Although opened to a flurry of some controversy, The Castle Course at St Andrews will begin its fourth year of play in 2012 with some well considered modifications. Several greens including 15’s enormous false front have been “tempered” for less slope plus the club plans to keep the surfaces softer than in the past. Secondly, there are fewer blind “hummocks” – those large, hay covered, well- struck-drive-eating mounds to avoid.
Read more “Video #3 / The Castle Course, St. Andrews, Scotland”
The Championship Course at Carnoustie has been host to the British Open on seven occasions, most recently in 2007 when Padraig Harrington won in a playoff over a gallant and deeply disappointed Sergio Garcia. Ben Hogan won here in 1953; it was his only appearance in the Open but he left a unique legacy for his play on No. 6 named thereafter as “Hogan’s Alley”.
Read more “Video #2 / The Championship Course at Carnoustie, Scotland”
The Turnberry Resort and the Ailsa Course are found on Scotland’s west coast in South Ayrshire. Designer Mackenzie Ross is credited with restoring the course to championship standards when it re opened in 1951 after World War II when the property was converted to an RAF airfield and hospital. Ailsa has staged The Open Championship on four occasions beginning in 1977 with the legendary showdown between Tom Watson and Jack Nicklaus remembered as the “Duel in the Sun”.
Watson’s weekend of 65-65 clipped Nicklaus’ 65-66. They both birdied 18 on Sunday; Nicklaus from 40 feet… Watson from 3! The 2009 British Open was more of the same – remarkably including the same but 59 year old Tom Watson – who came within an eyelash of becoming the oldest major champion in golf history. A visit to Turnberry would include regional clubs like Royal Troon, Prestwick, Western Gailes, Machrihanish and impressive Machrihanish Dunes; plus very often St Andrews for a west coast / east coast combination.
This is one of sixteen Scotland golf course videos we’re posting on a weekly basis to start the year. Each one provides a great sense of the respective experience which we hope will help you confirm your selections from the many available options.
About the Author: Gordon Dalgleish is the Co-Founding Director of PerryGolf, the leading provider of international golf vacations. You can find him on Google+
What a great event and wonderful to see a new era evolve in competitive golf with a friendly, attractive personality. My brother as Captain of the 2007 Great Britain & Ireland Walker Cup Team at Royal County Down Golf Club had the privelege of working with him and has consistently said that Rory was both mature for his years and a extremely pleasant young man…the camera does not always allow the “nice” to show through on television, but in this instance it did. Congratulations Rory!
The Thursday pairings whereby the USGA grouped Spaniards and Italians together just seemed odd….the media did not seem to take issue with it but my sense is that it gave an slight advantage to players like Garcia who would have enjoyed 2 rounds with people they are comfortable with.
Disappointing the way that the commentators decided early in the week to criticize the formula for the World Golf Rankings…that discussion would have more credibility when the US was better represented at the top of the rankings. The formula may well need to be redrawn, given the international scope of players and their event schedules but why pick now to discuss?
An interesting statistic from the June 17 issue of Golfweek; “The British Amateur attracted only one player from USA in the world Top 100”. If that fact is correct, it would seem given the recent history of golfing achievements that younger US college players need to take a more global view than even those of their slightly older peers!
It is great to see this new excitement in golf, some tremendous rivalries shaping up that will be for years to come….next stop Royal St. George’s.
About the Author: Gordon Dalgleish is the Co-Founding Director of PerryGolf, the leading provider of international golf vacations. You can find him on Google+
Yesterday was the date for the 2011 golf match where a team from PerryGolf take on a team from Turnberry. This event has been running for the last 7 years and has taken in venues such as Turnberry, Machrihanish Dunes, Shiskine (on the isle of Arran) and PerryGolf’s home course of Helensburgh. This year’s event took place at Rothesay Golf Club on the isle of Bute; a very scenic course that overlooks the island and Firth of Clyde. The day started with a short ferry trip to the island followed by bacon rolls and, of course, a beer in the clubhouse before teeing off.
We had a great day as the weather was warm and sunny with little wind and a fun course offering some challenging holes. I am pleased to say PerryGolf won this year to break a poor run of form over the past 2 years. A tasty dinner in the clubhouse afterwards, some more pints (of course), a return ferry journey and the day was complete and enjoyed by all!
By Alastair Niven. Alastair has been with PerryGolf for over 10 years and is one of our Golf Travel Specialists.
