Inside the golfshake office....

We we're having a very interesting chat this morning about courses on the Open roster and then we came across this post from a Shaker who had his thoughts on Royal St Georges: "Currently ranked 2nd best course in England and the venue for this years Open Championship. I travelled to Kent to take advantage of the £90 Winter rate. The link attached gives you as much detail and opinion as you could want - http://www.top100golfcourses.co.uk/htmlsite/productdetails.asp?id=19. I appear to be in the minority in considering the ranking to be too high. Yes, there is plenty of history, the course is a majestic links in places and is in great condition throughout, however, there are some ordinary holes, the scenery is ugly in places and the clubhouse is unwelcoming. For my own part, give me Sunningdale, Woodhall Spa, Walton Heath and others above RSG but this won't stop me seeking out the likes of Birkdale, L&SA, Liverpool etc for more links experiences". We love things like this, not bad reviews but finding people reviews on what was thought to be one of the best courses in the U.K. Got us thinking have any of you played any well known courses, not just on the Open roster but any course and thought it didn't play up to it's name?? Will be interesting to hear your thoughts.

Golf is played on the course and this poster had nothing bad to say about the course. Scenery only adds to the visual ambience  and the clubhouse is exactly as the members wish it to be, the fact you don't like it has no bearing on the quality or difficult of the course.

Unfortunately the Open rota is unable to use courses that would be just as good a test, because of location and accommodation facilities, although I find that a poor excuse. All three courses on that part of the Kent coast have held Open championships, but only St. Georges is on the list. Saunton in Devon would be a great addition to the rota, as would Hunstanton and Royal Norfolk.

Citing the more visually attractive course like Sunningdale as better is showing a complete lack of understanding about what constitutes a more difficult test worthy of an Open Championship. Sunningdale is indeed a very attractive course and Surrey has many just as comparable, but as a test for the best, it falls a long way short.

To play any course on a normal day against when it is 'set up' for a tournament is like chalk and cheese.

This week for example, Lytham is easier to play than normal.

Why?

All the Stands, Tents, TV Towers etc, give the Golfer more definition to visualise where he is going. Normally Lytham is one of the hardest courses to get the right line off many Tees.