Top 100 links courses

[Liverbirdie]

Why is it you always want to have a pop at Nairn?

All these lists are purely opinion, but the course must have some merrit or it wouldn't have held the Walker Cup, Curtis Cup, AM Championship and next year the Home Internationals

Don't be precious,dear.

I liked Nairn, they had the best greens I played on all year, the setting is great and the course is very good. I also played very well round there, so no reason to dislike it.

The only criticism of it is the VFM/price that they ask. £60-70 tops it should be, but I think they piggyback Dornoch and Castle Stuart for gullible Americans, who think if its over £100 it must be fantastic.

Royal Liverpool is also over-priced, but a better course, with lots more history. have you played Royal Liverpool or Prestwick to offer your own comparison?

Nairn is a top 100 course, so where have I had a "pop" at Nairn, and is any of the above incorrect in your opinion?

 

[patricks148]

I'm no great fan of Royal Liverpool, but its better than Nairn.

Prestwick is well better.

so those are positive comments then?

Don't be precious,dear.

I liked Nairn, they had the best greens I played on all year, the setting is great and the course is very good. I also played very well round there, so no reason to dislike it.

The only criticism of it is the VFM/price that they ask. £60-70 tops it should be, but I think they piggyback Dornoch and Castle Stuart for gullible Americans, who think if its over £100 it must be fantastic.

Royal Liverpool is also over-priced, but a better course, with lots more history. have you played Royal Liverpool or Prestwick to offer your own comparison?

Nairn is a top 100 course, so where have I had a "pop" at Nairn, and is any of the above incorrect in your opinion?

Nairn has been there for 126 years so its not piggybacking anyone, we are only charging slightly more that we were before CS was built. if anything CS is marketing itself to golfers coming to play Dornoch first and foremost ( The Donald Ross connection is what brings almost £1 million in visitor green fee's to Dornoch) and Nairn for its greens and the walker cup connection.

I would tend to agree £100 is too expensive, but with even other local clubs that don't have the same profile are charging over £50 for a midweek round.

As for Dornoch they charge £120 peak and Castle Stuart want £170, our green fee is not over the top TBH, its in keeping with the going rate. what do you do Under price yourself????


you can get on the twightlight rate at Nairn (which is what i highlighted to you when you were looking at course costs) £70 after 1pm, Dornoch won't let you on twighlight till past 5PM

If you are judging purely on price then Prestick at £155 at the weekend and Hoylake £200 then Nairn is quite a bit cheaper.. No?

I havn't played either Prestwick or Hoylake, but i would expect them to be better, one is on the open Rota and the other was, i didn't make any point that they were not better courses, you chose to make a negative remark on Nairn which is undeserved.. after all the club didn't make the list so has no influence on where it is in any rankings

 

[Smiffy]

What relevance does the blob have?

You scored 36 points. End of.

Any way, more importantly, what was the gross?

127, I was off 48 at the time

 

[Liverbirdie]

so those are positive comments then?

Just because something isn't positive, doesn't automatically mean its negative, there is a whole load of grey area inbetween.



Nairn has been there for 126 years so its not piggybacking anyone, we are only charging slightly more that we were before CS was built. if anything CS is marketing itself to golfers coming to play Dornoch first and foremost ( The Donald Ross connection is what brings almost £1 million in visitor green fee's to Dornoch) and Nairn for its greens and the walker cup connection.

I would tend to agree £100 is too expensive, but with even other local clubs that don't have the same profile are charging over £50 for a midweek round.

As for Dornoch they charge £120 peak and Castle Stuart want £170, our green fee is not over the top TBH, its in keeping with the going rate. what do you do Under price yourself????


you can get on the twightlight rate at Nairn (which is what i highlighted to you when you were looking at course costs) £70 after 1pm, Dornoch won't let you on twighlight till past 5PM

If you are judging purely on price then Prestick at £155 at the weekend and Hoylake £200 then Nairn is quite a bit cheaper.. No?

I havn't played either Prestwick or Hoylake, but i would expect them to be better, one is on the open Rota and the other was, i didn't make any point that they were not better courses, you chose to make a negative remark on Nairn which is undeserved.. after all the club didn't make the list so has no influence on where it is in any rankings

I'm mainly judging on VFM, enjoyability, comparison and how memorable the course is.

VFM - you say that there is a "premium rate" for the Inverness area. Okay if there is, but don't expect others to appreciate this. I'm sure London is the same.

If I compare UK courses I don't necessarily compare a course to the other local offerings, I compare them to what else I've paid for other top UK courses. I "think" that Nairn dines out on being so close to internationally famous courses in RD and CS and they think, we'll have some of that. If they charge £110 they would probably get 90% of the same bookings as they would for £110, so earning the club lots more money. Far afield visitors will also think if it's £110 it must be fantastic, probably on a par with RD and CS, but it's not.

Generally, once you pay over £70 you are getting an open qualifier course or a majestic course. Wallasey, S and A and West Lancs charge over £90 and they are also over-priced at that, so Nairn isn't on its own. Royal Liverpool course is quite good, the history is great but it is also over-priced as a course, in comparison to other open rota courses on a like for like basis. Royal Aberdeen was close in price to Nairn a few years ago, but RA is a good bit better IMHO.

CS is a good bit more than Nairn, and still very expensive, but it one of the most memorable and enjoyable courses I've played. RD is very good, but not as good as CS for me, some of the other lads who went up rated them the other way round. Opinions.

Prestwick is also dining out on being a past open course, but well-past so is also over charging, but again I thought the course was challenging and reasonably unique, despite a few blind holes.

Yes, Nairn is a good bit cheaper than the others but given the choice I would rather pay the extra for the more memorable experience. We only paid £55 iirc (after a lot of bargaining) and that was a good price, but to a man everyone said they would have been disappointed paying £110 plus. Maybe Nairn was unlucky in that we played CS first, RD next and then Nairn. the other way round may have had it viewed differently.

I can walk around CS, RD, Carnoustie, Royal Lytham, Royal Liverpool, Silloth, Hillside, Formby, Wallasey, West Lancs, Western gailes, St.Mellion, SandA in my head who are all within £30 or so of Nairn (at least when I played them), as they are very memorable.

At Nairn the first 5-6 blur into one for me (apart from the par 3 back into the wind). I remember 2 short par 4's just before the turn. The S1 1 up the hill and the tough par 3 after are fantastic holes, the remaining holes I can also remember, but thats about it. As mentioned, the best greens too.

How do you rate Royal Aberdeen to it? The front 9 are fantastic, but imho I cant remember the back 9 as much, but the front 9 is spectacular.

I was back up there in August and played CS and RD again. I also considered Nairn Dunbar as it was cheaper and well thought of, but therewas no way I was paying £100 plus for Nairn. I'd have considered £50, but thought I'd rather play Nairn Dunbar as another option, but the rivers were nearly bursting their banks the day I was going to play, so sacked it.

Fair or unfair?

 

[USER1999]

127, I was off 48 at the time

Top scoring. Don't know why you didn't put that the first time!

 

[Blue in Munich]

Don't know Scotscraig at all but for some reason I assumed it is a links.

And no and no to Ardglass and Hayling.

Isn't Hayling at 79?

How Princes is 10 places above Littlestone & 11 above Perranporth defeats me.

And since when was the Isle of Purbeck a links course?

 

[Foxholer]

I'm mainly judging on VFM, enjoyability, comparison and how memorable the course is.

VFM - you say that there is a "premium rate" for the Inverness area. Okay if there is, but don't expect others to appreciate this. I'm sure London is the same.

If I compare UK courses I don't necessarily compare a course to the other local offerings, I compare them to what else I've paid for other top UK courses. I "think" that Nairn dines out on being so close to internationally famous courses in RD and CS and they think, we'll have some of that. If they charge £110 they would probably get 90% of the same bookings as they would for £110, so earning the club lots more money. Far afield visitors will also think if it's £110 it must be fantastic, probably on a par with RD and CS, but it's not.

Generally, once you pay over £70 you are getting an open qualifier course or a majestic course. Wallasey, S and A and West Lancs charge over £90 and they are also over-priced at that, so Nairn isn't on its own. Royal Liverpool course is quite good, the history is great but it is also over-priced as a course, in comparison to other open rota courses on a like for like basis. Royal Aberdeen was close in price to Nairn a few years ago, but RA is a good bit better IMHO.

CS is a good bit more than Nairn, and still very expensive, but it one of the most memorable and enjoyable courses I've played. RD is very good, but not as good as CS for me, some of the other lads who went up rated them the other way round. Opinions.

Prestwick is also dining out on being a past open course, but well-past so is also over charging, but again I thought the course was challenging and reasonably unique, despite a few blind holes.

Yes, Nairn is a good bit cheaper than the others but given the choice I would rather pay the extra for the more memorable experience. We only paid £55 iirc (after a lot of bargaining) and that was a good price, but to a man everyone said they would have been disappointed paying £110 plus. Maybe Nairn was unlucky in that we played CS first, RD next and then Nairn. the other way round may have had it viewed differently.

I can walk around CS, RD, Carnoustie, Royal Lytham, Royal Liverpool, Silloth, Hillside, Formby, Wallasey, West Lancs, Western gailes, St.Mellion, SandA in my head who are all within £30 or so of Nairn (at least when I played them), as they are very memorable.

At Nairn the first 5-6 blur into one for me (apart from the par 3 back into the wind). I remember 2 short par 4's just before the turn. The S1 1 up the hill and the tough par 3 after are fantastic holes, the remaining holes I can also remember, but thats about it. As mentioned, the best greens too.

How do you rate Royal Aberdeen to it? The front 9 are fantastic, but imho I cant remember the back 9 as much, but the front 9 is spectacular.

I was back up there in August and played CS and RD again. I also considered Nairn Dunbar as it was cheaper and well thought of, but therewas no way I was paying £100 plus for Nairn. I'd have considered £50, but thought I'd rather play Nairn Dunbar as another option, but the rivers were nearly bursting their banks the day I was going to play, so sacked it.

Fair or unfair?

Not played any course North of Aberdeen, but the above comments are pretty much exactly the way I look at courses and likewise pretty much match my views of them - certainly about Royal Aberdeen front/back 9s and Hoylake vfm.

So I vote (very) fair!

There will always be slight differences in how folk rate courses. I know a Dornoch member who doesn't (or at least didn't) rate Castle Stuart very highly at all!

 

[Val]

I though Dornoch as a course was outstanding, Castle Stuart as an overall experience was better but the course wasn't as good as Dornoch and I had it on a par or maybe slightly better than Knigsbarns but to be fair I haven't played Kingsbarns for a few years now

 

[patricks148]

I'm mainly judging on VFM, enjoyability, comparison and how memorable the course is.

VFM - you say that there is a "premium rate" for the Inverness area. Okay if there is, but don't expect others to appreciate this. I'm sure London is the same.

If I compare UK courses I don't necessarily compare a course to the other local offerings, I compare them to what else I've paid for other top UK courses. I "think" that Nairn dines out on being so close to internationally famous courses in RD and CS and they think, we'll have some of that. If they charge £110 they would probably get 90% of the same bookings as they would for £110, so earning the club lots more money. Far afield visitors will also think if it's £110 it must be fantastic, probably on a par with RD and CS, but it's not.

Generally, once you pay over £70 you are getting an open qualifier course or a majestic course. Wallasey, S and A and West Lancs charge over £90 and they are also over-priced at that, so Nairn isn't on its own. Royal Liverpool course is quite good, the history is great but it is also over-priced as a course, in comparison to other open rota courses on a like for like basis. Royal Aberdeen was close in price to Nairn a few years ago, but RA is a good bit better IMHO.

CS is a good bit more than Nairn, and still very expensive, but it one of the most memorable and enjoyable courses I've played. RD is very good, but not as good as CS for me, some of the other lads who went up rated them the other way round. Opinions.

Prestwick is also dining out on being a past open course, but well-past so is also over charging, but again I thought the course was challenging and reasonably unique, despite a few blind holes.

Yes, Nairn is a good bit cheaper than the others but given the choice I would rather pay the extra for the more memorable experience. We only paid £55 iirc (after a lot of bargaining) and that was a good price, but to a man everyone said they would have been disappointed paying £110 plus. Maybe Nairn was unlucky in that we played CS first, RD next and then Nairn. the other way round may have had it viewed differently.

I can walk around CS, RD, Carnoustie, Royal Lytham, Royal Liverpool, Silloth, Hillside, Formby, Wallasey, West Lancs, Western gailes, St.Mellion, SandA in my head who are all within £30 or so of Nairn (at least when I played them), as they are very memorable.

At Nairn the first 5-6 blur into one for me (apart from the par 3 back into the wind). I remember 2 short par 4's just before the turn. The S1 1 up the hill and the tough par 3 after are fantastic holes, the remaining holes I can also remember, but thats about it. As mentioned, the best greens too.

How do you rate Royal Aberdeen to it? The front 9 are fantastic, but imho I cant remember the back 9 as much, but the front 9 is spectacular.

I was back up there in August and played CS and RD again. I also considered Nairn Dunbar as it was cheaper and well thought of, but therewas no way I was paying £100 plus for Nairn. I'd have considered £50, but thought I'd rather play Nairn Dunbar as another option, but the rivers were nearly bursting their banks the day I was going to play, so sacked it.

Fair or unfair?

Unfair, you are making a comparison with other courses that charge 50-100% more to play than Nairn, but saying Nairn is not VFM!!

I don';t understand where you get the Nairn jumps on the bandwaggon for CS, especially as Nairn has been there 120 years longer. so If anything CS is there partly due to Nairn. Also Mark Parsenan and the guys that runs the place Stuart are both members of Nairn. One of the Main pulls for visitors is the walker cup was played there, lots of yanks come for that reason and did for th 10 years before CS was built.

I agree that RA is a better course but they charge over £50 per round more again not a good comparison.

I rate Western Gailes rather Highly but they charge £135 per round and its at restricted Times, you can do twilight, but like RD its time restricted and £90. Ive a couple of Mates that are members of WG and both rate Nairn Higher than there own club, something i wouldn't agree with myself.

Kingsbarnes has a huge reputation and charge a small fortune, i don't think its anything as good as CS and Charges more.

I think £100 is too much for a round of golf, I wouldn't pay that for RD or CS. does not mean i like either course less.

as you payed under the odds for Nairn why say its not VFM, i would say you got great VFM, i can't see the other courses you mention cutting the green fee's by half so you could play.

As for the first 6 holes blending into one, i find hard to fathom as 2 of those are par 3' one being in the opposite direction. You would have got a better feel for the course if you played off the whites and not the yellow, its a much better course off the medals and better still off the blue

You could have easily said why is Prestwick and Hoylake not rated Higher? without making a negative comment about Nairn?

 

[Deleted Member 1156]

Isn't Hayling at 79?

How Princes is 10 places above Littlestone & 11 above Perranporth defeats me.

And since when was the Isle of Purbeck a links course?

Have you been on the sherry again Richard? Not sure which list you are looking at

Littlestone is 97, Princes at 72 and no place for Perranporth

 

[Deleted member 15344]

Unfair, you are making a comparison with other courses that charge 50-100% more to play than Nairn, but saying Nairn is not VFM!!

I don';t understand where you get the Nairn jumps on the bandwaggon for CS, especially as Nairn has been there 120 years longer. so If anything CS is there partly due to Nairn. Also Mark Parsenan and the guys that runs the place Stuart are both members of Nairn

I agree that RA is a better course but they charge over £50 per round more again not a good comparison.

I rate Western Gailes rather Highly but they charge £135 per round and its at restricted Times, you can do twilight, but like RD its time restricted and £90. Ive a couple of Mates that are members of WG and both rate Nairn Higher than there own club, something i wouldn't agree with myself.

Kingsbarnes has a huge reputation and charge a small fortune, i don't think its anything as good as CS and Charges more.

I think £100 is too much for a round of golf, I wouldn't pay that for RD or CS. does not mean i like either course less.

as you payed under the odds for Nairn why say its not VFM, i would say you got great VFM, i can't see the other courses you mention cutting the green fee's by half so you could play.

You could have easily said why is Prestwick and Hoylake not rated Higher? without making a negative comment about Nairn?

Reading through what Pete has said it appears to be very fair

He just says that he thinks Royal Liverpool is a better course and that Nairn is not VFM - too expensive - and reading what he says over a £110 for a non Open or Tour course appears to be expensive

 

[Val]

Patrick, I've not played Nairn yet and I'm looking forward to it but you always seem to criticise when people are critical of Nairn and I understand that you'll defend as I do the same with my place but sometimes you just have to accept people view courses differently, whether right or wrong.

I thought Royal Lytham and the Brabazon at the Belfry were very good as an example but many others would disagree, that's what makes these topics so good.

 

[Liverbirdie]

Unfair, you are making a comparison with other courses that charge 50-100% more to play than Nairn, but saying Nairn is not VFM!!

I'm judging courses on what I paid for them at the time, not what they are now. I paid £100 for RA.

I don';t understand where you get the Nairn jumps on the bandwaggon for CS, especially as Nairn has been there 120 years longer. so If anything CS is there partly due to Nairn. Also Mark Parsenan and the guys that runs the place Stuart are both members of Nairn. One of the Main pulls for visitors is the walker cup was played there, lots of yanks come for that reason and did for th 10 years before CS was built.

When I say "jump on the bandwagon" it has nothing to do with history. It can also mean when a fantastic course is built, that the other courses then start to charge a lot higher, as people don't often play out of the way places in isolation. After Trump built his course, did RA suddenly start to increase their price exponentially, has Cruden bay? If people visit Trumps Aberdeen, apart from Yanks who may fly in for a day, most golfers will also play 2-3 in the same vicinity. I'd think the same for the Inverness courses, so they feed off each other. Nowt to do with history on this occasion.

I agree that RA is a better course but they charge over £50 per round more again not a good comparison.

Again, I paid £100 (full price and literally a week before the walker cup) and comparing it to Nairn at over £100 is in the same bracket in my own comparison.

I rate Western Gailes rather Highly but they charge £135 per round and its at restricted Times, you can do twilight, but like RD its time restricted and £90. Ive a couple of Mates that are members of WG and both rate Nairn Higher than there own club, something i wouldn't agree with myself.

I would definitely rate Prestwick higher than Western gailes. I played 17 holes at WG in around level par, I played Prestwick in around 13 over so not based on performance.

Kingsbarnes has a huge reputation and charge a small fortune, i don't think its anything as good as CS and Charges more.

I think £100 is too much for a round of golf, I wouldn't pay that for RD or CS. does not mean i like either course less.

as you payed under the odds for Nairn why say its not VFM, i would say you got great VFM, i can't see the other courses you mention cutting the green fee's by half so you could play.

I said "We only paid £55 iirc (after a lot of bargaining) and that was a good price,", so I think you are misrepresenting me in saying I didn't get VFM. I did get VFM and even up to £70 would be VFM, but not above. Play Silloth for £40 and then equally judge.


As for the first 6 holes blending into one, i find hard to fathom as 2 of those are par 3' one being in the opposite direction. You would have got a better feel for the course if you played off the whites and not the yellow, its a much better course off the medals and better still off the blue.

I do remember the first par 3, and it was a good hole, although hard to club it iirc. The others around it weren't memorable. Not saying they weren't good (par 5 was) but I cant differentiate them in my minds eye.

You could have easily said why is Prestwick and Hoylake not rated Higher? without making a negative comment about Nairn?

I think most people pick up on what they perceive as a course too highly ranked, compared to what is too low. I also did the same on another thread for Royal St. Davids.

I'm not expecting you to agree with my points, as we all have subjective opinions, but to say I have been unfair, I just cant see. Maybe I've cleared up some mis-understandings.

 

[Val]

Reading through what Pete has said it appears to be very fair

He just says that he thinks Royal Liverpool is a better course and that Nairn is not VFM - too expensive - and reading what he says over a £110 for a non Open or Tour course appears to be expensive

Phil, there are 100's of courses that are non open qualifiers or tour holding charging that money, in today's terms £110 isn't OTT any more for a round on a quality course.

I think as member guests at any courses we all can be spoiled a bit and when we need to pay full whack we baulk at it.

 

[Deleted member 1740]

I thought LB's write up was a fair one.

Pedro, where would you rate nairn with hillside, formby s&a, wallasey and west lancs?

 

[Deleted member 15344]

Phil, there are 100's of courses that are non open qualifiers or tour holding charging that money, in today's terms £110 isn't OTT any more for a round on a quality course.

I think as member guests at any courses we all can be spoiled a bit and when we need to pay full whack we baulk at it.

Thats prob fair

Guess so far been lucky that i have played on a lot of very good quality courses and havent had to pay more than £70 for it

 

[Val]

Thats prob fair

Guess so far been lucky that i have played on a lot of very good quality courses and havent had to pay more than £70 for it

I changed my view a year or so ago where I always said I'd never pay £100 for a round and at the time the most I ever payed was £55 for Kingsbarns then I realised if I kept that thought I'd never play many top courses unless I got lucky invites.

In Scotland our member guest rates can be silly, West Kilbride for example is under a tenner and it's a £52 course in the summer and Machrihanish also I under £10 with it £85 in the summer, Wallasey is £20 as a guest but £95 in the summer, years ago I'd have had WK in the £25 bracket witj Mach and Wallasey as maybe £50 and £45 but this I recognise is all wrong.

 

[Liverbirdie]

I thought LB's write up was a fair one.

Pedro, where would you rate nairn with hillside, formby s&a, wallasey and west lancs?

Castle Stuart
Hillside
Royal Aberdeen
Formby
SandA/Wallasey/west lancs/Nairn - hard to split. On four of the criteria I mentioned some are better than others, but pretty close. They are all similar full price, but I've paid £20 for Sand A twice, £35 max for Wallasey, £50 odd iirc for WL. Nairn has the best setting and greens, Sand A like Wallasey has 12 great holes, WL is a beast and although the best holes on WL aren't as good as the others, I think it has a better average of holes overall.

That was a googly, our Stu.


I inserted 1 or 2 others to show a bit more to judge on,

 

[Blue in Munich]

Have you been on the sherry again Richard? Not sure which list you are looking at

Littlestone is 97, Princes at 72 and no place for Perranporth

Sadly I'm stone cold sober Gordon.

Every Google search I do throws up this list,

http://www.nationalclubgolfer.com/c...les/article/britains-top-100-links-80-71.html

which now I look more closely does say 2013, but I cannot find a 2014 list for love nor money. Got a link please?

How Princes is 25 places above Littlestone is even further beyond me….

 

[stevek1969]

I can't get my head around the pricing at times my place for example is £65 during the week and £80 on a Saturday morning ,to me thats far to much . But the member guest rate is £18 now it was £15