Ganton Golf Club

The Ganton Golf Club (ranked #62 in the world) was formed in 1891 and orginally called the Scarborough Golf Club. It is the course where Harry Vardon served as the  professional between 1896 and 1903. If you don't appreciate who Harry Vardon is, then you had better brush up on your golfing history. One of the greatest players of all time, Vardon won the Open Championship six times and the U.S. Open once.  Ted Ray, winner of the Open Championship and U.S. Open also served as the head professional at Ganton.

Some of golf's most esteemed architects have had a hand in shaping Ganton including J.H. Taylor, H.S. Colt, Alister MacKenzie and James Braid.  The Ganton railway station, now gone, was 300 yards from the course and caddies used to meet their players at the station and accompany them to the clubhouse.

Located in Yorkshire, Ganton has hosted three British Amateur Championships and a Walker Cup (2003). It also hosted the 1949 Ryder Cup, won by the United States and captained by Ben Hogan. My regular readers know how much I love the British Isles and visiting Ganton is no exception. The course is located in North Yorkshire which has beautiful rolling countryside and impossible to decipher thick accents. The nearby North York Moors are a national park and the areas surrounding Ganton are comprised of moors rich with bracken, heather and grass that give off a glowing color. The area has a purple hue in the summer from the bursting heather. There is something mysterious and romantic about this part of England and its old stone walls and alluring views.

The nice entry road into Ganton

Ganton is golf from the old school. Aside from 150-yard markers, there are no yardage markers at Ganton. The tops of the flag sticks DO NOT have a GPS target in them. This is golfing the old fashioned way, played by feel, trying to judge the wind and distance by eye or from the distance measured by a bunker or a tree. No golf carts here. This is pure golf.

I suppose that deep bunkering is part of the character in the north of England because Ganton also has deep, penal and large bunkers in the style of nearby Woodhall Spa. These are bunkers so deep that you need a ladder to climb in and out of them.  I played Ganton without a caddy in sunny, windy conditions. The winter sun was at a low angle in the sky with the crisp air filling my lungs. 

A bunker on the 10th hole is typical of the deep bunkers at Ganton

The course has a relatively easy start and the front nine isn't terribly difficult or dramatic, although you quickly get a sense that is is wise to stay out of the bunkers and to look around at the idyllic countryside in all directions. Ganton is not unusually short by today's standards, with back tees of 6,935 and would be a real challenge with the wind blowing. The growing conditions in this part of England are ideal due to the rain and cool temperatures, thus, the greens and fairways are as good as any course in the world.

I think the back nine is far stronger than the front. The course's strong finish picks up steam on the sixteenth hole, seen below, with a huge and rough cross bunker running across the fairway. The hole is 446 yards and has a line of trees along both sides. You can see some of the pastoral beauty in the distance in the picture below. Farming has been going on in this area for over 1,000 years.

   

The view of the 16th fairway as seen from the tee

I particularly like the 258-yard par three seventeenth hole, where you must hit your tee shot across the entrance road to the course. Yorkshire men are known as a hearty breed, and this hole is built for them.

The difficult par three 17th as seen from the tee box 

The 435-yard eighteenth features a blind tee shot on the drive and a shot over the entry drive as your second. The shot below shows the tee shot over gorse bushes, a big sand hole and other local flora, especially gorse. If you hit your tee shot to the left, you have no shot to the green and are blocked out by trees.

 

The blind tee shot as seen from the 18th tee

After the round, one of the great pleasures of this quest is retiring to the clubhouse to have a sandwich. At Ganton it is egg mayonnaise on brown bread or roast beef with classic English mustard, with the edges trimmed off as they do here, accompanied by a local beer. Or, if you are so inclined you can have sausages and cakes with tea after the round as a hearty group sitting nearby us did.

As is the custom for most proper English courses, you must have on a jacket and tie to enter the dining area at Ganton, even though you are far from the big cities.  I can appreciate that they are trying to uphold the standards and traditions of proper English clubs. The classic English club, Ganton has everything that is quintessentially English: The locker room has separate hot and cold water old-fashioned faucets. The TV is tuned to the BBC. The course is surrounded by beautiful English hedges that grow so perfectly here given the growing conditions. Of course, there are dogs being walked through the course by non-golfers.

The Ganton clubhouse is a throwback to an earlier era, probably not changing much since Vardon's time. Their locker room is seen below.

 

The historic locker room at Ganton

It is important that clubs and courses like Ganton remain in the top 100 rankings. It is certainly easy to have courses like this replaced with the newest $20 million Tom Fazio made-for-US-Open-design. To do so would be a shame. The history of the game is important and places like Ganton are standard bearers for upholding its traditions.

I have now visited Ganton twice and I must say they are some of the friendliest people I have encountered each time. The long-time pro greeted us and was happy to give the history of the course. The caddie master went back to his house to get me a plug so I could charge my phone while we played. The members were also all welcoming and proud of their below-the-radar gem of the golfing world.

By chance, as we were driving back to our B & B on the A171 we spotted the Hare & Hounds because there was smoke rising from the chimney on the chilly night we went by. Inside, it the most English of pubs, with regulars and visitors happily mingling in a lively atmosphere. The fireplace burns coal and the food is locally sourced and provided the perfect ending to a perfect day.

Twitter: Top 10 Golfers to Follow

The next best thing to following big name golfers in tournaments is, of course, to, uh, follow them on Twitter, right?

If you want to read and respond to some of the best tweets in the golf kingdom, try some of these:

1. Ian Poulter (@IanJamesPoulter)—Poulter takes great pride in his Twitter banter and you never know what he’ll come up with from day to day. He’s brash and sometimes annoying, but always interesting.

2. Paul Azinger (@PaulAzinger)—The outspoken “Zinger” comments on everything from politics to golf and other sports. He’s never dull.

3. Stewart Cink (@stewartcink)--He has an amazing 1,157,740 followers so he must be saying something interesting on a regular basis.

4. Rory McIlroy (@McIlroyRory)—The young Irish phenom seems to drone on incessantly about his great girlfriend, tennis star Carol Wozniacki (@CaroWozniacki), but also has personal tidbits about his daily life.

5. Bubba Watson (@bubbawatson)—Known for his offbeat tweets like “View of 16^thhole in Bermuda from jet ski”, Watson keeps you posted on his great life.

6. Natalie Gulbis (@natalie_gulbis)—The LPGA’s glamour girl keeps you updated on her life on and off the course and always provides a lot of eye candy with great photos.

7. John Daly (@PGA_JohnDaly)—Nobody lives a wilder life on the PGA tour than J.D. He was made for Twitter because you never know where he’ll be and what he’ll say.

8. Rickie Fowler (@RickieFowlerPGA)—One of Tour’s rising young stars, Fowler’s interests go well beyond golf. He sort of over tweets on the Oklahoma State Cowboys (where he attended college), but he’s still a good one to follow.

9. Brittany Lincicome (@Brittany Lincicome)—Good behind-the-scenes LPGA information available here. Lincicome and LPGA’er Christina Kim (@TheChristinaKim) recently got into a highly entertaining Twitter dust up.

10. Tiger Woods (@TigerWoods)—He has the most followers in the golf industry (2,718,053), but he never seems to say much that’s enlightening or interesting. Here’s a classic mundane tweet by Tiger: “Amazing first visit to Turkey. Thanks Turkish Airlines, event organizers and fans. Very special place and a really fun event.” Yawn.

Yelling "Mashed Potatoes"?!

The term "polite golf clap" arose from the type of applause that golf fans traditionally showered onto golfers during a live tournament. It was a light clapping of the hands meant to show appreciation for a golfer's shot while at the same time not disrupting the quiet serenity thought to be needed for the golfers to play at their best. However, "polite golf clapping" is being increasingly drowned out by "rude golf yelling".

All the way up through the Hogan era, anything louder than a light applause was considered verboten on the golf course. With the emergence of Arnie's Army and Jack Nicklaus, respectful cheers were added to the mix. But the floodgates really opened up when Tiger Woods grabbed the torch from Jack. He seemed to attract a much broader audience and that audience brought a different element to the golf course. Words shouted from the gallery began being heard distinctly within television broadcasts. It started with words of encouragement such as "get in the hole!" and "be the ball!". Soon yelling "you da man!" became the hip thing to do after every golf shot. That remained the norm for a good decade or so.

However, over the last year, yelling utter nonsense has reigned supreme. Sometimes it's an inside joke. For example, "Baba Booey!" is a calling card for shockjock Howard Stern fans and it's often heard after Stern superfan Keegan Bradley hits a shot. But more times than not, there are yells that make no sense whatsoever. One that keeps cropping up is "mashed potatoes". WTF? Why the heck would someone yell that at a golf course, let alone anywhere for that matter? At first I thought that it must refer to some creative marketing campaign. But I looked all over the Internet and found zilch. Maybe the yeller believes he is yelling something creative, witty or funny? For the life of me I can see none of those qualities in "mashed potatoes". After thinking about it for far too long, I've concluded that the only logical reason for someone yelling "mashed potatoes" is that they are a potato farmer trying to boost demand for his crop. Nothing else makes sense! Listen to it for yourself and let us know your theories:

10 Annoying Golf Televison Cliches

Like most golfers, I watch lots of golf on television. 

I'll even watch tournaments with the insufferable Chris Berman at the mike, so you know I'm either dedicated or nuts.

Regardless of who's at the microphone, the instant a golf telecast starts, the cliches start rattling off faster than balls flying off mats by hackers at 2-for-1 bucket night at the local driving range.

Here are ten of the most tired and overused cliches that annoy The Golf Travel Guru:

1. "Better than most."--Gary Koch

2. "The pageantry, the majesty, the beauty of the Masters."--Jim Nantz

3. "The Masters, a tradition like no other."--Jim Nantz

4. "You'll never know how good of shot that was."--Mark Rolfing

5. "Tiger's on the prowl."--Just about every golf announcer with a microphone

6. "There's a fried egg."--Chris Berman, king of the cliches

7. "Looks like a bad lie, back to you Johnny."--Roger Maltbie

8. "What a courageous shot."--Ian Baker-Finch

9. "It's in the hole"--Boozed up golf fans at the tee box on par five hole, followed up, of course, by the obligatory "You da man."

10. "It's a 4-metal, not a 4-wood."--Johnny Miller

Kingsbarns Golf Links

New pictures updated from my recent trip to Kingsbarns. I like the course more every time I visit.

The exciting finishing hole at Kingsbarns Golf Links, Scotland

The first golden era of golf course design was in the 1920s when some of the best all time architects were alive and designing: Alister Mackenzie, Seth Raynor, A.W. Tillinghast, H.S. Colt and George Thomas. "The Roaring Twenties" were also a time of unprecedented global prosperity with markets booming around the world. Of the 100 top courses in the world an astonishing 28 are were built in the 1920s.

We are lucky to live in the new golden era of golf course architecture. Kingsbarns (ranked #65 in the world) is one of the new generation of courses that have graced the world in the 1990s and 2000s, specifically having been built in 1999. The new golden era is characterized by architects such as David Kidd, Tom Doak, Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw and Kyle Phillips, the designer of Kingsbarns. This new group has designed many new courses that rank in the top 100. This new generation of world-ranked courses follows a dearth in good design. During the entire forty year period between the 1940s and the 1970s, only nine courses were worthy of inclusion on the top 100 list, and most of them were toward the latter half of the period and were designed by Pete Dye.

Part of the reason we are in a new golf course design renaissance is the favorable economic environment we find ourselves. A new generation of multi-millionaires, fueled by entrepreneurship and rising real estate and capital markets, have had both the vision and the money to put together some of the these great new courses.

Kingsbarns, located in the Kingdom of Fife, south of St. Andrews in Scotland, is a course I like very much. I have been fortunate enough to have played Kingsbarns three times on two different trips.

The great 414-yard opening hole at Kingsbarns takes you right out to the North Sea

The course is varied and interesting and a lot of fun to play. A lot of land was moved to build the course and critics of Kingsbarns cite this as something that detracts from it, since it is not pure links land. Hogwash! The course is great and feels and plays like a links course.

The 516-yard Par 5 third plays along the water and is a terrific hole

From my point of view, there really is no let-down at Kingsbarns. I find the opening holes to be very exciting. The third, in particular plays along the North Sea and is a great par five in the dunes. If your blood isn't pumping with excitement by the time you reach the third green you need to have your pulse checked. The green, seen below, is demanding. Be sure to avoid the deep bunker front, right.

The third green at Kingsbarns

The fifth hole is a 424-yard par four that plays back toward the opening hole. Your approach shot is over some big humps, hollows and gorse, seen below. The hole's name, "Tassie", means small cup or goblet and refers to the punch bowl nature of the green.

 

Approach to the fifth green at Kingsbarns

I have been keeping track of the greatest holes in the world as I progress through the courses, and Kingsbarns has a couple on my list. The driveable par four sixth hole is on the list.

   

The world-class driveable par four sixth hole at Kingsbarns

The sixth is 337 yards and the tee shot is over a little valley. The play is to the right since a strip of land protrudes out of the hillside. If you can hit your ball about 220-240 yards, it will ride the slope all the way down to the hole. A hole is one is possible and eagles are also in the offing. The hole's name "Auld Links" refers to the original 1793 Kingsbarns 9-hole course that existed near this part of the course.

The fantastic sixth green at Kingsbarns

The sixth green is set in a little cove, and as you expect from a short hole, the green is difficult with a lot of undulations. Laying up into the valley isn't really the play from my point of view, since it leaves you with a blind shot to the green. It is tons of fun to play this hole. The hole reminds me of the sixteenth at Royal County Down, because you have to hit your ball over a valley to land it on the green if you are going for it.

 

Green on the par 3 eighth hole at Kingsbarns

The par three eighth hole, seen above, plays only 168 yards from the back tees and 132 from the front. It also plays down hill and possibly down wind as well. As you can see, the green is two tiers and the lower tier is 10-12 feet below the upper. A very good hole.

Memorable holes on the back include the par five twelfth hole that is often compared to the eighteenth at Pebble Beach, rightly so. In my opinion, the views at Kingsbarns are as good as those at Pebble Beach, as is the hole. Avoid the big bunker guarding the green on the left side. There are some old stone walls down on this part of the course too, which add to the charm.  I also like the par 3 fifteenth hole, which plays over water. And the long par 4 seventeenth hole has a diabolical green! 

What do I like so much about Kingsbarns? It has everything I like in a course:

1. An interesting routing, not just an out-and-back layout
2. Holes of varying length which test your skill on short shots as well as long. I'm not a big fan of having to hit 80% of your shots all day as long shots.
3. Six holes along the Ocean that rival any course in the world for scenic beauty
4. The ability to hit a variety of shots - bump and run, pitches, and a variety of wedge shots
5. Challenging but fair greens - some contoured significantly, some not, but appropriate for the size of the green and the type of hole
6. An intelligent use of terrain and elevation - some uphill shots, some downhill, but not overdone.

The course should rank higher in the world rankings in my view. It is, I believe, the first modern course worthy to be put on the rotation to hold an Open Championship. To me, the place the feel of a Scottish equivalent of Bandon Dunes.

About 80-90% of the people that play Kingsbarns are visiting Americans. They have a great caddie program as well and I recommend taking one. The clubhouse is great and I recommend the onion rings.