Playing the English Top 100

[Frank_Kasule]

44 minutes ago, El Gringo said:

I recently played The Sacred 9 and paired the trip with a first visit to Gog Magog Old. I was pleasantly surprised. 

For those of us who haven't been to either I assume thats Gog Magog? Looks beautiful regardless of which course. 

[El Gringo]

2 hours ago, Frank_Kasule said:

For those of us who haven't been to either I assume thats Gog Magog? Looks beautiful regardless of which course. 

Yes, Gogs Old. No hills at The Sacred 9 😎.

 

it is difficult to capture the interest of TS9 in photos. Ya just need to play it.

Edited August 8, 2024 by El Gringo

[El Gringo]

I guess I have been playing a lot of English courses recently. Hankley Common is in a stunning setting. It’s the king of heather. 

[El Gringo]

JCB was another course I revisited this spring. Tough as nails it is…too tough for me.

[El Gringo]

Some pix from one of my favourite courses….Cleeve Hill. I never tire of the place.

[El Gringo]

The simple beauty of Minchinhampton Old.

[Chanceman]

11 hours ago, El Gringo said:

I recently played The Sacred 9 and paired the trip with a first visit to Gog Magog Old. I was pleasantly surprised. 

What courses do you think Gog Magog compares to? Certainly some nice photos.

[El Gringo]

1 hour ago, Chanceman said:

What courses do you think Gog Magog compares to? Certainly some nice photos.

Compare style or quality?

[Chanceman]

On 8/9/2024 at 6:54 PM, El Gringo said:

Compare style or quality?

Whatever. Just as it strikes you. 

[El Gringo]

On 8/10/2024 at 11:47 AM, Chanceman said:

Whatever. Just as it strikes you. 

Gog Magog Old reminds me a bit of Hockley. Chalky downland course which climbs and descends a hill. Hockley is a fine course which ascends a bit more gracefully than Gogs, but Gogs descends in a more imaginative manner. Gogs may pip it, but I haven’t seen Hockley in some time. I may overstate the quality of such courses because I am a big fan of downland golf. Fast running courses which need control in dealing with slopes. 

Edited August 16, 2024 by El Gringo

[Frank_Kasule]

Wow El Gringo you have played some fantastic courses recently! How did you manage to get on at JCB? 

 

I played Cleeve Hill on Sunday, absolutely loved it! I only wish I had played with a bit more finesse but hopefully I will go back again. There were many holes I really enjoyed but my favourite was the 16th, just such a stunning hole. The back to back par 3 15th and 16th were a real treat. 

The green complex of hole 13 was fantastic, set amongst some hills and surrounded by some ditches. Somehow I got on for 2 with a blind second shot and 3 putted for a par, was a very difficult 2 putt. 

A thoroughly enjoyable experience. 

[El Gringo]

8 hours ago, Frank_Kasule said:

Wow El Gringo you have played some fantastic courses recently! How did you manage to get on at JCB? 

 

I played Cleeve Hill on Sunday, absolutely loved it! I only wish I had played with a bit more finesse but hopefully I will go back again. There were many holes I really enjoyed but my favourite was the 16th, just such a stunning hole. The back to back par 3 15th and 16th were a real treat. 

The green complex of hole 13 was fantastic, set amongst some hills and surrounded by some ditches. Somehow I got on for 2 with a blind second shot and 3 putted for a par, was a very difficult 2 putt. 

A thoroughly enjoyable experience. 

You must hit the ball a mile if you reached 13 in two from the par 5 tee! I was at Cleeve last Friday and didn’t sniff the green in two from the par 4 tee. It’s a great shame the club has allowed rough to grow. I hope they go back to how Cleeve has always been. 
 

I am lucky re JCB as I know the architect. Been a few times…too tough for me. Some very cool holes and greens though.

[Frank_Kasule]

13 hours ago, El Gringo said:

You must hit the ball a mile if you reached 13 in two from the par 5 tee! I was at Cleeve last Friday and didn’t sniff the green in two from the par 4 tee. It’s a great shame the club has allowed rough to grow. I hope they go back to how Cleeve has always been. 
 

I am lucky re JCB as I know the architect. Been a few times…too tough for me. Some very cool holes and greens though.

 

I am a fairly long hitter but in the case of this hole I didn't crest the hill with my tee shot. Walked up to the top to assess the line and worked out it was the right edge of the fairway. Absolutely flushed a 4 iron and I assume it just ran a fair distance down the hill onto the green, to be honest I wasn't expecting it to reach. 

 

 

 

You can see the ball on the front right, was a tricky putt to that pin position and sadly missed the birdie. 

 

You are right about the rough, none of our pictures match those I've seen of the course. The pro explained that the sheep were taken off for several weeks and now they won't eat the long grass. I found it tough off the tee and should have stuck with the 2 iron on more holes. 

[El Gringo]

On 8/14/2024 at 9:00 PM, Frank_Kasule said:

 

I am a fairly long hitter but in the case of this hole I didn't crest the hill with my tee shot. Walked up to the top to assess the line and worked out it was the right edge of the fairway. Absolutely flushed a 4 iron and I assume it just ran a fair distance down the hill onto the green, to be honest I wasn't expecting it to reach. 

 

 

 

You can see the ball on the front right, was a tricky putt to that pin position and sadly missed the birdie. 

 

You are right about the rough, none of our pictures match those I've seen of the course. The pro explained that the sheep were taken off for several weeks and now they won't eat the long grass. I found it tough off the tee and should have stuck with the 2 iron on more holes. 

It’s a great shame about Cleeve. I will give it a miss until winter. There is typically only a few bad spots to miss. Right on 7 off the tee, left on 9 off the tee and the quarries on 17. 

[Oh Hi Carl]

Sunningdale looked great for the Curtis Cup this week (at least through my television).  Extremely tricky greens with lots of false fronts and subtle breaks.  

[El Gringo]

I played Hankley earlier this year. Not top tier heathland, but a beautiful and enjoyable  course.

[Divot License]

Super excited to be heading down to Pembrokeshire in a coupe of weeks to stay with a friend there. He's a member at Tenby so we'll be playing there and probably one or 2 other local courses. 

[El Gringo]

6 hours ago, Divot License said:

Super excited to be heading down to Pembrokeshire in a coupe of weeks to stay with a friend there. He's a member at Tenby so we'll be playing there and probably one or 2 other local courses. 

Consider making the drive to Cardigan. Also, I have a soft spot for St David’s City. A cool 9 holer just outside the city. 

[El Gringo]

I am fortunate enough to play Burnham & Berrow often. It’s comfortably top 100 England. Definitely worth a stop when heading to Cornwall & Devon.

Edited September 14, 2024 by El Gringo

[Divot License]

On 9/14/2024 at 7:54 AM, El Gringo said:

I am fortunate enough to play Burnham & Berrow often. It’s comfortably top 100 England. Definitely worth a stop when heading to Cornwall & Devon.

Was a member here as a teenager, love this place but haven't been back for many years now. It sits high on my list of courses to "get around to playing"

[El Gringo]

It is a different course now. Tons of changes in the past several years.

[El Gringo]

Not far from Hankley Common and Liphook, Blackmoor might just be the surprise of the year. It is much better than I anticipated. 

[El Gringo]

Played Hartlepool on the way back from Scotland recently. Very mixed bag of heavier soil parkland holes mixed with links. Below are some pix of the links holes. Hartlepool certainly isn’t worth skipping a round at nearby Seaton Carew, but it does have high points and is much cheaper.

[Oh Hi Carl]

Those Hartlepool links holes are beautiful.  

[Frank_Kasule]

Haven't updated in quite a while! 

Last year's trip to Carus Green, Seascale and Silloth on Solway was fantastic. Carus Green was OK, I'm not sure I'd play it again tbh. I've talked about Seascale before here, I always enjoy playing there. 

Silloth was stunning. You drive for ages to the extreme north west corner of England and reach this temple of golf, the final outpost before crossing the Solway into Scotland. 

We were lucky to play on a sunny day, I remember parking the car up and going to the clubhouse which has these big windows looking out onto the course. It was incredibly beautiful, just raw rugged terrain with a golf course running through. Even just sitting there waiting to play was building the excitement! Haha

Genuinely I loved it, one of my favourite courses I've ever played. The layout, some of the blind shots, the incredible beauty and views. I'd love to go back and play again. A few pictures are below, the first one is now hanging on my golf wall! 

[El Gringo]

Silloth is pretty cool! After a long layoff I spent a few days there this year. They have cleared back quite a lot of rubbish! I didn’t make it to Seascale…love that place! If you go back up, play Appleby, just off the M6. Lovely course.

[Schley]

Played Silloth last fall and if it has been hacked back, I'd say they ran out of gas for the weedwacker. 😁 

 

Very tough and penal, with we were told average wind. What would have helped a great deal is at least a forecaddie to help guide us and spot balls for us first timers. 

[El Gringo]

6 hours ago, Schley said:

Played Silloth last fall and if it has been hacked back, I'd say they ran out of gas for the weedwacker. 😁 

 

Very tough and penal, with we were told average wind. What would have helped a great deal is at least a forecaddie to help guide us and spot balls for us first timers. 

Yes, this last trip was plagued with high winds….pretty common in my experience at Silloth. Rough wasn’t bad as it was March. Jeepers, huge swaths of gorse were cleared. 

[thecumbrian]

2 minutes ago, El Gringo said:

Yes, this last trip was plagued with high winds….pretty common in my experience at Silloth. Rough wasn’t bad as it was March. Jeepers, huge swaths of gorse were cleared. 

The gorse around the 12th and 16th greens was way too close to the putting surface, it's much better and fairer now.

There's a long term plan in place to remove the majority of the gorse which was never there years ago. 

For me as a member I'm more worried about the heather than the gorse which needs a much more offline shot to find.

Been an odd summer so far, May was dry and the course was bone dry and playing firm and fast in a non prevailing wind for weeks.

Since then it's been wet and very windy and the course has greened up again.

On two consecutive days a couple of weeks ago I hit gap wedge and 5 iron on the 9th playing 125 to the flag.

 

 

[thecumbrian]

6 hours ago, Schley said:

Played Silloth last fall and if it has been hacked back, I'd say they ran out of gas for the weedwacker. 😁 

 

Very tough and penal, with we were told average wind. What would have helped a great deal is at least a forecaddie to help guide us and spot balls for us first timers. 

We don't get enough overseas visitors to even consider caddies of any form.

Members are quite happy to be paired up with visitors, done it myself and it was fun.

The wind is a big challenge, front 9 into the prevailing wind is tough, you have to be on your game from the opening shot. Hang on going out and make your score coming home.