Princes - sandwich

[Deleted member 18121]

Hi all

Has anyone played Princes recently? I have a weekend there next weekend and just noticed qualifying for the open is the following week. So assuming I'm in for some tough conditions!

Adam

 

[chrisd]

Itll be as tough as it gets. Not my favourite of the 3 courses though.

 

[Deleted member 18121]

Itll be as tough as it gets. Not my favourite of the 3 courses though.

Just because the others are better or because there is something wrong?

 

[chrisd]

Royal St Georges and Royal Cinque Ports are much better in my opinion.

Princes has too many samey holes imo and they just run up and down the coast line so when the wind blows its usually just 2 directions depending on which way the hole runs where the other two have much greater variation.

Also there is the fact that the other two are Open courses, have much more definition and, of course, are much more of a challenge

 

[shortgame]

Interesting, I haven't played any of them but was chatting to a guy just the other day who was adamant that Princes was comfortably the best of the 3...

 

[Deleted member 15344]

Interesting, I haven't played any of them but was chatting to a guy just the other day who was adamant that Princes was comfortably the best of the 3...

Princes better than RCP and RSG ?!

Nope not in a million years

Princes is a good course - it can be very tough but the other two are on a different level up

 

[Deleted member 21258]

Played Princes this year in winter on the forum trip, had wanted to played it for years but IMHO was very disappointed with the layout. All very similar, not much to feast your eyes, not much excitement etc. There were a couple of really nice holes. Sadly even if I still lived in Essex I would not travel there to play again. Its not a touch on RCP, that we played the following day in similar weather and was great fun(RSG is also a lot better than Princes).

The breakfast was brilliant and ranks as my top 1 breakfast at a golf club.

Would imagine the conditioning of the course is superb, was good in winter, hope the weather is kind and enjoy.:thup:

 

[duncan mackie]

Littlestone makes up the top 3 down there 😎

But there is no doubt Princes is a good links challenge.

 

[Deleted member 18121]

Had a great weekend, although I am very sun burned and very tired.

Played Shore and Dunes on Saturday in very manageable wind and scored 35 points off 14. Found the greens to be very quick (which I'm used to) but didn't find the ball took much if any break at all on any greens, which was a disappointment as they looked as though they could have been challenging.

Played Dunes and Himalayas on Sunday in much stronger wind and combined with a gut full of booze the night before provided a much tougher day. 27 points mainly due to finding a lot of the water on the Himilayas course. As it's been remodelled my GPS was useless and I think psychologically that affected me.

The rough was knee deep at a minimum all the way round but balls were findable, but often punished with near on impossible chance of making much progress.

Accommodation at the Lodge was good, 4 people to an apartment with a joined lounge in the middle. Went into town for a pub dinner on Saturday night and was amply looked after.

All in all a very good weekend, but I definitely would not want to play links golf regularly.

 

[mashleyR7]

Real men play Links week in week out! ha ha. You get used to it just like any course.
Unfortunately as many have said, you played the weakest links on the South coast i'm afraid. The deals they offer are good value but the course just isn't that interesting and whenever I've played there I just look across the dunes wishing I was playing the 10th ranked course in the UK instead. That said the new Himalayas 9 is meant to be good and very different to old layout and the other 18 hole layout so given the chance I'd go play that.

A lot of links courses down south have changed their rough so you can actually stand a chance to find a ball and stand a chance of getting out, even if its just sideways. It used to be grass that if you went into you knew you'd never find it so play a 2nd and not bother looking. Here at Littlestone its made the course so much more enjoyable.

 

[shortgame]

Princes better than RCP and RSG ?!

Nope not in a million years

Princes is a good course - it can be very tough but the other two are on a different level up

Indeed and his opinion was contrary to everything I'd previously heard about them

 

[IanM]

Either way there’s some great links to be found down there ....and I’ve just come in from a round on a sun baked Bude....it’s tough out there even if it’s running, lost a couple of balls with decent shots, they just disappeared. . Fun, but tough...blim y it was hot too.

If you enjoyed Princes, and why wouldn’t you, get yourself over the fence, different gravy!

 

[shortgame]

Bude. Wow. Out of all the SW courses I love (Burnham, Saunton, St.E, W.Cornwall, Perranporth etc) I totally forgot the great days out we've enjoyed at Bude. Great fun