I have been to Painswick.....

[Rich Goodale (Guest)]

....and life will never again be the same......

[Pete_Pittock]

A very succinct rave, short yet quirky. It's on next years play list.

[nuzzo]

Rich,

Do Tell!

I've been waiting for another report since some pictures were posted over a year ago.

[Bill_McBride]

Rich, a few details please.  The photos were fabulous.  Did the reality meet expectations?  Can you describe the best holes and what clubs you hit, etc?

[Mike_Cirba]

Rich;

I'm jealous.

I think it will be a sign of a new "Age of Enlightenment" when people the world over get on planes to travel to England with an itinerary that includes Painswick at the top of their list.  

If I've learned anything on GCA, it's that courses that are FUN are truly the greatest courses in the world.  On a planet filled with woes, prejudices, challenges, terrorists, demagogues, and other tribulations, FUN is truly in short supply as a counter to those things that trouble us in daily life.

Golf should provide that avenue, and the Painswick's of the world are bright oasis that lift our spirits and stimulate our imaginations to what life can and should be.  

I'm jealous.  

[Rich Goodale (Guest)]

Pete, Mike, Bill and Mike

I'll post something later on the many and varied specifics of my "round."  Suffice it to say, for now, that Mike C has it right.  "Fun" was the operative word.

Rich

[THuckaby2]

Kinda like the fun you'll have if you ever play Cruden Bay, Rich.

Have you corrected that GRIEVOUS error yet?  

TH

[Paul Turner]

Rich

Looking forward to your report.   When archaeologists finally excavate that Iron Age fort, we'll have conclusive evidence that Painswick is the true home of golf!  

PS

If Painswick becomes a regular on golf holiday plans, then I demand a cut from increased green fee income

[Rich Goodale (Guest)]

........I haven't got the pictures back yet from my 25-year old Brownie with the 18-year old film, but I'll make a few general comments to whet your appetites........

1.  Taking pictures is not a big part of my life these days, ever since my sprogs got too old and/or sophisticated to be caught with spears of broccoli hanging out of their nose, but....if I had had one of those digital babies that gives you 2500 images for the price of a free opinion, I could have burned out that chip over the 1st 12 holes at Paisnwick.  As it was, being judicious, I ran out of film on the 8th or 9th.

2.  I ran out of golf balls on the 12th.  The pro looked at me strangely when I said I was an OK player and 4 balls would do me nicely.  I got the "Painswick GC" logo Korean beauties, fully expecting to be able to send 2-3 of them to my closest friends for Xmas presents.  Alas, I found myself sans pelotas and searching vainly around the periphery of the 12th green.....

3.  It is amazing that while it is so easy to lose balls at Painswick, it is absoultely impossible to find them!  On vurtually every other golf course I have played over my long life I have usually been able to find at leat as many as I have most.  Not at Painswick.  Part of the reason is that the edges of many fairways transition VERY abruptly from light rough to precipice.  It is not a place to walk your children.  There could be, however, more sinister reasons.......

4.  And yet, it is a place to walk yourself.  In the 17 holes I played (one was walked) I saw about 40 other people.  Only 10 of these were golfers.  The others included:

--about 20 "ramblers" (people out walking in groups of 3-7 with maps and thermoses of tea or Bovril)
--about 5 dog walkers (with dogs, not unsurprisingly)
--two horsewomen (cum horses)
--one guy riding a bicycle up the 9th fairway
--an old lady who nearly got decapitated by my tee shot on the 17th
--the pro standing by the 18th green with his stopwatch and clocking me in at 1 hr 52 minutes.

5  Even though I lost all my "Painswick GC" balls, I managed to finish the round with only the loss of one hole due to the
kindness of a two-ball I met walking to the 4th tee as I was walking off the 14th tee.  I begged and one of the guys gave me 4 golf balls which looked like they had lain in the bottom of his bag since WWII but in fact included one Strate, one A10 and one Titlest 100 Surlyn ball!  They refused all offers of payment, and I am proud to say that I returned all 4 to the pro at the end of my round.

6.  Painswick is NOT a great golf course, and yet.......

--It has two "Dell" holes, each of which is better than the original (?) at Lahinch.
--it's 9th as as good a par 4 as you will ever play (shame that they still call it a "par" 5.
--there is an area on the course in which the 4th, 5th, 6th, 10th, 11th and 12th greens co-exist in a space of no more than a few acres.  Each of those greens has as much character as JakaB on a bad hair day.  It is sensory overload in the most ecstatic sense.  Just to make the whole thing surreal, 7, 8 and 9 are VERY good golf holes that are overshadowed by the neighboring cluster.

9.  You finish at Painswick on a short par-3 that you were sure when you signed on was just part of the practice facility, as there is no tee in sight adn there is another practice gren adjacent to it.  Part of the problem is that your direction to the 1st tee are, in effect:  "You need to go back across the road behind the clubhouse.  You can go left or go right out this door.  I doesn't make much difference."  Kinda like Yogi's directions to his house  "When you come to a fork in the road, take it."

10.  And then you get to the 1st, which is a blind 237 yard par 4 up El Capitain which many people would have trouble climbing without oxygen and Tiger would have trouble hitting in one, particularly given the diabolical and seemingly bottomless pit which plummets from the front edge of the green.  It is the mother of all Devil's Arseholes, and there is not a grain of sand in sight........

More to come

Rich

PS--Paul

I'll testify for you in your royalty case if you can help me post my pictures when I get them!  I'll scan them into jpg. if that helps!

[THuckaby2]

YOWZA! Ok, I saw the pics before... but that does it, I need to see this place in person some day.  Can someone remind me where this is geographically?  IE in relation to either Gatwick or Heathrow or another major airport....
Thanks!

1:52 - Rich, what took you so long?  I never figured you for such a dawdler.  

TH

[Paul Turner]

Rich

That's a more colourful description than I managed.  I've always wondered what carry would be needed to clear the pit at the 1st?  It's only 220, but it's so steep-260?   I agree that the 9th is probably the "best" hole; are you sure about it as a par 4 though.  It's a long way up that hill, I wasn't that close in 2.

No problem with the pics, I will post them.  I also need to re-upload my pics when the archives are up and running.

Use this address: pbtjab@aol.com

[Pete_Pittock]

Huck,
    Painswick is a few miles southeast of Gloucester, which is WNW of London, and NE of Bristol. I'll be there next year thanks to a family reunion at Bath in late June.

[THuckaby2]

Thank you, Peter.  It looks like this just may be doable for a trip I'm brewing up for next summer...

TH

[Rich Goodale (Guest)]

Paul

Thanks for the offer to post the pics.  I hope they come out!

In terms of the 1st, I had hired clubs which consisted of a Zebra/odyssey-clone putter, some non-descript set of 3-SW cavity thingies, a cubic zirconium "driver" and a YTT Tseng 3-wood (this is a true story!)!  Given the fact that I had no reason at all to be confident in my driver, and there was a 3-ball in front of me who were slowly scraping away at the revetements near the green, I chose to hit 3-iron to see if I could just get closer to them and encourage them to eventually let me play through.  As it was, I needed a pretty full SW to reach the green in 2.

As for other clubbing (pace Bill McB) the clubs du jour were driver, 4-iron, 7-iron,  and wedge which I got right only abou 1/2 the time.  I hit a good 7-iron to the 3rd which flew the green never to be seen again, an equally good 7-iron that was 3 clubs short on the 8th.  On the 9th I hit a majestic 4-iron (I inadvertently crushed my drive to position A) which should have been a 7-iron, and on 17 (downhill 360 yards) I hit 4-iron/7-iron that should have been 4/4 (maybe I hit the old lady who was walking across the road........).  The only appearance of the YTTT 3-wood resulted in a glorious high-five to the sky on the 16th that stayed aloft for ages and then bounced dangerously along the right side precipice before finishing 12 feet from the pin.

My score, to not dissapoint those of you who strongly believe that I believe that it is all about me, included just one bogey (at 17) 4 birdies (including three 2's), 8 pars, 4 DNF's (the lost pelotas) and 1 DNS (the 13th).

Tom and Pete

You gotta wanna to go there to get there.  Nevertheless, go for it!

Cheers

Rich

[TEPaul]

Rich:

I asked you a while ago (if you went to Painswick) to go down to maintenance to find out for me how they mowed those radical mounds in or around that radical green there.

It appears you failed to do that!

You're no more than a lout who only plays golf and it appears your contrariness is from drinking too much scotch whiskey while doing same!

Do you also go to Newcastle and forget to bring back some coal?

[Paul_Turner]

Rich

My bet is your three 2s came at 5,10,15?

I posted so many pics of the course and so want to know whether the course was much different from what you imagined?  

Did you get good weather/views.

The tee shots at 14 and 16!!  

Thinking about the 9th.  I played it into the strong pevailing wind and it was winter, so I'm not too much of a weakling!
Was it playing fast?  It's usually quick in the summer with that fast draining chalk.

From my recent research I think I have possibly "discovered" a few more courses that might have similar holes/features (ancient earth works).  Mostly in that corner of England-a new family of courses?

[THuckaby2]

Rich:  I wanna.  Bad.  

TH

[TEPaul]

Paul:

You're talking about architecture again and not addressing the most important question on this thread!

Do you or do you not agree that Rich Goodale is no more than a lout who does nothing more with himself than play golf and swill expensive scotch whiskey while playing same?

He apparently has no interest at all in the architecture of those radical mounds, how to mow them and what Max Behr might say about them!

It's shocking really!

[Rich Goodale (Guest)]

Tom P

I didn't forget.  The mounds at Painswick are really not at all more "radical" than those at TOC, Dornoch, etc.  At all three of those places they use implements called "lawn mowers" to keep the grass reasonably short.  You should pass this tip on to the supers in the GAP area!

Paul I birdied 5, 7 and 10 (and 16--lipped out the eagle putt).

I didn't tee of on 14 as I was sans pelota.  Great view of the 200 or so forced carry across the quarry, though!.  I got replenished by the Good Samaritans about 50 yards or so off the tee and chose to drop a ball on the ladies tee and hit a 6 iron into the dual fairway.  Took me about 5 minutes to figure out which green to go for once I got there!

Great view off 16, too.  The most amazing thing about that hole, to me, was the little dell of a fairway? old green? folly? that lay about 170 off the tee, just short of the road.  Was it the site of an old hole, or was it an oasis for the short of carry, or was it just a little bit of je ne sais quois?  I don't know.......

Weather was overcast but dry and warm.  We'll see from the pictures tomorrow......

Cheers all

Rich

[TEPaul]

Painswick has discovered lawn mowers?

My, aren't we getting modern over there! I hope things aren't getting too immaculate!

And what do you have to say for yourself about being a expensive scotch swilling inveterate golf playing lout?

[Paul_Turner]

Paul:

You're talking about architecture again and not addressing the most important question on this thread!

Do you or do you not agree that Rich Goodale is no more than a lout who does nothing more with himself than play golf and swill expensive scotch whiskey while playing same?

He apparently has no interest at all in the architecture of those radical mounds, how to mow them and what Max Behr might say about them!

It's shocking really!

Tom

Well, I did ask him to check out for the "missing" hole in the quarry behind the 3rd green.  But it appears to have slipped his mind too.  So perhaps you are right!

[Rich Goodale (Guest)]

Paul, T

I could say I wanted to give others a chance to discover something, but the plain fact is, I FORGOT!  However, the 3rd is the only hole out there about which I do not remember ANYTHING.  Perhaps it is not a quarry but a wormhole that exists out there......

T, Paul

Take away the "expensive", spell "whisky" properly, and I will drink to that!

[TEPaul]

Paul

I doubt that "missing" quarry hole "slipped" his mind at all! It's more likely that he himself "slipped" and fell into that "missing" quarry hole (after all that scotch whish(e)y, whether it was expensive or not) and is too embarrassed to admit it! He thinks all this talk about making "2s" is going to divert me but I'm way too smart for that!

[Rich Goodale (Guest)]

Tom

If you remember the routing on the Painswick scorecard that Paul T posted some while back you will better understand my confusion.  Holes cross each other willy-nilly, and there are so many quarries and quasi-quarries about that it's hard to keep track of them!

Before my memory cells die, I would like to add a few more thoughts about the course--even feebly venturing into GCA, for all you architectural mavens out there!

The course essentially consists of 4 meadows.  One sweeping up from the clubhouse through the "lost" 3rd green, and also including the 13th and 14th fairways.  Another consisting of the 4th and 12th holes (crossing, of course).  Another including the 8th and 9th holes (crossing), and the final one wepping down form the 16th tee across 4 roads to the clubhouse.  These meadows, while fairly steep and/or canted, are basically smooth, with few subtle undulations or "semi-poofs."  Some of the greensites are simply carved out of the meadows--some like the 1st cut into a hill, some like the 8th cut into a downslope, and some, like the 18th, cut into a side slope.  Few of these are interesting, per se, although the previously referred to pit in front of the 1st gives it loads of character, and the fact that the 8th sits blind behind its hill at the end of a 489-yard reachable par 5 makes it hard to forget.  Most of the short hole creen complexes are memorable.  The two "Dells" sit in punchbowls attended by numerous small random humps and hollows.  The two non-blind shorter downhillers, 7 and 15 sit magnificently framed within glades of trees and bits of wild ground.  12 is a fabulous long-iron across rough ground to a well-designed adn guarded green set on a little knoll.  15 sweeps downward 250 yards from one of the highest points of the course, canting right to left--effectively a Redan on steroids.  Only 18 disapoints.

There is a wild bit in the middle that I have tlaked about before that also includes the great 9th and 11th greens.

Overall the combination of meadowland and wild heathland makes me wonder about how much has been manufactured and how much just "found."  If the latter (which I suspect), then the wild bits must be remnants of old human diggings--quarries or mass graves or whatever!  I also suspect that the 17th and 18th (at least) are "new" holes and that the course used to be played even more up into the moors that it does now.  I'm looking forward to Paul T.'s theories and the new category of courses he talks about.

Have I mentioned the bunkers?  As far as I can remember, there aren''t any, which is sublime................

Cheers

Rich

PS--photos due tomorrow

[Rich Goodale (Guest)]

....and I have the pictures to prove it!



The view up the hill of the 237 yard par 4 1st.



The view down the hill towards the cluhouse and over the valley.  The steepest fairway I have ever climbed.



The green is probably not driveable because of this pit, which is what sits in front of the green, from about 30 yards out



The tee shot on he 125 yard blind 5th.  Note the path straight up the hill--no wussy walk around the edges like at Lahinch



The green complex of the 210 yard 6th, from about 100 yards out



The downhill 145 yard 7th.



The second shot to the 490 yard uphill par 5 9th.



The view of the 10th green from the 7th tee.  Placid and serene, but note the marker pole.



The view from the 10th tee.  Not so serene.

Many, Many thanks to Paul Turner for taking my scans and uploading them.

Cheers to all

Rich