply want to play is Ganton. In fact I must say after playing a few shots and walking its first several holes in 2007 it has spent the ensuing two years working its way to the top of my Most Desired Must Play list. I'm not sure in terms of stroke-play scoring Ganton with the wind up is any sort of pushover compared even to Sandwich. But at least as presented on the day I saw it, the challenge is a much friendlier one. Or at least less immediately intimidating. My memory is that on most shots you have a sense of ample room to hit the ball and/or a tolerable "bail out" direction which one can favor if in doubt. It seemed the sort of course that nibbles your scorecard to death by repeated challenging bunker shot, decent-looking shots that find a tough lie in the rough and in all honesty opportunity enough for a lost ball here or there to boot. And it seems to have somewhat more interesting greens than those at Sandwich (that characteristic being a huge plus in my book).
But I think what figures most prominently in my daydreams is the fairway bunkering. I can't recall a course where so many holes seem to present fairway bunkers that so often challenge my relatively short and uncertain tee balls with legitimate hazards while remaining in many case entirely surmountable with a (by my standards) quality driver shot. Of course I have no idea if this is also true of the seven or eight holes I did not see during my brief visit but in my imagination the entire course is ideal as a Tough But Fair Course given my own game's foibles.
I may be tempted into some other plan but I'm very much inclined at present to arrange my next visit to England around multiple rounds at Ganton in an attempt to really get to know the course in the way you can't really from just a walkaround or even a single game of golf. Maybe a couple of 36-hole days interspersed with side trips to Alwoodly and/or Seaton Carew or maybe some other course I have not yet experienced. Just fly in and out of Manchester and spend a week in Yorkshire. My one concern is that at the end of the trip I may feel shortchanged in some way by playing inland rather than on linksland within view of the sea. But Ganton (and for that matter Alwoodley) surely don't give up much besides sea views and breathing salt air to a golfer who enjoys firm and fast conditions and the odd spot of breeze to liven up the game.