The Missing Links: Trevose

Wednesday, 1 October 2014

Trevose

http://www.trevose-gc.co.uk

SSS White tees 71
Red tees 75

Trevose golf club lies on the Atlantic coastline of North Cornwall, just south of Padstow. It has stunning views over Constantine Bay and Booby's Bay to Trevose Head, part of the Cornwall Area of Outstanding Beauty. Any spare time before teeing off is well rewarded by a walk on Trevose Head with its many seabirds and impressive sinkhole.

the 4th green overlooking Trevose Head

The Championship course at Trevose was designed by Harry Colt and opened in 1925. The first tee is a vantage point to view the layout of the course and an inviting drive over a road to the rumpled fairways. We played in calm, sunny conditions but it is obvious that this would be a tricky course in the wind with some challenging holes. The par 5 4th is a strong hole with a dogleg to the left and views of the ocean on the approach to the green. The par 3 3rd and 11th holes are memorable with their well bunkered sloping greens although the halfway house at the 11th tee provides some respite! Some of the par 4s however are rather similar to each other and less memorable. The 18th is an excellent finishing hole with a well bunkered green set into the hillside by the clubhouse. Take time to visit the lovely clubhouse after your round and relax in the inviting armchairs with a view over the course to the ocean.

The sun setting over the first hole

Worth playing? Yes. A true links course in a lovely setting

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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.