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| Longniddry |
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Longniddry Golf Club © 2006, Richard & Mary-Alice Jafolla A Sam Snead favoriteA relative newcomer to the East Lothian golfing scene founded in 1921, Longniddry Golf Club is a seaside course that is a mixture of parkland and links layout with attractive tree-lined fairways characteristic of parkland courses but possessing the dry, sandy soil so typical of links courses. It offers views of the Firth of Forth that are outstanding and on a nice, sunny day, it's golfing at its best.
The course was used in the '70s as a venue for one of the European PGA tour events. In fact, the Senior British Open was played here a number of times. And the great Sam Sneed liked the course so much, in 1972 he played it four times. It was used as a qualifying course for the 1987 Open at St. Andrews, and no wonder, this course demands accuracy and position off the tee. If your concentration or your shot-making is not up to par, your score certainly will not be--the hilly terrain and well-placed, deep bunkers will see to that. Please, please, please, don't be fooled by its length! It doesn't look like a particularly long course if you only look at the total yardage. In fact there are no par 5s. But don't let this affect your decision to play it. Look, instead, at the AFSD (see AFSD explanation). Longniddry Golf Clubhas an average fairway shot distance of 196 yards. That's 14 yards per fairway shot longer than St. Andrews Old Course, 10 yards per shot longer than Carnoustie, and 3 yards per shot longer than Royal St. George! I've never heard anyone accuse these courses of being short! So, obviously, total yardage doesn't tell the entire story. Longniddry Golf Clubis NOT by any means a short golf course. It gave Sam Sneed, Roberto DeVincenzo, Kel Nagel, Peter Thompson and a whole bunch of other pros all they could handle. It's a very worthwhile play. Many of the holes play even longer than they look. Because of the prevailing wind, even the longest hitters will be hitting driver 3 wood to some greens. In addition, like so many of the Scottish courses, you can be ambushed at any time. The first time I played it I had a nice round going until I met up with some deep rough off my drive. As I hit out of it the rough grabbed the lower part of my shaft and my shot went way left into a deep bunker. In Scotland, bunkers mean business. They are meant to cause you pain and suffering, not like the bunkers in the States that only slap your wrist. I was so close to the front of this bunker that I could not get out on my first try. My second try out of the bunker landed me only a few inches out. I could not get a decent stance and my next shot went over the green. Three shots later I holed out with a quadruple bogie 8! As I said, you can get ambushed very easily on this course. The course is hilly and the scorecard does not really show the degree of difficulty of some of the holes nor does it take into consideration the wind. The greens are terrific, among the best I have seen. They are not particularly undulating but don't become complacent--they can be the devil to read. The 5th green, is particularly nasty. It measures 51 yards long but there is about an10 foot plateau built into it, the back being higher than the front. Since the approach to the green is uphill, when the pin is in the back you'd better carry all the way to the back plateau or you will be facing a horrendous putt. My playing partner was short of the green and chipped up, only to hit a weak shot that did not quite make the plateau and rolled back behind where he had hit his chip shot! His second shot did likewise. And if you are behind the pin you dare not hit your putt too hard or it will certainly roll all the way off the green and probably 10 or 20 yards down the fairway.
In some of the other write-ups I have advised you to ask the pro when you reserve your tee time if he can team you up with a member. I feel it always makes the round more enjoyable when someone tells you the line off the tee and generally what to expect from the course. When I called to reserve my tee time at Longniddry Golf Club, I asked to play with a member. Unfortunately, I could not get teamed up on that Sunday morning, which was okay with me since I enjoy playing alone too. So when I arrived I paid my £42 and waited my turn. However, just before I teed off alone, John Gray, the thoughtful professoinal, asked me if I would like to join a group that plays every Sunday. There were normally 12 of them and they all put up £2.50 and play a blind draw as teams. One member did not show up and I said I would enjoy playing with them. At that, John refunded my £42 and let me play as a guest for only £9 since I was playing with members! Not only did I have a great time with my two partners, our team had the low net and I won £7.50--they even bought me lunch! So I played golf on a good course, ate lunch with new friends, and it only cost me £4. Not a bad day, I'd say! Scotland may have very nasty bunkers, but it's chock full of very friendly golf pros and golfers. Golf Nook Scotland rating -- a PAR Green Fees: Weekdays: 18 holes - £40 Day ticket - £50 Weekend: 18 holes - £42 Day ticket - N/A Scorecard
SSS: Championship - 70 Yellow - 69 Red - 73 Miscellaneous notes -- The Professional, John Gray, is one of the friendliness professionals you will find anywhere in Scotland. His wife, Dorothy, works in the Pro Shop with him and they constitute a terrific tandem in making your golfing experience something special. There is a good clubhouse with showers available for visiting players. You can also get good bar food here and, of course, a drink. This is one of the few courses that has golf carts (called "buggies") available.
Directions: From Edinburgh take the A1 east. Take A198 at Wallyford round-a-bout. From North Berwick, simply take the A198 west. Not far at all. Pro: John Gray Secretary: Neil Robertson Longniddry Golf Club The Clubhouse, Links Road Longniddry, East Lothian, EH32 0NL Scotland Tel: (0)1875 852228 Fax: " 853371 e-mail: secretary@longniddrygolfclub.co.uk *For WHAT TO DO ALL DAY, please see the North Berwick Golf Coast area |
