 |
 |
 |
| The Duke's St Andrews |
| Home Scottish Links Golf The Basics AFSD - how to determine the real length of a golf course Helpful Websites Platinum Page Upscale golfing products & services Aberdeen & Grampian Highlands Royal Aberdeen, Cruden Bay... Ayrshire Royal Troon, Turnberry, Prestwick... Scotland's Golf Coast Edinburgh area, Muirfield, Gullane, North Berwick... Northern Highlands Royal Dornoch, Brora, Nairn... St. Andrews area Carnoustie Charleton Crail - Balcomie Crail - Craighead Drumoig Duke's Course Elie Fairmont St Andrews Kingsbarns Ladybank Leven Lundin Scotscraig St. Andrews Bay St. Andrews Old Course St. Andrews New Course St. Andrews Jubilee Course St Andrews Castle Course St Andrews Eden Course St Andrews Strathtyrum & Balgove Courses St. Michaels Other golf courses Machrihanish, Pitlochry... LINKS LITE... Great links golf for the not-so-great golfer |
THE DUKE'S St Andrews © 2007, Richard & Mary-Alice Jafolla Dealing With Life Among the Rich & Famous You've just spent a fortune for a face lift, a tummy-duck, and a hair transplant. Everyone who knows you says you look terrific. Just as important, they say you're great fun to be with. Then you're invited to a dinner party in the most exclusive neighborhood in the world but you're made to sit at a table with the world's most famous and beautiful people? Got the picture? Think you would get much attention? That's how THE DUKE'S St. Andrews must feel. There it sits, smack dab in the middle of the most famous golfing area in the world, the veritable home of golf, it's bedecked in garlands of heather and clothed in the most beautiful of nature's finery and it has stunning panoramic views of the surrounding counryside including the town of St. Andrews. The course has just undergone a million dollar face lift that's made it a much more challenging and enjoyable layout. Yet, not more than ten minutes away is Mecca--The Old Course-- every golfer's dream play. Fifteen minutes from that is Kingsbarns,a golf course that's on just about veryone's Top 100. Another ten minutes takes you to the corner of Fife where the North Sea meets the Firth of Forth and the venerable Crail Balcomie links sits. And to top it off, a mere hour's drive to the north sits the ever-challenging Carnoustie. What's a golfer to do? Then add to the equation the fact that almost every other golf course in the area is a links course and The Duke's is a heathland course. If you were The Duke's Course wouldn't you feel as if the world is a black tuxedo and you are a pair of brown shoes! I first played The Duke's Course a few years ago and thought the layout was okay but the maintenance was less than satisfactory. Last winter (2007) I happen to be watching the Duke's Skins Game on TV (played, obviously, on the Duke's Course) won by Darren Clark and was impressed with what he and the other professionals were saying about the course so I decided to give it another try. I met with Neil Paton, the Head Professional at The Duke's and Andy Campbell the Manager and they told me about the extensive changes that had taken place and were still ongoing. Away From the Sea -- If you play St. Andrews Old Course, you will be hitting your tee shot over a corner of the Old Course Hotel St Andrews Golf Resort and Spa on the 17th hole.This is the hotel that owns The Duke's St Andrews golf course. Of course a hotel's golf course is usually right next to it, but considering that the hotel is in the middle of the St. Andrews Trust's six courses, it was impossible to obtain the land to build a new golf course. Instead, the hotel purchased 333 acres of farmland on the outskirts of town and in 1995 opened the course. Great Shape - I was very pleased to find it is now in excellent shape--and getting better by the week. Thousands of heather shrubs have been planted, trees trimmed and bunkers redesigned and added. The fairways have matured so that every ball that lands in the fairway has some grass underneath. The ball rolls true on the excellent greens and the bunkers--(see the photo of a typical bunker)--add a touch of fear as you eyed up each shot. And the layout has changed pretty drastically. Par 4s and 5s have been changed to add to the flow of the course. For instance, the last four holes were pars 5,4,3,4. They are now pars 4,3,4,4. The last hole in particular used to be a 381 yard par 4 slog up hill. Because of the change in elevation and the 3 foot high wall about 25 yards in front of the green, there was no rolling your second shot to the green so the hole played as if it were closer to 450 yards. And with a stiff wind in your face it became a par 6 for a mid-handicapper like me. Now it's been redesigned into a more manageable finishing hole and one I have a least a chance of parring.
Peter Thomson, five-time Open Champion, was the original designer of the Duke's Course. Thomson's philosophy is quite charming: "Golf is a game of strategy…the real challenge should be getting to the green, not just landing on it. Once there putting should be fun on generally flat surfaces, just as you find on classic golf courses." He's my kind of golf course designer! (Ben Hogan, one of the greatest ball strikers but not the greatest putter, thought whoever landed closest to the pin should win and that putting should be eliminated from the game.) Thompson's hero is Alistair Mackenzie, one of the greatest golf course designers ever. In quoting Mackenzie Thompson said, "He intended holes to be 'enjoyable', 'tempting', free from irritation and torment, and certainly 'free from the humbug of lost balls.'" Don't you just love that "free from the humbug of lost balls!". Not a Pushover This is a full-fledged championship course, greens included, and few golfers will play to their handicap on it. (In fact, during the Skins Game in 2007, there was not one birdie by the professionals who played it.) In contrast to most of the other course in the area, however, it is not a links course. It is an inland, heathland course with lots of hills and trees and changes in elevations. What it does share with St. Andrews Old Course is plenty of bunkers--many of them pot bunkers and all of them grizzly looking and as au natural as they would have been a century ago. Another aspect it shares with links golf is that on many holes you can putt from far off the greens. So many inland courses are like the courses in the USA, i.e. the apron around the green is usually cut much longer than the grass on the green itself. This makes it unlikely you will choose to putt from off the green and so you usually end up using a lofted iron to chip onto the green. Not so in links golf or golf at many holes on The Duke's Course. Often you can putt from quite far off the green. And, by the way, it's a good idea to putt every chance you get. Next time you find yourself off the green and the grass is short enough, put that iron away and try your putter.
Course Management 101 -- First off, get yourself a yardage book before going out. The Duke's yardage book is the best I've ever seen bar none! (At £8 it is a bit pricy, but if you don't have a caddie or are playing with someone who knows the golf course, it's worth every penny.) Next, match your game to one of the five available tees. They go from the Blue tees which play to 7,002 yards to the Red tees at 5,216. (The competition Black tees which play to 7,512 yards? Fughetaboudit!) Pay particular attention to the flag location and the terracing of the greens. If you are at the wrong end of a terraced green, you have little hope of one-putting. And speaking of the greens, many of them are inverted saucer-shaped, so be careful coming in. You don't want to come in hot and fall off the back or hit short and not be able to roll onto the green. This is a thinking person's course, and If you manage the course properly you can save quite a few strokes.
There are punishing bunkers on many holes. These are not slap-on-the-hand bunkers, they mean business and can easily cost you 2 strokes or more. As you can see from the photo below, they look like the outside of an old man's ears! If you're heading for a bunker pray that it lands in the sand and doesn't stop shorty in the "ear hairs!" And if you do manage to get caught in one, the first rule is to get your ball out. "Duh," you say? Believe me, if you've never been in a Scottish pot bunker you don't know how punishing they can be. Rule #1 is "just get out." Even if you have to hit backwards, just get out. Don't try to get too fancy, it will cost you big time (one more time!) JUST GET OUT! And as you will note below, some holes have plenty of bunkers.
There are many memorable holes. I really like the look of the 11th, a par 5 with a SI of 1. It's a real beauty--physically and tactically. (See photos of yardage book above.) The fairway is long and undulating and calls for a long, straight drive. Any hope for an eagle calls for another long shot over a creek that is only 45 yards from the front of an inverted saucer green. It is downhill but at 501 from the whites and a monstrous 613 from the blues, I doubt there are many eagles on this beauty. My advice, take your par here and be happy. The 13th is one of those driveable par 4s because, although it's 363 yards from the white tees and 405 from the blues, you are teeing off from far above the green (with wonderful views of the adjoining countryside to the north) and there's nothing to stop a well-struck straight drive from rolling onto the green. Of course what goes down must go up! The 15th is a severe uphill test of aerobic conditioning and endurance and with six bunkers guarding the green and an SI of 3, is a pretty good test. By the way, unlike most golf courses in Scotland, electric golf carts are allowede. Those who have trouble walking may want to take advantage of this service on this hilly golf course.
So what's the verdict? If this golf course were anywhere else but in Fife with all the truly great links golf courses in the area, I would tell you to be sure to play it. But if you're in the area for only a short time, you may want to play some of the others I've written up before playing this one. However, if you have time or if it's your second trip to the area, be sure to give it a try. The course is kept in fantastic shape and if you give it a play, I feel sure you'll like it. The Golf Nook rating -- BIRDIE
Scorecard
Miscellaneous Notes: There is a good bar/restaurant--a nice place for an after-round drink or meal. It's inexpensive and the food is well prepared and good tasting and served by a very friendly staff.. Prices: All week - 18 holes £105 Trolley - £4 Electric golf cart - £40 Golf clubs - choice of Callaway or Titlist, graphite = £40,
Pro Shop Tel: 01334 470214 The Duke's St Andrews Course Craigtoun Park, St. Andrews KY16 8BN Head Golf Professional & Golf Operations Manager - Neil Paton Tel: (0) 1334 474371 Email: npaton@oldcoursehotel.co.uk Manager - Andy Campbell Tel: 01334 470214 http://www.oldcoursehotel.co.uk/golf/dukes.html For Reservations: Email: reservations@oldcoursehotel.co.uk Web: www.oldcoursehotel.co.uk Tel: 01334 474371 Fax: 01334 477668 *For WHAT TO DO ALL DAY, please see St. Andrews area |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
