stevie_r
Tour Winner
Just got back from a great mini break in Northumberland (first visit to the county) and thought I would do a rough review for anyone planning a golf trip to the area.
Seahouses GC
A great links course enjoying its Centenary this year, not the longest but had a great round and a thoroughly enjoyable few hours. 5592 off the whites, 5249 - yellows and 5022 for the missus. Green fees are £25 - round or £36 - day. Greenfree voucher are accepted but only on the day rate.
Fairways were bone dry but still with enough springy turf under the ball that there wasn't that concern about knifing it off tight lies. Greens were also very good and running true and guarded by more than enough little pot bunkers (all in great condition).
The course is dissected by a road, with holes 3 - 8 being the other side of it to the main part of the course, they aren't classic links in look or feel but are not poor by any means, water hazards feature on a number of them to keep the concentration up. My assumption would be (although I didn't ask) that these holes were additions to the original course when it was increased from 9 to 18 holes.
It is on this stretch that the only real potential weakness of the course becomes apparent, shared fairways. Holes 4/ 7 and 9/18 share fairways and have tee boxes right next to each other. There is also the potential for a log jamb at the 10/ 16 greens which are right next to each other and subject to LRs on right of way. Thankfully the course was fairly quiet and it didn't really affect us - a busy medal could be very different.
By far the best stretch of holes is from 10 - 16, with two in particular that I couldn't wait to play - 10 & 15. I already had a decent idea of how they would look from the excellent CGI fly overs on their website:
http://www.wholeinonegolf.co.uk/uk/england/northumberland/seahouses/seahouses_hole1.htm
Couple of pics:
10 - Logan's Loch from the front boxes (131 of the yellows)
You can see the 16th green above it - no tee shot on 10 while 16th green is occupied! The hole is a totally different beast from the whites, 165 yards with all of that being over water.
15 - The Cove (124/ 109/ 105).
A little bit of Pebble Beach in Northumberland! The wind was helping, which I would presume it would more often than not.
Nice course, fantastic views and all in all a great day and well worth £25 of anyone's money; it was also particularly refreshing to see such a high proportion of lady golfers out on the course.
Wooler GC
It hadn't really been my intention to play here; decided to go for a quick fix as it was only a couple of miles from where we were staying and the wife fancied a couple of hours down time. It's a 9 hole 18 tee course, £10 for 9 or £15 for 18, total yardage for 18 being 6411.
It struck me as being one of those courses that serves it's market very well. Given the amount of great courses in the area I doubt many travel any great distance to play it. That's not to decry it nor hopefully come across as rude, I would think it serves more of a local market and does that very well.
It is a tough little course, the 5th is 371 played all up hill - very up hill! The contouring on the green is amazing, I hit the pin with an over zealous chip and ended up with a putt that had more borrows than Greece.
The third is a great little par three of 134 with 4 separate tee boxes (white, Yellow, Red and LGU) set on a bracken covered hill with rocky outcrops - and then a separate group of tees for playing it as hole 12.
9/ 18 is a downhill dog leg left of 429, the tiger line being a long carry over bracken - I really liked that orange Molitor too!
I had the pleasure of joining up for a few holes with a couple form Dorset (Bridport GC) called Michael and Janice Chappell. I had steadily caught them up over a few holes despite trying to slow my game down. From a distance I thought I was witnessing probably the worst swing I had ever seen, anyway, on joining them Michael said 'I've not been playing long and I'm not very good' takes a one handed practise swing (odd I thought) and then belted the ball 200 with his driver one handed! Michael unfortunately has a disability which means he has to play one handed apart from when putting; quite inspiring to play with him actually. Very nice guy and an accomplished artist who gave me a book of his Dorset seascapes he had published.
(Dunstanburgh Castle GC)
Booked this round through teeofftimes.co.uk for about £26 per head. Great links course, yardage being 6353/ 6039/ 5624. Course was in great condition but is one you need to play more than once to fully appreciate (and to score well), approaches to greens can look pretty flat until you get up to the green and appreciate some of the severe run offs and ball gathering hollows.
Without a doubt the stretch of holes from 5 - 13 are superb, they just get better and better. At first you see little of the North sea due to the dunes, although you can certainly hear it and appreciate that fantastic smell. As you approach the castle and towering cliffs towards 10, 12 & 13 you have to stop and watch for a while.
The weather was unfortunately pretty poor, sporadic light drizzle turned to a steady downpour; the harsh rough turned to truly savage. The last four holes running back to the clubhouse didn't really inspire to be honest, they just seemed fairly average straight away holes; I may though be being unfair to compare them to 5 - 13 and the poor weather may have tainted my judgement.
A feature of these Northumberland coastal courses is the high number of walkers around (who generally have right of way), Dunstanburgh quite sensibly throw their clubhouse open to anyone who fancies a quick bite or a drink - not just golfers. Whilst this won't sit well with a number of forum members it is probably a contributory factor to why full membership of this superb links is only £380!
So in summary, first visit to Northumberland, loved and will be back, a lot more quality courses to play!
That took ages, I'm going for a lie down
Seahouses GC
A great links course enjoying its Centenary this year, not the longest but had a great round and a thoroughly enjoyable few hours. 5592 off the whites, 5249 - yellows and 5022 for the missus. Green fees are £25 - round or £36 - day. Greenfree voucher are accepted but only on the day rate.
Fairways were bone dry but still with enough springy turf under the ball that there wasn't that concern about knifing it off tight lies. Greens were also very good and running true and guarded by more than enough little pot bunkers (all in great condition).
The course is dissected by a road, with holes 3 - 8 being the other side of it to the main part of the course, they aren't classic links in look or feel but are not poor by any means, water hazards feature on a number of them to keep the concentration up. My assumption would be (although I didn't ask) that these holes were additions to the original course when it was increased from 9 to 18 holes.
It is on this stretch that the only real potential weakness of the course becomes apparent, shared fairways. Holes 4/ 7 and 9/18 share fairways and have tee boxes right next to each other. There is also the potential for a log jamb at the 10/ 16 greens which are right next to each other and subject to LRs on right of way. Thankfully the course was fairly quiet and it didn't really affect us - a busy medal could be very different.
By far the best stretch of holes is from 10 - 16, with two in particular that I couldn't wait to play - 10 & 15. I already had a decent idea of how they would look from the excellent CGI fly overs on their website:
http://www.wholeinonegolf.co.uk/uk/england/northumberland/seahouses/seahouses_hole1.htm
Couple of pics:
10 - Logan's Loch from the front boxes (131 of the yellows)
You can see the 16th green above it - no tee shot on 10 while 16th green is occupied! The hole is a totally different beast from the whites, 165 yards with all of that being over water.
15 - The Cove (124/ 109/ 105).
A little bit of Pebble Beach in Northumberland! The wind was helping, which I would presume it would more often than not.
Nice course, fantastic views and all in all a great day and well worth £25 of anyone's money; it was also particularly refreshing to see such a high proportion of lady golfers out on the course.
Wooler GC
It hadn't really been my intention to play here; decided to go for a quick fix as it was only a couple of miles from where we were staying and the wife fancied a couple of hours down time. It's a 9 hole 18 tee course, £10 for 9 or £15 for 18, total yardage for 18 being 6411.
It struck me as being one of those courses that serves it's market very well. Given the amount of great courses in the area I doubt many travel any great distance to play it. That's not to decry it nor hopefully come across as rude, I would think it serves more of a local market and does that very well.
It is a tough little course, the 5th is 371 played all up hill - very up hill! The contouring on the green is amazing, I hit the pin with an over zealous chip and ended up with a putt that had more borrows than Greece.
The third is a great little par three of 134 with 4 separate tee boxes (white, Yellow, Red and LGU) set on a bracken covered hill with rocky outcrops - and then a separate group of tees for playing it as hole 12.
9/ 18 is a downhill dog leg left of 429, the tiger line being a long carry over bracken - I really liked that orange Molitor too!
I had the pleasure of joining up for a few holes with a couple form Dorset (Bridport GC) called Michael and Janice Chappell. I had steadily caught them up over a few holes despite trying to slow my game down. From a distance I thought I was witnessing probably the worst swing I had ever seen, anyway, on joining them Michael said 'I've not been playing long and I'm not very good' takes a one handed practise swing (odd I thought) and then belted the ball 200 with his driver one handed! Michael unfortunately has a disability which means he has to play one handed apart from when putting; quite inspiring to play with him actually. Very nice guy and an accomplished artist who gave me a book of his Dorset seascapes he had published.
(Dunstanburgh Castle GC)
Booked this round through teeofftimes.co.uk for about £26 per head. Great links course, yardage being 6353/ 6039/ 5624. Course was in great condition but is one you need to play more than once to fully appreciate (and to score well), approaches to greens can look pretty flat until you get up to the green and appreciate some of the severe run offs and ball gathering hollows.
Without a doubt the stretch of holes from 5 - 13 are superb, they just get better and better. At first you see little of the North sea due to the dunes, although you can certainly hear it and appreciate that fantastic smell. As you approach the castle and towering cliffs towards 10, 12 & 13 you have to stop and watch for a while.
The weather was unfortunately pretty poor, sporadic light drizzle turned to a steady downpour; the harsh rough turned to truly savage. The last four holes running back to the clubhouse didn't really inspire to be honest, they just seemed fairly average straight away holes; I may though be being unfair to compare them to 5 - 13 and the poor weather may have tainted my judgement.
A feature of these Northumberland coastal courses is the high number of walkers around (who generally have right of way), Dunstanburgh quite sensibly throw their clubhouse open to anyone who fancies a quick bite or a drink - not just golfers. Whilst this won't sit well with a number of forum members it is probably a contributory factor to why full membership of this superb links is only £380!
So in summary, first visit to Northumberland, loved and will be back, a lot more quality courses to play!
That took ages, I'm going for a lie down
