Npole Course Review!!!

[Tim Gallant]

I recently returned from playing a real hidden gem located quite far north. It is the first, and to date, only design by Kris Kringle. Like Henry Fownes, and Arthur Crump, Kris is not an architect by day, but mainly trades in the import business. With a lot of spare time on his hand during the Summers (when business really slows down), he decided to take his passion and build Npole for him and his cronies.

Invites are extremely tough to come by, and it is more difficult to get to than Ardfin! But that didn’t stop me, and when the invitation came in to play with Kris himself, I had to leap at the opportunity. Now the course is a winter club, much like Augusta and Seminole, with the club open only between November and May. The course also closed in December for ‘maintenance’. The reason it isn’t open in the summer is that the course can become incredibly wet, and tends to play on the slow side. But from November - May, the course is in pristine shape, with the fairways and greens playing incredibly firm and fast. I swear some of my approaches took first bounces like they hit ice or something!

So there I stood on the first tee with Kris late in November. He was quite fidgety, and told me that we needed to play fast so that he could get back to work, otherwise, his colleagues would be quite upset with him. That was fine by me as I like to play fast anyways!

I’ll spare you a hole-by-hole description, but will try to pull out some of the highlights (and lowlights):

A lot of the holes are very straight - think Firestone straight. You could land a 747 on some of those fairways. The landing areas were very generous, however, some of them pitched severely from one side to the other - almost like a rooftop!

Maybe the biggest difference between Npole and other courses is the size of the holes. They don’t play regulation-sized cups, but play with holes that are 3x bigger, which makes scoring much easier. I asked Kris why the change in the hole size, and he said he thought the USGA hole size was just a bit too tight. I didn’t really know what he was getting at, but enjoyed the change of pace.

I noticed that around the greens Kris used Garden City-esq chocolate drop features to great effect. I mentioned this to Kris and queried if he got his inspiration for these features from Emmet? He seemed quite flummoxed with my question, and asked who Emmet was!

The highlight was the the par-3 9th, which was a dropshot hole to a small green. After hitting your tee shot, players strap into these sled-like contraptions, and ride down the hill! It was invigorating.

I noticed a distinct lack of sand bunkers on the course. I was very much reminded of C&Cs approach at Sheep Ranch, and have no doubt that they must have stolen their idea for the Bandon course after visiting Npole. That’s not to say that the course was easy. It really was so firm that very often shots would bound on and on.
The greens were devoid of any interest…pancake flat. I would have loved to see a bit more movement, but apparently, they can become a bit syrup-y as Spring arrives, and the slopes would make drainage a bit more challenging.

Overall, I enjoyed my game at Npole, and felt honoured to play a place I hadn’t heard much about prior to my place. Kris asked me for my thoughts on the course. He seemed like a straight-shooter, so I said that while there were some interesting architectural features, that he hadn’t tied the course in with the natural features of the property (like the cliff-edge around the turn that is under-utilised). He didn’t seem very impressed with my honest answer and said I was heading for the naughty list. I found this a bit disturbing, and we made our way to the clubhouse.

I know this is an architectural website, but I must say that the after-round hot chocolate was divine - it beats the Muirfield Village milkshakes 9&8.

So what say everyone else - has anyone played this course? Would be good to compare notes Happy Holidays all!

[Ronald Montesano]

#LikeButton 

[Marty Bonnar]

Brilliant stuff, young master G!
Love a bit of much-needed levity at this time of year, especially given today’s latest lockdown news.
Have a wonderful holiday season!
Sláinte!
M.

[David Jones]

Brilliant stuff, young master G!
Love a bit of much-needed levity at this time of year, especially given today’s latest lockdown news.
Have a wonderful holiday season!
Sláinte!
M.

Indeed, good work Tim (I was trying to find a way of working in ‘Tiny Tim’ without causing offence and failed).


Lovely to have some festive cheer!
 

[Ian Galbraith]

I called to try and get a tee time but got a frosty reception.

[Eric Smith]

Nice one, Tim. I hear its abominable from the silver and gold tees?

[Thomas Dai]

If there were a GCA ‘like’ icon I’d click it.
Well done Tim.
Atb

[jeffwarne]

OK, I bit.
I even bit on the Kris Kringle thing, noticing but not "noticing".
The extra large cups thing caught my attention,but I still was fooled.
I was even trying to figure out what southern Hemisphere was awaiting.
Paragraph #8 was where I finally caught on...
About 7 paragraphs more than it should have taken.
Well done.

[Steve Lapper]

Tim,


   Do the Reindeer double bag?


   Please send along the coordinates. I should be able to squeeze it in before heading to Loften Links later this year!


   Well done sir!