What to do/where to play

Less than 4 weeks to go now until my favourite golfing week of the year (The Tassie at Carnoustie). The thing is I never fancy driving straight from Swindon to Carnoustie and back so the possibility of breaking the journey up with an overnight stay and a round always appeals (both ways). My mum still lives in Ayrshire but even that is still a slog of a drive from Wiltshire.

When I did my birthday trip in March, Hoylake turned out to be a great stopover. We had toyed with the idea of Ganton but settled for the relative mildness of the Lancashire coast as back in mid March the Yorkshire Moors were a bit more chilly. Late August going up and early September coming back shouldn't present the same weather issues as March though (hopefully). So thinking about Ganton this time or possibly the McKenzie gems of Alwoodley or Moortown. I can always check price and availability but I just wondered if people had views on those courses and what would be a good option.

Also... you East of Scotland peeps, assuming I don't reach the semis of any of the matchplays, I'll be available on the Saturday (7th Sept). Infact, not working at the moment so potentially will start the journey up as early as Weds 28th Aug so could be up Edinburgh/Fife way by the Thurs evening and up for a game on the Friday (30th Aug).

Are you going up the M6 or M1?

Alwoodley and Moortown are both lovely courses, and good choices. Both clubs have stuck to their MacKenzie principles but have been extensively remodelled over the years so may not resemble what he designed in the 1900s. I don't think it would bother many people though.

Ganton is good too. It's a sort of inland links, so a good warm up for Carnoustie.

Also - Rockliffe Hall which is a new course, and mighty long. It's not mature yet but it's great to play.

Seaton Carew - very like Carnoustie. There are about 24 holes, so the layout can be varied. A real handful in anything stronger than a breeze. The best east coast links in England.

Brancepeth Castle - Harry Colt masterpiece, still pretty much as he designed it.

Or further north, there are some fun old style links courses in Northumberland - Dunstanburgh, Bamburgh Castle and Seahouses. Blind holes, and gorse...

A bit further north - near the border - is Goswick which is a good links course, and is used as an Open qualifier.

George you're a star, some great info there, looks like Alwoodley do a good weekday twilight offer so may do that, overnight in the area then do Ganton the following day.

I normally come up M5-M6 Mac (because I'm usually going to Ayrshire ) but if the destination is East coast then it's no great detour to go up M40-M42-M1

JAS - full report on Alwoodley please. I'm playing a 2 day event there in October. Been on my wish list for ages, but for a variety of reasons never quite made it. In the situation you describe it would be top of my list. Abit further south is Sherwood Forest. - a good pal has just returned there from Hampshire so looking forward to playing that before too long. I'm told it is pretty special?
Good luck in the Tassie!

Not much to add in terms of the A1 route other than to confirm all georges suggestions would be a fine days golf.


Should you decide to be a good son and visit your mother, I would suggest the following on the M6 route;

In and around manchester: Cavendish and reddish vale. Or further of the track is delamere forest.

Then further up near carlisle you could check out Silloth.

After a bit of research I'm settling on Alwoodley and Ganton on the way up (assuming availability). Probably on the Weds/Thurs and leave Friday free/flexible. I knew Alwoodley was a McKenzie design but never realised it was his debut and that he was a founder member. I shall endeavour to report fully on what I think of it Puligny

Post Tassie (and yes Mac I will of course pop over to see my mum) travelling back down I fancy a pop at Lytham. I've done Silloth a couple of times Mac and thoroughly enjoyed it, terrific course and from what I've seen never busy. I've also thought about making the other Solway detour and trying Southerness.

Hi Jas

I've recently come back from a tour where we played most of the courses you mention. Ganton is a fantastic track but the greens were in extremely poor condition which was surprising given they were hosting the home internationals soon after. Without a doubt a magnificent golf course though and worth paying for a second round in the day, it's only £10 more, as its quite isolated and you're unlikely to be "passing by" again. Do keep an eye out for a rather surly bar steward though!!

Moortown is a decent course but not a patch on Alwoodley which was by far and away the most popular with all twelve of our guys. Not only was it a great course, it was in fantastic shape and we could not have been made to feel more welcome. It really is a must play...one of the great inland UK courses.

We also played Notts (Hollinwell) GC on our way up which was outstanding too. You can clearly see why they have hosted so many events over the years as its a real test of golf. You could pick any of these courses and you wouldn't be disappointed. Not a bad warm up for Carnoustie eh!!

Hope that helps, if you've any questions please feel free to ask.

puligny wrote:...Abit further south is Sherwood Forest. - a good pal has just returned there from Hampshire so looking forward to playing that before too long. I'm told it is pretty special?...

FWIW, Sherwood Forest is fabulous - I love it. Beautiful course running through a typical heather/birch landscape. Greens are the best for miles and miles around - very fast (typically) in the Summer and there's definitely places on greens you don't want to be depending on flag locations. Play it if you get the chance.
Hollinwell is a similarly excellent course in the same sort of style but greens not a patch on Sherwood. Toss up which is the better really.

navyblueshorts wrote:

puligny wrote:...Abit further south is Sherwood Forest. - a good pal has just returned there from Hampshire so looking forward to playing that before too long. I'm told it is pretty special?...

FWIW, Sherwood Forest is fabulous - I love it. Beautiful course running through a typical heather/birch landscape. Greens are the best for miles and miles around - very fast (typically) in the Summer and there's definitely places on greens you don't want to be depending on flag locations. Play it if you get the chance.
Hollinwell is a similarly excellent course in the same sort of style but greens not a patch on Sherwood. Toss up which is the better really.

Can concur. Our place is relatively flat so that place was a real shock - played in some Virgin sponsored local qualifier for something, and could not get any yardages right with all the up and down - mind you theres a par 5 where my partner must have knocked it nearly 400 yards (straight down hill)

Wetherby is another MacKenzie course in the same N Yorks area. It's a good course to play, although like the others, probably very different to the first day of business.

Have ended up booking Ganton for Weds 28th & Alwoodley for Thurs 29th Aug. Looking forward to both
Not sure whether to have the Friday as a rest day or not as I'll have 7 consecutive days of golf from the 31st onwards. Apart from resting the other options are play somewhere before leaving Yorkshire on the Friday (Moortown probably) or head up to the Edinburgh area and have an afternoon round up there. Night on the lash in Edinburgh Fri 30th anyone?? Looking to arrive at Carnoustie for a twilight on the Burnside Saturday.

JAS wrote:Have ended up booking Ganton for Weds 28th & Alwoodley for Thurs 29th Aug. Looking forward to both
Not sure whether to have the Friday as a rest day or not as I'll have 7 consecutive days of golf from the 31st onwards. Apart from resting the other options are play somewhere before leaving Yorkshire on the Friday (Moortown probably) or head up to the Edinburgh area and have an afternoon round up there. Night on the lash in Edinburgh Fri 30th anyone?? Looking to arrive at Carnoustie for a twilight on the Burnside Saturday.

Slight change of plan...have managed a freebie on the Queens course at Gleneagles Friday so hang the rest day. Only drawback is it's fairly early so will be leaving Yorkshire at stupid o'clock. Gonna stay in Perth on the Friday night

Good start to the trip yesterday...absolutely loved Ganton which I'd describe as the mischievous lovechild of Woodhall Spa and an Open rota course. Played with a junior off 5 who's competing there in a Junior Open today. Tidy player who should do well in the comp. His dad was an excellent ball spotter too.

5 holes in and I'd hit 5 different clubs off the tee and 5 different clubs into greens, great variety of holes. I found it very strategic and very links like (excellent prep for Carnoustie too as the bunkers and rough were absolutely brutal). One visit to the thick rough on each 9 and 4 visits to the sand cost me the shots. No birds, 12 pars 2 bogeys and erm 4 reminders to avoid the hay and the deep sand at all costs :-/

Looking forward to The Alwoodley today especially as I wont have a 5 hour drive in my legs like yesterday.

puligny wrote:JAS - full report on Alwoodley please. I'm playing a 2 day event there in October. Been on my wish list for ages, but for a variety of reasons never quite made it. In the situation you describe it would be top of my list. Abit further south is Sherwood Forest. - a good pal has just returned there from Hampshire so looking forward to playing that before too long. I'm told it is pretty special?
Good luck in the Tassie!

In summary...you'll love it Puligny. Basically, terrain wise it's a bit reminiscent of Broadstone. It's an out and back track with the front 9 predominately down the prevailing wind so thats the scoring 9. There are a couple of holes that turn back though. Typically for a MacKenzie track there are a few greens with deceptively subtle looking slopes that are anything but subtle :-/ I'm thinking of 10 and 11 in particular but there are more. Signature hole is probably 10, right to left dogleg par 5, treelined, teeshot across a dip to an up-sloping fairway, the 2nd shot platform is waay above the wicked green tempting a good drive to have a go in 2, small landing area short but loads of trouble left and right for a misplaced gambled 2nd ;-/ I definitely found the back 9 tougher although 12, 15 & 16 were birdie opportunities. I thought 11 was too until i saw my first putt. 17 is a tight looking drive and the 2nd shot is a bit of guesswork. If you get a good tee shot away scope the last bunker on the right and add 40 yards, keep it left (right edge edge of left treeline from middle of fairway, it will kick left).

Lovely clubhouse, friendly staff and membership, was made to feel very welcome.

JAS many thanks. Really looking forward to it. Currently in middle of 2day medal at Royal North Devon. Played well yesterday if you exclude putting which cost me 9 shots in an 84! Got to put that right - no pun intended.
Enjoy rest of your trip. Must be due Hayling before too long!

Hi Puligny, i found RNDs greens quite tricky in April so keep telling yourself its the greens, not you i did thoroughly enjoy it though and will probably do the Easter medal next year too. Clubhouse is basically a museum of golf, love browsing round all that stuff.

Re Hayling...I'll have a word with the cyclist and former golfer who's a member there and see what he's up too!!

Very pleasant surprise yesterday, turned up at Gleneagles for my round on the Queens...only to find that it was closed for maintenance, so we were allocated the same time on the Kings. What a lovely course, fantastic setting, awesome use of the natural undulations of the land and some of the most fearsome bunkers I've ever seen (and I've seen a few!!). Golf wise? Oh dear!! 15 foot birdie putt on the first turned into a 20 foot par putt. 10 putts in the first 3 holes after hitting them all in regulation. Pretty poor front 9 which I put down to the 3.00 am rise and 4 hour drive from Yorkshire. Fortified by a sausage roll and a Carlsberg at the excellent half way house I came back in 37 so quite happy with the way I turned it round. .

JAS - wonderful experience playing RND, and thankfully putted better in Rd2 to finish tied 15th out of 75. It's unique, and if you like your golf courses manicured don't go there!
Interesting to see Jimmy Mullen, second top amateur at The Open, on the putting green every day and for many hours. Really nice lad who is very well thought of by RND members. Good luck to him.
Enjoy your trip.

We were at RND right after The Open and found the locals very welcoming -- telling us about the course, how to play it etc. Everyone spoke of Jimmy and how proud they were of him. I read somewhere that the members had a whip round and funded a training trip to Australia for him a while back. We loved the course but it was often tricky to find the next tee when you walked off the green, and then having found the tee it was sometimes tricky finding the flag !

Plunky - they did indeed fund at least part of his trip to Australia. One would assume he also had some help from EGU. Chap running B&B we stayed in is one of the "Saturday Raiders" who organised that and some other help.
I saw many amazing pieces of memorabilia but 2 stick in my mind. They have a card for Tom Watson, who played the course recently, having never seen the place before - 67 with no bogies!
One of the honours boards records a round played by Horace Hutchinson, one of the best of his day, in 1883. He shot 74, and that wasn't equalled in the same competition until 1953. Having seen some of the clubs used - 74!!!!!!!

puligny wrote:Plunky - they did indeed fund at least part of his trip to Australia. One would assume he also had some help from EGU. Chap running B&B we stayed in is one of the "Saturday Raiders" who organised that and some other help.
I saw many amazing pieces of memorabilia but 2 stick in my mind. They have a card for Tom Watson, who played the course recently, having never seen the place before - 67 with no bogies!
One of the honours boards records a round played by Horace Hutchinson, one of the best of his day, in 1883. He shot 74, and that wasn't equalled in the same competition until 1953. Having seen some of the clubs used - 74!!!!!!!

That's a pretty impressive round for a man in his mid 60's, infact impressive for anyone who's never played that course before as it has it's quirks thats for sure.

Well that's my practice rounds done, a few reminders of what NOT to do reinforced ;-/ . Don't expect Monday and Tuesday's wind to be as tough as today though. Managed round the Burnside yesterday with a double bogey free round of 79, just lip-out after lip out!!. Got as far as Spectacles (14th) today without a double...then the roof caved in, finished with 4 doubles in the last 5 for an 87. In a way good that it happened in meaningless practice round today. A score of net 152 may get into the handicap knockout. Reckon I'll need to knock between 3-4 shots per round off to get into the Scratch knockout though....Let the fun and games begin in the morning.

Anyone know Carnoustie quite well? We were putting on the 11th green today when all of a sudden a ball appears out of nowhere and runs straight through between us into the right greenside bunker...it was from the NINTH tee!! Sheesh..random drug test for the bloke in blue, he must have carried upwards of 330 in the air