Elie. Photo tour all 18.

[Tony_Muldoon]

Feel free to skip this post and go straight to the pictures.

Let me fill you in a little, it will help you understand my state of mind when I played Elie.  

Bear with me.

Christmas 2009 I get a call from a friend’s wife.  “You’ll never guess what he’s done now; he’s got himself into hospital so he doesn’t have to be home for Christmas!  Anyway next year he’s 90 and he keeps saying he’s never been to St Andrews and there’s no point me taking him....”    
“How ill is he?”  
“Deaths door”
“Well he probably won’t be able to play golf again then”
“Next September he’ll be recovered. Look I’m begging you. after  what feels like 200 years of marriage I deserve a weekend off, please take the old F+++ to Scotland, it’s the only present he really wants”.
Well as I told my wife, l it’s a tough life what else could I do but agree to what was possibly a last request and after all I’m not one to complain.

So far so good.  But then it got strange.   We allowed for two days in St Andrews. If the ballot didn’t work we could get up really early and he could expire somewhere on the Old Course. At least that was my plan.

As we set off for the Airport for our flight to Edinburgh we got a message direct from the Golfing Gods / THE R&A (well the Links Trust), we’d won the lottery and had a time on The Old Course at 9.30am the next day!  Fast forward a couple of hours and plans are wrecked by the plane getting sick!  I get a call from Captain Whittaker (this is one week prior to Buda) I explain the situation and in a transatlantic effort to save the day he tries to get us on the overnight train – no dice! IN the end the airline move us to another airport 50 miles away and promise us first flight next morning to ....Glasgow.   No way to make the tee time.  By the time their coach turns up we end up with only 4 hrs in a bed and then, waiting for the coach again, we nearly miss our new flight.


In Scotland the rain is PERSISTING down, down, down.  We arrive at St Andrews having missed our time and the starter informs us the rest of day is full. Tired and hungry we desolately drive to Anstruther for a midday “Fish supper”. A little tour in the dreek shows him the location of Kingsbarns, Crail, Lundin, Leven and then doubling back Elie.  BY now the rain has stopped.  I persuade the Old Man this was meant to be, a course I’d heard good things of, but knew little about.

And that gentleman is how I came to enter the enchanted land that is Elie, please accompany me on a most pleasant memory jog.  While it’s hardly unkown,  I don’t recall many photo’s so I’ve tried to be generous.

[Tony_Muldoon]

If I have it correct, the Clubs proper name is The Golf House Club, Elie. Although they played here from 1858 the Club was named when they needed funds for a club house in 1873.Famously James Braid learnt his golf here.  I can think of few courses that absolutely  demand a bump and run game but Elie is definitely one.




Elie is famous for having a periscope from a WW11 U-boat to check the 1st fairway is clear. It plays over a steep hill up and then down, testing enough for a first hole.  420 yards








Turn around and play back up that steep hill to a deceptively deep skyline green. Getting better already,


 






Hole three. You get a wonderful view from the tee on high here.




















The Sun was shining, my ancient partner had survived the trek back up the hill, a 1.5 club wind was blowing off the sea, and truly ...all was right with the world.
So far the hole lengths are 420, 284 and 214 yards. Each played as a Par 4.  Elie is a windy and hilly site. I feel the course should be measured in some more fluid way than yards.  How about knots?  Do devils handsets work here?

Cross a road, like St Andrews and North Berwick, Elie delightfully plays from and back to the town.
The 4th has been discussed on here: like the 8th at Burnham and Berrow what makes the holes a spine running down the centre of the fairway.  The careful player will observe where the pin is and play to that side of the fairway.   A very cool and subtle feature.
































I will post the rest over the next few days – but Flickr is hard work.


Obviously Elie is fun, fun ,fun but I’d be interested in how “good” a course others consider it.

Merry Christmas Everyone.

[Bill_McBride]

I am madly in love with Elie.   What's not to like?  A great walk, first alongside the town and then the ocean in view and just to the left on #11, 12 and 13.   Par 70, sixteen par 4's, two par 3's.  Including, Tony, #3 which is a very good par 3.  

Great variety in those par 4's, ranging from 256 yards (blind over a ridge #7) to 460 yards #12.   There really isn't a bad hole,  
Be sure to aim left of the marker post on #1, there's a very deep and blind bunker down the right, which accounted for my opening with a 7.  

[Mark Pearce]

Tony,

Thanks for this.  As some here know I have just joined The Golf House Club, having visited Elie every summer for years.  It's simply great fun.  Is it a great course, objectively?  I really don't know.  Probably not is my guess but I simply can't judge it that way.  It's great fun, it demands all the shots a proper links demands and, in a wind, it's plenty to test your game.

By the way, as Bill has mentioned, the 3rd is a par 3.

[Eric Strulowitz]

Feel free to skip this post and go straight to the pictures.

Let me fill you in a little, it will help you understand my state of mind when I played Elie. 

Bear with me.

Christmas 2009 I get a call from a friend’s wife.  “You’ll never guess what he’s done now; he’s got himself into hospital so he doesn’t have to be home for Christmas!  Anyway next year he’s 90 and he keeps saying he’s never been to St Andrews and there’s no point me taking him....”   
“How ill is he?” 
“Deaths door”
“Well he probably won’t be able to play golf again then”
“Next September he’ll be recovered. Look I’m begging you. after  what feels like 200 years of marriage I deserve a weekend off, please take the old F+++ to Scotland, it’s the only present he really wants”.
Well as I told my wife, l it’s a tough life what else could I do but agree to what was possibly a last request and after all I’m not one to complain.

So far so good.  But then it got strange.   We allowed for two days in St Andrews. If the ballot didn’t work we could get up really early and he could expire somewhere on the Old Course. At least that was my plan.

As we set off for the Airport for our flight to Edinburgh we got a message direct from the Golfing Gods / THE R&A (well the Links Trust), we’d won the lottery and had a time on The Old Course at 9.30am the next day!  Fast forward a couple of hours and plans are wrecked by the plane getting sick!  I get a call from Captain Whittaker (this is one week prior to Buda) I explain the situation and in a transatlantic effort to save the day he tries to get us on the overnight train – no dice! IN the end the airline move us to another airport 50 miles away and promise us first flight next morning to ....Glasgow.   No way to make the tee time.  By the time their coach turns up we end up with only 4 hrs in a bed and then, waiting for the coach again, we nearly miss our new flight.


In Scotland the rain is PERSISTING down, down, down.  We arrive at St Andrews having missed our time and the starter informs us the rest of day is full. Tired and hungry we desolately drive to Anstruther for a midday “Fish supper”. A little tour in the dreek shows him the location of Kingsbarns, Crail, Lundin, Leven and then doubling back Elie.  BY now the rain has stopped.  I persuade the Old Man this was meant to be, a course I’d heard good things of, but knew little about.

And that gentleman is how I came to enter the enchanted land that is Elie, please accompany me on a most pleasant memory jog.  While it’s hardly unkown,  I don’t recall many photo’s so I’ve tried to be generous.

Tony,

Thanks for sharing the pics, brings back fond memoires.

Elie was the unexpected highlight of my last trip to Scotland.  Had a bit of a time finding it, it was well worth it.  We were greeted warmly upon arrival, wasintroduced to the PResident of the club, and then proceeded to hit off that first hole, which indeed is blind and very much uphill.  There were a few holes along the water than in my opinion were every bit as scenic as PEbble Beach.

Elie is not unknown, but not on most lists when folks plan a Scotland trip.  I would certainly urge anyone making the journey to be sure to put Elie at the top of the list!

[Anthony Gray]

  That is how golf is ment to be. Thanks Tony.

  Anthony

[Bob_Huntley]

Tony,

I am not sure how many points it would get on the Doak score but I have always thought it was a ten, just for the pure enjoyment of being there. The members and residents of the town were most welcoming and fierce defenders of their golf course.

Bob

[Tim Martin]

Tony-Thanks for the wonderful photos and story. That looks just awesome and when I do get to Scotland it will be on my list of must plays.

[Mark Pearce]

It's no surprise that Bob knows Elie.  I have heard it said (whether accurately or not) that the club has more members who are also members of the R&A than any other club.  It's a club that embraces its tradition but yet manages to have one of the most active and full junior sections I know of.

[John Mayhugh]

Great gift for us, Tony. Thanks.

[Dan Grossman]

Great pics Tony. My round at Elie in 2001 is one of my favorite memories. If I remember correctly, there is a little pub to the left of the 4th tee where you can pop in for a "roadie" if no one is behind you. 

[Joe Fairey]

I love Elie....my first visits were in summer of 2006 when I spent 2 months in St Andrews...we must have played there at least six times....and since have played there with Buda, and another return trip in 2009....and as soon as get back across, I'll be there again....

[Andy Shulman]

Thanks for the great photos.  I'm another Elie fan, having played one round there in '05.  There's great variety in those 16 par-4s.  I learned about the course from Allan Ferguson's "Golf in Scotland," a great book, by the way, for anyone who wants to plan their own trip to the Home of Golf.

[Bill_McBride]

I love Elie....my first visits were in summer of 2006 when I spent 2 months in St Andrews...we must have played there at least six times....and since have played there with Buda, and another return trip in 2009....and as soon as get back across, I'll be there again....

Joe, you are a long knocker.   How many par 4's did you drive?  

I'm thinking 2, 6, 7, 10, and 15 are driveable. 

I know 2 and 7 are.  Lloyd Cole drove 2 with a spoon, and all four of us drove 7 (256 yards).   

[Tiger_Bernhardt]

Tony  what a wonderful Christmas gift for all of us. Thank you for sharing this.

[Michael Whitaker]

Captain Mulldoon,

Thank you for reminding me of this story. I had forgotten about our frantic attempt to get you on a train to Scotland after your flight was cancelled. It was a shame that you didn't make TOC, but discovering Eliie was a grand consolation prize!

We had one of the best Budas ever at Elie... the golf there is nonstop fun. Can't wait to see your pictures of the back nine... amazing stuff!

Mike Whitaker

[Mark Pearce]

Bill,

In the right conditions I'm going to guess that all of 2, 5 (certainly from the yellow tees), 6, 7, 10, 15 and 18 are driveable for a player of Joe's length.  Of those I have seen 6, 7, 10 and 18 driven.

[Bill_McBride]

Bill,

In the right conditions I'm going to guess that all of 2, 5 (certainly from the yellow tees), 6, 7, 10, 15 and 18 are driveable for a player of Joe's length.  Of those I have seen 6, 7, 10 and 18 driven.

I can't imagine anyone driving 18.  Isn't it about 380?

[Tony_Muldoon]

Having played 3 to 6, out to the sea, we now turn around again. To play a triangle 7, 8 and 9 in the middle of the widest part of the course conveniently adjacent to the sea. Uphill across a road and then down again.










Following an easy hole we have tougher one.  How I wish more architects would recognise the power of the diaconal hazard. Colt got it.

[Mark Pearce]

Bill,

Yes, about 380 but reachable for a long player with a good wind behind in firm conditions.

[Gary Slatter]

thanks for the Christmas present Tony!   Elie was our first round in Scotland, on a Easter Sunday!   It's everything a golf club should be!  with a fine membership too.

[Philippe Binette]

Simply put. I'd play Elie everyday

[James Boon]

Tony,

Wonderful stuff! And as others have said, a nice little Christmas present to us all on here! After enjoying a day with the in-laws, cracking open my first ever bottle of Laphroaig and watching Senna, this caps the day off nicely.

Mr Pearce is indeed a very lucky chap! I've never had the pleasure of the course myself, but will be sure to make the effort soon after seeing these pics.

One observation before signing off, the markers on the tee have the hole number, yardage and name, but no par or SI. Nice and simple!

Merry Christmas!

James

[Ronald Montesano]

Why the two flags on the shaft on the 9th green?


Is that third photo of #9 from behind the green? If so, what a great trundle-down into the putting surface!

[Tony_Muldoon]

10, this sums up Elie to me.  Blind shot over the hill and then downhill all the way through the green. 
I hit a cracker and I’m not used to having eagle putts on 288 yard holes(let alone my second of the day). 





 I was front left. The pin was middle right. The putt followed the top edge of the green, just as it ran out of steam  it suddenly turned left, as close to 90 degrees as could be, and gravity fed it down to.... a lip out!  The ball must have been in motion for 15 heart rendering seconds.  Golf Magic!





We’re right down by the sea here so a couple more views.   








11 is only 131 yards.  On other courses you’d call it a Par 3.





Has no one got anything critical at all to say here?   


Well…

I didn’t much care for 12, despite it playing along the sea shore it seemed “flat” and prosaic and besides it was where I changed from a golfer who could play to par (+1 actually) to a hack and unfortunately it stayed that way for the rest of the weekend.