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It is a privilege to be able to write about our day at Royal St Georges as day 301 of puregolf was one of the very best days in a year of great days of golf.
Our day began with a 2 minute drive from the Dormy House at RCP across the private road demanding a 6 quid toll which, I think, if you??re off to the golf course you needn??t worry about. But, of course, a 2 minute drive across narrow country roads becomes more like 10 when you??re stuck behind a tractor and the postie. Wonder if they have to pay the toll as well?
Upon arrival two gentlemen were waiting by the clubhouse for the kiwis to straggle on in, the tanks engine blaring like a lawnmower ruining the serenity of this links land such that the secretary almost had to come out to tell us to shut up.
Our two hosts today were of the Lucifer clan and go by the names of Paul Mitchell & Bertie Shotten. Both men were incredibly welcoming to us and a huge thank you to them for having us here. Being lucifers, they both have connections with Commonwealth countries and both chaps are heading out to New Zealand in the new year for the annual Lucifer tour. After todays hospitality we??ve got quite the task at hand to reciprocate in Wellington! Paul??s Lucifer connection is particularly strong. Follow carefully - his wife is the sister of the wife of Peter Costain our host from Rye. The father in law of both Peter and Paul is now ??The Senior lucifer?? and at the age of 99 I believe has only recently hung up his sticks.
So into the clubhouse we went where we changed our shoes, but first inspected the rich tapestry of golfing history that drips from the walls of this traditional and elegant clubhouse. Many an Open Championship have been held here and famous names such as Walter Hagen, Bobby Locke, Sandy Lyle and my childhood golfing hero Greg Norman, feature.
Without getting too carried away with the memorabilia out we went to tackle the course on a fresh but clear day with Bart kindly on my bag and also on the camera taking the imposing challenge of photographing this links off our hands. But don't get me wrong I think Bart was, along with all four of us, like a pig in mud just walking around this hallowed links land.
The match was laid down, Bertie and I taking on Paul and JP in a foresomes match. From the outset it seemed like this was more of a ??golfers club?? than some we have visited of late. Both Paul and Bertie were both incredibly proud of their golf course and were both fairly competitive golfers. I??d need to do more research but I wouldn??t be surprised if St Georges had a high proportion of members who really know how to hold a club ?? a bit like Pine Valley. So despite playing a foresomes, for the entire round each shot was talked through and generally well thought out and we all got a great look at the course. Throughout the round the craic flowed and both Paul and Bertie had a fantastic warmth about them. I??m sure that most members of RSG are ??upper-crust?? but these lads were down to earth, very supportive of our quest and really good fun!
I am now going to unashamedly talk about the Royal St Georges golf course which is the best golf course in England and is the host of the next Open Championship. For those not interested in the golf, feel free to skip this part and go back to your latte and find another procrastination tool to get you through your morning at work. For those golf lovers, please read on.
First, the flags. They are cool. The St Georges cross stands out on a small white flag, making depth perception difficult but most crucially being as distinctive as the big greens of The Old Course.
[the old coal fired power station in the background which is now too costly to remove because of asbestos]
Early on the round the class of RSG makes itself known. After a strong start you stand on the 4th tee with some of the most ghastly bunkers eyeing you right in the face. Legend goes that Robert Allenby failed to clear the sand during the 2003 Open here and took 3 shots to get out en route to making a quintuple bogey 9. I know Robert is a reader of our blog (yeah right) so, for his sake, there is a friendly reminder about his favourite bunker below.
The par fours at RSG as a grouping stand out. Numbers 2 and 4 require immense drives which can, played well, set up a birdie opportunity. The 5th hole is a fantastic hole where the green is nestled behind the dunes leaving a blind second if you don??t place your drive well. On the 5th Vijay (surely downwind) took aim 35 degrees left of the sane man and bombed it over the dunes and some 400 yards onto the green. The 5th hole is pictured below.
Taking a pause from the fantastic par fours, the front nine is bisected by the signature hole, ??the Maiden??. A par three nestled amongst the dunes and surrounded by bunkers and, like a maiden, a pleasure on the eye. The Maiden used to be a blind hole played over the sand dunes, but RSG has adapted and there are now very few blind holes ?? a feature which pleases the R&A and the professional golfers as opposed to the more ??quirky?? traditional courses that have remained the same (i.e., Prestwick). The ??Maiden?? is pictured below.
There are only a couple of par fives on the course. The first long hole (the 7th) JP hit a remarkable shot, yet to be seen in 301 days of consecutive golf, when he holed out from the bunker some 25 yards away by hitting the top of the flag and riding the flagstick down into the cup on the fly. That gets the adrenaline pumping. Lucky for he and Paul, that was for the half (in birdies) after y??er man Bertie had left me a mere 220 yards for my second shot in. The second par five is the famous 14th and, along with JP??s celebrations, is pictured below. The suez canal plays alongside the boundary by Princes with O.B. staring you in the face all the way down the right hand side, a burn at driving distance, and bunkers everywhere. I gave an offering to the Princes rough from the tee, leaving Bertie displeased and stopping our run of quite a few consecutive pars, whilst JP and Paul played signature golf to take the hole. I look forward to seeing how many of the pro??s succumb to the OB next year when the wind is howling from the left.
Back to the par fours in the middle of the round, which, for me, turned a good golf course into a truly great one. You see, this course is not a traditional out and back style links and throughout the entire round the wind is constantly hurtling at you from all directions. Add to this the constantly challenging green complexes on the 8th, 9th, 10th,12th and 13th holes and you walk off from that stretch truly impressed. Both the 9th and 10th holes are the type that make you stand there, wedge in hand, hoping for the life of you that you can keep it on the green and be spared the task of trying to get up and down. The 12th and 13th holes could on a good day seem like simple birdie chances yet on a bad day ruin your round completely. And the stroke one 8th is sublime. I??ve photographed a couple of these holes and they are below.
[one of the most written about holes on the course the par four, stroke 1 index, 8th hole. The green is off in the distance between Bart and Bert and protected by both bunkers & dunes]
[Paul on the par four 9th hole]
[12 - one of my favourite mid length par fours. If you can drive it over the ridge it's an easy wedge onto the green. If not, you need to exhibit some local knowledge like Bertie did!]
[The 16th. A par three where Thomas Bjorn famously lost the Open in 2003 from the bunker on the right (hidden, but right next to the pin)].
The round finishes with a incredibly strong par four lined with bunkers but which is like ??links stadium golf? because of the wide expanse along the fairway and green for the grandstands to go. It will have great atmosphere next year and Paul and Bertie, as club members, will have the best seat in the house as stewards on the 18th.
Into the clubhouse the RSG experience continued to improve as the tankards of beer came out and we were entertained by not only Bertie and Paul but by the senior Lucifer Fergus and his mate Robin ?? two accountants who had qualified many moons ago. Fergus, an incredibly lucid chap, shared with us about his life running the family company including during his time in the South of Ireland where he had great time but missed RSG. We had a sparkling lunch, meeting not only members but visitors who were out to play the future host of the Open. The visitors were chatting with the members in the sprig bar and we were introduced to a couple of Japanese businessmen out from the city. Of course, our day finished with the customary Kummel, pints of the stuff no less which brings me to my closing plea. The Wolfschmidt brand of kummel is closing down and I know many a golfer who would be keen to invest in this company and continue to supply the golf clubs of the UK. I??ve googled it without luck ?? anyone know anything about the Austrian spirits trade?
A three page essay on RSG later I??m sure that no amount of writing can do this day justice. So for those who have made it this far down I??ll leave it that, but to again put a huge thank you out to both Paul and Bertie and the entire Lucifer clan for entertaining us during a week of golf that will be forever etched into the memory.
This week we??ve had a few lessons on the geography of the Lancashire Coast in England??s North West. Manchester, Liverpool & Preston are all twin cities and pretty much blur into one and this being a very heavily populated part of the world means that getting to and fro each coastal golf course has had its moments. We??ve had two bases for the week, Wayne & Gail??s place on the west of Manchester, and with Charlie and Vera Donald in Southport. The destination for today was equidistant of the two, south of Liverpool at Hoylake. So the plan was hatched that we??d stay with Wayne & meet Charlie at the course at 745 sharp before heading back to Southport to stay for the next couple of nights.
So it was up at 520am & farewell to the family before we hit the road by 6, JP singing you'll never walk alone at the top of his lungs and the tank well and truly at sixes and sevens. Firstly she wouldn??t start, and then we drove along with our broken window flapping as I struggled to look out through the crack in the windscreen. Fortunately we??d allowed for plenty of time and after a congestion free ride down the M58 & M6 we pulled into the township of Hoylake well before 730am to a deserted clubhouse.
The course at Hoylake, of course, was Royal Liverpool and this would be our third Open Championship venue in the last four days. At last count this was our 10th course we've played to host the Open and hopefully by the time we leave these fair shores we would have had a crack at 'em all. Pulling into the car park I was taken by the formality of the club as the clubhouse sits grandly covered in ivy and the memorabilia almost pours out from the walls inside.
Our host for the day, who had arranged the game early before an invitation tournament was to close the course the rest of the day, was [ a proud member named Michael, a local lawyer whose family practice has gobbled up a few firms over the years and now is about the size of our old stomping grounds back in NZ.
Lets talk about Hoylake, the course which has recently got back on the Open roster since 40 years or so in the wilderness and hosted the 2006 Open where Tiger triumphed by hitting 2 iron all week off the tee. Hoylake was founded in 1869 on what was then the racecourse of the Liverpool Hunt Club. The majority of the layout is what was laid out by Harry Colt in the early 20th century. Since Colt's work the course has seen a number of changes, and our host Michael, being a long serving member of the club was able to tell us about much of the history of the routing of the course.
What was still close to mind was the week of the 2006 Open where the famed winds did not blow but the course was set up hard and fast, far more difficult than the softer conditioning we experienced and what the members are used to. Michael told us there was so much roll that all of the par fives were easily reachable in two (making it effectively a par 68 and so no-one beat the course). Today we were fortunate enough to have a whirl from the championship tees and with a light breeze getting up the course played long but was very fair.
The course has its share of quirks such as the internal out of bounds around the practice ground to the right of both the 1st and 16th holes. Both these holes bend at almost 90 degrees around the practice ground (which for the Open becomes a tent village making the OOB far less imposing). The first is "Prestwick style" daunting ?? on both the tee shot and the approach shot the OOB looms directly on the right ?? it is barely 5 feet from the edge of the green! During the Open the course started on the 17th hole, and so it wasn??t the first and second swings of the day that those boys had to hold their nerve 7 not go right to prevent a disaster start.
Internal out of bounds used to be more of a quirk here when it was originally built around the racecourse and the club didn??t own all the land, but over time this issue has subsided and now the only internal OOB is the aforementioned practice ground. The best way to understand the internal OOB by the practice ground is to look at this overhead photo:
[a profile view of the first green - see how close the OOB is]
The bunkering here is quality, like other open venues and any links course worth its salt. The two biggest factors you need to control around a flat and exposed links like this are your line, and your trajectory. If you get the ball running at the bunkers, it will invariably go in. If you hit it high in the wind - you're in the hands of the golfing gods. Below is an indication of the bunkering - in this instance around the green of the short par four second hole.
For the Open a few championship tees were used to really stretched the course out. The first such tee was on the stroke one, 490 yard par four 5th hole where neither Jamie or I could reach the fairway with our drives. But we both escaped the gorse left and right and from just short of the fairway I knocked a 3-wood onto the green and made birdie which felt like eagle.
[the view from the championship tee on 5]
[the 5th green complex. The simplicity of the greens is a feature here]
The next hole has a brilliant blind tee shot over a hedge with out of bounds left. Not knowing what awaits us at the fairway is a feeling we have become well & truly used to after playing 270 new courses in a row so it was a case of head down and good contact over the stake.
The par three 7th hole was remodeled some years ago. The old hole was polarizing ?? from what I understood there was a road and out of bounds directly to the left of the green such that a shot hit even on the green would often roll out of bounds. The staunchest supporter of the old hole had actually made a score of 12 there during one medal round but he still stood by the hole through numerous deliberations at the club as to whether it should be changed. Now this hole is normalized into a state where the course can host a modern Open Championship. Still, I would have loved to see and play the old 7th to see what all the fuss was about!
The stretch from 9 through 12 plays along the coastline with the Welsh coast and a huge windfarm framing the panoramic view. These holes play with the prevailing wind coming from the left and are a great stretch. 9 is an old fashioned sunk green, something not ordinarily seen on a modern championship course, 10 is a strong par four to an elevated green with a huge roll-off right, 11 is a long par three to a green amongst the dunes, and 12 is Tiger??s hole ?? a 450 yard par four through fairway bunkers to an elevated green perched on the perimeter of the property with all kinds of trouble (read the ocean) left and again a severe roll off right. It??s Tiger??s hole because he knocked a 2 iron, 4 iron into the hole to make eagle 2 here en route to his victory in ??06. Trying to emulate him I managed my flushest two strikes in a month to hit 2 iron, 6 iron to 20 feet and saw the putt drop for a memorable birdie. Such shots have been few and far between of late as my scoring average has increased by almost 10 shots per round as fatigue ?? both mental and physical, and a dodgy swing have got the better of me since leaving Scotland. Today was like going back in time a couple of months and there was some semblance of consistent ball striking. Unfortunately for Michael and I, the opposition of Charlie and JP were dovetailing beautifully and the match was quickly getting out of our grasp. Charlie, after his putting woes of the last couple of days had resisted temptation to resort to his old side saddle style and was starting to roll one or two in.. that cheered up the old bugger - he's a competitive chap and doesn't like losing!
[the old fashioned sunk 9th green. Blind from the fairway unless you can bomb it well down the left]
[looking back down the 10th hole]
[the par three 11th - the ocean in the backdrop]
[from both the tee and the green on the classy 12th hole]
After the par three 13th (which rounds off a solid set of par threes all of different distances and all which play to different directions of the compass) the course loses a tad of momentum. 14 and 15 are up and back and very flat with the defense being the wind and the pot bunkers (although 15 is one of few greens on the curse with a tiered green) and could do with a couple more strategically placed bunkers. 16 is an interesting par five played at right angles around the practice ground (see the aerial photograph above coming back towards you) such that if you take the racing line down the right your second will be all carry across the out of bounds and onto the green. A daunting hole where you could easily make a 3 or 7.. 17 and 18 are out and back par fours from the clubhouse, 17 with a new green replacing what was once the Lancashire equivalent of the road hole where the road was immediately beside the green ?? but health and safety got the better of that quirk and now the new Hawtree designed green has plenty going on but doesn??t push my buttons. Didn't help that on this green it was caps off and hand shakes all around as Michael and I were finally put out of our misery.
[charlie knocking it on the green on the 16th]
As we were walking down the 18th attention turned to the clubhouse where gentlemen from across the North-East of the USA had congregated to take part in a match with the locals. Michael informed me he had another round to play this afternoon, followed by 2 the following day - now that's commitment! So in we went to shower up and tour the clubhouse. We saw all kinds of memorabilia from Tiger's nike bladed 2 iron to celebrations of Bobby Jones' triumph in the 1930 Open here en route to his famous grand slam victory.
In the bar we were meeting other traveling golfers left right and centre from clubs such as Myopia, Brookline, Pine Valley and Somerset Hills. And who would we see from Somerset Hills but our host from that fine day a couple of months back, the great Rory Corrigan - the legend who the day after our round took Dodgy for an early morning drive, on his 60th birthday no less, to meet us for a quick coffee before our sleep deprived but extraordinarily memorable round at Plainfield (it's a long story but I encourage you to work your way back through the blog roll to read all about it). It's a small world this wide world of golf - and Rory is one of those champions that just epitomise the collegiality of it all. We had a team hug & wished Rory well for his afternoon match (I believe he was captaining the side for the afternoon). [Postscript - I have just heard that today Rory, John Miller (from Plainfield) and Slambino have been out golfing together which is very cool]
And with that I must bring this rant to an end. Hoylake was epic - an absolute must play course for any golfer. Thanks to Michael for looking after us, and a huge thank you to Charlie for rounding up his lads from the Mersey to help us with this week.
What a cracking afternoon at Royal Lytham & St Annes! And after a month of rubbish golf it was nice to string together a few decent shots on this beauty of a course. Our golf today was organised thanks to my uncle Wayne Goldstein who is a barrister in Manchester and wrote to the club explaining our quest. After a series of correspondence we were kindly hosted which was fantastic. As I write this blog post some 10 days later I can report we have not had the same welcoming from all English courses and arranging a round of golf has, at times, proved rather difficult.
We have been staying with Wayne and his wife Gail the last few days which has been fantastic. It has been a chance for me to get to know them both (prior to earlier this year on tour in Australia I had only met Wayne as a very young boy) and also recuperate in the comfort of their house. After our game at Lytham we got some bad news as I mentioned in my previous blog post and now both my parents and Wayne & Gail have headed back to Australia.
After our golf at Royal Lytham we all went out for dinner in Lytham. John & his wife, my parents, Wayne & Gail and us puregolf lads enjoyed a spot of italian to top off a cracking day. I would like to thank everyone involved, John for hosting us, Wayne & Gail for having us all stay (they've had 3 Goldstein, an O'Connell and a Patton) and my folks for coming all the way out to see us!
The golf? I've left that to a youtube style course tour which hopefully will do the course justice. If, for some reason you can't get on youtube - you should move mountains to watch this one - Royal Lytham & St Annes is one of my favourite courses of the year....
Chisholm Park
12 holes bart cape kidnappers christchurch christmas doak ed bayley hawke's bay heretaunga jane poole napier golf club new zealand puregolf2010 rangiora rarangi gc royal royal wellington the first tee the interislander waiohiki
