Liverbirdie
Ryder Cup Winner
Western gailes
Wood polish, shoe polish, brylcreem, barbicide, sea salt, class and money - the smells of Western gailes. Aaaahhh, not bad for this bisto kid. Some may not like the trappings of class and privilege, but everything about this place is class and it was a privilege to play it. So with my socialist leanings put on the back burner, a quick walk around the clubhouse, which shows some of the history of the place, and also shows some of the great players who have graced it. All visitors are requested to sign in, and the starter was also sincere in his warm approach. A free stroke saver was one of the included benefits, which I think is always a very good gesture, why don't more do this? Any course charging over £80 a round, should do this as a matter of course.
No matter how good I get at this game handicap and score wise, this will be one of my great rounds. It is hard to just pick out highlights on the front 9 course wise, as it is all a very high standard, but here goes:-
1[SUP]st[/SUP] – A bit of a knee trembler, as a thicket of rough and small hillocks dominate the immediate eyeline and a ridge dissects the fairway, but get a kind straight bounce up it and you’ll be fine.
All the great rounds start with a bogey, they say, with a 3 putt to boot after finding the par 4 in regulation.
2[SUP]nd[/SUP] - A great hole with a good line off the tee required to miss bunkers both sides, to give you a long shot into a sunken green. A par on this SI 3 is a treasure, my par was straight forward in regulation, Scouser’s was from the fairway bunker which was even more impressive!! Coming to a town near you soon.
3[SUP]rd[/SUP] – The vista from this tee involves a burn, a ridge, bunkers and all framed by large swathes of rough, and a hollow on the right. I found the hollow, played a blind shot to a green your guessing at it’s location, hit it, walked off with par. J
4[SUP]th[/SUP] – Find the fairway here to give you a short iron in, as the raised green is guarded by 3 sentry bunkers, and for good measure it has a wickedly sloping back to front green.
5[SUP]th[/SUP] – An arrow-straight 430 yard (yellows),453 from the whites,500 – pack it in!! from the blues par 4, at SI 1, dontcha know. Driver and rescue 3 wood for me, luckily missing 3, front of the green, lurking bunkers. If the wind is in your face, treat as a par 5 at least, I can imagine. Happy, happy par for me.
6[SUP]th[/SUP] – Err, how much of the corner on this par 5 should I cut off, as I can’t see most of the fairway further up? Luckily I found the middle of the fairway with a nice fade, to shorten the yardage on this hole. My tip is hit the fairway that you can see, as anything right is probably dead. The next shot even from the middle of the fairway, is blind between 2 hillocks, which feeds it down to the right of the hole into a large swale, chip on from there and hope for the best.
Better still, chip in for an eagle and 5 points, if on a shot!!!!!!!!
My God what a hole! It ideally needs a firm controlled fade, followed by a slight well hit draw, if you want to find it in two. As I’m not superman’s more talented brother, a straight shot was my choice to leave a 30 yard low chip, into a green that even then has a large right to left slope. I’m not bigging it up just because I had an eagle, it is one of the toughest par 5’s I’ve ever played, with it being a vaselined,slippery snake of a hole, not only in shape but also in playability with problems everywhere.
7[SUP]th[/SUP] – Do anything except hit it into the mahossive bunker to the left. Nicely framed hole with 6 bunkers all in close proximity.
8[SUP]th[/SUP] – Send scouser up the hill to keep an eye on the good tee shots, on this blind driving hole. Hit a good un, so you can leave a short fairway approach, as the burn is feet before the front of this green.
9[SUP]th[/SUP] – Put that driver away. Take a sensible club, hit a sensible shot and leave a sub-100 yard shot in for this thin green.
With the eagle helping, I shot a 1-under gross score, to leave me a very happy bunny, indeed, with jam on it.
10[SUP]th[/SUP] – Look away now. Whatever you do, don’t try to play sensible with a rescue 3 wood, thin it into the bank of rough, take two to get out, nearly hit a rescue wood into the burn, chip and 2 putt for a triple-bogey 7!!!!!!
11[SUP]th[/SUP] – Aim slightly right of the hut, as you can run out of fairway, even though it looks miles away. I pushed the approach into the very deep bunker on the right, but managed to sand/save with a vertical bunker face in my face for a much needed par, on this SI 2.
13[SUP]th[/SUP] – Par 3, on the strokesaver, it looks like someone has dropped a load of dog biscuits in the shape of 7 bunkers. Kindly, they’ve also put the green only yards ahead of the burn, which you don’t see off the tee.
14[SUP]th[/SUP] – Another arrow straight par 5 of 527 yards off the yellows, up to 592 off the blues. The railway is all down the right, the hole dominated by 14 bunkers. Turn yourself into a jammy sod, skip over 2 of them like me, and you’ll be fine for par.
17[SUP]th[/SUP] – In the words of Baldrick “where,how,why?†Buy a DMD or strokesaver just for this hole. You eye is drawn to a bunker down the left which has a tiny thin sliver of a fairway attached to it, which falls away to the right, which also then has another mini-sliver of fairway hanging on to it. Find one of these to leave you a hit and hope at a distant marker post, where you’ll only know how you’ve done when within 50 yards of the hole.
I finished with 38 points, 5 over par gross with a double on a par 3 (15[SUP]th[/SUP]) and a triple on 10. I was ecstatic. A great golf course, definitely top 10 links, and maybe top 5 and possibly edging out one of Carnoustie, Royal Aberdeen, Hillside, Formby, Turnberry.
If I’m being hyper-critical I’d say that the back 9 tails off slightly in places, and if the 9’s were the other way around, you would like it even more, as the front 9 is fantastic, but the back 9 dips a bit. If it was the other way around you would remember it more fondly.
We paid the extra £35 for the cold buffet and soup, but it is in a dining room, albeit overlooking the course. The members room would have been much better, if I’m honest. It was described as a fantastic experience – it was nice, but not £35 nice.
Go play it!
Some more crap pictures:-
1. 1st green
2. 3rd tee, I think
3. 6th tee
4.6th - second shot in
5.6th final approach
6. approach from the back
7. eagle on this hole, and some fat fella
8. same
9. can't remember
10. Scouser going fishing
11. 9th approach
12. 14th tee
13 clubhouse overlooking the putting green/1st tee.
Wood polish, shoe polish, brylcreem, barbicide, sea salt, class and money - the smells of Western gailes. Aaaahhh, not bad for this bisto kid. Some may not like the trappings of class and privilege, but everything about this place is class and it was a privilege to play it. So with my socialist leanings put on the back burner, a quick walk around the clubhouse, which shows some of the history of the place, and also shows some of the great players who have graced it. All visitors are requested to sign in, and the starter was also sincere in his warm approach. A free stroke saver was one of the included benefits, which I think is always a very good gesture, why don't more do this? Any course charging over £80 a round, should do this as a matter of course.
No matter how good I get at this game handicap and score wise, this will be one of my great rounds. It is hard to just pick out highlights on the front 9 course wise, as it is all a very high standard, but here goes:-
1[SUP]st[/SUP] – A bit of a knee trembler, as a thicket of rough and small hillocks dominate the immediate eyeline and a ridge dissects the fairway, but get a kind straight bounce up it and you’ll be fine.
All the great rounds start with a bogey, they say, with a 3 putt to boot after finding the par 4 in regulation.
2[SUP]nd[/SUP] - A great hole with a good line off the tee required to miss bunkers both sides, to give you a long shot into a sunken green. A par on this SI 3 is a treasure, my par was straight forward in regulation, Scouser’s was from the fairway bunker which was even more impressive!! Coming to a town near you soon.
3[SUP]rd[/SUP] – The vista from this tee involves a burn, a ridge, bunkers and all framed by large swathes of rough, and a hollow on the right. I found the hollow, played a blind shot to a green your guessing at it’s location, hit it, walked off with par. J
4[SUP]th[/SUP] – Find the fairway here to give you a short iron in, as the raised green is guarded by 3 sentry bunkers, and for good measure it has a wickedly sloping back to front green.
5[SUP]th[/SUP] – An arrow-straight 430 yard (yellows),453 from the whites,500 – pack it in!! from the blues par 4, at SI 1, dontcha know. Driver and rescue 3 wood for me, luckily missing 3, front of the green, lurking bunkers. If the wind is in your face, treat as a par 5 at least, I can imagine. Happy, happy par for me.
6[SUP]th[/SUP] – Err, how much of the corner on this par 5 should I cut off, as I can’t see most of the fairway further up? Luckily I found the middle of the fairway with a nice fade, to shorten the yardage on this hole. My tip is hit the fairway that you can see, as anything right is probably dead. The next shot even from the middle of the fairway, is blind between 2 hillocks, which feeds it down to the right of the hole into a large swale, chip on from there and hope for the best.
Better still, chip in for an eagle and 5 points, if on a shot!!!!!!!!
My God what a hole! It ideally needs a firm controlled fade, followed by a slight well hit draw, if you want to find it in two. As I’m not superman’s more talented brother, a straight shot was my choice to leave a 30 yard low chip, into a green that even then has a large right to left slope. I’m not bigging it up just because I had an eagle, it is one of the toughest par 5’s I’ve ever played, with it being a vaselined,slippery snake of a hole, not only in shape but also in playability with problems everywhere.
7[SUP]th[/SUP] – Do anything except hit it into the mahossive bunker to the left. Nicely framed hole with 6 bunkers all in close proximity.
8[SUP]th[/SUP] – Send scouser up the hill to keep an eye on the good tee shots, on this blind driving hole. Hit a good un, so you can leave a short fairway approach, as the burn is feet before the front of this green.
9[SUP]th[/SUP] – Put that driver away. Take a sensible club, hit a sensible shot and leave a sub-100 yard shot in for this thin green.
With the eagle helping, I shot a 1-under gross score, to leave me a very happy bunny, indeed, with jam on it.
10[SUP]th[/SUP] – Look away now. Whatever you do, don’t try to play sensible with a rescue 3 wood, thin it into the bank of rough, take two to get out, nearly hit a rescue wood into the burn, chip and 2 putt for a triple-bogey 7!!!!!!
11[SUP]th[/SUP] – Aim slightly right of the hut, as you can run out of fairway, even though it looks miles away. I pushed the approach into the very deep bunker on the right, but managed to sand/save with a vertical bunker face in my face for a much needed par, on this SI 2.
13[SUP]th[/SUP] – Par 3, on the strokesaver, it looks like someone has dropped a load of dog biscuits in the shape of 7 bunkers. Kindly, they’ve also put the green only yards ahead of the burn, which you don’t see off the tee.
14[SUP]th[/SUP] – Another arrow straight par 5 of 527 yards off the yellows, up to 592 off the blues. The railway is all down the right, the hole dominated by 14 bunkers. Turn yourself into a jammy sod, skip over 2 of them like me, and you’ll be fine for par.
17[SUP]th[/SUP] – In the words of Baldrick “where,how,why?†Buy a DMD or strokesaver just for this hole. You eye is drawn to a bunker down the left which has a tiny thin sliver of a fairway attached to it, which falls away to the right, which also then has another mini-sliver of fairway hanging on to it. Find one of these to leave you a hit and hope at a distant marker post, where you’ll only know how you’ve done when within 50 yards of the hole.
I finished with 38 points, 5 over par gross with a double on a par 3 (15[SUP]th[/SUP]) and a triple on 10. I was ecstatic. A great golf course, definitely top 10 links, and maybe top 5 and possibly edging out one of Carnoustie, Royal Aberdeen, Hillside, Formby, Turnberry.
If I’m being hyper-critical I’d say that the back 9 tails off slightly in places, and if the 9’s were the other way around, you would like it even more, as the front 9 is fantastic, but the back 9 dips a bit. If it was the other way around you would remember it more fondly.
We paid the extra £35 for the cold buffet and soup, but it is in a dining room, albeit overlooking the course. The members room would have been much better, if I’m honest. It was described as a fantastic experience – it was nice, but not £35 nice.
Go play it!
Some more crap pictures:-
1. 1st green
2. 3rd tee, I think
3. 6th tee
4.6th - second shot in
5.6th final approach
6. approach from the back
7. eagle on this hole, and some fat fella
8. same
9. can't remember
10. Scouser going fishing
11. 9th approach
12. 14th tee
13 clubhouse overlooking the putting green/1st tee.
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