Pics 14 At CRUDEN BAY

[Anthony Gray]

   Tee View. Bunkers make great targets

   

   Tee

   

   Fairway. Uphill second shot.

   

   Fairway is more generous than it looks from tee.

   

  A little knock down shot for a long hitter

   

  A mid iron for a guy with 2 broken elbows

 

  Top of flag

 

  Green

 

  Green

 

  Green

 

  Green

 

  Green from 15th tee

 

  15th Tee

 

   

   

 

[Tom_Doak]

Anthony:

Assume you were looking for some sort of comment by posting these.

The first time I was at Cruden Bay, at age 21, I was standing on the 14th tee thinking it was one of the great courses of the world.  I was ready to call Ben Crenshaw as soon as I got finished playing to tell him about it.

And then I hit my tee shot, and got up to the second, and saw what was left -- a narrowing second shot, blind but not over anything impressive, to a bathtub green with a soap-dish bunker and the next tee dangerously in play alongside it.  I have never been able to shake my dislike for that part of the hole.

Everyone else hates the next hole, the blind par-3 over the side of the hill, but I actually kind of enjoy that one because there is a clear choice as to how to play it.  At 14 the choice exists off the tee, but the second shot is pretty weak, at least in my opinion.  I know there are plenty of people who will disagree with me.

[Bob_Huntley]

Tom,

As one hip young playing companion once remarked, " Quirky to the max."

I think that summed it up.

Bob

[Tony_Muldoon]

Tom, options on 15? With the wind in your face, as per my 3 rounds, "I can't see no options".  Even the starter said if you want to be a member here you have to learn to hit a low draw with a 3 iron for that hole. I believe I lost 2 balls on that dune on the right. I suppose I couldhave used my putter.





I wish I had a photo of the little board they have on the 14th tee, it indicates where the flag is on the blind green.   At first I thought this was completely against the spirit of the hole, a sop to the low handicapper perhaps but...  As the photo shows, in the competition we played we knew the hole was cut at the front of the green and so several of us mid handicappers proceeded to leave ourselves short!  I'd be interested in what others think about showing such information.

[Anthony Gray]

  Tom,Bob,and Tony,

  Thank you for the posts. The hole is just so unique. The secound is narrow but that  is all there is to work with. I would like to see the tee box on top of the dune to take advantage of the ocean view.

  As far as 15. Why the love for the Alps at Prestwick but not 15 here?

  Anthony

 
 

[henrye]

Tom.  Not sure what you're implying?  I realize you were a young 21, but are you saying that you felt this was one of the greatest courses based on the first 13 holes?  Once you played your second shot on 14, the lack of options to this unique green changed your mind?

[Tom_Doak]

Henry:

Yes, that's what I was saying.  I was indeed 21, but I had played most of the best courses in the USA the previous two summers, I'd been caddying in St. Andrews for two months, and I had just been at Dornoch a couple of days before arriving in Cruden Bay.  I was THAT excited to play it for the first time.  And 14, 15 and 16 were that big of a letdown.

That experience, incidentally, is why I try to exert some control over early photos of my own courses.  Apart from the letdown at the end, it was just so exciting to see that course for the first time, having only ever seen one picture of the ground beforehand, and that one from a 1920's magazine.  It's hard to feel the same kind of excitement today when courses are "previewed" to death before they are even open.

[Lyne Morrison]

Tom - given your comment above I thought I should share this with you.

A fellow I played with in the Sunday comp last week had recently been back to Launceston to visit family. This guy is 40ish, conservative, a 4 hcp and quietly goes about his game. I enquired as to whether he had played Barnbougle while there - well, his face lit up - he then went on to share with me the fact that he really didn't get too excited about golf courses and had gone along with his brother with no particular expectation. He said - with enthusiasm - that it was the first time he had ever felt really excited about a golf course and that he just couldn't wait to see what was happening next on each of the following holes.

So there you are, despite the world of instant media the emotional experience offered by a wonderful golf course can endure.

Well done to you and your team.

Cheers -- Lyne

[Tom_Doak]

   Glad to know it can still happen.

[Brian_Ewen]

16 , a big letdown ?

 

[Sean_A]

14, 15 and 16 were that big of a letdown.

This isn't a great stretch of holes but at least it is an interesting mix.  For me, the worst hole is comfortably #9 and I don't care for the opening two holes - especially the 2nd.  When I think about Cruden Bay and the reason I would suggest people have a look is because of the funk.  Take that away and there ain't that many other holes to rave about. 

Ciao

[Rich Goodale]

3-6 is by far the best stretch of golf at Cruden Bay and 11-13 are also good.  As for 16, any par 3 hole where the local wisdom is to hit a wedge so that it lands at the point where it can bounce exactly twice before it trickles down over the hill to the sunken green is funky, I'll grant, but hardly great.....

[Mark Pearce]

Isn't one of the really great things about Cruden Bay the very fact that it divides opinion so greatly, not just as to its stature as a course but as to the quality of individual holes.

I know Sean doesn't like the opening two but I enjoy no 2.  Obviously 3-6 is a great run of holes.  Sean doesn't like 9 but, although it's a very different hole from the rest of the course I think it's a better hole than 10.  I don't mind 14, though I wouldn't call it great.  Tom D prefers 15, which is my candidate for the worst hole on the course (playing into the 25 mile an hour winds we played it in last Summer I'm with Tony in struggling to see any options).  However, I liked 16.  Yes it's quirky but played into a stiff breeze I thought it was a good golf hole, requiring a well struck and well judged mid-iron. 

Is there any other course with so many holes that divide opinion here in the way CB does.

[Brian_Ewen]

As for 16, any par 3 hole where the local wisdom is to hit a wedge so that it lands at the point where it can bounce exactly twice before it trickles down over the hill to the sunken green is funky, I'll grant, but hardly great.....

And every great course should have one .

[Rich Goodale]

Tooshay, Brian

[Jim Nugent]

That experience, incidentally, is why I try to exert some control over early photos of my own courses.  Apart from the letdown at the end, it was just so exciting to see that course for the first time, having only ever seen one picture of the ground beforehand, and that one from a 1920's magazine.  It's hard to feel the same kind of excitement today when courses are "previewed" to death before they are even open.

You've said that before.  And as I've said also before, I think it works the other way around.  We see photos of these new, great-looking courses, and it just whets our appetites.  Makes us want to see and play the courses ourselves. 

All my life I had seen photos of Half Dome in Yosemite.  That did not prepare me for the grandeur of coming around a turn in the entry road, and having the whole vista unfold before my eyes for the first time.  Soon as we could, we pulled off to the side, so we could better take it in. 

Would seeing more photos of a 22-year-old Jacqueline Bisset make you less interested to meet her in the flesh?   

[Anthony Gray]

3-6 is by far the best stretch of golf at Cruden Bay and 11-13 are also good.  As for 16, any par 3 hole where the local wisdom is to hit a wedge so that it lands at the point where it can bounce exactly twice before it trickles down over the hill to the sunken green is funky, I'll grant, but hardly great.....

  Rich,

  You make agreat piont about 16. Isn't this what makes the Redan so great? How many par 3's in the world work out better when you land the ball short? UNIQUE!!!!!!!! CHARACTER!!!!!!!!!!!

     Anthony

[Anthony Gray]

14, 15 and 16 were that big of a letdown.

This isn't a great stretch of holes but at least it is an interesting mix.  For me, the worst hole is comfortably #9 and I don't care for the opening two holes - especially the 2nd.  When I think about Cruden Bay and the reason I would suggest people have a look is because of the funk.  Take that away and there ain't that many other holes to rave about. 

Ciao

  Sean,

  The secound reminds me of the early par 4's at Dornach. I love the elevated green.

  Anthony

[Rich Goodale]

Anthony

Sorry, but the 16th at CB is nothing like any Redan I know, each of which will take (even demand) a shot to the heart of the green.  Also, if the 2nd at CB is reminiscent of a hole at Dornoch, it must be Glen Dornoch in Myrtle Beach you are referring to, as there is no green at Royal Dornoch which is so unidimensional and uninteresting.

Cheers!

Rich

[Anthony Gray]

Anthony

Sorry, but the 16th at CB is nothing like any Redan I know, each of which will take (even demand) a shot to the heart of the green.  Also, if the 2nd at CB is reminiscent of a hole at Dornoch, it must be Glen Dornoch in Myrtle Beach you are referring to, as there is no green at Royal Dornoch which is so unidimensional and uninteresting.

Cheers!

Rich

   Rich,

  Shame on you. I thought you were better than Myrtle Beach golf . The 2nd...hill on the left ..bunkers on right...fairway slanted left to right...it's Dornach. The green is flat. I can't make a straight putt!!!

  Anthony

[Rich Goodale]

Anthony

If you really think that 2 at CB is at all like (or even unlike but equivalent) to 2 at RD you need to change the prescription on those rose colored glasses of yours.

Rich

[Anthony Gray]

Anthony

If you really think that 2 at CB is at all like (or even unlike but equivalent) to 2 at RD you need to change the prescription on those rose colored glasses of yours.

Rich

  Rich,

  I need to correct myself and show the respect to Cruden Bay that it deserves. Dornach 3, 4, and 5 have alot of Cruden Bay hole 2.

    Cruden Bay never repeats itself. CHARMING!!!!!

   Anthony