Royal St George's (pictures)

[Philip Gawith]

I took these early morning pictures last weekend. It is not a complete set as I was just walking between holes early in the morning, but I managed to get pictures of most holes bar the far extremes of the course eg 4/5/13/14 etc.

They are posted as a reminder of what a handsome course it is - and because they are not taken from the normal angles of someone playing the course, i hope they throw up some fresh angles.



view from behind 2nd green



looking towards Sandwich Bay and Deal with 8th green in foreground



looking back down 10 fairway




a proper skyline green!



the wonderful 9th green



16. the shelf in front of the right hand side bunker is the RIP Thomas Bjorn bunker.



another look at 16.



18th green. Not the most dramatic hole, but a good finish.



17 fairway (one picture taken later in the day. This 2 and 4 have the most movement.



The blonde grass in mid-April is a small hint of a brutal winter - more evident in the inland courses.



15 - the hardest green to hit on the course



15 from towards the 16th tee



12th green



and the saddleback ridge you need to drive over on same hole (tee way off to the right)



10th green from near the 11th tee



11th green - not easy, but not as interesting as many others.



No 7



No 8

[Philip Gawith]

Is that Brian hiding behind BMS? Anyway, thanks for tip - so long since i posted pictures! I will maybe try to edit in due course....

[David_Tepper]

Philip -

Royal St. Georges this weekend and Royal Dornoch/Brora this coming weekend?
You are living a rather charmed life my friend.

DT

[Mark Chaplin]

Brian you need to get out more, I'd describe it as nicely firming, we are a month away from "hard" and two months from "rock hard" even if it stays dry. I even repaired a slight pitch mark yesterday!

[Philip Gawith]

Brian I would not describe RSG as rock-hard. The greens seldom have pitch marks and it was no different last weekend.

[Michael Whitaker]

Brian you need to get out more, I'd describe it as nicely firming, we are a month away from "hard" and two months from "rock hard" even if it stays dry. I even repaired a slight pitch mark yesterday!

Mark: you were not out there today - I think they rolled the greens. you needed to land short of them to stay on. But Mike did say there was a big diff between yday and today - it must have been the greens.

PS - I view this as a positive. The course was in fine shape.

Amazing difference between Saturday's greens and Sunday's. Sat were slow and a bit soft. Sunday the greens were very firm and significantly faster. They MUST have been rolled because everyone at the hut was commenting on them.

Phillip - I wish I had known you were in Kent last weekend. I would have tried to get you down to Deal for a game!!! I just left this afternoon after a week's visit.

[Mark Chaplin]

Brian I don't really think of the greens when I'm thinking of firm, more the surrounds and fairways. Pleased to hear the greens are getting a little firmer. I had a good chat with the Super and his number two the other day and they are pleased with how things are coming along. The past couple of months have been challenging conditions with very low ground temperatures. The greens were cored and dressed in mid Jan and it's only in the last couple of weeks all the evidence has gone due to the lack of growth.

[Ben Stephens]

Nic pics Philip! - I wonder what the rough will be like in the summer months 

Brian - played Hunstanton 2 weeks ago in the East Anglian Spring Foursomes comp - the greens there were also rock solid seems like there is permafrost underground - It has been the longest and coldest winter I have experienced in the UK!

Cheers
Ben

[Thomas Dai]

Super photos Philip, thank you for sharing them.

A nice idea to show holes and features from unusual angles. As a photo I particularly like the one taken across the blond grass to the clubhouse. From a golf perspective, the height of the mound the 10th green sits on comes over really well in your photos. I always think of the 10th as Tom Kites hole, given what happened to him there in Sandy Lyle's Open winning year.

Most of the courses I've played recently have had rock hard or semi-rock hard greens, even the fairways too. Not sure this winter has been the coldest though, the longest maybe, but to me 2010-11 was far, far colder.

All the best

[Mark Chaplin]

Thomas the really cold easterlies only finished a couple of weeks ago. The air temps were around 2 or 3 for weeks with wind chill around -5 and below. It hasn't been the coldest winter but certainly a very late one, hence the delay in growth.

[Thomas Dai]

Mark, thanks for the Kent perspective. Pretty much the same here in the Midlands, wicked cold winds, low ground temperatures, very limited growth, not just golf courses though, hedges and gardens and fields etc as well....but from the golfing perspective even though extra layers of clothing may still be needed it's dry and the courses are playing firm and fast, which is my personal preference.

All the best