[Kevin_Reilly]

The Dunhill Links is being played at TOC, Kingsbarns and Carnoustie.  Today the Golf Channel showed play from TOC.  Highlight (or lowlight) was Faldo's double bogey on the Road Hole.  Drive in the left rough, second shot left of the Road Hole bunker, 3rd shot a failed attempt to reach the green to the right of the bunker, and 3 more strokes before he finished.

TOC looked a little "green" to my eye.  But there was a good breeze to make things interesting, and Renton Laidlaw on the commentary is always enjoyable.  Lots of stories about Doug Sanders, Jack, etc.

Anyway, those of you who get TGC should look for it.  The scores at Carnoustie were very low....I think they are only televising play from TOC though.

[Rich Goodale (Guest)]

Over here they're showing all 3 courses, with 5 or so hours of coverage a day.  It's on satellite TV, so if youdon't have it you have to go watch itin a pub.

Saw a bit of Kingsbarns yesterday and it looked great, very fast and firm, forcing some interesting choices and requiring nearly perfect execution on shots around the green from the pros.  Watching this (a well as the amateurs getting baffled time and time again by the slopes and contours) shows why links golf can be so fascinating.

I'll be out at Kingsbarns and will report back any thing of interest--only those things strictly related to GCA, of course!

[BCrosby]

Rich -

Looking forward to your reports. I would love to hear how the pros play 4 through 7, all wonderful par 4's.

What is the consensus on no. 18?  Weakest hole on the course, I thought. The green with the trench/creek in the front looks and plays like something from western North Carolina.

Bob

[THuckaby2]

Rich - can't wait for your reports also - and I'd venture to say the golf course architecture aspects of such will be the LEAST interesting parts... so if the climate here these days does prevent inclusion of the real meat of these reports here, then please do send such by email!

TH

[Rich Goodale (Guest)]

Huckster

Per the latest directives from the Politburo of the GCA Central Commitee, I will be reporting only on the FACTS, a la Pat Mucci, Leonid Brezhnev and Joe Friday.  any attempts at humo(u)r or creativity will be suppressed, alas..........

[THuckaby2]

DAMN!  Come on Rich.. vive l'resistance!!!

(sorry if my French sucks, but you get it!)

TH

[Bob_Huntley]

Rich:

Does No. 18 present any difficulty for the big boys? It seems that the average player is practically forced to play it as a par 5. In fact, if a wee bit longer and played as such, the third shot would be most interesting. What with the steep slope back to front I am sure a number of shots would be spinning off the green.

Your assessment please.

[Ben Cowan-Dewar]

Bob,
When I played the eighteenth it played into the wind, but I think I hit driver - 5-iron, the nice thing about that distance for me, is that I did not have to worry too much about the spin.  

Your point is a good one though, but for the pro's, I would imagine you have to go back a fair way, and then you are dealing with the road.  Certainly not a wedge shot I would want though.

[Paul P]

There was an interesting story about the bridge on 18, which maybe you all know.

Anyway, it's an original bridge from over 200 yrs ago that was unearthed when the hole was being built. They cleaned it up and used it as a feature.

I think it looks an excellent hole, although some of the pros were having difficulty with it.

[BCrosby]

I thought the 18th green complex was out of context with the rest of the course. A ravine/creek dictates an aerial approach to a relatively narrow green (narrow if you are trying to hit it with a medium or long iron) perched on a severe slope. It just doesn't fit. Reminded me of Wade Hampton.

One of the reasons I was so surprised by the 18th green complex was that up until that point Phillips had done a remarkable job of maintaining the links feel of Kingbarns even on terrain that were set well back from the coast line.

Let me explain. One of the things that struck me about Cruden Bay, Royal Aberdeen and W. Gailes was the drop in the quality of the holes as the courses worked away from the sea.  Holes nearest the coast were wonderfully nestled between the natural dunes. As these courses turn away from the coastline - away from the dune lines - the quality of the holes drops off dramatically.

The front nine at Royal Aberdeen may be among the best in Scotland, but the back nine that was laid out uphill from the dunes is pretty mediocre. Ditto for 10, 11, 12 at Cruden.  Ditto for the last several holes at W. Gailes (though I have a soft spot for no. 17).

Kingsbarns avoids that drop off on the "upland" holes. At least it does until you reach no. 18.
    
Great story about the stone bridge.

I love Kingbarns. Easily the best modern links course I've played. It's just too bad that the weakest hole is the last hole.

Bob  

[Rich Goodale (Guest)]

Bobs (C&H)

I've only played Kingsbarns (and the 18th) once, and I don't know enough people who have to say what the "consensus" is.  I also can't really speak from experience since at my only bite at the cherry I heeled my drive 150 into the left rough.  I'd like to be able to say that 2 sand wedges and a putt later I got my par, but I missed that little 6-foot b*****d!  One of my playing companions was a modest length 15 handicap and he played it as a 5, quite simply.  My other playing companion was a 5 handicap 50-something and he hit six-iron to the green after a good drive.  It's a tough 4 for anybody who can't hit their tee shot 240-250, but a good 4 for those who can

I think the green, while sloping back to front, does have a fairly substantial back stop.  If you have to hit a long iron or wood to the green, hit it long should be the play.  I'll have more to say after tomorrow.

[Nick_Ficorelli]

BCrosby:
whew! I thought I was the only one who had that problem with 10,11,12 at Cruden Bay.....seems getting back lends itself to uninspiring holes in a number of links courses,Dunbar 12,13,and 14 suffer as well ,for the same reasons.

[D. Kilfara]

What's wrong with 10-12 at Cruden Bay, then? 10 has a stunning tee shot (even though it's a relatively bland hole from there), 11 is a solid if unspectacular short par 3 in the Postage Stamp mold, and 12 is a deceptively uphill par 4. Maybe people don't like them because they're relatively flat? (But then, nobody has lumped #9 at Cruden Bay into that equation, which for me is easily the poorest hole on the course and surely the only mediocre hole on it.)

As for Kingsbarns #18...I really like it. I haven't played Turnberry, but doesn't Turnberry's 16th green bear a noticeable resemblance to Kingsbarns' 18th? (I'm not saying they're identical, just that the concept is hardly unique.) Kingsbarns' is a striking finishing hole with a wonderful green; conservative play (i.e. going long with your second) leaves a truly scary pitch back down the hill, so much so that you're *almost* safer hitting your second in the burn just to make sure you don't hit your third in it. Paul Turner and I played 36 out there early last year on the day before the official season started - we had the course virtually to ourselves - and I vividly remember staying out on the 18th green as we finished just before sunset for about 20 minutes, hitting all sorts of pitches, chips and putts to and from various sections of it and having a whale of a time. Sure, it feels a little contrived, but you could say that about the rest of the course; in the end, the 18th is a heck of a lot of fun, just like the rest of the course.

Cheers,
Darren

[Thomas_Brown]

If you were a US Ryder Cupper, wouldn't you stay over to play these 3 great courses rather than go back to Virginia to play at Kingsmill?

The winner in Virginia gets $666K
The winner in Scotland gets $800K

Is hospitality that much better in Virginia?

[Stan Dodd]

Darren
I agrre the worst hole at Cruden bay is #9.  Totally out of character with the rest of the course.  The green on 10 is great fun and the tee shot on 11 requires great precision as recovery from the numerous bunkers is difficult.  #12 is FUN, driveable down wind but with great risk and a very ticklish wedge.  I think 9 is the hole that is out of place

[D. Kilfara]

Thomas - I don't know if the hospitality is any better, but the weather certainly is.

In truth, I think very few American professionals would rather play a "great" course in tournament play instead of something which suits them (i.e. is similar to the sort of course they play week in, week out). Sad, but true...

Cheers,
Darren

[Rich Goodale (Guest)]

Thomas and Darren

The weather was fine today, but let's face it--the US tour guys would rather be back in the States with their home cooking and chances to move up the money list for the Tour Championship or even just to stay exempt.  Hanging out over here for a non-Major tournament would only appeal to the inveterate haggis and lnks lover, and there ain't too many of those in Finchem's kinder nad gentler empire.....

As for the 18th.....

It was playing downwind today, and my first glance at it (other than an occasional glance from the veranda whilst sipping my sherry) was to watch Faldo try to manufacture a 80-yard shot from a downhill tight lie to a short right pin (his drive was about 360.  That he got it to 15 feet was testimony to his skill.  His playing partner, Spence, had laid up to 140 or so (just a 300 yard drive), tried to get it close and came up just short, spinning down the hill to the edge of the burn (they kept the hillside rough to allow balls to stick and speed up play).  I saw one amateuir (the guy whose trying to build the course between NGLA and Shinnethingy) have a go from 200 or so, but it was not a pretty sight.  Young Ty Tryon (remember him?) out drove Faldo by 40 yards or so, but was left with an impossible shot off the spectator path which he was lucky to have finsih 40 feet past the pin.  Sir Michael Bollanack (still playing off 3 or so at 70+) hit a good drive but still needed a mid-iron approach and it was beyond his ability to execute that shot.

Botom line.  Downwind is the hardest sort of shot to play to any good links green.  I'm sure the good players would have far preferred to hit 7-iorn into the breeze than lob wedge with it.  Even Sir Mike would have probably hit the geen if he had 3-wood in his hand and a zephyr in his face.

And yet, the pros handled it OK, and there is a bailout area for the Ams to the right.  So, I'd say it's a very acceptable hole on a truly great golf course.  Perhaps the disapointemnt some feel is because the rest of the course is so superb.  It holds its own very well in the company of the other new courses I have played or walked, including Aplebrook, Banodn Dunes, Friar's Head and Pacific Dunes.

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