Rather conventionally both courses end with a par 4.
Silloth's is, staying with convention, a 439 yard one. Fortunately the same prevailing wind that makes the 1st frequently so daunting will just as often be behind here. Whether that's a help depends on conditions. The drive is from the dune, offset to the left, so a draw "fits" the hole well and may best avoid the two fairway bunkers guarding the right. A straight shot heading that way, however, may well be glad to catch one of those bunkers as it's quite possible downwind to drive into the gorse beyond them. From the fairway, the shot can, in soft still conditions, be a long iron or more. If the course is fast and firm, however, and the wind blowing, even a wedge may run through. The green is protected left and right by bunkering and is reasonably long. It's a classic tough links finisher.
Goswick takes convention and rips it up. The hole is 170 yards or more shorter than Silloth's. At under 270 yards from the tips and playing from an elevated tee in the dunes to the flatter land around the clubhouse, it really should be driveable. I can't recall ever playing it with someone who hasn't hit driver but I can't recall ever seeing it hit. The green isn't big but nor is it notably small. It is, however, well protected by several bunkers and the front portion, where the hole is often cut, is narrow. The green slopes to the front, so a putt from the back to the front is a challenge. The green is so well protected that even from a good lie a second shot with a wedge (or just a flick with one) is difficult to get close. It is, as Tim suggested, a fantastic way to decide a close match.
There's no doubt that, whilst a hole like Goswick's 18th might be raved about if it came a few holes earlier in the round, it feels odd to find a short par 4 as a closer. That said, it's a memorable hole. And a hole which always seems to produce some drama. I must admit that it's also a hole I start thinking about well before the 17th tee. And I love standing on that thinking about laying up, before taking out my driver.
Against that, I like Silloth's closer more each time I play it. It's reassuringly conventional but in a very good way.
Whilst I like both holes a lot, it would seem wrong for a hole as Marmite as Goswick's to feature in a half, so I have to decide one way or the other. With absolute certainty that 50% of people who know both courses well will disagree with me and the other 50% will approve wholeheartedly, I'm going to give this to.....
Goswick.
So Goswick takes the match 2 up.
I have re-run the match a few times, altering a few of the results in my mind but, each time, I have Goswick come out narrowly ahead. I have to admit that feels odd. Asked to assess the two courses as a whole I would say that, whilst both are very good indeed, and I have no doubt that if Goswick was just a few miles further North, and thus in Scotland, it would be a bucket list course with a reputation for travelling American golfers (it would be the third best easily accessible course in East Lothian), I think that Silloth is discernibly better. I don't think there's much in it but that's because both are very good links indeed.
I look forward to any further discussion and to the views of BUDAites who see Goswick later this year, having seen Silloth only a few years ago.