The Missing Links: August 2014

Wednesday, 13 August 2014

Cruit Island, Donegal, Eire

www.cruitislandgolfclub.com

SSS white and red tees par 68

View from the 1st tee, Cruit Island Golf Club

This nine hole course must be in the running for the most spectacular setting for a links course. Situated at the tip of Cruit (pronounced 'crootch' by the locals) Island, it is accessed by a single track road which goes over a bridge spanning a sea
inlet. The course is surrounded on three sides by the Atlantic
Ocean, sandy coves, granite islands and rocky outcrops. This is not a championship course but a traditional links course which follows the terrain. The greens are good but it is difficult to concentrate on golf when the scenery is so beautiful. The par 3 sixth hole is the most dramatic we have played with a long carry over a sea inlet with waves crashing through a natural granite arch. Keep on the straight and narrow - any shot drifting to the right is gone!

The 6th hole - a daunting carry to the green

You will find a traditional warm Irish welcome here in a clubhouse with a view over the ninth green and Ouaigh Island.

Worth a visit? Most definitely for the setting although it is remote.

Sunday, 10 August 2014

Buddon Links, Carnoustie

SSS White tees 69
Red tees 69

The 18th hole overlooking Carnoustie Bay.
The Carnoustie Golf Hotel is the white building in the background

Buddon Links is one of the three links courses at Carnoustie including the Championship course which is an Open Championship venue. Buddon lies between the Championship course and the sea but the sea can only be seen from the 18th where there is a magnificent view across Carnoustie Bay to the town. Opened in 1979 after the purchase of land from the Ministry of Defence each hole is named after a famous historical battle - facing a hole called Waterloo at a strategic point in your round could be tricky! The course was designed by Peter Alliss and Dave Thomas with two new and one reconstructed holes being added this year.

This is an unpretentious but very enjoyable course. We played it in sunny but quite windy conditions which made it challenging but not impossibly difficult. The greens were in excellent condition and there is a modern golf centre to relax in after your round. Most of the course is true links but the middle third was more heathland with pine trees and water features.

Worth a visit? Yes - a good course and good value for money.

The Links Project

There are 246 true links golf courses in the world and this blog is a record of our attempt to play all of them. My husband Ron and I are keen golfers and I came up with the idea of this project after he gave me the book by George Peper and Malcolm Campbell 'True Links' which lists them all.

The commonest question we are asked about our project is 'How do you define a true links course?' This will be debated by aficionados for long after we have (hopefully) completed our quest and there will never be a correct answer. The strict definition is from the British Golf Museum:

1. The course must be beside a river estuary

2. It must offer partial or occasional views of the sea

3. It must have few trees

4. It must have numerous bunkers

5. It must have nines that run out and back, the front heading to a far point and the back returning to the clubhouse

Peper and Campbell defined their list as follows:

Terrain - how close is the course to the sea? Do the fairways run fast and hard? Do the greens favour a run-on approach? How open is the site? How natural? Is there a freedom from trees? Is the invasion of gorse and brush controlled? How light is the environmental footprint on the land?

Turf - is there a sand base? What grasses are dominant on the fairways and greens? Is the rough managed ( creating biodiversity for flora and fauna)? How well does the course drain?

Weather - how exposed is the site to the elements? What are the typical wind conditions? Does the course play hard and fast all year round? Must temporary greens and tees be used in winter? Is the course susceptible to winter closure?

Peper and Campbell included courses which supplied the correct answers to most of these questions. But however defined, to me the poem by Sir John Betjeman encapsulates the feeling of links golf.