I’m afraid This post has been coming for some time but when the article “As PGA season opens, Tiger is the elephant in room” appeared in my Google Reader it was The Straw That Broke The Camel’s Back to continue the animal theme.
I thought that phrase meant that everyone in the room knew that the elephant was there but avoided talking about it but in Tiger’s case no-one bloody shuts up talking, writing or broadcasting about him even when he’s not around, with endless articles speculating about what he would or wouldn’t have done last season and what he’ll do this season when he comes back etc etc ad nauseum.
Don’t get me wrong I love watching Tiger Woods play golf but heretical as this may seem only when he’s in contention and when he’s actually playing. Unbelievably during the weather interrupted 2008 PGA Championship SKY TV in the UK showed a re-run of Tiger and Rocco Mediate in the US Open. Even when Tiger isn’t in the tournament the media find a way of squeezing him in somewhere!
Similarly, we had endless speculation as to whether the US Ryder Cup team would miss him. When the team played magnificently and won the cup we even had analysis into whether Tiger would have enhanced the victory.
I accept Tiger Woods is a magnificent golfer and if he ever wins 19 majors I’ll concede he’s the best ever but in the meantime I wish the media would give a more balanced coverage to the game and remember golf has been played for centuries and will continue to be played long after the Tiger Woods era.
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I’ve mentioned Seaton Carew GC before in a blog post but it wasn’t until recently that I’d actually played the course and I’ve got to say
WHAT A MAGNIFICENT GOLF COURSE!!!
At that time I referred to it in a context of urban golf due to the industrial skyline but I can honestly say that doesn’t detract from the golfing experience one bit.
So let me explain the deal and then I’ll wax lyrical about the course:
Monday – Friday October 27th – March 27th between 09:30 and 10:30. £20.00 for coffee and bacon butties and 18 holes on the 10th oldest golf course in England, a genuine championship links that will test your golf, stamina and character.
The course itself has 22 holes that are configured into the “Old Course” 1-18 holes and then a possible 4 other layouts. As you would imagine of a traditional links the wind is a massive factor out on the links and as the Old Course is a straight out and back layout you are fighting the wind for at least half of your round. It is true to say that you never quite get back any luck playing with the wind that you lost playing into!
Add into the mix sand dunes, heavy rough, gorse, slick undulating greens and deep links bunkers and you get a stern examination of your game.
Here is an extract from the club’s website to give you a flavour of what to expect:
Don’t be put off by the industrial surroundings of chimneys and chemical works; this excellent golf course is one of the best in the East of England, a real MacKenzie treat. There are a few ridges of sand dunes and the fairways undulate gently, but otherwise this is a relatively flat links course, always at the mercy of the wind.
The 17th hole, called “Snag”, is one of the Club’s many great holes. The late Derek Hornby, a historian and author of the History of Seaton Carew, poetically described the 17th. “The seventeenth’s dangers are countless, beginning with whin, gorse and dune, the rough and gathering bunkers, and the green’s undulating tune. To veer even slightly is fatal, the cost distressingly high, many the cards that’s been torn up, just here with home, oh so nigh”.
So that’s the course but a mention ought to go to the welcome you will get at Seaton Carew. This is a most friendly golf club with members always willing to have a drink and chat. Whilst I was there last a gentleman told me a fascinating story of how the club had relaid the seventeenth green because generations of golfers playing out of the greenside bunker had gradually built up a ridge on the green with countless layers of sand. Obviously, that wasn’t in the original design and careful renovation using traditional methods was needed to restore the green to it’s original state.
I do urge you to look up Seaton Carew it’s a memorable experience.
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As you know I have written a number of posts related to different aspects of the mental game of golf. This is an area of golf that is of particular interest to me so I have started a new blog dedicated to mental golf.
Imaginatively entitled the Mental Golf Blog it gives news, views and reviews of this growing aspect of golf.
