172 – Eclectic 18: Sam Cooper

hello and welcome back to another episode of the cookie jar golf podcast I’m Tom Mills and today I am joined by a
return guest Sam Cooper hello hello this is your
fourth off podcast I believe that’s right when you first came on the cookie jar
golf podcast Sam you were first of all embarking on your first on
your trip no it was actually before then I came on with evaluating yeah evaluating first that’s correct talking
about what evaluating does which I still don’t know but what evaluate team does well Jasper does a bit of everything so
um he’s just research uh sells the prince that Joe and I do and some other
um artwork and stuff and a bit of everything really but I think for the last couple of months he’s basically been playing more golf courses than he’s
playing a lot of them the famous James Pierce and even he’s been everywhere yeah um and good for him because he no one
cares more about the minutiae of architecture I think than Jasper he’s
he’s fallen back in love with the game wasn’t he I think actually playing the game incredibly knowledgeable guy he went through a period Jasper of just he
we spoke to him a couple of years back when we when we interviewed you guys about evaluating he was like yeah just
go to these clubs and walk around them
I was like you are absolutely outside your mind power to go play them but you can run with a value 18 and you came on
to talk about your trip yes you did another one after that and then now you’re you’re here trip complete
and probably because of the trip Maybe you now have different titles so yeah I
could call you Sam Cooper Traveler I have been called that for quite a
while Sam Cooper architect actually I’m not traveler anymore so no now you’re the one title you can’t call me anymore
I’m I am man with fixed Abode we’re actually in eurobo it’s very nice I’m in up in high Lake yeah uh if I could see
through walls I could see the golf course from here could I you could it’s about 500 yards that way yeah and the
beach is about 400 yards that way so we’re between two things that we quite like so it’s okay and then we’ve got Sam
Cooper architect that’s new that’s newer yeah South
Cooper podcaster well no not not uh I don’t think I could claim that one I I
uh muddle along but between the low audio quality and the infrequent posting
of episodes It’s oh it’s It’s a Grind it’s the posting of episodes how are you finding all that that bit of it good I
mean Christmas so just for the people who don’t know you are the uh yes so James bledge who is the links manager at
Royal Liverpool flip aware I’m lucky enough to play my golf he and I do a
podcast together we call it golf badges so it’s basically for real course
aficionados for super nerds the super super nerds yeah it’s if you if you like
Green keeping or Agronomy or architecture or whatever those those kind of things we’re keeping it narrow
to that uh that sort of field of focus and it’s really good fun because I’ve learned loads over the course of my tour
going around everywhere because I’m just interested in that stuff so I go and talk to people and and we’ll ask them
questions and uh you know when you I think when you find people who have a
shared interest then people do like talking about it because they didn’t have that many opportunities yeah
there’s no no not many people really want to talk about the the sword the sword of a grass sword composition or
the uh that was a new one on me actually when uh when when bleds came up with that it’s quite it’s standing the
difference between Meadow and Fescue and well we were talking about it I think golf over the weekend and we’re talking
about it with um some people were actually asking me about stuff and
They Don’t Really Care you know most golfers say oh how fast are the greens or or you know that bit looks a bit bare
over there or something and um people don’t even care about whether they’re firm or soft and uh or
um how true they’re rolling or you know these I’m a million miles away from a green keeper but I am interested and
that’s what the Badgers podcast allows us to do so pledge is so knowledgeable he loves that stuff doesn’t it he’s a
real nerd and we get to talk to people that we find interesting um and and that’s the idea so we’ve got
we’ve got some really good people lined up especially this year because obviously with the open at Hoy Lake it
means that quite a few people are passing through so we get to chat to them along the way
we’re going to do your collection shortly but we’re not done in quizzing you on on what’s going on um with your life first architect a new
thing since we spoke last yeah quite possibly so I’ve been talking to the CDP
guys for I don’t know it must be a couple of years I did a bit of drone survey work
for them um in 2020 and
just got to know them more and we have a shared philosophy I’ve always loved way
before I started doing my tour I’ve always loved strategic Golf and uh you know the sort
of classic designs and it’s interesting growing up where I have because I’ve grown up on a championship course but it
was a course that was always written about is probably the most strategic golf course in England and
you know it’s interesting how those um to
things align in the modern game so I’ve always had an innate interests in that
anyway um and then you know just reading everything I could read and developing that interest over the years
it all came to a headworthy and then traveling on the tour and going everywhere at least I can say
I’ve seen everything links wise in in this country at least so it just evolved over time to the
point where it’s about a year ago they said oh you know would you be interested
in doing this full time and initially it’s going to be part-time and then circumstances changed and uh
and they were good enough to to allow me to do this was a full-time and
I couldn’t be happier you know I’ve you know one of few people who can probably say they do something that they
genuinely love every day so I’m incredibly fortunate for that so what’s your job title there what do you do I
think it was a day today for Sam Cooper a bit of everything um I guess associate architect but I
mean it really I work a lot with Frank Ponce so Frank and I work closest out to
the team although that’s not to say don’t talk to is that more of a geographic thing yeah it’s not sad and
spend a lot of time talking to Kates or Mike DeVries or uh any of anyone else in
the team it’s just Frank generally covers Britain and then Kate’s comes over for the Summers as well
um so it’s great to have two they’re in fact we all are very similar in how
we see holes and how we see architecture but
Frank and claytes have two very different skill sets really Frank’s incredibly technical
um incredibly smart with routings and master planning and stuff like that and
and crates is well I mean you’ve had him on a good few times haven’t you well one
fewer than we should have had yes we had a fantastic we did a podcast with Mike that uh we had a SIM card issue which
we’re still trying desperately to rectify but it was one of the few podcasts that well I’m ever going to do
with Mike that we did in person he sat down in the committee room at Blackwell and
um there was a a real shame but his Library his internal library of
golf courses and golf holes and experiences and everything else is
absolutely yeah it’s another what’s it like working
with him is he does he make you feel stupid because he’s so clever I imagine I wouldn’t handle that very
well because I like being the smartest person in most rooms I think if I hadn’t been on my tour then I would have felt very out of my depth but the good thing
is I have been to so many places in this country recently and I’m lucky enough to
be able to remember most of them um so when we’re going around in this country I can say oh you know this is
like XYZ and he can say yeah or or what about this um we can have a proper conversation if
we’re doing this anywhere else in the world then I’ll be completely yeah because he has that level of knowledge
in America and obviously in Australia and New Zealand and all around the world
everywhere so the tour um which I’m sure is going to come up heavily in this podcast
um it grew arms and legs I would say how many did you how many courses this for
those people that don’t know and I haven’t listened to our previous podcast with Sam uh Sam decided with his wife
and two dogs so they were going to travel around uh Great Britain not Northern Ireland but Great Britain and
Tackle every Links Course how many did you start with
think when we set off there were only 160 only 160 on the list
and how did you compile that list basically through lockdown so
exact summary we were Harris and I used to develop property residential property just small
stuff but around where we are on the Wirral and then when cover came along we were like probably not a good idea to
start taking things on when we don’t know how the world’s going to change
as it was property Market went crazy which we wish we’d stayed and bought notes but um uh we we thought well look
we’ve ever since University we met at University ever since then we’ve sort of
had our property business and we’ve been growing it and working in this and blah blah blah
um we’ve never had so much as a couple of weeks off let alone any period of
time to go and do a bit of traveling and traveling wasn’t really on the menu in 2020 but we thought when lockdown ends
it would be a great opportunity to go around the UK a bit so I spent
uh appears in in lockdown just basically researching reading all of my old you
know true links and um books on Links Golf and scouring the
internet for uh lists of links courses that might have been missed from those
Publications going around Google maps and looking at some of the tiny courses on islands off the North Coast of
Scotland and I basically put together this Google Maps monster and at that time I
think it was 160 it then grew to I remember 182.
and in the end I ended up playing 225
and I think that’s well it’s the Isle of Man as well as Channel Islands but certainly all of
England Wales and Scotland as well and that was basically any course that
had a links hole at least one Link’s hole you think yeah so there are undoubtedly more
um undoubtedly there are more courses by the Sea than those I played but if they
were categorically uh on heavy soil or which obviously is going to lead me on
to the question I need to ask have you can you now tell me well first of all 225
um links courses has anyone else done that do you know I don’t think so certainly not my list I’m sure I know of
a couple of people who have played every golf course in Scotland for example yeah and that is far more courses than I
played over twice the number that I played but I don’t think that anyone’s played a free links course have you replied to
Guinness Book of World Records no you 100 should not kind of like imagine being in the
Guinness World Records for what playing golf courses if I’d done something no one else had done I’d 100 put in the
Guinness Book of World Records I mean it’s just a list that I made up at the end of the and then you’d get like a
Nims Purge I can’t try and beat you and do it in like 60 days or something like that yeah that’s what you need to
now I think uh I’m going to write my little book about it and I’m looking forward to doing that but I just like
talking talking about the courses that I’m gonna apply for you I’m gonna put that here for you so the question that
on on everybody’s lips is how do you define a lynx Golf Course
I don’t know and what I mean by that is you just know when you know you know at
the start of the tour I could have trusted off the definition and be like oh yeah it’s the lamb that links the
agricultural land to the sea or you know there’s an Old English word clinks which
is the Sandy Rice by the by the saying it’s generally something to do with the
sandy soil well sandy soil the two terms of odds with one another but the Sandy
grounds with undulations that everyone can see in their Mind’s Eye the Rippling
ground by the Sea um yeah obviously that’s what a lynx Golf Course is but then there are so
many that are on the peripheries that don’t actually meet that definition and
and so many that do probably meet that definition but would you say they’re
links courses maybe maybe not so you know like most things it’s it’s on
the boundaries and on the edges where it’s actually most interesting like is Ross and George’s the links well yeah
obviously but is Bay Bay A Links which is an old Ben says
course up on the coast the Murray Coast between Inverness and Aberdeen um yeah it is a lynx course it looks
like a lynx course it smells like a lynx course it’s by the Sea it’s got Rippling ground but it’s not on Sand it’s
actually on um sorts of Pebbles but the Pebbles have been shaped by the wind and by the sea
to give the exact same topography as if it’s been a Sunday Lynx course
um and it’s free draining it has the same characteristics as the same turf is it a lynx course yeah is it on Sunday
ground no so you know there’s so many places like that
um if you went down to Southwest there’s pennard it’s penard Lynx course in South
Wales just down the road from Royal porth call and it’s a links course it’s underground
but it’s not really by the Sea it’s on top of a a cliff quite a few of those in Wales like Southern downers as an
example seven down is a great example that’s a bit further Inland again um and then down in Cornwall uh
perrinporth perrinporth is also on top of a cliff but it’s not a cliff top
course in the way that thurlstone is a cliff top course
Norfolk norfolk’s a really good example you’ve got places like
sharing them in chroma sharing them in chroma are both Cliff top courses chroma
is a proper Cliff top course and that it’s sort of heavier soils and and the
land doesn’t Ripple it’s pretty Park landing it’s a great course but you
wouldn’t say it’s a lynx course whereas sharing them
is this weird kind of it’s just the same it’s the same height
above sea level it’s just a few miles down the coast but actually you could make a case as it’s linksy because it’s
Sandy underneath and it’s got a bit more given the in the in the run of the land
so there’s so many funky little places that are hard to categorize in a in a
one-line formal definition but everyone says ganten is a lynx
well if ganten’s a link says does that mean all Brazil links how close to the seed you have to be
um and how close to the Sea at any given point in time do you have to be because
you know everyone says that Gunther used to be a lot closer to the sequences now but
the reality is it’s it’s Inland if ganten is a lynx is Woodall spiral links
because Woodall spas on the vein of sand but that’s nowhere near the sea so I
think it’s it’s got to be a mix of three it’s got to be land this has been formed by the wind
and the Sea whether that’s Sandy or um or Pebbles or whatever as long as
it’s free draining I think that’s got to be a facet proximity to the sea is has got to be up there as well
and then yeah the the other thing that’s interesting is how it plays and firmness and and the
type of grasses that are on it and the way the ball reacts when it lands I think most people would say they are
characteristics of any links course however you know things can be there I say
mismanaged or neglected over time and and then that can change you know the soil
profile can become um can become richer and and then the grass has changed the sword composition
changes and it gets softer or gauze grows and nitrifies the soil and and
then it changes but you know if if you left the most textbook Links golf course
in the world to change does that mean it’s no longer a
Links Course in 30 years time I have my own views on links well tell
them I think for it to be a links it’s basically there’s only two things there’s only two requirements
it’s got to be mostly fescue okay and also you need to be able to
play it in the dead of winter in the wet and not have to clean your shoes okay so it’s cow Club in in California is that’s
a little it must be if if they if you’d have to clean your shoes after a wet day okay if you can just walk off the golf
course and be like oh these shoes are fine there we go okay well I’m glad that we cleared this up but that’s what I mean mine’s a much
more simplistic version but then again I’m not as well first in links as you and with all that being said uh I’ve
given you a task to do an Eclectic skating which you’ve been very kind to do but there were some parameters we put
around it because you’ve done all these wonderful links courses and if I said do your eclecticating not
that you would do it but there’s a possibility that you would just rattle off 18 World these that everyone knows are
really good because world is a world is aren’t though yeah so many a question I always get is
what’s your favorite course and I said well my favorite course is the same as most people’s favorite course it’s like
I don’t know dornik or milfield or the old course or in England it would be oh
they’re gross and George’s or breakfast or yeah exactly like it’s not going to be a scoop these courses are the best
courses because they’re the best courses yeah um however that being said
the thing that the tour has given me is an appreciation for the courses that
perhaps some people have never heard of and certainly they’d never go and visit a tourist to Britain
I’m just looking down the list I put together I don’t know how many of these courses anyone would actually go and
play but they’re missing out and I know that that’s a recurring theme of some of the
uh some of the eclectic Cates that you’ve done to date like the courses that fly under the
radar because a course that’s ranked 150th in Britain compared to 50th
some of the holes on there will be just as good but there just might not be as many of them did you go to any golf courses on
your trip they genuinely didn’t have any good holes and you don’t have to name them because
I I think they’re like you know Tom Coyne said it early on Mega early on in you know a few years back on this
podcast but he’s it’s he said golf courses like pizza it’s just there’s always something good there
yeah I think that’s true I’m trying to I’m really having to Rack my brain to
think of no redeeming features I think
yeah I would say every course maybe two or three out of 225 which isn’t about
one percent um but really
no I even the courses where you start out and you think God what are we doing
here there’ll be a point where it’s say oh wow that’s what we’re doing here that’s really what a great hole and I’m
so glad that I came out just even to see that one hole or that little stretch or that little run
because if you play if you’re playing golf by the sea with
in the for me I always love the you know that gold now at the end of the
day when the sun’s coming down and you’re a big fan of God now aren’t you wow because those who don’t know Sam Austin does very good photography and
videography and it’s always a golden art I’m sure you just stay places until the sun comes out the problem is I think
with links courses especially is it’s the ground this is interesting
and if you’re not doing it at the right time of the day it just gets lost yeah
like if you take a picture in the middle of the day or on a cloudy day of a lynx course what are you looking at you know
you can’t see the topography and that’s why most of my photos I try and get them
it’s really cool and it looks really cool which is why you do it but right we need to get into this because we’d be
really putting it off we’re 24 minutes into the Pod and we’ve literally not started but there’s plenty to talk about
so how do you want to do it you want to go through a Hole by hole or do you want to pick certainly I mean we just like to
keep it really free and easy here okay well should we go through hole by hole there’s a few where I’ve we can talk
through it Hole by hole um because you’ve got some the criteria was
um you’re collecting 18 and ideally I didn’t want anything that was in the top 100 in GB I yeah so you have to kind of
keep out of that but you’ve done uh I’ve only played three golf courses on this list oh really which I think is because
uh I don’t travel as much as you but also you’ve picked some ones that are quite hard to get to your
places as well but I have played number one brora good and your bird you did I hear I did buddy I told you off there
yeah I missed the green chipped in so it’s not like it’s not like a stiffed but it’s a courthouse
why did you pick number one Aurora um I like I like bro a recurring theme through
this list is there’s a lot of short puffles because I think
there’s also some very long path forces one that’s 495 yards but I think
they’re just they’re just interesting because there is the opportunity for a range of scores
to be had and a range of ways to play the whole and I don’t think like don’t
get me wrong I think if I have my CVP hat on and we were doing a golf course I
wouldn’t make a course like this I wouldn’t make a course where every single part four was like 300 yards
because it’d be ridiculous you’ve got to have why would it be ridiculous though it’s what we all want to play
well maybe that’s true maybe there’ll be a time when there are courses
because you’d get home murdered but what’s what we all like to play Everyone likes their ego stroked if you can go
around in under your handicap even if the you know the standard scratch is like six shots lower than it should be
who cares well people just want to have fun playing golf don’t they they do um if you can walk off something and you’ve
made a birdie um your buddies made a double Bogey and you can laugh at them uh that’s great but if you’re both
playing a 450 yard Par Four well the chance though you’re both gonna make a bogey and which is more interesting
which speaks to the spirits of golf more and I would say the whole sort of smack
in the middle of oh I should be making a three here but I’ve actually made a five
because I’ve tried to drive the green and that was not the thing to do the thing to do was play a four iron over
there and and then run the ball in and that’s what you can do on the first at broader I think it’s 288 yards maybe
um and it’s just brilliant land you’ve traveled all the way up to it’s a cool
start on the coast as well because you tee up right on the coastline and it’s pretty much that and I think just the
far end the pathway at the far end which is probably nine eight nine ten something on the ground there
um pretty much the closest points you get to the sea that First Tee Box and yeah that’s that’s true it’s just kind
of a step in in London isn’t it for the rest I say in London yeah like 40 50
yards but um yeah it’s like the beaches if if you go for the green and flare one
out right like yeah um but it’s it’s great topography I don’t think there are any bunkers on the
whole um and the green is just sort of set into this on this shelf almost in a bit of a punch
bowl thing so you you can’t see it from the tee but you know where you’re going
um and yeah you can go for it but good luck if your first shot of the day
is like 290 yard drive with Crosswinds and everything else
but it doesn’t mean if you play it in the conservative way that it’s a boring game it’s still a great
you know you’re still playing because it wants to be approached kind of from the left you have to kind of go down the
left on on one that’s what it won’t you wants you to come in from and drawers like that there are places where you
know you you do want to it’s not straight it’s not a straight down the middle golf course it’s uh oh the pins
on the left there so I’m going to hit it down the right and sometimes you’re best off hitting it into the into the rough
and letting it release up than you are being in the middle of the Fairway um so I love those kind of golf courses
and I love the highlands so brora had to be on my list yeah bro is very good now
we’re gonna go on to a stretch that that I don’t know much about try yeah well
set so try is a nine hole course
um it is named Malek so you know when the Hogwarts Express goes over the
that bridge yes bridge now is my big Harry Potter fan so this
is exciting me uh that’s just down the road from there how is it so try is this
oh it could be there’s another course on here that will challenge it for most beautiful setting
but try is has got to be up there um the second hole you play play up the
hill and then the second home officially it’s a par five but yardage-wise it’s not a par five
um it is it’s called spying cop and as a Liverpool fan it’s funny how many holes
are caught spying cop named for the battle very much rather than the standard anfield but never mind
um the second hole you can either play on the right hand side with outer bounds
right playing to this island in the sky so it’s a bit of Fairway effectively or
you can play the the long roads the low road round to the left which you know is
is probably over twice the distance than taking the shortcut so it’s just you
stand on there and it’s like Oh How brave am I feeling can I can I hit the the driver or the three wood or whatever
over there with death surrounding it and if I don’t get it right then I’m absolutely buggered or do I go for the
straightforward five probably because it’s not a long haul because you still may be able to make a four
but it’s just you know that sort of spirit of Adventure in one of the most
beautiful settings and I thought more people should know about try so I’ll put that on my list did you find on your
travels that you know like when you’ve got risk reward holes that
you took the risk because like I’m on here once or did you play conservatively most of the time yeah I mean you’re not
going to it doesn’t mean you can’t appreciate the other route you know you I think
as the tour develops and I you know I was getting more and more into the architecture as a career as well as a
thing anyway as well as just a passion it was important to you know look at the
course properly rather than just play it with the blinkers on and oh it’s a sunny day and a third well therefore I like it
you know that’s not what it’s about yeah which I think is so easy to do of course it is it’s so hard to disassociate how
you played with the course like I think that’s a really hard skill maybe it’s because I played so many but
now I I can’t remember how I played uh places I can remember the holes yeah and I can
um I I can think about the the different routes but I I can’t actually remember
generally speaking whether oh I I shot a 722 around so I didn’t care about that
you know it’s the whole point of going somewhere is to experience the place not to shoot some a number you can just do
that anywhere the third hauler you’ve chosen is a hole
that you now work very closely with yeah oh which I think is on the northwest coast of England
is arguably the strongest stretch of golf courses anywhere in England I would say
oh in England yeah it’s like well concentration Kent but we’ve got more in
the Northwest than they’re doing camps yeah well I mean just we’re sat here in high Lake you’ve
obviously got the three that have the open up here lithium Hollow Birkdale Southport haynesdale Westland oh you
remember Wallace
it’s just there’s so many good courses up here and Wallace here I think is one
that probably doesn’t get the recognition it deserves like Wallace should be in top 100 GB and I or or close like close to
um it’s really interesting yes uh there are clients of us at CDP which you’re
alluded to um but all that’s allowed me to do even though it’s a course that’s only 15 minutes away and I’ve played it since I
was a kid um so it’s a course I already knew well but the more time I’ve spent there
looking at the routing how it’s evolved uh the land that they have The more I’ve appreciated
just how you know just how good some of the some of the good stuff is and just
how much potential the course has as well so it’s exciting there were a few
Court there were a few holes that I would have included in here if
um you know obviously the whole Joy Of The Eclectic catering exercises It’s tricky to get them all in so the third I
did include 11 I would have definitely included if I had space for it
the 18th as well it’s another amazing hole probably one of the great finishing
holes in Lynx golf you know over the most rambunctious Lynx land to the what a
wonderful word so the clubhouse like just behind the green it’s it’s brilliant but I went for the third which
is only a mid length Par Four but plays through this channel
um the green is so cool it has this it’s almost like a v-shaped uh approach
so if you’re coming in with anything more than the shortish iron it’s actually and it’s firm it just
kicks one way or the other and it deflects and and actually there’s a bank behind the green and if you’re smart you
can actually take more club and let it run up and hopefully feed back down rather than get deflected at the front
and it’s just a really cool green that uses the the landscape it sits in rather than I know a load of bunkers just to
make it arbitrarily difficult um do you find on your travel scene all
these courses that are green uh kind of make or breaks the hole
because obviously it needs to be interesting to get to the green but if the green is either benign and you’re like oh no don’t really like that hole
or the greens can really Elevate the hole or do you find that that’s important or not am I just talking
rubbish no it’s definitely I think I think a great green can save an
average hole yeah um and I think for it to be a world
world class hole it needs to have everything you can’t have a you know it’s 10 ounces but likewise I
think like a bad green can ruin a good hole um but what’s a what’s a bad green
I don’t know I could’ve got loads of well because I wouldn’t say a flat green is a bad green like but I think if
you’ve got loads of interest and Intrigue and suddenly you’ve got like I mean am I just talking nonsense I
don’t know I’ll try and have a flash screen over engineered massively yeah I
mean Castle you don’t want all your greens to be like the castle so that’s okay that
could be an example of bad every day greens is like one third you can get
yourself in a position that like you just can’t keep up because it’s so wildly undulating
yeah but but then there are courses out there where
if they’re the appropriate speed of green like some of this isn’t links
um but one of the best sets of greens I’ve ever played was Pastor Tiempo and
if you played well they’re changing them because they want them to be whatever on the stint
meter and and they are too hilly to play like some of those puts that you’d have if you’re above the hole
um um on some of those greens like you have zero chance yeah but they’re amazing
they make the holes but I do of course I I completely get what you mean yeah so
yeah oh that suppose they’re on bad greens they’re just they’re uninteresting greens and there are interesting greens
there are certainly better greens out there kill spindy four yeah great golf
ball yeah I don’t think we need to kill spindy’s one of those clubs had a lot of coverage in the last
five six years um plays down onto the sort of peninsula
yeah and the green is just sort of on that little tongue isn’t it absolutely it’s just beautiful
dead long dead you want to be down the right so that you have a better angle into the green but everyone goes up left
because you’re scared of going in yeah onto the beach and then you’re playing a bit across the the neck so it’s just a
great strategic home boundary hole boundary home there’s this it’s not a bunker it’s like
a crater in the middle of the Fairway isn’t there um and it’s it’s great it’s kind of the
the the Fairway is leveled as well isn’t it kind of the the right half is lower than
the left half and it’s like a bank that kind of levels up like that and it’s just a great I also I was tempted to put
in the fourth hole Urban bog side um over in Asia but I went for went for
killspendy but honorable mention to that which is that’s really cool it’s like
Railway immediately alongside the green um and again short hole you could drive
the green but if you did that you could be on you could hit a train that’s on its way to neighboring tune you know
it’s it’s one of those and being pin high right is the scariest pitch up this
hill really with the Railway Beyond it that’s a really cool really cool hole but I thought kill
spindy maybe just etched it for me now since doing the eclectica team
um I haven’t have kind of Revisited mine since and had a little look at it and number five that you’ve picked was in is
in my new one oh really yeah well I mean if I was gonna get weird about it you
know and ignore the obvious ones yeah Isle of purbeck which isn’t a lynx course but I wanted it anyway because I
don’t think there’s a link so it’s it’s much too and it’s it’s firm and it’s bouncy and it’s you
can kind of see the sea or pool but no but that doesn’t mean that it’s not really good a really good uh course and
it certainly doesn’t mean that the fifth hole there isn’t absolutely fabulous it’s an absolutely wonderful golf hole
that one um big sort of sweeping dog leg right where you’re elevated by
many many feet 20 30 40 I don’t know I don’t know my feet but huge elevation from tea to green and a
kind of infinity green that drops off a cliff yeah and almost a bit of a cape so
you’re like you’re playing it sweeps around to the right doesn’t it so um how many yards are you how far right
how much are you chewing off and you can play it many many ways yeah um it’s not long is it I mean could you
if you would feel him really really Brave could you kind of take the line of the green I’m not sure um oh I don’t know actually I should
have should have had a look an honorable mentioned my favorite golf courses yeah
so Formby ladies and the men’s course at Formby they’re on
some amazing land I would make I think actually loads of people make a case that one of the best
holes of the 36 is the fifth hole which is just this amazing little path or a
tiny green uh you know sort of cut into the side of a hill uh it’s just
beautiful and oh yeah like 130 500 voicemail Max I
think yeah um but I hadn’t played Formby ladies up until a year or so ago and I’ve been
playing Formby since I was only 13 12 13. and I’ve always seen
because it’s one of the few holes that you’ve seen the ladies course from the
um the quotes on quote main course uh wow you know how good’s that and yeah
finally playing it this year it can confirm it’s got some great golf holes
there’s another part all the part three that Formby ladies are just mind-blowing yeah I think there’s one around the turn 10 11 12 something around that oh the
one down there yeah into the into the bowl yeah it’s it’s got some great holes hasn’t it
and again shows the value of shorter courses that’s fun to play that you can get around quickly absolutely
we’re going to island hopping are we we are shiskin
yeah tastes as I said I think so just can you say it well
okay uh I need been there and I am so I just kind of went with it well I’m gonna
polish your skin I’m going to call it skin short four yeah another short for
um shock could have been that could have had the fifth hole which is a long par three
that runs along this sort of Rage downhill um with it’s it’s if you land the ball
short again it sort of kicks out of the way could have had the fourth hole which plays from this massively High
um down to down to a green with like the most stunning backdrop of the uh of
kintyre could have had the third hole playing up it the Crow’s Nest I think it’s called there’s so many amazing
holes at shiskin it’s one of it’s just one of the coolest places that
we went on there at all and it’s do you think the islands are actually worth yeah
yeah the island because it seems like such a hassle no I think it if you’re
doing this as a lot like a lot Lads Lads golf trip it is too much hassle but if
you actually went for a really nice driving holiday and you took Sarah and
you went round and you said right we’re going to stay in some really nice places and I’m going to think the club’s in the
back of the car maybe a couple of mornings go out early doors well it’s amazing like you could
drive to uh drive to Airship get the ferry across to Aaron place your skin
get the ferry across to Campbelltown uh go and explore around there Golf Course
wise you could play carradale this call this online holder on the way on the way down the kintai peninsula played the
navity at the bottom down the long winding road that Paul McCartney wrote about that’s where he had his is that
right that’s where he had this place down there um and it’s you know obviously Jim
Hartzell talks a lot about donavati and rightly so it’s a newscasters love love
the Beatles Don’t you no way you know we gotta got a thing to the local
um the local celebrities um but there’s a stretch in the middle of the
navity from about the fourth to let me get this wrong 15 16. that’s just like
the most Bonkers golf in the world like holes crossing over blind
um just glorious glorious golf how it should be yeah and then you’ve got macro Hanish and get the ferry to the macri go
and go further up and go and visit try and go to the house of Hebrides which is
where I had hole number seven ask Anish askanish
that’s really good as well is that really good yeah we move away from the island okay
um apart from it this quickly but asking if she’s the only long before why have you gone for such a long four oh it’s not the yardage it’s it’s part five
really isn’t it it’s 495 yeah but so you play the first five six holes at asking
it and they’re really nice holes but then you get to I think it’s the seventh
T where it’s like oh wow this is where it’s at oh my God this starts to get
good yeah it’s just bonkers the land from seven to
let’s say 16 7 zr17 is just otherworldly that’s the course has recently been
refound so to speak yeah so the story is there was an old Tom course
there and then I think it sort of was lost or awesome maintained yeah and
they had another golf course that was on the farmlands nearby and
uh that they were saying oh you know this is not tomcos and might be completely wrong I think it was
Gordon Avon I I’ve forgive me if I’m completely wrong there but someone was there and they said yeah
guys this is like oh Tom course Autumn oh Tom wouldn’t have built this
um but he might have built a golf course over there in that ridiculous yeah
um uh let’s go and have a little rummage around so that’s what they did and I think ebiss and doke and a few other
people um so there’s a bit of a Goodwill thing and yeah a bit of golf archeology you
know finding the old green sites and uh it’s it’s an amazing place and it’s a
bit of a pilgrimage to get there because it’s not easy to get to is it the heart is that the hardest of all the island ones to get to of the other ones I’ve
included yeah um the the hardest course that I should
have put it in should have put wolf saying uh yeah now a few people have talked to us about
this place will say oh man I mean it’s not too late you need to
find a place for it but and you put the 17th but I like
um we’ll see I think I think while we’re going we can maybe do an honorable mention at the end but that’s the
hardest place because that’s in the outer Hair It Is it well uh asking this is in the outer Hebrides
South East but um wall say is in the Shetland Isles
that’s right yeah and to get to the Shetland Isles you have a fly which is the sensible thing to do but then you
know it’s the Shetland house are big when you get there we obviously wanted the van there so
from I can’t remember the port just on the it’s near it’s near Ray on the very
North Coast it’s like turnabout hours to orkney and then from orkney it’s like 10
hours on a ferry so it’s so far to Shetland
um and then when is it closer to like yeah I think it’s closer closer to Iceland than it is to a Greenland or
something like that yeah because I think it was like given to Britain for as a
dowry from Norwegian I don’t know um but it’s it’s the most spectacular
place oh it’s amazing there and so the first thing we did was we got there and
like okay well let’s drive all the way to the top basically because we’re how big is it uh how long does it take to
drive to the top a few hours okay and then you’ve got to get more ferries along the way just little ferries like
20 minutes or 10 minutes to get okay is that because they’re little Islands or because of the little archipelago of
islands good word again yeah well that’s what second is see our celebrities it’s like six little islands and you got
together ferries and bridges and stuff um so we got all the way up to the Muckle flugger Muckle flugger Lighthouse
get all the way to the top is 60 degrees north is it cold up there uh well no
it’s still it still feels like Scotland you know it’s not like you get there and
it’s snowing everywhere it’s if you go in the summer it can be warm if you get in the winter it can be cold
um but you get all the way to the top I think the most Northerly point of the British Isles is this tiny little rock
basically called out stack but next to it there’s this Lighthouse called Muckle flugger and it took two hours to get
from the most Northerly point that we could drive to to walk then to this uh the most
Northerly point that we could walk to and there’s this Lighthouse and it’s a lighthouse that you know the Stevenson
family who built like all the lighthouse in Scotland like the one that’s the famous one at Turnberry
um and you just say how the hell do they build up there it’s just on this rock in the middle of absolutely nowhere it’s amazing
um but we’ve completely digressed but wall say is the most Northerly course and the review horse there that could
have been included but I forgot so from the Northerly course so one that’s really really South thanks
hailing hailing golf club which lots of Thompson design isn’t it Haley uh it is
Tom Simpson that’s correct a lot of people say very good things about hailing and again probably once getting starting to get more coverage and
rightly so there’s not much Links golf on the south coast like obviously you’ve got rye in fact I think I’ve included
most of the lynx courses on the south coast weirdly um
um hailing yeah hailing’s really good I love Tom Simpson love links courses every time Tom Simpson does a lynx
course you know it’s going to be good hailing is no exception um the eight was this really cool hole
it’s kind of the Fairway is in two sections and you can go to the right and get a better
angle or you can go further to left and you’re closer but you get a slightly worse angle it’s just a it’s just a
great hole and I really wanted to include hailing and to round off our nine we’ve got
doing this yeah another is that nine hole nine holes yeah but you can it’s on the North Coast
500 yes question mark it is the most northwesterly course on the mainland
okay uh it’s got one green keeper Ali Morrison who is
force of nature maintaining that place in must be one of the windiest spots in
the entire country uh I don’t know how many hours a day like they get in the summer but it’s a lot more than they get
in the winter when they have you know it is very North so you’d go you know if
you’re ever in Dornoch listener and you want to have your jaw dropped just drive to
donate it’s a couple of hours drive but it’s entirely worth it like the drive is
epic you get halfway across depends which way you go but if you went around the North
Coast 500 and you went all the way up um to sort of John agroat’s way past
Wick past Rey um two nice courses and you went along the the road at the top it’s pretty flat
it’s farms and you can see orkney over in the distance and then you get about three quarters of the way across going
east to west and then you just like holy you know it just goes from
fields to mountains and locks and it’s like you’ve gone to another country or
another world it’s amazing and Dennis is the course there
only has nine holes I wish it had 72 holes there because there’s so much land
again it’s not really a lynx course it’s probably more land or or something it’s on top of a cliff but don’t care the
ninth is 2700 yards playing over the bay
one of the most jaw-dropping par threes anywhere that’s the thing isn’t it it’s like is
it a Link’s course don’t care I enjoyed it and I think that’s that’s it isn’t it like if you enjoy what’s who cares like if I
couldn’t include Dan s on my list because yeah well Ben you know we’ll be very sad
okay that rounds off the front nine and a very interesting front now and a very sort of all around the country but I
suppose that’s what’s going to happen when you I tried to yeah generally around the coast the skill to ten I can’t read your writing million million
a million is the most I think it’s the most southerly course on the mainland
uh obviously raw Jersey is uh the most southerly but that’s
um in the channel house million is very cool gotta be honest you never heard a
million no you haven’t left um just it’s it’s just it’s incredible
again same thing not really sure it’s Link’s course but yeah it’s really nice the 10th is famous
plays downhill left to right sweeping around this massive sort of crater in front of the green
um just a gorgeous gorgeous place to play golf in fact is it in Cornwall yes yeah there
are some courses in Cornwall that uh are are really good obviously people know
about Santana Doc and Trevose and some of the bigger names parent portfolio mentioned but there’s like West Cornwall
Bude um it’s building Cornwall not sure um but there are some obviously million
there’s some really really lovely courses down there and again probably not going there on a golfing trip but
people will find themselves in this area on a family trip I’m sure um well worth seeking some of those
places out they’re really nice I’ve never heard it I don’t know why
I’ve not heard of it there’s not a whole ton of it’s not a popular golf in Cornwall is there or Devon even there’s
not well yeah I mean I’m generally they’re on the North Coast of the sort
of leg there the corner uh Cornwall and Devon lag that you’ve got parent Port Trevose Santana doc Benjamin
Barrow saunton raw North Devon I mean some of them are quite well known Tom
yeah uh yeah Royal North Devon
um I I rescind that Prestwick but obviously we can’t go for press to it because it’s in the top 100
we’re going with prestwick’s thing next did you play there no I went up there um while I was up there I was kind of
trying to get on it but they couldn’t fit me on on the time scale that I had
so I played um Western Gales instead but no I didn’t go to practice next and I really wanted to
um and it is on it is on The Hit List yeah but no not playing it okay um really cool there’s not many par
fives there the 11th is one of the par five’s I thought I should try and have a
few par five’s um yeah another really good half power kind
of hole beautiful um I mean you should go and play it
everyone should play Plastics and Nicholas the second courses I say second in Asia but the likes of Preston Nix
Irvin bogside which I’ve mentioned already West kill Brides
um there’s some really really good courses that are just under the you know everyone will go there and play
Turnberry true Impressions Glasgow girls yeah absolutely there’s so much good
golf up there yeah sure it has so much good golf it’s crazy and even I think um
like some of the second course that I’ve Heard lots of good stuff about Robert the Bruce yeah oh there’s a couple of
holes on top of the hill uh the Robert the Bruce course at Turnberry second course at Turnberry
um which yes you know beautiful absolutely beautiful and you’ve got the same views of the lighthouse that I
mentioned just before um that you get on the Elsa course uh it’s I think if most most people when
they go to Turnberry they’re probably paying a fair bit of money to play the Elsa course anyway and I think they do a
few deals where you can stay on site and get around on that and around on the Rob at the Bruce course
uh yeah they should do that if they’re going to if you’re against it you should play that course not to miss
Southern s which is getting really hard to get to but I suppose lots of these things because
it’s it’s kind of near silith but no it’s really far away Southern s isn’t
hard to get to it’s um so it’s just west of Dumfries so yeah
it’s quite right it’s on the opposite side of the uh
as silith however if you’re driving from anywhere in England to anywhere in
Scotland you’re basically driving past it okay I’d say look at it like that you know if
you were yes if you’re just going to Southern s it’s quite a long way away
but like from here in the northwest of England to say Fife or east Lothian or
conistic kind of area is pretty much halfway and it’s a great way to break up the journey and you just
you get to cross the Scottish border get to you know sort of Gretna Green kind of area turn left
for an hour or so really nice drive and then play one of the most beautiful
understated uh classy links courses you’ll find anywhere it’s a Philip
MacKenzie Ross course I think it was opened in about 1947 so it’s one of the
newest quote-unquote Lynx courses evidence in Scotland yeah so up until
the likes of I think you can make a case at Kings Barnes and Castle Stewart they won’t really build some links land so what’s
the what course has been built on Link’s land so you’ve got Mac dunes and
um Trump’s place up in Aberdeen but apart from those
I’d say I think seven s is probably the last things course to have been built before those
um because it you know after 47 they weren’t building many Lynx courses on social land and MacKenzie Ross famous
for Turnberry famous for um castletown of course I’ve included as
well um you know he worked with Tom Simpson he did some it was a great proper strategic architect and Southern s is
belter and the 12th big sweeping left to right dog there goes down to a green
that’s perched on the water again it’s a sensational hole
13 you’ve got the seventh oldest golf course in the world
I really don’t like I’m I don’t like that they trade off that so much that’s their Instagram handle isn’t it seventh
oldest golf course in the world it’s a cool feature it is cool I agree it’s a really good golf course I’d
rather people talked about yeah it’s a really good golf course yeah it’s
it’s kind of like I think sometimes open venues can trade off being an open venue when they all really do stand up on
their own two feet it’s like they’re just really good golf course it’s like really really good golf balls just just own that yeah um but very easy way tell
me about it uh yeah fraserburgh is there’s two courses there I think it’s called Corby Hill the main course uh you
sort of play over the hill and then some beautiful holes 13.
is so cool it’s it’s interesting the
landscape sort of goes in three acts so you have slightly more conventional links lands to start with playing on on
the hill but but very much linksy 13 is it’s almost like a mogul field I’d
describe it it’s like these tiny little Hills well I’d say tiny they’re you know
meet a couple of meters how human-sized Mounds yeah um pretty conventionally shaped you know
if you were drawing a a hill if you ask the kids to draw a hell they probably
draw Hills that look like these and they’re irregularly spaced around and the 13th kind of plays through it I
think gilhant’s built a hole at the Olympic course in I don’t know where it was I should know
this but it was it was modeled apparently off the 13th folder yeah I
think so yeah um and it’s just it’s just a really cool hole it’s one of those where you’ve got
to kind of be in a certain place to be able to see through the the Mounds that guard the Green in order to see it
otherwise it’s blind um and it’s again just a really interesting and pretty unique piece of
ground uh and it’s it’s a really cool place and
then you move on to the further into the back nine and you could be at Royal Aberdeen or somewhere you’re playing
through this sort of Valley and it’s glorious but the Green fee at
fraserburgh is you know I I didn’t off the top of my hat it isn’t much stop breaking the bank
no it’s like it’s it’s in the it’s closer to zero pounds and 100
pounds put it that way yeah uh which is ridiculous that’s the best thing about your eclectic a team I reckon you could go through here and
I dare say I don’t think there’s anything on here that’s going to be over 100 pound uh no
maybe one yeah maybe two Max now you’re right it’s it’s very
affordable yeah fairly Affordable Golf bangs for your book I think this is up
there it’s up there as the great architect you are
you’ve obviously been heavily inspired by the old course two threes two fives
is what you’ve gone through and good spots we’ve got your last three
at Great Yarmouth yes the last part three I included indeed at
Great Yarmouth and caister um Great Yarmouth in case there’s a pretty old Club it’s one of the
and oldest in England I think uh funny story so
Great Yarmouth in case they’re like musselburgh plays generally inside a race track hmm
and muscle pulls outside of racetrack but uh yes sorry but um
what are you talking about yeah I believed you then I know I sold you I
sold you down get one shot he’ll get away with it I was thinking
the rise tracks on the outside then I thought that’s going to stay in uh yeah
definitely keeping that in uh so like muscle breath yeah great job for
cases generally plays inside a race track and the Stanley nine holes as well or is it uh no it’s 18 holes okay
there’s a couple of holes that come breaks out of the racetrack and then comes back in again but um uh I think
we’ve been down in Suffolk and the east coast to where I live is a nightmare to
drive across like yeah it’s the British you came across the east coast in general it’s almost like the road
structure was never designed for anyone to go there no it goes not like driving north south easy
um driving East-West vice versa is nion impossible it takes hours people just
completely forgot that people would want to do that exactly it’s Bonkers so driving from here to the east coast
takes a it takes so long so we’ve been working our way up the east coast and
I think we were in I think I’ve done like albre and Felix do Ferry and some of those others on the uh Suffolk side
working Way North and I thought oh you know we’ll we can do Great Yarmouth in
case there and then come back come back home for that stint of the of the journey
so I’ve been calling Great Yarmouth in case Sonos no answer um chord the next day no answer call the
next day and we were had to go then to to drive then it was a couple of hours drive and
um and there was still no answer I said what’s going on um oh bigger it we’ll just drive there and it’ll be fine uh so I drove to us
from previous place to Great Yarmouth and caister got there and pulled up on
the social drive down to the golf course um half a dozen horses run past me at
about 80 miles an hour I’ll have well we have horses run not 80 miles an hour and
I realized really quick for a horse Ah that’s why they weren’t answering the phone there’s a race meet on this week
and it’s close so we drove two hours there and then had to drive six hours or whatever it is to get
across country so it took me two goes before I finally got so when the horse Racing’s on you can’t play it no no you
can’t play it because you have to hit shots across the across the race track okay
um there’s a few holes that break how often do they meet I don’t know but they met on that that thing
which is quite annoying but was it worth it when you went back to it yeah it’s really cool like that sort of East Coast
has um there’s quite a few bunkers where they have
uh sleepers yeah which you don’t see in in generally in many other parts of the
country and I think they’re really cool you know it’s nice and Great Yarmouth in case there’s some really cool ones uh
it’s it’s got some beautiful undulating land don’t have big budgets you know don’t
expect Augusta greens or or you know Fairways that look like you know you
could put on them uh but if if you are ever in that part of the world I absolutely recommend you go and play
that really beautiful golf course I think the east coast is a fairly underrepresented[Music] um a part of golf categorically I don’t think many people
would ever think about going across to the east coast to play golf I don’t know or north east coast like northumbria
yeah I mean yeah 100 in northumbria there’s some really good golf up there
um there’s loads that um again not a not a lynx course but
that one Alma Village that I think Sam and I played and you’ve played and yeah what a wonderful Golf Course Alma
Villages one of the oldest and is it right yeah
same here soilic uh it’s that’s almost golf club which moved to the place just
next door but Alma Village was the original that’s another word for example that’s like on the sea
but not the links yeah there’s plenty of them because you know if you’ve got to have the mix of sand then not everywhere
has Sun Sunday things that’s why I think bank’s courses generally come in Pockets
like you’ve got Kent you’ve got the northwest of England you’ve got
um Fife and you’ve got eastlodian and it’s just so happens that there’s loads
of Sandy ground there together and it’s like a geological feature this happened
to collect there so um they do tend to pull together hmm
yeah they’re um I never really thought about it like that they are 10 they do tend to come in
clusters C scale yeah what’s that clustered next to just
down the road well I said just down the road seventh would be the nearest course that
people would know yeah um again it’s like Lake District West so
I don’t think many people go to the Lake District for the coast but if you did There’s at the bottom end on the south
end of it there’s furnace furnace which is in Barren furnace
um again really old golf course further up about two-thirds of the way up is C
scale and C scale is really really good really underrated no one really goes
there they should it’s right next door to sellerfield the nuclear plant
so all good golf golf courses are next to nuclear plants I don’t know if that’s a positive or A
negative it’s certainly unique or I don’t know I don’t know if it’s Unique but it’s I didn’t play any others next
to any nuclear plants well rise next one yes but but like this is right next door like there’s there’s two holes where you
go in and out and there’s like barbed wire fences around and like arm guards and stuff and it says please don’t fly
your drone it’s got Homer Simpson so so I don’t have too many drone shots C
scale but um but 15 I include a 15 there’s a few I could have put in
15 has no business being on the golf course like it’s so hemmed in you play basically over the 14th green and then
you basically shared Fairway of 16 but it’s it plays back towards the the
nuclear plant which is uh I thought it was really cool because it’s an amazing
juxtaposition between like the beautiful Lynx lands with
like the peak of Industry behind you know you can’t find a more industrial scene than the nuclear plants uh and
it’s so it is really really cool um and and it’s a it’s a great hole but
there are so many great holes in that little part of the golf course that I could have really picked any of them
I think you have you haven’t represented Wales enough in this no I was aware of
that do you think do you think Wales is just lacking the land that it
needs um I don’t know whether it’s a land like next door to harlech you could build
another golf course this is would be top 20 in the country like those sand
dunes it just doesn’t seem like anybody’s interested in going to Wales as a Welshman it really upsets me you’ve got poorth call yeah which obviously is
the top 100 in the world we couldn’t pick from pennard um I don’t think I could pick from
Rawson David’s so I was already limited I could have had Southern down which we
talked about um I there’s a great path three which I think is about the fifth maybe
um but I was already pretty covered on on that part uh 16. yeah which is just one of the goat
holes really yeah have you not played Abu Dhabi no and you’re giving me stick about
something else I I’ve I’ve done you gotta remember I started Golf really
late so I’ve been out of Wales now but you work in the golden landscape
um but I’ve been out of Wales for this year is this is the the year
that um the first year I’ve been out of wells for longer than I was in it so 18 okay I
left at 18. and then I’m Now 37 so 19 years have been out of Wales
um and I started playing golf I was 28 so I’ve never really had an opportunity to play again well stop making excuses
um why is it a girl hole that’s a big statement is that your favorite hole in this list no they’re all they’re all
really good okay I’d I’d take any of these holes but it’s the 16th Abu Dhabi
is really cool it’s just amazing land you’ve got the railway line on the left
tiny green like again like many of the holes on this list it is drivable but
don’t drive it because you just well maybe you should drive it but it
could be disaster and that’s what I like about it you know it’s it’s the thin line there’s so many of these holes it’s
the thin line between Triumph and disaster that you’ve got to tread um and um
and that’s I think like you say like when you go when you start making 450 yard par fours
there’s only so much you can do you know good architecture asks questions doesn’t it yeah um I think stimulates
outcomes you know you want things to happen you want things to happen at
certain points of a round you don’t want every hole to be a par in professional
golf or in Amateur Golf well maybe most amateurs would like to part of your home the point is you know if you let’s talk
about Pro Golf if every hole was you make a four or a five on it well who
watches that tournament you know the reason the mass is so great is they don’t stick the pin on on 16 uh in the
place where it’s really hard to get to there’s just one year but they put it at the bottom of the hill so that someone
makes a hole in one and someone makes a two and and the leaders are playing the harder holes well the chasing pack are
playing the easier holes and the leaderboard bunches up and everyone gets excited and the Masters comes alive on
the back line on Sunday and and it’s if they made every hole as hard as each
other then the pack wouldn’t Bunch up anything who cares so that’s maybe say the cynic
might say that slightly contrived but you would say that it doesn’t matter the good point about architecture is you’ve
got to give people quote unquote birdy opportunities because otherwise the game
is dull you’ve got to handle the pressure well to Birdie the easier holes you know an
easy hole to bird if it’s part five well you’re still going to hit two really good shots to get there two long shots
to get there um but if you just make it so it’s just that
bit Out Of Reach then you may as well just stick everyone down 50 yards away from the green and so
you can get up and down our 17th hole we’ve got Castle town
again not something I know a huge amount about yeah another MacKenzie Ross course uh same as Southern s and as I say he
was Turnberry um castletown’s really cool it’s again A Course in a few different acts
you know it starts slightly less linksy there’s a links he’s very links he run
around the turn and then the last few holes are 16 17 18
at Castle town are classic Cliff top golf but over Rocky Cliffs and 17 is
one of the most dramatic holes on this list full stop yeah like you’ve got to drive it over crashing waves and rocks
and it’s okay uh you know amazing setting quite a long Curry
um and then same with the approach just play over Broken Ground it’s not over
um the waves again but it’s over sort of Broken Ground then to the green and it’s it’s a stunning place so it’s on the
Isle of Man so you’ve got to get a well you can get a ferry there but I flew flew that one for for a day and it’s so
easy to get to is it oh it’s of all these courses counterintuitively castletown is
probably the easiest really anyone to get to because if you can get to an airport then the flight from Liverpool
and granted that is probably the closest place from but from Liverpool to castletown it’s like 20 minute flight
and there’s a there’s numerous planes per day and the golf course then is 10
minutes from the airport so you could go and play that Golf Course anyone in this country could go and play that golf
course in a day go back have an amazing day out fights aren’t crazy expensive
the green fear isn’t crazy expensive um it’s it’s a really cool place to go so uh yeah I would say
when some of these places are many hours to drive to castletown is a tiny little
hop from any Airport I must do it another one bring me home Sam what are we finishing with dawlish
Warren no you lost me again Bank face
Exeter kind of way okay so back on the south coast as as I said there are very few course
links course on the south coast um I think I’ve kind of got most of them well they’re either in the top 100 or
they’re well no exactly like on the south South Coast because like rules and Georges and they have results around the
corner around the corner so on the south South Coast you’ve got rye I guess this
will Stone um but apart from that it’s like um little Hampton uh has a few links
holes Isle of perbeck which you’re telling me is not about I’ve included not links uh hailing yes million
kind of um but dawlish Warren yeah absolutely
um and it’s it’s amazing it’s like this peninsula that goes into them stretches
off only the golf course on it maybe in nature reserves as well uh so it’s the most stunning scenery to start with and
the 18th I included it because it is just the most insane Hall so I wanted to
finish with a bit of inside why is it insane you drive the clubhouse is on your right
and then you you drive from source of a t that’s set in the marsh there’s a bit of Marshland that comes into the uh the
Sandy peninsula so you drive from that team Clubhouse on your right very much in
play and then your approach to this powerful green the green is set
as you’re playing the hole on the right of the part of the road to the clubhouse
like the the driveway thing uh so there’s a car park not many of the
members park there for obvious reasons but there’s a car park there’s a clubhouse
this both then in your way to the green so you have to hit over the clubhouse if you’ve gone too far right off the tick
you legit have to hit over the clubhouse um someone could be driving along that thing so you gotta ideally wait for them
and if you went too far right on your approach you could hit a platform because the railway line is right there
and the green is like in this slightly sunken um yeah it’s slightly sunken Bowl uh and
it’s just I was playing it like that can’t be that can’t be the green can it is that the green
um yeah it is the green so in terms of a memorable finished
yeah it is ludicrous but that’s the you know that’s that’s the shot that’s the fun if I just said only the answer
conventional boring part four then I wouldn’t put on that this would I no I think there’s
not enough silly golf holes that exist now because
people that design golf courses don’t leave silly golf holes in but they’re they’re so much fun like Payne’s
work or there’s just some silly silly golf holes there that you just couldn’t get away with now but they are they’re
certainly still fun to play yeah there’s some some of the others the other courses I would have included if I had
more space they are all fun places because I think
there are how many what 2 000 are golf course in this country if you want to go and play a course that
is Championship or is a you know par 72
with four par threes and four par fives and and is a good test of
ball striking or whatever then there’s hundreds and hundreds and hundreds and
hundreds out there but if you want to go somewhere that you’ll remember for the rest of your life and you’re like oh my
God you know what about that do you remember that Nightfall that Dennis playing over the thing or do you remember when you shanked into the
clubhouse at dawlish Warren or do you remember when you know those stories um that occupy the edges of of
uh what convention they’re the things that I think are way more exciting so that’s what I think
this list not entirely you know the proper holes on here these are all great golf holes uh but some of them are are
just the essence of fun golf for me Sam Cooper thank you very much for your
time thank you for appearing again on the cookie Joe golf podcast and thank you for having me in your home
oh thank you for having me on here you’re welcome bye-bye adios