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Eclectic 18 - Buda course version - all 18 holes now posted
John Mayhugh:
One of the best aspects of GCA is the networking opportunities it provides. Each year, discussion group participants organize events like the Dixie Cup, King’s Putter, Buda, and Midwest Mashie. Each offers the chance for people to get together in real life to play courses with architectural merit and forge friendships. These events strengthen the “Freemasonry of Golf” as Bob Huntley called it.
While I don’t have a good history on every event, I think that King’s Putter in 2002 and Buda in 2003 were the first two. Of all of the events each year, none is better than Buda.
As I understand it, Buda is named for a trophy that Sean Arble picked up in Budapest. It’s a rather loosely structured competition between UK/EU players and the rest of the world. No one was more enthusiastic about this event than Bill McBride, and his urging convinced me to give it a try in 2009.
The courses played have all been well worth visiting, but in many (probably most) years not locations that are on a typical visitor’s itinerary. There are generally also additional non-official rounds added. I marvel at the ability of the organizers each year to pull off such a terrific trip, and generally an inexpensive one.
Recently, I had the idea to try to put together an eclectic course using holes from official Buda venues, and made it a bit tougher by adhering to the original hole number and using no more than a single hole from any course. Inspiration came from this fine series by Clyde Johnson & Jaeger Kovich.
https://thefriedegg.com/eclectic-18-uk-preamble/
The Buda courses that I had to choose from were:
2003 Royal Dornoch, Brora
2004 Painswick
2005 Littlestone, Royal Cinque Ports (Deal)
2006 Royal Liverpool (Hoylake), Wallasey
2007 Alwoodley, Moortown
2008 Lundin Links, Elie
2009 Royal Cinque Ports (Deal), Royal St. George’s (Sandwich)
2010 Pennard, Royal Porthcawl
2011 Liphook, Hankley Common
2012 Silloth-on-Solway
2013 Noordwijkse, Royal Hague (other courses also played so these as official are debatable)
2014 St. Enodoc, Perranporth
2015 Notts, Sherwood Forest
2016 Carne, Enniscrone
2017 Rye, Littlestone
2018 Brora, Golspie
2019 Berwick-upon-Tweed (Goswick), Dunstanburgh Castle
2020 Kington, Welshpool (a little early, I know)
Yardages listed are from the tees that I think we played. On to the course. In addition to photos and description of the holes, I’ve also included something memorable about the course or experience.
HOLE 1
Royal St. George’s
Par 4, 399 yards
The look of the first tee at Sandwich is a perfect introduction to golf in the UK. I love the brilliant red of the tee box with the look of the old starter’s hut and nearly perfect links beyond. This place oozes charm. What a thrill to walk to this tee.
rsg 1 t marker by john mayhugh, on Flickr
The first hole is no pushover, and provides a great introduction to links golf and what to expect from the day. You look out over this massive landscape, with a bumpy fairway and hollows to impact the roll of the ball off the tee. The approach has to contend with three bunkers that front more than half of the green, and a green that runs away from the approach. Right away, a player is challenged by random bounces and rolls off the tee and the need to control the distance of the approach. Welcome to links golf.
rsg 1 aerial by john mayhugh, on Flickr
rsg 1 f by john mayhugh, on Flickr
rsg 1 f2 by john mayhugh, on Flickr
Public footpaths (especially around links courses) are a common sight in the UK, and for the most part coexistence with golfers seems easy.
rsg 6 path marker by john mayhugh, on Flickr
HOLE 2
Royal Hague (Koninklijke Haagsche Golf & CC)
Par 4, 370 yards
Across the North Sea from Sandwich lies my 2nd hole. There was only a single Buda conducted outside of GB&I, but it provided some great golf. The 2nd here requires a mostly blind tee shot across a left to right sloping hill. The landing area is in a sort of valley between the tee and green.
rh 2 aerial by john mayhugh, on Flickr
rh 2 t by john mayhugh, on Flickr
Approaches are uphill to a skyline-ish green. GCA’s Frank Pont built this green to replace one that was built in the 70s.
rh 2 fwy by john mayhugh, on Flickr
Some very direct guidelines (in English).
rh sign by john mayhugh, on Flickr
HOLE 3
Notts (Hollinwell)
Par 5, 514 yards
The 3rd at Notts is one of those clever holes that makes golf in England so memorable. This newish hole (built in 1912) looks simple enough, but it’s not. There’s loads of room off the tee. The second is where it gets very interesting.
notts 3 aerial by john mayhugh, on Flickr
notts 3 t by john mayhugh, on Flickr
With firm ground, even shorter hitters may be able to reach this downhill green. Attempting to do so – for any player – can bring problems. The green is angled to the fairway, so the easiest approach is a short iron over the bunkers on the left. Avoiding those bunkers by hitting a second shot to the right means dealing with a small swale and a difficult angle. The green is also only a few yards away from the entrance drive, which is not out of bounds. An approach hit too far to avoid bunkers or the swale results in a new set of problems.
notts 3 fw by john mayhugh, on Flickr
notts 3 gr by john mayhugh, on Flickr
Apologies for the photos of this hole, which are pretty poor. The ones of the Holy Well that gives the course its Hollinwell name turned out a bit better.
notts hw by john mayhugh, on Flickr
notts well by john mayhugh, on Flickr
Bob Jenkins:
Hi John,
Great idea and well done! Looking forward to more.
Our tour around southern England including the 2009 Buda was a highlight for me and included a great group of people.
Best regards, Bob
Jason Topp:
A perfect dose of entertainment!
Mark Pearce:
If we want our first hole to be an introduction to links golf and its quirks, be a stiff test and have real quality, I'm going to suggest we should also look at Silloth, with its drive between the dunes and its blind approach to a sunken green and Elie, with the periscope and the first of many greens running away from the golfer.
As to the second, Royal Dornoch's love it or hate it par 3 seems a good candidate.
Great idea, John, and I'm really looking forward to seeing some debate here. I will be appalled if we disagree on the 13th, though.....
John Mayhugh:
Thanks for the comments.
Mark offers good alternate suggestions for holes. Limiting myself to one hole per course and the actual hole numbers made for a bit of juggling around. I am happy with what I selected for Silloth, Elie, & Dornoch, but we will have to wait a bit for those. As for the 13th, we'll see. I picked something that wouldn't be universally loved.
I ended up having more courses to choose from than I could use. Helping out slightly, there were five courses I had not played (Littlestone, Liphook, Hankley, Hoylake, & Wallasey), so only had to leave off a few.
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