The final course for the Open Venues Tour is upon us on this epic trip. We arrived after our round at Hoylake and stayed at the Dormy House at Lytham and St Annes which was a very special experience.
The amateur golfers and invited visitors stay at the Dormy before the Open Championship and you get to wake up with a view of the practice putting green and course.
It is a great experience and highly recommended for any tour group keen on experiencing the traditions of the golf club.
The experience also includes dinner and breakfast in the Clubhouse Dining Room overlooking the 18th, which holds fine memories for South Africa. Bobby Locke, Gary Player and Ernie Els have all collected the Claret Jug on the edge of this green. It is a very special place!
In addition, the legendary Seve Ballesteros won here twice. The clubhouse is very traditional and includes a snooker room which has probably not changed one bit over the years.
Lytham and St Annes was therefore the ideal choice for the final course to close the Open Venues Tour. The emotions needed to be kept in check on the 1st tee as all good things must come to an end. But we relished our final links experience of this tour at one of the most storied golf courses on the rota. The weather was very kind to us with only a moderate breeze blowing across the fairways. The tagline at Lytham is ‘play where the legends have walked’.
The motto of the day was ‘keep it in play and try and avoid the 170-plus bunkers on the course’. Wacko and The Good Doctor have learned some lessons on the coast over the past few days and the conservative approach was favoured for the second day in a row.
The course was in tremendous condition and the greens were probably some of the best on this tour. The risk and reward element is very pronounced at Lytham and choosing a longer second shot is typically the very smart play.
However, the temptation to hit a long drive is always there and Adam Scott’s aggressive approach during the 2012 Open is understandable to the amateur who likes to drive the ball rather than guide or steer an iron.
But the iron off the tee option is the way you get around this course – no doubt.
The front nine was an absolute monster test on this layout. The quirkiness of starting on a par three is tremendous. It is pretty straight up and down but we didn’t manage to par the hole.
We were off on a true test of links golf. The prevailing wind was not prevailing and our strokesaver kept telling us we should be good on the opening stretch. We were leaking shots like a Land Rover Defender leaks oil. When we reached the turn, we breathed a collective sigh of relief as we had both been hammered by the course. The wind was now at our back and we didn’t have 4-irons into greens.
The Good Doctor decided to change his approach on the second nine and went for broke (it was course No 10 after all). The aggressive approach was rewarded with a 37 on the way home and it was only a misdirected tee shot on the 17th that cost him an even better score.
The last six holes are par fours and it is tough not to land on the bogey bus. Adam Scott experienced it in 2012 and we felt like we were at the bus stop on many occasions. The second nine surge helped The Good Doctor to register a very rare win on tour and claim the final champion golfer of the day award at Lytham (thanks Ernie, for the karma).
Royal Lytham and St Annes is another course that you have to add to your Open experience. It is challenging but fair, provided you are able to avoid the traps.
Players of all abilities will be able to navigate the course if they are able to get themselves around without trying to overpower it. It is a test of skill, artistry and patience – not a bomb-and-gouge layout. It is truly iconic and special!
The list of champions is the ‘who’s who of golf’ and the club oozes tradition.
It does require a sense of humour as you will find bunkers like Wacko did (it was his turn this time around). But if you can keep your head while all those about you are losing theirs, you will be a golfer, my son (with credit to Kipling).
The Open Venues Tour has been a once in a lifetime experience that has exceeded all expectations. The mates, travel, courses, matches, weather and locals have added to an unforgettable journey around the UK to play on hallowed grounds. The Good Doctor has experienced them all in one tour, but you can experience them in part or on multiple tours and it will be just as good.
Just get yourself over to the UK and play! You will not regret it for a minute.
In closing out the updates, The Good Doctor has ranked the Open Venues in order of personal preference considering tradition, course layout, course fairness, desire to replay the course and overall experience.
The ranking looks like this:
1. Old Course (Hosting 150th)
2. Turnberry
3. Royal Portrush (Hosting 148th)
4. Muirfield
5. Royal Birkdale
6. Royal Lytham and St Annes
7. Royal St George’s (Hosting 149th)
8. Royal Liverpool Hoylake
9. Royal Troon
10. Carnoustie (Hosting 147th)
Your personal rating may look very different when you play each layout, with much depending on the overall experience on the day. The exciting thing for those planning a tour is that there are many courses as good in the local areas (based on the views of people in the region) that you don’t have to only focus on Open Venues.
It is, however, very special to play the Open layouts and test yourself as the primary reason for getting on the plane and lugging around the clubs, umbrella and wet gear. But you may strike it lucky and have only six holes of rain in 180 holes played.
That’s the rub of the green on any given day, and epitomises why in golf, there is no comments column next to your score.
Seve made birdie from the overflow car park at Lytham and you could do the same on your day.
Until the next tour – keep enjoying the greatest game any mortal is able to play. It is kind, it is brutal, it is infuriating, it is artistic, but most of all, it is you against yourself.
Signing out, The Good Doctor.
