En route from Leeds (Alwoodley) to St. Andrews, we spent a couple of nights in North Berwick. What a wonderful town! We stayed at the Harbour House Hotel with Sheila Wharton, prop., and it was very good indeed. Ask for a room on the back side, as the front is very near to the church bell which rings all - night - long. Or so our friends whose room was up front told us. I gave them some ear plugs for the second night.
Here's the first tee, just a short walk from the Harbour House Hotel. The tee shot is simple: hit a four iron out there in the open field, avoiding the rough and wall to the right. The second shot is a beauty, particularly into the prevailing wind. Uphill, probably blind (aim at the pole and rock, the green slopes rather sharply to the right). Par is a good start.
Looking from the first tee across at the 18th green. The 18th is very short, under 290, downwind, downhill. The cars are definitely in play, OB right.
I was really focused on the Redan hole #15 this trip, as we are renovating my Pensacola Country Club and I am lobbying for a Redan for the new 16th. This may be wishful thinking, but I did want to get some photos for our architect, Steve Dana of Jerry Pate Golf Design.
Here's a side view as we teed off on the 4th. The players are putting on the Redan green.
Looking back at the Redan from the 4th tee side of the large teeing area. The deep bunker is left; the protecting bunkers are right. Two different players can use two different approaches. Player #1 can fly a mid iron over the right hand bunkers and land just short, running down onto the falling away green surface. Player #2 can run up a shot just to the left of the left hand bunker of the pair on the right. I know these options work; later in the round I was player #1 with a 6-iron and Kathleen, my wife, was player #2 with a spoon! Kathleen was closer! We both 2-putted for pars.
Here's a closer view, still from the left side angle. That's the once grand Marine Hotel, now under renovation, in the background. One of the cool things about North Berwick's out and back routing is the long succession of huge stone homes, once "vacation cottages" for wealthy Edinburghers, on the left side all the way out, and the dune line and ocean on the left side on the way in.
Finally here's a view of the Redan from the teeing area. Note the Marine Hotel now off to the right. The options are evident: run up close to the left of the bunker just right, or a lofted shot to the front edge over those righthand bunkers. There are other options, such as firing at the pin and then chipping back up hill.
This is a view unique to North Berwick and instantly recognizable to those who have enjoyed its charms: the 13th "Pit" hole, with its pin on the green behind the wall which must be negotiated on the approach shot. This photo was taken from I believe the 7th hole as we were making our way outbound into the wind. Note the coast of Fife across the Firth of Forth; that's probably the vicinity of Crail visible on the horizon to the right.
North Berwick has a daunting routing. The outbound holes, #1 through #8, all play into the wind, and play long. The only "sideways" or cross wind hole is #9, a solid par 5 with a Principals Nose cluster of bunkers about 230 off the tee, an OB wall left which crowds the tee shot played to the left of the bunkers, deep rough to the right of the bunkers, and an uphill approach 3rd shot. All in all a very good hole. Wish I had taken a photo, I was too busy looking for my tee shot in the right side rough.
This is #7, "Burn." You can just make out the deep burn right of the deep bunker between the burn and the green. This is a short par 4, but the wind makes club selection difficult and critical. The burn runs all across the front of the green. *** Actually, as Mike Cirba pointed out, this is the par 3 6th. That's not the burn on the right side, just some kind of depression. #7 has the burn in front and it's more obvious. These two holes point out the difficulty of the outward holes which are almost always played into a brisk wind. Dangerous hazards right in front of the greens require accurate distances on the approach shots.
Now we are heading home, directly down wind, and the shot making requirements of the West Links change completely. This is #10, a 140 yard par 3, where the short iron must carry the fronting bunker, which is deep and nasty indeed, and still hold the hard green.
This shot pretty much sums up your challenge all the way home. It's interesting at North Berwick; the outbound holes played into the wind are straight forward and demanding in their own right. The inbound, downwind holes are where the quirk of the course is found. The Pit #13 with its green set tightly between a large dune and the stone wall; #14 Perfection and #17 Point O'Garry In with their blind shots over ridges in front of the greens; #15 Redan, a one of a kind until C.B. MacDonald got his hands on it; and #16 the Gate, with its 4' deep swale bisecting front and back halves of the green. Then the 18th as described above, a shorter, downhill version of the Home Hole at St. Andrews, including a modified Valley of Sin.
It was great to be at North Berwick again. It would be better to spend a week there every year. Other great courses like Gullane, Muirfield, Kilspindie, Dunbar, etc etc, are within half an hour drive.
Now on to St. Andrews, with a stop en route for lunch with GCA's own Rich Goodale and his daughters at the lovely little Aberdour course.