The Missing Links: Winterfield, Dunbar, Scotland

Saturday 1 August 2015

Winterfield, Dunbar, Scotland

www.winterfieldgolfclub.info

White tees SSS 65
Red tees SSS 68

This course is not quite a links course but not quite a parkland course either. The greens are hard and fast running like a links course but many of the fairways are quite lush. The course does not appear to be built on sandy soil and parts of it are along a cliff top. However the setting is superb with views of the Forth, the Bass Rock and North Berwick Law from most of the course. Designed by James Braid it was opened in 1935 but after being requisitioned during World War 2 it was reopened with a number of changes to the first layout.

The peninsula green at the 14th.

The 17th green with North Berwick Law in the background

We played the course on a sunny but windy Scottish summer's day. It is short with very little trouble apart from the bunkers. The first hole is bizarre - a 238 yard par three for men and a 220 yard par 4 for ladies which plays across a deep valley rising via a steep rough covered face to the green. Most amateurs of both genders will have a blind second shot from the depths of the valley. The first nine is rather boring although the 7th is a long par 4/5 with a challenging sloping green. The second nine is more interesting with the par three 14th being the most memorable. Named 'The Point' it has a peninsula green with water along the left side. The green slopes towards the water and is guarded by a large bunker to the front right. The 18th is a pretty short par 4 with views beyond the green to the Bass Rock.

Worth playing? I wouldn't recommend it over any of the other courses in the area

The 18th green. The Bass Rock can be seen on the horizon.

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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.