[Ed Tilley]

Played at Silloth on Solway last week - in the extreme NW of England, just across the solway firth from Southerness in Scotland. It's not an easy course to get to but at £35 pounds for a day it represents the best value golf course I've ever played as it is top class links golf.

1st hole - hugely inviting opening shot 380 yards



1st green in a dell



2nd hole - forgot to take a picture - shame. Lovely hole bending right through a valley to a sloping green. 319 yards par 4

3rd hole 358 yards - great hole blind drive over a ridge into a valley



that swings left and steeply up to the green - don't be short or left!



4th hole 372 yards - superb hole. Another blind drive.



To a fantastically difficult approach. Don't be left or right - must be very precise down the prevailing wind in fast and firm conditions.



4th green from the side



5th hole - 482 yards par 5, swinging left along the firth. Lovely views across to Scotland and of the Lakeland hills.



6th hole - 187 yards par 3 downhill



7th hole - 403 yards. Steeply uphill drive - blind second to another green in a dell



green



8th - 371 yards



9th -134 yards - the English postage stamp



Back nine to follow

[RJ_Daley]

more lovely jubbly, Ed.

[Ed Tilley]

10th hole - 306 yards dog leg left. drivable but OOB over the back.



11th - 411 yards - N.B. Don't drive at the marker post downwind - must be right of it.



12th - 200 yards - long and left is not a good idea



13th - a fantastic hole - 468 yards par 5



Second up the ridge to a green that slopes severely off left, right and short





14th hole - 477 yards par 5



14th green from the top of the ridge - don't go left as the bunker makes it almost impossible to stop your pitch within20 feet



15th 417 yards



approach



16th 182 yards - steep slope in front of the green. Downwind it is a very exacting shot. the only way to stop it on the green is to run it up the steep slope or use the bank back right.



17th - 495yards



approach - right is not the place to be! Left of the green will do nicely.



Homeward bound - 401 yards



A fabulous test of golf on wonderful, undulating links terrain. Wonderful views of Scotland and the Lake district also make it a beautiful place to be. I'll be back.

[Eric Franzen]

Good stuff, Ed. Thanks for posting this.

[Geoffrey Childs]

Thanks for the photos Ed. They were a great reminder of a memorable time I spent there.

Since that time I've thought Siloth a great hidden gem.  Ran agreed with me after I suggested he visit.  I'd recommend any lover of links golf and a bit of quirk to add it to a trip.  I visited after seeing Ganton, Woodhall Spa and Seascale on the way up to Turnberry.  It's a nice drive.

[ed_getka]

Ed,
   So what is the attraction? I can see why Chris Kane is heading there. I can't think of too many better ways to spend 35 pounds for the day.

[Travis Ripley]

i noticed Siloth is one of the local qualifying sites for this year's Open.  

[Pete Lavallee]

Great  photo's again Ed. This is by far the best GCA discovery since Perennporth! This much golf for such a reasonable fee, it looks like heaven to me. Thanks for the time and effort to post the course tour.

[peter_p]

Ed,
Thanks for the pictures. It brings back sweet memories of being there in 2000. Cecil Leitch, arguably among the best woman golfers played her golf there. Buda cuppers, its just a drive up the motorway from Liverpool. If you are going to stay in town use the Golf Hotel. Have the tiramasu for desert.
Any laundry, use the caravan park.

[Ed Tilley]

i noticed Siloth is one of the local qualifying sites for this year's Open.  

It's holding the regional qualifying this week - the stage before final qualifying. When we played they were putting the flag poles up on the first tee. Also, you may see from the photos that the flags were on the edges of the greens - chipping back down the 16th green was a bit scary - massive drop 2 feet past the pin!

[Marc Haring]

Great pictures Ed.

Shivas

Sean is right. No one is going to build a cart path on a UK links course. They would be shot. The sandy soil and associated erosion problems necessitate the use of a hard base and it helps direct traffic away from those environmentally sensitive areas.

It looks like they’ve removed some of the gorse since I played there a couple of years back and I think it has improved things. For example that opening tee shot used to be a killer right by the Pro Shop and having to hit down an avenue between lost ball territory. It’s one hell of a course with some great holes. It gets a bit closely packed in the middle of the round but all the holes have some real individual character to them. Terrific routing. Who did it by the way?

I think the price of the fee is reflected by the fact that it is so out of the way and maybe because it really has become a bit of depressed area. I think that big flour factory is now closed and I don’t think there is much else to sustain the local economy.

[Ed Tilley]

Marc,

As per Ran's course guide

'Principal credit for today's stirring links course belongs to Willie Park, Jr., who designed Sunningdale Old and his own favourite Huntercombe in England as well as several world class courses in North America headlined by his revered course at the Maidstone Club on Long Island. Alister MacKenzie, who lived several hours away in Leeds, also had a hand in some of the finishing detail work.'

The area around Silloth and Silloth itself are very remote and there is clearly very little money around. Silloth seems to be in a 1970's timewarp - certainly the golf hotel had curtains and carpets in every shade of brown and paisley patterns known to man.

Ed

[Mark_F]

An interesting comparison.

Both Silloth and Macrihanish are a roughly similar price to play, or at least they were last time I was in that neck of the woods.

Disregarding - or perhaps because of - the journey, which would you rather return to?

I think Silloth is the better course.

[Ed Tilley]

Machrihanish is £40 a round, £60 a day. Silloth is £35 a day.

I agree that, much as I loved Machrihanish, Silloth is a superior course in an equally, if not more, beautiful setting. I will probably be back to Machrihanish someday, but I will definitely be back to Silloth.

[Troy Alderson]

Ed,

Great pictures, especially the par 3 6th.  I am confused though, where are all the golf carts, overwatered/fertilized turf, yardage markers, and irrigation heads?  

I like the grass bunker to the left of the 4th green, a short grass hazard fantastic.  Now I have more screen saver pictures to download.

THANK YOU.

Troy

[Andrew Mitchell]

Great pictures Ed - they've really whetted the appetite.  I've arranged a game with Chris Kane there whilst he's in the area. The cost is an added bonus!

Silloth is very much a hidden gem - although I live in the North of England I've lost count of the number of blank looks I've received from other golfers when I've mentioned it.

[Ed Tilley]

Bump - due to request for Silloth pictures on another thread.

[Mark_Rowlinson]

Thanks for the bump - excellent pictures.

[Patrick Kiser]

35 pounds ... a day!!! 

Unpossible!  Wow!

Brilliant Ed and thanks for sharing.  Got to get over there ... someday.

[Sam Morrow]

I'm not up on the current currency conversions. How much American money is 35 pounds?

[Jason Hines]

Sam,

$54.25.

[Sam Morrow]

Sam,

$54.25.

Thanks Jason, I can now officially say that's a great deal.

[Jason Hines]

Of course, it will cost a bit to get there, even if you did live in NW England.

However, looks perfect and worth the trip for me.

[Sam Morrow]

Of course, it will cost a bit to get there, even if you did live in NW England.

I'm in Texas, the logistics are now falling apart.

[David Stamm]

Thanks Ed! This place looks like heaven to me!

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