The Dukes course at St Andrews

Posted by Michael on 24 July 2010 | 0 Comments | Tags: , , , ,

Sluggish from a week at St Andrews, on Monday four kiwis took to the Dukes course at St Andrews along with our man Chris Barnard from Kingsbarns.  Quality chap who, one day, might also become a kiwi provided our immigration guys sort themselves out and let him in to start his job as a greenkeeper at Paraparaumu Beach GC.

There was some very Scottish weather (i.e, rain and dreariness) and the wet weather gear was coming out left right and centre.  Tim Borren, caddying for the day, had made the amateur error of wearing jeans so my wet weather pants were with him.

The first tee shot gave us an indication of what was to follow – gorse everywhere and long wet rough. It looked like there was nowhere to hit it, but then as we wandered down the hole wasn’t too narrow at all.

I think the rain started on the second hole.  And with the rain the 200 yard tee shots with no roll. It was definitely a driver day. The rain got heavier and heavier to the extent that JP commented that it was very ‘wet rain’.  Smart guy. T Borren subsided to the clubhouse and I reclaimed my wet weathers – not after my linen pants had turned a much darker colour of blue.   

Doug Mathews, an old mate from back in NZ who has moved to the UK made up the 4 ball which was his first round of golf in the northern hemisphere and it looked like it! This action shot doesn't look so bad though. Playing golf for 200 days in a row, you realise how epicly long Douggie hits the ball. 

Despite the rain the four of us kept trooping on. As we do. I will admit to a split second or two of worry as after a particularly severe downpoud the 4th green looked like it was trying to flood. But the 5th green had no such issues. The photographs today are courtesy of Chris as our camera was hiding from the rain. It is not much of a fan.  But the beaut thing about the photography skills of Chris is that he is the master of catching us mid-action. So you may notice a theme in the pictures below (it also helps this his camera does not click like ours which is rather off-putting and I know what Steve Williams would do if that happened mid downswing for Tiger). 

The golf was rather awol and looking for golf balls in the long stuff became less of a priority – that was after a first crack at it on the 5th caused my waterproof callaway shoes to open the floodgates. My feet were now wet.

In the rain the course plays long.  480 yard par fours, 220 yard uphill par threes and the like. This is a ball strikers course. The type of course a pro would shoot 68 on, but us mere mortals battle to go under 80. A bit like the TPC numbers in the US. If you can bomb your drive you should be able to hit it on the large greens and scoring is manageable. If you can't bomb your drives, well the trouble compounds - particularly when the rough is long.

Of course we had a match, a hotly contested one at that as the childhood competitiveness with Jamie was doubled when he was partnered up with Doug.  The match, and the standard of golf was affected by our energy levels which dropped considerably and we were all hanging out for Tim to return with some food as we were starting to fade. But a significant lead for the good guys proved unassailable despite Douggie finding his rhythm on the back nine. 

The food didn’t arrive, but we trooped on through the amen corner of 10, 11, 12 which cost a few of double bogeys amongst the group, and the 11th well it is a monster of a par five played along the fence with a burn rolling across short of the green and bunkers everywhere. Probably the signature hole on the course. 

Then the last few holes, recently redesigned were pretty sharp with more undulating greens and strong golf holes which combine well with the routing which was clearly put there to make the most of the views below towards the township and the water beyond.  The highlights reel included a cheeky birdie on 13, a close (unconverted) tee shot on 16 (see pic below) and Doug’s (unconverted) approach to 17. Which I must add is a quality hole framed by four huge trees.  Quite American-esque.

There was no excuse for putting woes as the Dukes course is in great condition. Probably because of our man Leo from Paraparaumu Beach and his influence working here on the greens staff (for 5 weeks a number of years ago).

We climbed the 18th and finished to some bread rolls and cheese. Then it was off with four bodies and far too much gear in the car back to Burnt Island where we crashed for some much needed sleep with very old family friends of JP, the Lowes.  Thanks Chris for arranging day 200 of puregolf2010 and The Dukes course for hosting us.  Birdie Count thru one week: 19. Contact us to get involved in the birdie challenge fundraising!

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