[Frank Pont]

Hi Rich,

put your question in a seperate post to keep subjects seperated.

There are a couple of things you will notice that are different and other things you should take a look at:

- Hole 2 now has a new center line fairway bunker and two new right side fairway bunkers. Makes the drive for the bigger hitters a bit more interesting.



- After finishing hole 9 don't walk left but walk right of the green all the way down to the fence bordering the golf course. This would be a much more heroic tee for the 10th hole than the current tee left behind the 9th green.



- When finished playing hole 12 first walk up to the current tee from which you see the new spare hole



If you continue walking to the right off the existing tee you will see this after a while:



If you then walk even further to the right down the beach and after about 190 yeards turn around you will see the other, and in my view more exciting,  angle from which the hole could be played. Unfortunately the club doesn't own this land (yet):



More later need to run now, its my taking care of the kids day  

[Niall C]

Frank

Many thanks for posting those pics. I recall another thread last year sometime where you (I think) and others talked about the new green and you mentioning the potential of the hole playing parallel to the beach (and further round than you last photo). As it happened a while later I wasn't too far away from Cruden Bay and just before dusk went over to the course to have a look see. I got a few strange looks from members coming off the course as I wondered out but worth the walk.

IMO a tee shot along the line of the beach would be a terrific way to play the hole. I very much favour diagonals like off-set tees but in this one instance a shot straight down the line with OB on the right and and a fall off/bunkers to the left would be like the 2nd at Dornoch or the Postage Stamp at Troon. It would be fantastic.

BTW, you hinted the club were maybe looking at trying to acquire the field adjacent, that being the case, what have you got in mind for the preceding hole ? I'm assuming you will be looking to keep the walk from green to tee reasonably short.

Niall

[Stan Dodd]

Concerning the 2nd, is it still best to hit 40 yards to the right onto the St. Olaf course to approach the green.

[Michael Tamburrini]

Concerning the 2nd, is it still best to hit 40 yards to the right onto the St. Olaf course to approach the green.

No, rough is too thick. Much easier to play short of the centre bunker and have a wedge or short iron up.

[Frank Pont]

Niall, I include two pictures more along the line of the beach, but these were taken during the build of the hole. I fully agree with you that this is the way to play the hole.





I really like hole 12, especially the green is incredibly subtle Simpson. If one would play the par 3 along the beach you would have to think of turning hole 12 into a par 5, with the green higher up on the cliff, amybe even a replica of the current green of hole 12....

- The entrance of the green of Hole 14 was also restored, this had become very steep and therfore impossible to mow due to sand blow. We took between 3-4 feet of sand of this area, and made the entrance such that not every shot over the top would reach the green of 14, something which was the case before. Also the path was moved to the other side of the tees.

 

[Frank Pont]

Concerning the 2nd, is it still best to hit 40 yards to the right onto the St. Olaf course to approach the green.

No, rough is too thick. Much easier to play short of the centre bunker and have a wedge or short iron up.

I would like to see the hole made shorter and driveable so that the bigger hitters would be tempted to go for the green, using the route left of the centre bunker

[Brian_Ewen]

I would like to see the hole made shorter and driveable so that the bigger hitters would be tempted to go for the green, using the route left of the centre bunker

Thanks for posting Frank, most interesting.

I think you will have a hard time persuading any committee in Scotland to make a hole shorter at the moment.

(PS. You had a chance to look at Trumps place yet?)

[Ulrich Mayring]

I don't like the path being moved to the left, it is very visible now. Here is how it looked before:



Granted, the path was always visible beyond the hole, something which I would have liked to see fixed.

Ulrich

[Frank Pont]

Ulrich, my picture of green 14 is older in that it still had the path left of the 14th green, which since was taken away. However the path beyond the hole up the dunes is new to me, I had not seen that yet, and you are right its quite ugly....

[Michael Tamburrini]

The path behind the green used to go quite close to the 15th green but has been moved up on to the dune.  This has improved 15 (as did moving the path to give more room at the tee) but does make it more visible.  I guess changing it to astroturf would probably help.

I've always found the 12th slightly out of character from the rest of Cruden Bay.  On most holes there is usually a bit of room off the tee.  At the very least there is usually a place where you can miss the fairway and still be okay or, with holes like the 2nd, the fairway is so wide that it would take a poor shot to miss it.  The 12th is very tight though, and missing the fairway often results in a lost ball owing to the amount of gorse around.  It's a very testing 300 yard hole (and one I usually crumble at...). 

I also don't think the 2nd would really work as a driveable par 4.  The course already has the 3rd and 8th which are obviously driveable and, with the wind behind, the 10th and 12th can also be reached.  The 2nd would be so tight it would rarely be worth going for it.  You'd have to pitch the ball just in front of the left half of the green in order to hold it with a wood and the penalty for missing the shot would be so severe that laying up would be the sensible move, particularly so early in the round.

Frank, what was the original intention with the 19th hole?  Was it always a utility hole or was it intended to replace another hole on the course?

[Ulrich Mayring]

Frank,

sorry, I thought you posted an "after" photo, did not realise that it was the "before".

Ulrich

[Rich Goodale]

Thanks for the info, Frank.  I'm back and just barely dried out from 2 days at Cruden Bay and would offer the following:

1.  The bunkers on the 2nd are excellently placed (particularly the center-line one).  Pity about OTM's green, which needs to be demolished and shifted to the hollow on the right

2.  Agreed about moving the 10th tee to the right against the OB fence, but the fairway is still a monotonous disaster with serious drainage issues

3.  As for the "spare" hole it could turn out to be the best NLE hole NEP ("Never Ever Played).  Locals told me that the farmer that owns the land on which any tee might be placed has placed a codicil in his will that his land should never be sold to CBGC.

More later if requested.

Rich

[Frank Pont]

Rich,  how was the course playing, I have heard mixed reports recently?

On your points:

1. Get your point about OTM's green, it is rather flat, but the area is quite tight to do something else with the green, with OB left and behind and the tees of hole 3 and the green of hole 7 of the Oalf Course to the right.

2. Agree the 10th fairway, only thing I like abou that hole is the green complex which is Simpson. Its a pity the par 3 hole 11 is such a nice hole otherwise you could have hole 10 play to the green of 11 as a dogleg left from the new tees I indicated.

3. Never say never 

[Rich Goodale]

The course was playing VERY tough, Frank, primarily due to the thick rough and the lack of roll on the fairways.  I played in a Seniors tournament with a field of 120 with an average handicap of 4.  On day 1 which had a light breeze and no rain, only 22 players broke 80.  On the second day, with a light breeze but heavy rain, only 30 players completed the round and only 3 or those broke 80.  The winning score was 152.  Like all links courses I have played this summer, the fescue rough has the nice wispy/wavy strands on top, as usual, but at ground level, rather than having thin cover you have 3-6 inches of US Open style rough, making find one's ball almost impossible, and hitting it out if you do find it almost as hard.  The 5th hole was almost unplayable (even though we only played from the 455 tee rather than the new Tiger one) as any ball hit even marginally left was probably lost.

Agree re the 10th green, it is a good one, as are the 11th, and 12th, and 13th.

Cheers

Rich

[Sean_A]

The course was playing VERY tough, Frank, primarily due to the thick rough and the lack of roll on the fairways.  I played in a Seniors tournament with a field of 120 with an average handicap of 4.  On day 1 which had a light breeze and no rain, only 22 players broke 80.  On the second day, with a light breeze but heavy rain, only 30 players completed the round and only 3 or those broke 80.  The winning score was 152.  Like all links courses I have played this summer, the fescue rough has the nice wispy/wavy strands on top, as usual, but at ground level, rather than having thin cover you have 3-6 inches of US Open style rough, making find one's ball almost impossible, and hitting it out if you do find it almost as hard.  The 5th hole was almost unplayable (even though we only played from the 455 tee rather than the new Tiger one) as any ball hit even marginally left was probably lost.

Agree re the 10th green, it is a good one, as are the 11th, and 12th, and 13th.

Cheers

Rich

And people wonder why we need 50+ yard wide fairways.

Ciao

[Michael Whitaker]

I'm currently sitting in the Kilmarnock Arms eating a bowl of Cullen Skink. Playing Cruden Bay at noon on Sunday... forecast is for perfect weather! Since I hit the ball about 3/4 the distance as Rihc, with a shot dispersion about twice as wide I am plannning to purchase a dozen extra balls in the morning to get me through the round! 

On my tour of Scotland over the past two weeks I have never seen the links courses so green, soft and lush. North Berwick, Elie, both courses at Crail... even The Old Course... they all yield very little roll and are surrounded with the thick rough Rihc describes at CB.

I'll try to post some pictures.

[Rich Goodale]

Mike

If you hit the ball 3/4 of my current meager distance you won't reach the rough, regardless of shot dispersion.  Just enjoy tacking your way between the dunes and spend your money in the bar and not in the pro shop.

And enjoy!

Rich

[Michael Whitaker]

Rihc,

I successfully negotiated Cruden Bay today and didn't lose a ball!!! The rough is extra thick as you described, but I seemed to stay away from most of the trouble... only had two or three balls that had to be chopped,from the stuff.

The new bunkers on #2 fit like a glove and really improve the hole. I like the new tee boxes on 9 and 10 (new to me anyway).

Cruden Bay is a much easier walk than I remembered from 10 years ago. Cardiac Hill was not nearly as severe a climb as I remembered. Overall it was a VERY pleasant walk..

What a great fun course. I could play a lot of golf at Cruden Bay and be happy. I now understand why Wardo loves the place so much.

[Tags:]

Tags:

[Tags:]

Tags:

Call to undefined function theme_linktree()