Paul_Stewart
Tour Rookie
The next course I played on my tour was the New course, teeing off at 6.30 in the morning and having an empty course in front of me.
For a "New" course, this links is over 100 years old and always ranks in the Top 100 courses in Britain and Ireland. And it is a lot harder for the amateur than the legendary Old course next door.
The course runs alongside the front nine of the Old Course and is on the right hand side as you watch on TV. The New and Jubilee courses have their own clubhouse which is next to the 2nd tee of the Old Course.
It is a typical out and in links with gorse-lined fairwards, tight driving holes, big sloping greens and pot bunkers.
After a fairly gentle pair of par-4s and a relatively easily par-5 to start, the course starts showing its teeth with the dog-leg 4th with huge mounds across the fairway and a tough shot in to a bunker-surrounded green.
The 5th and 9th are very tough par 3s, the latter requiring a 3-wood avoiding the Eden Estuary on the left and heavy rough on the right to find a small putting surface.
On the way back to the clubhouse, the 10th is a blind shot to a rolling fairway, and then 14,15, 16 and 18 are all 400-yard par-4s, with a 230-yard par-3 to spice things up at the penultimate hole.
The course plays to around 6,400 yards from the tees of the day which you do not have a choice about. The cost is £65 per round although you can get a three-day ticket to play all the Links Trust courses (except the Old).
Overall this is a real test of golf and is a real beast when the wind gets up. 9 and 10 are two of the hardest holes I have ever played and the finishing stretch got me this time as I dropped five shots in the final six holes to shoot a 77 when I was there.
Outside the Old Course, this should be the first course on your list to play if in the Old Grey Toon.
For a "New" course, this links is over 100 years old and always ranks in the Top 100 courses in Britain and Ireland. And it is a lot harder for the amateur than the legendary Old course next door.
The course runs alongside the front nine of the Old Course and is on the right hand side as you watch on TV. The New and Jubilee courses have their own clubhouse which is next to the 2nd tee of the Old Course.
It is a typical out and in links with gorse-lined fairwards, tight driving holes, big sloping greens and pot bunkers.
After a fairly gentle pair of par-4s and a relatively easily par-5 to start, the course starts showing its teeth with the dog-leg 4th with huge mounds across the fairway and a tough shot in to a bunker-surrounded green.
The 5th and 9th are very tough par 3s, the latter requiring a 3-wood avoiding the Eden Estuary on the left and heavy rough on the right to find a small putting surface.
On the way back to the clubhouse, the 10th is a blind shot to a rolling fairway, and then 14,15, 16 and 18 are all 400-yard par-4s, with a 230-yard par-3 to spice things up at the penultimate hole.
The course plays to around 6,400 yards from the tees of the day which you do not have a choice about. The cost is £65 per round although you can get a three-day ticket to play all the Links Trust courses (except the Old).
Overall this is a real test of golf and is a real beast when the wind gets up. 9 and 10 are two of the hardest holes I have ever played and the finishing stretch got me this time as I dropped five shots in the final six holes to shoot a 77 when I was there.
Outside the Old Course, this should be the first course on your list to play if in the Old Grey Toon.
