{"id":85,"date":"2011-07-15T02:07:59","date_gmt":"2011-07-15T02:07:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/daviddesmith.com\/?p=85"},"modified":"2013-05-10T00:49:32","modified_gmt":"2013-05-10T00:49:32","slug":"theperfectlinks-northberwickgolfclub","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/daviddesmith\/golf\/85\/theperfectlinks-northberwickgolfclub","title":{"rendered":"The Perfect Links – North Berwick Golf Club"},"content":{"rendered":"

To celebrate Open Championship week, I thought I\u2019d post a few profiles of some of my favorite links courses in Great Britain and Ireland.\u00a0 If you haven\u2019t done battle with these courses, you surely should.\u00a0 Today \u2013 North Berwick Golf Club.<\/em><\/p>\n

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The 16th green at North Berwick, swale and all<\/p><\/div>\n

The Joy of North Berwick<\/strong><\/p>\n

In 2013, the Open Championship returns to Muirfield.\u00a0 But before it does, local qualifying will take place just down the road on a course that, for my money, is a bigger thrill to play.\u00a0 The West Links at North Berwick Golf Club.<\/p>\n

This is not meant as any kind of slight to the Honourable Company, because yes, I would like to play Muirfield as often as I\u2019m allowed to.\u00a0 But there\u2019s something about North Berwick that is transcendent.\u00a0 It\u2019s storybook golf \u2013 where playing the game is like stepping back in time to your childhood when you still took delight in every little surprise.<\/p>\n

And North Berwick has lots of them.\u00a0 From your opening tee shot, where the driver will uncharacteristically stay under its headcover, to your final one, where reaching the green in one is everyone\u2019s goal, The West Links just make golf fun<\/em> \u2013 no matter how well or how poorly you play.<\/p>\n

The club, which was founded in 1832 (when the Oregon Trail was just being blazed and Andrew Jackson was President), places itself as the 13th<\/sup> oldest in the world.\u00a0 In this case, 13 is a very lucky number.\u00a0 And that fact is in evidence on the course, as well, where the trio of holes beginning with the 13th<\/sup> are amongst the most unforgettable in all of golf.<\/p>\n

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\"The<\/a><\/dt>\n<\/dl>\n<\/div>\n

Hole 13, \u201cPit,\u201d is straightforward off the tee and anything but afterward.\u00a0 Its oblong green is tucked right behind a stone wall.\u00a0 A sign proclaims: \u201cDon\u2019t argue with the wall.\u00a0 It\u2019s older than you are.\u201d\u00a0 This is advice you\u2019d do well to heed.\u00a0 Fail to clear the wall on your approach shot and it will take a Mickelsonian flop shot to give you any chance at making your four.\u00a0 Hit the wall on your approach and, well, suffice to say that you could wind up anywhere.\u00a0 It\u2019s such vagaries and twists that give North Berwick its singular character.\u00a0 No modern designer would dare create a green thusly guarded.\u00a0 It’d be deemed madness.\u00a0 But here in this picture-postcard-perfect corner of East Lothian, I call it high art.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Which brings us to the 14th<\/sup> hole, aptly named \u201cPerfection.\u201d\u00a0 Whether it\u2019s called that because it takes two perfect shots to hit the green or because of the marvelous views of the sea and bulbous, bird-covered Bass Rock just offshore, I don\u2019t know.\u00a0 But to me, the hole reflects sheer perfection in its design.\u00a0 Your tee shot plays slightly uphill to a landing area where two very nasty and par-dream-ending bunkers lurk.\u00a0 Avoid them, and you still have a blind shot up and over a ridge, below which sits the green bathing in sea spray.\u00a0 It\u2019s a challenging hole, a beautiful hole and some would say a completely unfair one.\u00a0 But to me, it\u2019s perfect, and thus perfectly named.<\/p>\n

The 15th<\/sup> hole at North Berwick may be one of the most famous in Scotland; its green design is certainly one of the most often copied.\u00a0 \u201cRedan\u201d is 190 yards of sheer difficulty culminating in the famous Redan green, which slopes from front to back and right to left away from the tee.\u00a0 One bunker guards the left side of the elongated and elevated green; three bunkers guard the right.\u00a0 Hitting this green in regulation should earn you a badge.\u00a0 You\u2019ve undoubtedly played many copies of this hole.\u00a0 But you really haven\u2019t lived until you\u2019ve played the original.<\/p>\n

On \u201cGate,\u201d the next hole, your tee shot plays over a low stone wall.\u00a0 Don\u2019t top your drive (as my 12 year-old son infamously did) or you may find yourself playing your second shot from a bunker that\u2019s farther from the green than the spot where you teed it up.\u00a0 Again, it\u2019s the kind of delightful, unimaginable surprise that you just won\u2019t encounter on many other courses.\u00a0 The same can be said for the putting surface here on the 16th<\/sup>.\u00a0 It\u2019s a textbook example of the Biarritz green, with two high plateaus bisected by a gully.\u00a0 Heaven help you if your ball finds the wrong plateau \u2013 it will be in for the roller coaster ride of its life.<\/p>\n

When you\u2019ve finished your round \u2013 hopefully by driving the 277-yard last under the watchful eyes of the members in the clubhouse \u2013 you must by all means change your shoes, remove your cap and spend some time soaking in the history that the clubhouse contains.\u00a0 Club Secretary Chris Spencer and the members of North Berwick Golf Club will make you feel very warmly welcomed.\u00a0 And they love sharing in the delight that visiting golfers exude as they go back through their rounds over a pint or a wee dram.<\/p>\n

There are brawnier courses you can play in Scotland.\u00a0 And there are certainly more expensive ones.\u00a0 But few can match the quirks and joys that you\u2019ll find at every turn at North Berwick.\u00a0 Whether you\u2019re qualifying for the Open or just playing an evening round with your border collie at your side, these unforgettable links make golf magical.\u00a0 Just as it should be.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To celebrate Open Championship week, I thought I\u2019d post a few profiles of some of my favorite links courses in… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":82,"featured_media":86,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2226,20890,21760,24425,9,19507,17],"tags":[65776,65777,2493,65779,1005773,65780,65781,75656,65782,65773,65774,241],"class_list":["post-85","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-perrygolf","category-golftravel","category-connoisseursscotland","category-britishopen","category-golf","category-havershambaker","category-courses-and-travel","tag-honourablecompanyofedinburghgolfers","tag-bassrock","tag-redan","tag-chrisspencer","tag-britishopen","tag-2013openchampionship","tag-andrewjackson","tag-openchampionship","tag-oregontrail","tag-northberwickgolfclub","tag-westlinksatnorthberwick","tag-muirfield"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/daviddesmith\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/54\/2011\/07\/IMG_2349.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/daviddesmith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/daviddesmith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/daviddesmith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/daviddesmith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/82"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/daviddesmith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/daviddesmith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":102,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/daviddesmith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85\/revisions\/102"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/daviddesmith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/daviddesmith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/daviddesmith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/daviddesmith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}