[Tommy Williamsen]

Golf has been played over the same piece of ground since 1864 but was changed by Herbert Fowler of Walton Heath fame in 1908.  It is not only like playing a museum but the golf is wonerfully fun, calling for inventiveness, dexterity jumping over sheep shit and a willingness to not let a bad bounce get you down.  It may be the most underrated course in Britain, although Doak did put it on his Gourmet list.  It was so fun I took out an international membership.  A place like that deserves our financial support.

[Daryl "Turboe" Boe]

Darn it Tom, I got all excited juming into this thread thinking someone else had made the pilgrimage to South Dakota and Westward Ho CC in Sioux Falls, SD.  (Larry Packard 1958)

With all this recent Dakota talk on here I thought just maybe.

[Tommy Williamsen]

Sorry Daryl,  I would, however, like to get to South Dakota.  I need a Norwegian fix!

[Tom_Doak]

Dear Tommy:

I played there again this spring for the first time since 1982, after the meeting at Painswick.  What a great place it is, although there was no wind when we played so a lot of holes were pretty simple.

I am convinced it would be Jim Urbina's new favorite course in the world, after Pacific Dunes.  I finally figured out how to present a course with no man-made mowing lines at all ... just let the sheep mow it!

[ForkaB]

Dear Tommy:

I played there again this spring for the first time since 1982, after the meeting at Painswick.  What a great place it is, although there was no wind when we played so a lot of holes were pretty simple.

I am convinced it would be Jim Urbina's new favorite course in the world, after Pacific Dunes.  I finally figured out how to present a course with no man-made mowing lines at all ... just let the sheep mow it!

Tom

Have you been to Brora yet?  If not, bring Jim U there.  I think of it as a focused "Westward Ho"--fewer mammalian species present, but more intensive impact of their life style on the "maintenance meld."  I'd challenge either of you to identify the "mowing lines" on that course!

[Mike_Cirba]

Daryl;

I played Westward Ho in Sioux Falls two months ago.

Nice track, some interesting greens (especially the 2nd hole), and a really decent back nine.

[johnk]

Re: Brora vs. Westward Ho.

Westward Ho! is a working museum.  I mean the course itself and the club - more than just the actual museum part of it.

Brora is a funkified version of Westward Ho.

Both have a musty feel that you won't experience everyday, and it is good.  Perhaps like visiting a cheesemonger who has you taste un-pasteurized cheese.  The slight difference is that Westward Ho has been the official un-pasteurized cheese supplier to the royal family...

You could play either course many, many times and never tire, because they are great clubs, and your soul would appreciate it.

[Pete Lavallee]

Here's a great photo from Westward Ho!, with the greenkeeping staff adding a new bunker in the time honored fashion. Progress is slow but steady.

[Mike Benham]

... with the greenkeeping staff adding a new bunker in the time honored fashion ...

Not to mention fertilizer ...

[Philip Gawith]

for anybody who has the inclination, i posted quite a few pictures about in late may/early june of westward ho - i think the post was something to do with west country. both are fabulous courses, but westward ho certainly wins on the clubhouse front.

[Tommy Williamsen]

By the way the international membership was 50 poun ds initiation fee and 110 pounds a year.  

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