Pulled up outside the clubhouse nice and early and my first impressions were that of a kid in a sweet shop. The clubhouse looks grand from the front and when entering it, its OK also.
After an excellent warm up on Saturday at The Centurion Club, which I believe has a big impact on how I start and then focus on my day, especially after a long journey, I was disappointed to only find a single net to warm up and hit balls into, OK, before everyone jumps in, I was told by the Pro, or his assistant, that their was a range of sorts in the very far right corner across the course which was about a 10 minute walk away!
I heard a lot about SAOL before arriving, especially the greens, so I was really looking forward to it, and before anyone says that you don't appreciate a course if you've not played well, well that's not the case because I didn't play very well at Wallasey but loved the place to the degree of joining and I enjoyed Formby also but SAOL ticked no boxes for me at all!
I personally found SAOL uninspiring, unattractive and boring! I never stood on one tee box and said to myself, what a great looking hole! They were all so similar, flat, bunkers scattered and positioned well but as long as you hit a straight drive, it was always a mid iron to the green (3w & 6 iron for my par on the si1), and that was in the wet with the ball not rolling!
I felt very much the same after Hoylake, strip away the history and the course wasn't all that, but, it (Hoylake) did have far more definition with raised tee boxes, rise & fall fairways, blind tee and approach shots, SAOL didn't have anything IMO.
I'm aware that the greens had been recently hollow tined which we weren't aware of prior so I didn't experience these fast great greens which was being discussed before, I also thought that there wasn't much definition with any either, no real 2-tier greens that I can remember or large undulating greens where it really mattered if you were at the front or back of them.
When I wasn't playing out a hole, its nice to look around and take in the scenery, but SAOL doesn't offer any, houses, low flying aeroplanes, the airport buildings and a coastal road is all that is on offer, you don't get lost out their in the ambience of a golf course IMO.
So, even after stripping away the pish-poor performance, the horrible rainy conditions, I wouldn't travel back to SAOL, it just did nothing for me as a course and I can't see that changing even if it was a hot summers day.
Not for me.
The roast chicken was excellent though :thup:
After an excellent warm up on Saturday at The Centurion Club, which I believe has a big impact on how I start and then focus on my day, especially after a long journey, I was disappointed to only find a single net to warm up and hit balls into, OK, before everyone jumps in, I was told by the Pro, or his assistant, that their was a range of sorts in the very far right corner across the course which was about a 10 minute walk away!
I heard a lot about SAOL before arriving, especially the greens, so I was really looking forward to it, and before anyone says that you don't appreciate a course if you've not played well, well that's not the case because I didn't play very well at Wallasey but loved the place to the degree of joining and I enjoyed Formby also but SAOL ticked no boxes for me at all!
I personally found SAOL uninspiring, unattractive and boring! I never stood on one tee box and said to myself, what a great looking hole! They were all so similar, flat, bunkers scattered and positioned well but as long as you hit a straight drive, it was always a mid iron to the green (3w & 6 iron for my par on the si1), and that was in the wet with the ball not rolling!
I felt very much the same after Hoylake, strip away the history and the course wasn't all that, but, it (Hoylake) did have far more definition with raised tee boxes, rise & fall fairways, blind tee and approach shots, SAOL didn't have anything IMO.
I'm aware that the greens had been recently hollow tined which we weren't aware of prior so I didn't experience these fast great greens which was being discussed before, I also thought that there wasn't much definition with any either, no real 2-tier greens that I can remember or large undulating greens where it really mattered if you were at the front or back of them.
When I wasn't playing out a hole, its nice to look around and take in the scenery, but SAOL doesn't offer any, houses, low flying aeroplanes, the airport buildings and a coastal road is all that is on offer, you don't get lost out their in the ambience of a golf course IMO.
So, even after stripping away the pish-poor performance, the horrible rainy conditions, I wouldn't travel back to SAOL, it just did nothing for me as a course and I can't see that changing even if it was a hot summers day.
Not for me.
The roast chicken was excellent though :thup:
