Favorite quirky courses

[jeffwarne]

Forgot to add Spey Bay http://www.speybay.co/index.html
- crossing fairways, wild hills,fun. again, not links turf but seaside nonetheless...I'm the guy hitting from clearly the wrong place.

Mark,
great thread
I was going to mention Spey Bay which I really liked.
Talk about an unsung gem.(very hard to find these days-in fact that entire coast is as unsung as they come, especially given their proximity to Inverness and Aberdeen.--Flanked by Trump Aberdeen and Castle Stuart(I played neither) as unsung a stretch as there is in the UK/Ireland
While the turf isn't great, it's certainly linksy-just not much of a budget.
What hole is that?

[Thomas Dai]

Spey Bay looks rather pleasant - https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qcdGXHlqLTQ -

As to quirky, if it was built in GB&I before about 1930 on hilly inland/cliff-top or very undulating or unusual dune terrain there’s a pretty good chance it’s going to be quirky if only in some places.
And once 'big machines' started to be used ........


Atb

[Richard Fisher]

The Old Course. Quirkiest set of greens in the world.
RND Westward Ho! Quirkiest and most wide-ranging set of hazards in the world, plus livestock.

[Niall C]

Forgot to add Spey Bay http://www.speybay.co/index.html
- crossing fairways, wild hills,fun. again, not links turf but seaside nonetheless...I'm the guy hitting from clearly the wrong place.

Mark


I'm pretty sure that's not Spey Bay but off hand I can't say where it is.


Niall

[Adam Lawrence]

Niall -- sure you're not thinking of Spey Valley?

[Steve Lapper]

I loved Spey Bay and have fond memories of a 54 hole day sandwiched between Cullen and Old Moray (Lossiemouth).


I do not, however, recall any dune or hill remotely similar to the one pictured.

[Niall C]

Adam


No, played both a number of times and enjoyed them both. Indeed nearly joined Spey Bay. It's a Bernard Sayers design from 1906 laid out by Andrew Simpson, ex greenkeeper at Cruden Bay. They lost a few holes a number of years ago and had to adapt the design which is why at one point you have a 300 to 400 yard walk to the next tee.


It also looks like they extended a couple of holes by moving the green back and on one of the holes they gave up a really cool green complex. If that was restored it would be one of the very best long par 3's/short par 4's in the north or indeed anywhere in Scotland.


Having said that, it's not really all that quirky and I think Mark was thinking of another course.


Jeff


If you hadn't heard about that stretch of courses then I wasn't singing loud enough ! Either that or you understandably tuned out 


Niall

[PCCraig]

Town & Country in St. Paul is about as quirky as I've seen, at least in the Midwest. If you like fun and quirk that's your place.


Last summer I played Megunticook in Maine which may be the quirkiest course I've seen in the US. Blind shots (including TWO blind par-3), holes that play to the ocean, rock outcroppings, no fairway irrigation, half par holes everywhere, bells everywhere, tees jammed up against roads, etc. Crazy fun.

[Kyle Harris]

Within 10 miles of each other in Eastern PA:


Galen Hall
Manor
Reading CC


All Alex Findlay. Galen Hall also has Tillinghast and the Gordons.

[Tommy Williamsen]

I am surprised that Painswick has not been mentioned. It is the king of quirk.

[Marty Bonnar]

Forgot to add Spey Bay http://www.speybay.co/index.html
- crossing fairways, wild hills,fun. again, not links turf but seaside nonetheless...I'm the guy hitting from clearly the wrong place.

Mark


I'm pretty sure that's not Spey Bay but off hand I can't say where it is.


Niall

Cullen?
F.

[Niall C]

FBD


I'm pretty sure it's not Cullen either. It rings a vague bell but thinking through all the courses up that way I don't think it's any of those. Maybe Mark might be able to remember from his trip which courses he played.


Niall

[Niall C]

Actually it might be Covesea. The hole after the short uphill blind par 3 there is a short driveable par 4 with a sea stack to the right and I think the guy playing the shot might have landed in the slope in front of the sea stack. The hill to the back of him looks like the surrounding land.


Niall

[jeffwarne]

Actually it might be Covesea. The hole after the short uphill blind par 3 there is a short driveable par 4 with a sea stack to the right and I think the guy playing the shot might have landed in the slope in front of the sea stack. The hill to the back of him looks like the surrounding land.


Niall

Yes could be 8 Covesea.


Niall,
I heard you for many years((planned the trip many times dating back to early 2000's), but it still is as unsung and unvisited an area as one will ever find for American tourists who might dash up to Dornoch and tell you they discovered Brora!

[Garland Bayley]

I doubt that is Covesea.

[Mike_Trenham]

What about the West Course?  - Merion West

[Tim Martin]

What about the West Course?  - Merion West

+1

[Philip Caccamise]

Speaking of definitions, does a course with several quirky holes but only several count as a quirky course? Lahinch? Elie? North Berwick? Brora and Golspie?


I love quirk.


Ira

Elie has enough quirk to count in my book. You can spend hours hitting different shots around there. The clubhouse has a dang submarine periscope! Even the scorecard is quirky by today's standards: 16 par 4's and 2 par 3's. Definitely one of my favorite courses in the entire world, period.

[Chris_Blakely]

Eagle Springs Resort
Eagle, WI


Gladstone GC
Gladstone, MI


Les Cheneaux CG
Cedarville, MI


Switzerland-of-Ohio GC
Beallsville, OH

[Kevin Pallier]

I am surprised that Painswick has not been mentioned. It is the king of quirk.

Tommy

It has been mentioned and I'll +1.

I'll add Windermere in Lakes District UK

http://www.windermeregolfclub.co.uk/page.aspx?pid=52211

[James Brown]

Cabot Cliffs
North Berwick
Crail
Aiken Golf Club

[Mark Mammel]

Niall-You are a wizard. You are right- the photo is from Cullen Links, from a trip in 2000. And quirky it is! Thanks for jogging my memory- I love this group since there's always someone who totally gets what you're talking about, even when you veer off the path.

[Duncan Cheslett]

Silverdale, in a lovely part of north Lancashire near Carnforth, is a fabulously quirky nine hole course over knobbly limestone terrain.


Silverdale#13 by Duncan Cheslett, on Flickr


 Unfortunately the club saw fit some years ago to build another nine holes on adjacent farmland which dilutes the experience horribly. Holes 1 and 11-18 however, are well worth the short detour off the M6.

[Sean_A]

It seems to me that it is usually the case that quirk works is down to limited presence. Most of the time I don't think of supposedly quirky courses as quirky at all. North Berwick is often mentioned as such. Most of the stuff people call quirk is simply taking advantage of what the property offered to produce 18 holes. It seems to me NB has great variety because of this and only a little quirk.

Painswick on the hand is very quirky because the property doesn't support 18 holes, but the designers built 18 anyway. Again, the design is lay of the land, but the number of crossovers is very unusual and successful to differing degrees. I also think the number of unusual elements in combination add to the quirk: many front to back greens, very short yardage, blind shots, a lot of short holes, loads of non golfers etc.

I don't think of Pennard as quirky. It's a very cool property for a course.

Ciao

[Clyde Johnson]

Forgot to add Spey Bay http://www.speybay.co/index.html
- crossing fairways, wild hills,fun. again, not links turf but seaside nonetheless...I'm the guy hitting from clearly the wrong place.

Mark


I'm pretty sure that's not Spey Bay but off hand I can't say where it is.


Niall

Cullen?
F.

That's definitely the 12th hole at Cullen.


I wouldn't describe Spey Bay as quirky. It's a quiet links, with a bunch of smallish rippling contour.