How to judge the quality of a Golf course your are playing on?
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00:00Hello everyone and welcome to Walpoleston Golf Club and this video in association with Peter
00:04Millart in which we're going to take a look at how you judge the quality of golf course
00:09that you are playing. So I'm going to be joined by Rob Smith and Jeremy Elwood who run our top 100
00:14courses panel and the editor of Golf Monthly Mike Harris as well to look at the Golf Monthly list
00:20of top 100 courses and in particular how we rank those golf courses. Now there are five different
00:26criteria that we use to help us judge where each of the golf courses sits. We're going to talk
00:31through each of those with some key discussion points along the way that were worth bearing in
00:35mind whenever you're out playing a golf course for the first time. Right let's get started.
00:48Okay so it's important to say right at the beginning of this part that the way in which Golf Monthly
00:52rank its top 100 courses is slightly different to the way some other people do it in that we have
00:57five different categories and we're going to look at those in order starting with the one that's
01:02weighted the most the most so the most important so 35% of the score of a golf course will be on Rob
01:08the quality of the test and design. Now obviously the top 100 courses have all got great tests and
01:14design what makes those so good in terms of the way in which they're laid out? Well what you're looking
01:19at for for this category and as you say it's the most important of the categories is that you want
01:23a golf course that has got every kind of variety of hole on it and and will therefore keep you
01:29interested all the way around but also test you all the way around so you want to come off the course
01:33having probably used every club in your bag you want bunkers in different places you want strategic
01:39thoughts you want some risk and reward holes you want holes that turn to the right holes that turn to
01:44the left this is very much about how you would look at a hole if it was drawn for you on a piece of
01:49paper that's what you're evaluating that hole on where the hazards are where the landing areas are
01:54how do you approach into the green and so on so you want something that's fair that all golfers can
02:00play but it's still testing so that you've really got to think about what you're doing so that's what
02:05we mean by the design and test it's really what the golfer has to do to get from the tee into the hole.
02:12Yeah and I guess it's a really good point that Rob that balance that you you want from a golf course in
02:17terms of testing you being challenging but also being rewarding as well if you play well now Mike
02:23and Jez give us some examples of golf courses on the list that performed well in terms of the quality
02:28of the test and design. Well I would pick out somewhere like Royal Lytham maybe where you know it's maybe
02:35not the most visually attractive surroundings enclosed by houses but each individual hole will make you think
02:42all the way from tee to green because of its bunkering because of its topography because of its
02:48shape and you're at the far end near the turn there's changes in elevation where you play up towards
02:54a couple of greens up there so it's got everything even though externally you know it's not got ocean views
03:00and glorious sights to behold but it is still very very well designed. Fantastic test of golf no matter how
03:07a tough closing stretch. What handicap you are Mike? I think you know where we are today Warpleston is
03:12fantastic for its variety of shots there's some nice elevation changes you play up some holes you play
03:19down to some other holes uh again you know as Rob said you've got that variety of dog leg left dog leg
03:25right you've got some shorter you know par fives you can get at and then you've got a couple of really
03:30long par fours that are really going to test you the par threes are not all the same length of the lovely
03:35par three across the water which you feel like that's a really great chance to have a birdie
03:40some of the other par threes here you know longer more testing but I think it's that it's that variety
03:45across the 80s. I'm going to I'm going to play devil's advocate here I'm not asking you to name
03:49any courses that are on the top 100 because there probably aren't aren't any but what are the things
03:53that golf courses do that bug you in terms of the quality of the testers I'm going to start one
03:58because one that you always say to me Mike which is growing up long rough beneath the trees so you hit it in the
04:03trees and then you can't actually get it out because you're in the thick rough is there anything else
04:06that you can think of that that is a bit frustrating when you find that at a golf course I think if you've
04:11got a relentlessly long carries right I think is something which is fine for tall players and for you
04:20know for low you know single figure golfers but for the ordinary golfer too many forced carries I think is
04:29you know I wouldn't you know I'd probably mark a course down for that right okay I think for me
04:35it would be uh that demand as I mentioned earlier for variety I don't want 18 holes that are the
04:42same regimented through the trees uh the four par threes are pretty much the same length and you've
04:47got the same shot coming I want that variety and that therefore to have to think about different things
04:52on each hole yeah Jez I would go for already long par four testing long par fours 450 yards and then
04:59they throw a really tricky green and a very narrow entrance at you as well and you're thinking I've
05:05done the hard part here I've got to the green now I don't want to you know take three or four more
05:09shots to get down I think you know if you've got a long par four don't make the green amongst the most
05:15tricky on the golf course yeah I would agree with that I think there's always a really good principle
05:19um of a hard par easy bogey again I think it's something which you know yes there should be a
05:27test and you should feel like you know you it's an achievement if you've made yeah but making a
05:32bogey is like that gives you you know that option to have a bailout a way out yeah you know to not you
05:39know cross 18 holes not keep on before some carries whether it's over bunkers or over yeah I believe that is
05:45what Bobby Jones wanted all the holes at Augusta yeah he used that very phrase effectively uh hard
05:51par easy bogey yeah and I think we can all agree that's a fairly good golf course and so so 35%
05:56of a of a course's mark goes on quality of testing design 30% goes on the conditioning and the
06:04presentation of the golf course Rob well that's obviously vital because there's no point in having
06:09a lovely golf course in front of you but you can't play it because the surfaces aren't correct
06:13what you want is true greens are of a consistent pace all the way through all 18. you know they don't
06:18all have to be really fast absolutely not but it's the consistency is the only important thing really
06:23obviously you don't want them to be snail's pace but you want them to be the same pace all the way
06:27through so that you don't suddenly get caught out because that's so different from what you've just
06:31played and it's the same with the way all the way you want the bunkers to be well presented you want any
06:36hazards if you can use that word anymore such as water hazards and so on to be nicely lined and to look
06:41good so the whole presentation first cut of rough if there is one second cut of rough and so on
06:45you want it to look and feel and then most importantly play consistently all the way through
06:51yeah and actually it's quite an interesting point here because i feel as if there are some golf courses
06:55that can look and feel rugged but they are also well maintained i think sometimes when you talk about
07:00condition people get caught up in that sort of augusta mindset of like having it absolutely pristine but
07:05actually it can be rugged but it could also be in fantastic condition as well oh 100 i think if you
07:12talked about royal west norfolk brancaster or someone like royal north devon they are meant to be
07:19natural golf courses some of the links in ireland and scotland they're not meant to be pristine it
07:24wouldn't be appropriate i think appropriate conditioning is so on an inland course particularly on a parkland
07:31course i think you do expect courses to be you know of course the immaculate i know a dare manner
07:36perhaps is the ultimate um inland you know conditioning wise ultimate in logic it's incredible you sort of
07:44the t's you could almost be greens you know at some golf courses the approaches are incredible yeah that
07:51comes to the gods too absolutely they obviously have um you know sort of a lot of maintenance teams you
07:57know big green grouping teams i think almost um you know they'd have as many for 18 holes as 36 hole
08:04of course we have but that's appropriate for that type of golf course it wouldn't be appropriate
08:09for a link to be absolutely pressing i think it needs that basis and that element and feeling
08:14natural yeah totally natural to its environment yeah jesse give us another course that you'd like
08:19to give a shout out to in terms of conditioning conditioning well i i uh rob rob's home club it's
08:24probably better than i speak about tan ridge is not very far from it's probably the closest top 100
08:29course to my home tan ridge in surrey uh and i played it a few times and thought it's kind of on
08:34the cusp top 100 uh played it last summer with these two gentlemen and it was just absolutely immaculate
08:42and the best condition i've ever seen it and when you're on the cusp just that little extra
08:46percentage in that category can't be enough to go over the edge because there's so many great golf
08:51courses there's so many great golf courses it's important to say there is a lot of fantastic golf
08:55courses in you they're not in the top 100 they're well obviously considering and we do consider them
09:00very good you know our next 100 you wouldn't be disappointed if you played any of them and probably
09:05the next 300 beyond that but somehow we've got to differentiate between between them which is one
09:10of the challenges that you chaps face and now the next one is a for me is really important because
09:17i want i always want to play a golf course that is fun and has an element of excitement about it and
09:23i think that probably manifests itself in the visual appeal which we give 15 of the waiting to
09:30um rob tell us a bit about the that side of things well it covers two aspects really um one is as you're
09:36standing on the tee or on the fairway what do you see in front of you what's the test in front of you
09:40how good does that look how how much does it get your juices going how much does it excite you but also
09:45you're really talking about the backdrop so behind the hole what's going on over there outside the
09:49course and then obviously you've got so many links courses there's views over the seat if you're
09:53lucky to have those really count for a fair bit too so we've got 15 for visual appeal and i think
09:58that's really important so it's what takes the original architect's design off the page and brings
10:03it into life the visual appeal is really important yeah yeah it's interesting i see rob's got three
10:08courses down there that he sort of picked out because i'm going to sort of steal rob's homework there
10:13i talked about old head over in ireland you'll see many many many famous photographs of old head
10:19it is a spectacular it's it's incredible um you know it's almost you know these high clips so you've
10:26got you know dramatic drops you've got amazing the you know the lighthouse it's almost like one of those
10:30fantasy girls yeah absolutely yeah and then you've got hollandwell um not which interesting because
10:38it's so different to old head it's like a totally different thing isn't it but and i think that sort of
10:43you know that's about inner beauty the edge of the holes look lovely yeah um really really
10:48fantastic peaceful face play golf and then the other one you put there is glen eagles naturally
10:52interestingly for this ranking we have bought in the centenary it's been sat outside of the
10:58top 100 i think we just feel like the presentation of the golf courses all three of the glen eagles
11:03have been moved to another level and then of course you've got the beauty of the you know persia hills
11:09um you know sort of the backdrop for all three of the courses so we've moved um the um the centenary
11:17course in alongside the kings and the queens i think there's a three i think to to carry the glen
11:21eagles on thing i'm a bit further the first time i played there uh it didn't stop raining the whole
11:26day i played 36 holes and i loved every minute of it because the setting just blew me away so you know
11:31i couldn't hold the club by the end but it was such a beautiful place to play it is it's spectacular now so
11:37you go from uh 15 for visual appeal to 10 for the facilities which is again a really important part
11:45of the mix because you you want to play a golf course great golf course but you also there's
11:50other stuff that goes on around that that elevates the experience even further well it's a big day
11:54out for all of us to play a top 100 course is a real treat uh for many people it's a treat they
11:59can't do that often so it's absolutely the whole day out that we're looking at here so you want to
12:04be in a clubhouse that's comfortable is welcoming is friendly um you want um if if you're the kind
12:11of person who warms up beforehand you want a practice ground where you get your swing going
12:16a halfway hut that's nice it's good and sometimes it's at the clubhouse sometimes and we've got some
12:21real crackers we mentioned something out on the course as well um you want the whole thing you want
12:27the whole package for your for your day out i think i without a doubt so give us just something
12:32that you think well let me say dundonald is another course that's come in this time and it's always
12:37been a strong golf course it's hosted the scottish open and it's on that glorious stretch of coast in
12:43ayrshire but it never had a clubhouse um now now it's got a fantastic clubhouse as well as the
12:49accommodation which is a separate thing but but just getting that proper clubhouse rather than all right
12:54it's a nice nice cabin nice temporary clubhouse yeah but now it's got the proper facility to match
13:01the experience you're getting out on the golf course and when you're right on the cusp again it's just
13:05enough to take you from outside to inside yeah and i think it's really important i mean as rob said to
13:11play a top 100 golf course it's a significant investment on the green fees because the green fees
13:16are really high so we are ordinary golfers we're not professionals you know that's the whole thing about
13:22the golf month it's sort of for golfers by golfers and that if you don't play brilliantly and if that
13:29perhaps the quality of testing design is you know sort of beats you up yeah yeah you still want to see
13:34a beautiful golf course it's well presented and from when you arrive to when you leave
13:38that the facility that is for us part of our rankings i know for some uh other rankings they're
13:45literally um first tee to 18 green and that obviously just really looks at the golf course
13:51we don't take into account accommodation but it's pretty much everything else that as a regular
13:56vision golfer you will experience so the locker room so the shower's good um you know it's a quality
14:01of food really good as well yeah you know and again appropriately priced um i've got a good
14:07selection of beer behind it but very well for us three uh you know all four of us you know a really
14:12nice pint of beer at the end of the round or good you know a good glass of wine is you know that's
14:17that's what it you know is encapsulated in that facilities you know 10% of them are i think i just
14:22mentioned you know the facilities don't have to be grand you have to match the you know i've just
14:26been to porth cool and the clubhouse there is not grand in any way but if you sit in that
14:31wood paneled room looking out to see with a with a little tipple of something after around
14:36however badly or well you've played all is kind of well with the world absolutely that's a place
14:42i love going to yeah okay so 10 of the waiting goes to the facilities but 10 also goes to something
14:49that we're calling experience which is a bit more subjective isn't it it's hard to kind of put an
14:54exact mark against it but it's a really important part of the mix when it comes to judging these golf
14:59courses it's very important but it recognizes the fact that we're all different we all like different
15:03things and get pleased by different things but ultimately we kind of end up marking these in the
15:09same way it's it's the most subjective of the five criteria because it's about how did you feel
15:14how great was the occasion how warm was the welcome so it's about the touchy-feely stuff that
15:20you really can't write down and define very clearly but it's still important to the overall experience of
15:25your day out at a lovely top 100 course yeah because i guess a lot of people watching this may have been
15:29to a fantastic golf course where perhaps the the welcome hasn't been perhaps as good as they were
15:34were looking for because you really want to be treated like and feel like you're a member for
15:38the day when you go to these golf courses don't you yeah i think it's interesting north berwick
15:42actually have it as a there is a sign just coming in pay a visitor briefly you are a member for the day
15:49and again i'm cribbing off rob's notes again here it's the welcome from both staff and from members as
15:56well and i think that can be you guys will uh neil and jez you'll remember the time that we went and
16:02played at a course that shall remain nameless where we were running late we were on the way back from
16:07the turnbury open and we stopped in uh we've been held up by traffic we had to get out the car onto
16:12the tee to make our tea time and changed quickly change shoes in the car park so we could get out quickly
16:19and a member came over so you can't change your shoes in the car park and it's sort of
16:23you know you could have said do you need to know you know do you need to know where the locker room
16:27is yeah it'll it makes a difference if you know you really you know people are investing their hard
16:34earned money and going to the top 100 golf course really want to make it feel like it's a special day
16:39and so jez tell us something somewhere that you feel has it comes out really well when it comes to
16:44the experience well i think a lot of them do because they as mike says they're charging it they're
16:49charging a lot of money and it is the ones that yeah maybe in the last 10 to 15 years a lot of
16:55them have really come on in that regard and a lot of you know the top clubs that are traditional
17:00members clubs maybe 15 years ago did think you know it's a privilege for you to come here so you'll
17:05do it how we want to do it and there's definitely been a real change in focus that these people are
17:10paying two three hundred pounds yeah kids they need to be treated like custodians like like yeah
17:16and i think interesting because i think it's the the number of club managers secretaries is probably
17:22you would have called them uh have experience in hospitality sexual they go and do a lot of research
17:28in hospitality sector to see how great hotels great restaurants what do they do to again make their
17:37customers feel really welcome like a really special experience so again you want to come back regardless
17:42of how well you play you know i had such a great day there what did you show i don't know probably
17:47millions but i want to go back yes and i think that's something for me is always the mark of really
17:52great experience it doesn't matter how you play i want to go back such a great day yeah and if you can
17:56add that to that sense of occasion that you get from turning up to play somewhere that has that sort of
18:00spectacular look and feel to it and you're onto a real winner so there you have it that's our look at
18:05how we rank golf courses at golf monthly now it's important to say here that we haven't actually
18:10changed the criteria for jez like i think we had a minor recalibration maybe 10 years ago where we
18:17waited something slightly differently in essence yeah very little has changed since day one yeah so it
18:23shows you that hopefully the consistency that we brought to the rankings provides a bit of confidence
18:27that hopefully what you're getting with our top 100 are just fantastic golf courses that are going to
18:32in different ways tick every single box that you've got but that's it for now from warpleston thanks very
18:38much for watching we'll see you next time