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