Had the extreme good fortune of playing Western Gailes in Ayrshire today in the great company of fellow forumers IM02,Dano and our mate Boomer.
Arrived at the club at 8.40 after a hearty breakfast at Tesco's and some great navagating by IMO2........if this guy could actually read a map we would have been there by 8am.
On arrival we were given the low down by George the Club Master who showed us where everything was and after a quick look around the opulent clubhouse it was into the grand locker rooms to put the spikes on and off we went.
At the 1st tee we were met by Henry the starter who told us all we needed to know,gaves us a huge handful of WG tees,a pencil and even drew reference points on our strokesaver for where we should aim our tee shots (nice touch from the auld fella).
Off we went,the 1st is a gently start and was playing only a drive and a flick but the undulations around the green gave us a hint of how the course was to play.
The 1st 4 holes head north with four par 4's that don't play too tough bar the 2nd which was playing a good drive and long iron to a green hidden in a bowl.
The next 9 holes head back south along the shoreline offering fine views to Arran and Ailsa Craig beyond and are in a great stretch of golfing terrain with hole 6,a fine par 5 called 'Lappock'where fine dune mounding keeps you in the dark about the green location in the sand hills until the very last minute and the 7th,a fine 190yrd par 3 played from an elevated tee to a well bunkered green set again amongst the dunes being the pick of these holes....this hole captured the 2nd of my 6 pro V's I got from GM so sadly I only have 4 left!
The closing holes of 14 to 18 head back north again toward the clubhouse and is set in flatter terrain with good bunkering,a couple of ditches and the railwayline to the right being among the hazards to avoid and out of these holes I would pick 17 as being the nicest of the stretch being a 445yrd par 4 with a semi blind 2nd played to a green surrounded by small dune mounds.This is a testing driving hole too and Dano can vouch for that hitting his 1st over for the 1.10pm departure to Troon to pick up and then he decided to hit another one over there so the 1.15pm departure from Largs would have one to pick up also!.....these 2 drives I would say set the tone for the journey home!
All in all Western Gailes is rightfully up there with the best Scotland has to offer and the whole place oozes class.
The course was in great nick with the greens medium pace with a great roll,the tees and fairways in fine condition and the rough was pretty penal in places....it was the whispy stuff that doesn't look anything til it wraps around the shaft and closes the clubface down!
As for the golf, after Henry threw the balls up on the 1st tee I was paired with Dano to take on IM02 and Boomer and it was nip and tuck on the front 9 with us taking an early lead but them fighting back and my partner doing well to keep us in touch while I had a mid 9 wobble and playing the 9th it was all square....I managed to wedge it in to gimme range and IM02 missed the green with Boom being out the hole it looked like the front 9 was our until IM02 used his rescue from off the green to hole out to half the front 9!
The back 9 however saw the cream rise to the top with a run of good figures securing a 4&2 victory for team Dodger/Dano.
I also top scored with 31 points with 3 blobs on a fairly playable day which goes to show why WG has a SSS of 74 off the Medal tees that we played from.
A superb day on a cracking golf course and I would not hesitate to go back to WG again and would recommend it to all forummers
Arrived at the club at 8.40 after a hearty breakfast at Tesco's and some great navagating by IMO2........if this guy could actually read a map we would have been there by 8am.
On arrival we were given the low down by George the Club Master who showed us where everything was and after a quick look around the opulent clubhouse it was into the grand locker rooms to put the spikes on and off we went.
At the 1st tee we were met by Henry the starter who told us all we needed to know,gaves us a huge handful of WG tees,a pencil and even drew reference points on our strokesaver for where we should aim our tee shots (nice touch from the auld fella).
Off we went,the 1st is a gently start and was playing only a drive and a flick but the undulations around the green gave us a hint of how the course was to play.
The 1st 4 holes head north with four par 4's that don't play too tough bar the 2nd which was playing a good drive and long iron to a green hidden in a bowl.
The next 9 holes head back south along the shoreline offering fine views to Arran and Ailsa Craig beyond and are in a great stretch of golfing terrain with hole 6,a fine par 5 called 'Lappock'where fine dune mounding keeps you in the dark about the green location in the sand hills until the very last minute and the 7th,a fine 190yrd par 3 played from an elevated tee to a well bunkered green set again amongst the dunes being the pick of these holes....this hole captured the 2nd of my 6 pro V's I got from GM so sadly I only have 4 left!
The closing holes of 14 to 18 head back north again toward the clubhouse and is set in flatter terrain with good bunkering,a couple of ditches and the railwayline to the right being among the hazards to avoid and out of these holes I would pick 17 as being the nicest of the stretch being a 445yrd par 4 with a semi blind 2nd played to a green surrounded by small dune mounds.This is a testing driving hole too and Dano can vouch for that hitting his 1st over for the 1.10pm departure to Troon to pick up and then he decided to hit another one over there so the 1.15pm departure from Largs would have one to pick up also!
.....these 2 drives I would say set the tone for the journey home! All in all Western Gailes is rightfully up there with the best Scotland has to offer and the whole place oozes class.
The course was in great nick with the greens medium pace with a great roll,the tees and fairways in fine condition and the rough was pretty penal in places....it was the whispy stuff that doesn't look anything til it wraps around the shaft and closes the clubface down!
As for the golf, after Henry threw the balls up on the 1st tee I was paired with Dano to take on IM02 and Boomer and it was nip and tuck on the front 9 with us taking an early lead but them fighting back and my partner doing well to keep us in touch while I had a mid 9 wobble and playing the 9th it was all square....I managed to wedge it in to gimme range and IM02 missed the green with Boom being out the hole it looked like the front 9 was our until IM02 used his rescue from off the green to hole out to half the front 9!
The back 9 however saw the cream rise to the top with a run of good figures securing a 4&2 victory for team Dodger/Dano.
I also top scored with 31 points with 3 blobs on a fairly playable day which goes to show why WG has a SSS of 74 off the Medal tees that we played from.
A superb day on a cracking golf course and I would not hesitate to go back to WG again and would recommend it to all forummers
