[Sean_A]

Marko

Well, have at it.  BTW - you will be disappointed if you think lost ball opportunities don't exist at WHo!  In any case, if you and the youngun' want to stop by Burnham for a game and our diaries match, give us a shout.

Ciao 

[Rich Goodale]

Mark

If you want a twee, cheap and cheerful B&B within crawling distance of the first tee at RND, where (when I was there) the last 3 guests were a Japanese Golf World rater, Ben Sayer's great grandson and Me, try "Linda's":

http://www.bedandbreakfast-directory.co.uk/uploads/estate/hotels/hotels107890.htm

You will have a great time there, regardless.

Rich

[Mark Bourgeois]

Marko

Well, have at it.  BTW - you will be disappointed if you think lost ball opportunities don't exist at WHo!  In any case, if you and the youngun' want to stop by Burnham for a game and our diaries match, give us a shout.

Ciao 

Oh yes, the rushes! Looking forward to those.  Every course has lost ball opportunities but at RND maybe we'll find featheries on our searches.

Rich, that looks very nice and as convenient as possible. Actually booked up the road in Appledore. I felt it scored better on pub criteria, plus there's recommended sticky toffee. 

[BCrosby]

Mark -

My wife and I are heading to the same area in September.

A post-trip analysis of things golf and otherwise would be much appreciated.

Bob

[Mark Bourgeois]

Will do, Bob, keeping in mind the tastes of an 18yo and of someone whose idea of a great place to stay is near a good local...and sticky toffee pudding.

[Simon Pain]

I have read all the posts and having played most of the courses mentioned. With so many great links courses to play I am not sure I would actually want to spend 15 days playing the same course 15 times. I have to come clean as a St Enodoc member where on occasions I have played every day for a month and the course was different each time. The 10th is a very difficult Par 4 but would be ruined as a Par 5, sorry Adam about the wait on the tee in August - damned holiday makers. My real choice which sadly is in Scotland would be Turnberry Ailsa. For England Royal St Georges, how such a flat piece of land can produce such undulating course never ceases to amaze me. Second choice would be Formby with such an amazing variety of types of hole from heathland to links.

[Mark_Rowlinson]

I like Iain Carter's (BBC Radio 5 Live Golf Correspondent) description of RND in World Atlas of Golf:

....Westward Ho! polarises opinion. There are those who feel it is scruffy, untidy and unfair, but for players who like their golf rough and ready and who realise that this game was never meant to be 'fair' Westward Ho! is the place. If the Old Course at St Andrews had not undergone so many Open-funded makeovers it would not be far removed from what is on offer at Westward Ho! Let nature do its best (or worst!) and tackle it head on - that was the essence of golf and so it remains at Westward Ho!

[Tony_Muldoon]

Marko

Well, have at it.  BTW - you will be disappointed if you think lost ball opportunities don't exist at WHo!  In any case, if you and the youngun' want to stop by Burnham for a game and our diaries match, give us a shout.

Ciao 

Now there's a party I'd like to crash.   Hint, hint.

[Thomas Dai]

Marko
Well, have at it.  BTW - you will be disappointed if you think lost ball opportunities don't exist at WHo!  In any case, if you and the youngun' want to stop by Burnham for a game and our diaries match, give us a shout.
Ciao 

Now there's a party I'd like to crash.   Hint, hint.

If you go to Burnham & Berrow you are doing yourself a great golfing disservice if you don't play the 9-hole Channel Course as well. It, like the Championship Course, is terrific, and inexpensive as well.
atb

[Bill_McBride]

I have read all the posts and having played most of the courses mentioned. With so many great links courses to play I am not sure I would actually want to spend 15 days playing the same course 15 times. I have to come clean as a St Enodoc member where on occasions I have played every day for a month and the course was different each time. The 10th is a very difficult Par 4 but would be ruined as a Par 5, sorry Adam about the wait on the tee in August - damned holiday makers. My real choice which sadly is in Scotland would be Turnberry Ailsa. For England Royal St Georges, how such a flat piece of land can produce such undulating course never ceases to amaze me. Second choice would be Formby with such an amazing variety of types of hole from heathland to links.

Simon, a couple of comments. 

First, not all of Royal St. George's is flat. The land for 3, 4, 5, 10 could be some of the hilliest dunes land I've played in.

Second, look forward to meeting you in early September at St E and Perranporth when the Buda Cup comes to Cornwall.  Perhaps you can join the fray, I think there are available slots. 

Cheers

[Bill_McBride]

Mark -

My wife and I are heading to the same area in September.

A post-trip analysis of things golf and otherwise would be much appreciated.

Bob

Bob, dates?  We'll be there shortly after Labor Day with the Buda mob.

[Mark Bourgeois]

Simon,

Welcome to the board! A very nice opening post. I spent a long weekend playing Ailsa and had a blast. Just for the record, it's not 15 rounds in 15 days. You're right, that's crazy. No, it's 15 rounds in 7 days. 

Take Bill's advice and sign up for Buda.

[Ally Mcintosh]

Never been to RND but it sounds like a great choice to me...

[Garland Bayley]

Simon,

Welcome to the board! A very nice opening post. I spent a long weekend playing Ailsa and had a blast. Just for the record, it's not 15 rounds in 15 days. You're right, that's crazy. No, it's 15 rounds in 7 days. 

Take Bill's advice and sign up for Buda.

Sign up for Buda here: http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,57174.0.html

[Mark Bourgeois]

I like Iain Carter's (BBC Radio 5 Live Golf Correspondent) description of RND in World Atlas of Golf:

....Westward Ho! polarises opinion. There are those who feel it is scruffy, untidy and unfair, but for players who like their golf rough and ready and who realise that this game was never meant to be 'fair' Westward Ho! is the place. If the Old Course at St Andrews had not undergone so many Open-funded makeovers it would not be far removed from what is on offer at Westward Ho! Let nature do its best (or worst!) and tackle it head on - that was the essence of golf and so it remains at Westward Ho!

Mark

I like that description, too, and have a question for you or the board I have been genuinely curious about: how long has RND been "out of date"?

Patric Dickinson's book came out in 1951; in the opening paragraph of the RND chapter, he writes: "It has therefore grown progressively more strange to successive generations of successively more 'artificial' golfers."

Also, Sean (and Simon and anyone else): just watched the flyover of St E's 10th here:
http://www.st-enodoc.co.uk/the-club/course-flyovers.html

I'm with Scott W. What in the wide world of sports is going on with that hole? Trees, mowing lines, skinny...

[John Mayhugh]

Mark,
I would think more out of fashion than out of date.  I've only been there once, but managed 54 holes in a day and was just wishing for more light.  It might not win a hole by hole matchplay against many other links, but the whole experience is hard to beat.

Assume you are getting (or already have) an overseas membership there?  Amazingly inexpensive.

I think we should start a pool on how many balls you lose in the rushes.  I don't love them, but I bet in 15 rounds you would lose no more than three.

[Sean_A]

Mark

WHo! used to be in top 100 rankings for GB&I not that long ago.  I watched it slowly slip away over many mag editions.  I have said it before, the course centres around the rushes.  If you like them, the course is good; if you don't like them the course is better than average.  For me, add in the soft holes with my dislike of the rushes (more soft holes) and the course adds up to letting the club down.  Plus, there are only a few compelling holes and the site itself is not terribly attractive.  Bottom line, I think people see these weaknesses and vote accordingly.  Afterall, it is no great shame not to be in the top 100.  I am sure the members are pleased as punch with their course qand thats what matters.  Although, I played in a club match against RND a few years back and one member said there was a movement in the cub to build a new house - the shame of such thoughts! 

As for St Enodoc's 10th, it needs no more defending from me.  Play your 15 rounds at St Enodoc and come to your conclusions  .

Ciao

[Mark Bourgeois]

Sean

But your post relates to a relatively recent drop in some sort of rankings. My question is, how long has it been "out of date"? A related question is, how long has it been polarizing?

Are the causes of polarization equipment? It sounds more like it's due to "progress" in agronomy.

Mark

[Gib_Papazian]

If we expand the query to *any* English course, I could see hiding from reality for a week at Woodhall Spa. It is not even on the radar for most Americans, but might be the best course in England.  

If I could alternate between the Old & New at Sunningdale, I would spend all summer and never leave the property.  

[Mark Chaplin]

Gib - I remember the first time I played with a Deal/Sunningdale member and thought if I could play those courses for the rest of my life i wouldn't die an unhappy man.

[Tom_Doak]

The closest I've come to playing 15 rounds over one course in a short period was probably during the grow-in of High Pointe, when we played the back nine most evenings.  So, this is a bit of a foreign question to me.

If limited to England, I would probably want to do the exercise at Rye, to see if it is as good as I think it is.

St. Enodoc or Brancaster would also be a wonderful choice.  Woking or West Sussex would be a fine option, too, if choosing a non-links.

I think for choosing one course for daily play, I would be more conscious than ever of wanting a couple of "extreme" holes where par is exceptionally difficult, so that I could see how well I could sort it out after multiple plays.

[George Pazin]

You don't have to have played a course before - in fact it might be more interesting to hear such rationales - and would your answer change if your rounds had to be combined to a one-week period?

Happy to oblige!

I'd pick Rye, primarily for two reasons:

- everyone says it's always firm and fast

- the par 3s - that's the only part of my game that is not horrible.

I'm also likely the only person on this site that would RATHER play one top course 15 times than 15 top courses once each, or even 7 top courses twice each.

[JMEvensky]

I'm also likely the only person on this site that would RATHER play one top course 15 times than 15 top courses once each, or even 7 top courses twice each.

You're not the only one. I think your (our) logic makes perfect sense. But I'd guess each of us would only have a very shory list of top courses that we'd be willing to do this for.

[Jason Topp]

I believe Burnham & Barrow is the only candidate that I have played.  I would happily play that course 15 times.

Then again - I am not sure I can think of any links course I would not be happy to play 15 times.

[Mark Bourgeois]

I'm also likely the only person on this site that would RATHER play one top course 15 times than 15 top courses once each, or even 7 top courses twice each.

That sounds like a good idea for a thread. Maybe call it "15 rounds, 1 English links"? 

I loved Rye. I should point out that for my specific circumstances there are two golfers, one of whose handicaps is >20. So the difficulty of Rye was a concern. That's relative I suppose as all links should be playable for all (mowing lines excepted), yes? (Well, probably not the 7th!) The other issue not brought up as a criterion in this thread is the time of year: June. Rough likely won't have had enough summer at that point to thin out and become "the wispy" we love so much, will it?

If we expanded the discussion to inland links, Woking would zoom to the top for me. Base in SW1, commute daily via train, consuming the papers to and from, bottles of claret in the 19th hole, great dinner or theatre in the evenings...no compunction about bringing a guest there. I think I would go broke in a week. 

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