This was my second course played on 26 April 2011. Although New Cumnock is only a few miles away from Sanquhar, the courses are very different. Sanquhar is a moorland course that looked to be prone to flooding in heavy conditions, whereas New Cumnock is a mature parkland course that looked far more free draining and fast running. At 2666 yards, Par 34, it was almost the same length as Sanquhar, but was a real pleasure to play, with really good fast and true running greens. Green fees were payable at a local 4-star hotel, but I suspect that the receptionist was not a golfer, since she clearly didn't understand my need for a scorecard. A wee bit more customer care needed there. Anyway, back to the golf.
The first sign that the course was fast running came at the 1st. I'd hit a good drive up the left of the fairway. The green was slightly uphill, but easily within reach of my sand iron. The hole is 349 yards long. On similar holes at Sanquhar I'd needed driver and 5 iron. Same story at the 2nd, a 328 yard Par 4, Driver and sand iron. I needed Driver and a wedge at the 3rd (273 yards) after finding trees to the right of the fairway, ending up 30 yards through the green. New Cumnock was playing more like a links course in the Summer! This is the 5th, a 374 yard Par 4 and the Stroke Index 1 hole. I'd stopped just short of the water hazard that cuts across the fairway and had a semi-blind wedge to the green. I missed that shot to the left (wrong aligmnent again!) and bogeyed the hole.
I also liked this, the 7th hole, a 323 yard Par 4. The course was quite busy and I'd caught up with a couple of guys on the 6th. The 7th plays over a steep hill, with a blind second shot to a small green, as shown. The guys had waved me through and were standing to the side of the green when I played an easy 7 iron, so it was nice to hole the 30 foot putt for my solitary birdie. The 8th I didn't like much. This was a 225 yard Par 4, steeply uphill to a small exposed plateau green. I'd missed the green short and right and bogeyed the hole after a mediocre pitch with my lob wedge also missed the green.
Still, the 9th was better, as shown here. This was a 137 yard Par 3 with a water hazard in front, OOB behind and the well-protected clubhouse within sh------ distance to the right. I'd found the very shallow bunker to the left of the green with my 7 iron tee shot, but escaped with an easy par (New Cumnock also had unusually shallow bunkers!)
I'd gone round in 38, 4 over Par, with 13 putts and a birdie, so not bad scoring on a good course that I'd happily play again.
No comments:
Post a Comment