Top 100 Clubhouse - Golf Podcast

Episode 107: Scottish Rankings Updated!

Top 100 Golf Courses Episode 107

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0:00 | 45:09

In this episode of Top 100 Clubhouse, James and Jasper dive deep into the Scotland Rankings and the architectural principles that inspire good golf. They look at everything from the subtleties of ground movement and bunkering to the philosophy behind the “bucket system,” and how it relates to the ranking process in 2026.

There's also a somewhat heated discussion about what modern golf architecture might be missing today...

Play fast, lunch slow.

Chapters

00:00 – Intro & Southport and Ainsdale Appreciation
02:38 – Top 100 Golf Courses Scottish Rankings Explained
11:33 – The Role of Ground Movement
13:41 – Top 100 Principles & Fundamentals
19:09 – The Bucket System Explained
21:19 – Turnover in the Rankings
22:36 – Which Scottish Golf Course Surprised Jasper The Most
25:58 – Jasper’s Rough Time at Trump New
30:59 – Scotland’s Best Architect Debate
35:00 – What’s Missing From Modern Architecture?

🔗 Links & Resources
🌐 Top 100 Golf Courses Website:
https://www.top100golfcourses.com/
🧢 Official Merch:
https://shop.top100golfcourses.com/
✈️ Lockhart Travel Club:
https://www.lockharttravelclub.com/membership/
📸 Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/officialtop100/
👍 Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/thetop100golfcourses/

#golf #golfpodcast #top100golfcourses

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go play Gleneagles Kings

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and tell me that the bunkering and the green sites

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and the way it sits on that ground

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isn't wholly unique to Gleneagles Kings

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and very very attractive on the eye

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a load of other rankings have sections of it

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to do with practice so

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or to do with the clubhouse or to do with whatever

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yeah it doesn't matter to us

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no that's irrelevant

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it's the moment we hit the first ball on the first tee

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and then play on from there

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get to a piece of links land

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it's completely random

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and you look at some of the bunkering green sites

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a lot of it especially in this part of the world

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is cookie cutter here sand scrapes

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you have outline edges and bunkers

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you've got bunkers that don't tie into dunes

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it's almost like they've taken in a lorry of sand

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dumped it on the Fairway

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and then cut out a revetted bunker

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it's shameful

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you have so many architects now that are practicing

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that are so reliant on the same two or three companies

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and they're not switched on enough

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and all the good architects

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were able to look at a piece of land

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and give a course character and personality

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and that's something that I find

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is definitely lacking

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in a lot of practitioners of the craft

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especially here in the UK

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because we know what we're doing

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it's not a bloody pocket science

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this is what we think and this is how we rate it

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I mean the game is an amateur game

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I mean the professional side of it

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you know

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there are idols and heroes and fun to watch them play

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but I mean if it weren't for amateur golf

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there would be no golf

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you have to remember when you play a golf course

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and you're out there for four hours or whatever

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you're only hitting the

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you're only hitting a ball for what

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15 minutes of that

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so there's a lot of time to look around

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hello

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and welcome to another episode of Top 100 Clubhouse

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Podcast I'm your host James Henderson

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and this week we have a very hotly debated subject in

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well my beloved Scotland top 100 rankings

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how you doing Jasper yeah

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doing very well yeah

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we've had a good couple of days

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uh we've been up in the northwest of England

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so currently sitting in the S&A

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Southport and Ainsdale Ryder Cup room

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there's some cool history on the walls here

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a lot of big names a lot of uh

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very cool bits of memorabilia

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last time I was here uh

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the CEO gave me a copy of the Ryder Cup menu

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so I've got it sitting if you anyone noticed

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there's a Ryder Cup menu from that year behind my desk

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when I'm doing the podcast

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it's from the amazing guys at Southport Inn still

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so yes so this is second time here

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I will go play the course after we're

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done recording the podcast

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delightful 18 holes at uh

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Royal Lytham and Saint Andes this morning

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which was good to see the uh

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the new work between the 7th and 11th holes um

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moving on swiftly um

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it's it's interesting cause if you saw the holes

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I know you hadn't seen the holes before

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I'd seen the holes before and Jasper

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you completed your open rotor at a realism

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which is the same course

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I finished my open route as well yeah

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so yeah it was nice thing to to do

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I don't think I ever had look

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growing up in Canada uh

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to come to the UK to play the Old Course

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once would have been like life's ambition

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yeah and then to think that I've been able to play

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the open road to now

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um and a lot of the courses multiple times

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that's I was it felt like a bit of a milestone

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so yeah very grateful for the

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for the privilege to be able to do that

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and then to share that with you

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so that was that was really

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really good it's a fun place and uh

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but we are on here not to talk about England

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England here to talk about Scotland

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Scotland and drink some Irish beer

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yeah fair ha ha ha ha fair uh

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it's very controversially uh

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it was a Protestant who came up with the uh

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Guinness was it yeah

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yeah so it's the drink of Ireland

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the very proud Catholic nation

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but it was actually a Protestant

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who was very much a unionist

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who was a Guinness

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well

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make exceptions for some I think it's hahaha

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it's very much a yeah

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it's very much one of those things where

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I will just swipe that away

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cause this is banging that's it

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something's art as well

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just let that guy go into the grave

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and then we'll enjoy his stuff

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and so you do we have an updated list or do we

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so by the time this comes out um

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the the week

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so we had two weeks of effectively Scottish content uh

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that were that was coming out on social media uh

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what we did was uh

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we did all of the effectively county rankings

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if you want to call it that

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I don't even know what you have in the area

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it's it's areas it's it's a complicated thing

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we don't um

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there's so many weird little counties or whatever

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so we just do kind of areas yeah

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so we we've tried to do our best I

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I think this is another another thing that comes up

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and maybe we touch on it straight away

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when we looked at the rankings for GBN I

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they were the oldest rankings

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top 100 started with GBN I

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and when we looked at those rankings

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most of them were aligned with golf unions

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which I think for when the website started out

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and it wasn't used by you know

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six or seven hundred thousand Americans a month

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it made sense that golf unions uh

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would be the way that you would do things

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but

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we also know that 98% of people that use the website

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are planning golf trips to

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inbound golf

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travel from overseas to play Ireland and Scotland

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and by extension England

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Wales so

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we felt that it was time to align the rankings with

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geographic boundaries

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makes sense if you're wanting to work out

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what's the next best golf course in the area

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after playing Dornoch

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you then look at that list as the Highlands

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yep and you know

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what's the next best cause

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you can actually drive to it within an hour

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or whatever and that's the thing

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so we've got

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we've actually got some courses that appear in more

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and that might seem confusing

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I guess to some but they are all aligned

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so for example we might have uh

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north of Scotland

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that was a historic ranking that was on the

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on the website uh

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now we have Highlands and Islands

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uh and then we also have

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that's a really bad example

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because the islands are miles away from well

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and this is the thing you know

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Highlands and islands get grouped together

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and it's like well

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if you're in like south east or Barra

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and you're

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comparing them to a golf course in the North East yeah

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but there we go that's the uh

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that's the the Scottish way of doing things

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so the the thing is that we there

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there's been some churn through the rankings

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and it's partly to do with the fact that

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we're comparing golf courses

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to other golf courses that we've never done before

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so that's kind of the first explanation as to why

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there's been so much movement

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through the rankings I do think that uh

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I'm the head of the Scotland uh

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panel and I know that you were very much uh

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agreement with me

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that when I looked at the previous rankings

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when I took over I was wanting to take a well

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go through it with a toothbrush

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fine tooth comb because previously

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we've kind of

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viewed all Scottish golf courses

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to compare against Scottish golf courses

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in a Scottish ranking rather than taking a view of

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a world view where you can

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there's a million great parklands in America yeah

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and so

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you will see on our rankings that we've decided that

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a Parkland in Scotland has to

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then compete against a Parkland in America

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to be proven as of quality well

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and this is the thing

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so maybe to use and the Irish rankings have come out

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and I think we'll see this in GBI

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when it eventually comes out after we release England

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that just because it's a

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a bang and Parkland golf course in England

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if it's in the top 30 to 40 golf courses

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it's got to be on par

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with the best that you would find in America

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and yeah unfortunately

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just things like budget and resource

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you don't find them the

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the one exception might be a dare manner in Ireland

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to use an example

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it's probably one of the best manicured golf courses

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in the British Isles in Europe as an extension

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but they're almost a dime a dozen in in America yeah

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so I think from your from your to to make your point

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we we also had quite a few

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we had quite a lot of input from panelists

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they're not on the Scottish panel

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but they might have played

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50 of the courses that are on that ranking in Scotland

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and this was the first time that we said right

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if you have any depth of play

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we'd like to know from you

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so we've kind of got we've

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we've gone from a handful of Scottish panelists

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to roughly about 70 70 yard that have given us

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this is crazy how many people travel to Scotland

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well this is a thing and a lot of the Scots too

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they they're from Scotland

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born and bred played everything maybe college golf

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amateur golf and then they've went

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over to America to have careers

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and various bits and pieces

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they still come back every few

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months to visit family and friends

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maybe for work

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and they are playing a lot in Scotland

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the reason why we didn't have them as

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contributing towards that before was

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cause they're simply based in America

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but actually most of them had

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more depth and more play in Scotland

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than some of our own like homegrown Scottish panelists

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so it

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it seemed to defy logic why we wouldn't have them

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or at least have their input that we could use

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along with the data that we get from our

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our panel which I think is about 16

258
00:09:59,466 --> 00:10:03,900
16 or 18 strong now dedicated golfers in in Scotland

259
00:10:04,066 --> 00:10:05,500
we got some really cool and

260
00:10:05,766 --> 00:10:07,666
interesting people have done a lot of work

261
00:10:07,666 --> 00:10:10,333
so big shout out to the panelists that have helped us

262
00:10:10,366 --> 00:10:11,366
get to where we are

263
00:10:11,366 --> 00:10:13,100
cause there has been a massive mix up

264
00:10:13,100 --> 00:10:16,800
we've really ignored previous rankings in this one

265
00:10:17,000 --> 00:10:18,900
and looked at what we think is

266
00:10:19,066 --> 00:10:20,700
we've kind of started again

267
00:10:21,166 --> 00:10:22,333
yeah which you

268
00:10:22,366 --> 00:10:24,066
there's a reason that I'll

269
00:10:24,233 --> 00:10:26,733
I'll let Jasper explain it because uh

270
00:10:27,366 --> 00:10:29,200
you won't have any

271
00:10:29,966 --> 00:10:32,500
comparisons to previous rankings on this

272
00:10:33,400 --> 00:10:36,633
and that was a a very careful decision that was made

273
00:10:36,633 --> 00:10:38,933
um we felt that

274
00:10:39,033 --> 00:10:42,800
because we had brand new geographic rankings

275
00:10:42,800 --> 00:10:45,233
so the boundaries for each of the internal rankings

276
00:10:45,233 --> 00:10:48,900
was now different we had effectively a brand new panel

277
00:10:48,900 --> 00:10:51,200
although some of the panelists stayed on uh

278
00:10:51,200 --> 00:10:55,433
and we opened it up to a wider pool of well played

279
00:10:55,433 --> 00:10:58,966
informed individuals that it

280
00:10:58,966 --> 00:11:02,100
the the feedback and how much change there was

281
00:11:02,200 --> 00:11:04,366
wouldn't properly be reflected

282
00:11:04,366 --> 00:11:06,966
if we showed how much some courses moved up and down

283
00:11:07,000 --> 00:11:08,666
and the reason why we didn't want to do that was

284
00:11:08,666 --> 00:11:09,366
because you've

285
00:11:09,366 --> 00:11:11,333
got some really good golf courses

286
00:11:12,066 --> 00:11:14,500
that have actually made great strides

287
00:11:15,566 --> 00:11:17,766
and they've invested in their club

288
00:11:17,766 --> 00:11:19,100
in the course in the green

289
00:11:19,100 --> 00:11:20,700
keeping the agronomy the tree room

290
00:11:20,700 --> 00:11:23,266
all of those things that everyone supposed to be doing

291
00:11:23,366 --> 00:11:26,100
just as good hygiene basically for a golf course

292
00:11:26,366 --> 00:11:28,600
and they've slipped

293
00:11:29,566 --> 00:11:31,766
and we felt that that was very unfair

294
00:11:32,233 --> 00:11:33,200
because

295
00:11:33,566 --> 00:11:36,066
they're doing everything to go up in the rankings

296
00:11:36,233 --> 00:11:37,466
but perhaps

297
00:11:37,466 --> 00:11:40,766
we felt in the past that maybe based on our criteria

298
00:11:40,766 --> 00:11:42,733
and in the views of some of our panelists

299
00:11:43,000 --> 00:11:46,766
that they were here and now they've moved down

300
00:11:47,966 --> 00:11:50,200
and it would appear that they've done something wrong

301
00:11:50,200 --> 00:11:53,033
which they haven't done they've done everything right

302
00:11:53,033 --> 00:11:55,333
it's just that perhaps previously

303
00:11:55,466 --> 00:11:56,966
comparing it to different courses

304
00:11:56,966 --> 00:11:59,100
and from a different panels point of view

305
00:11:59,400 --> 00:12:00,966
um they

306
00:12:00,966 --> 00:12:02,666
they've they've found their new spot

307
00:12:03,233 --> 00:12:05,066
and so if it if you issued a panel

308
00:12:05,066 --> 00:12:06,833
and it said they've moved down five spots

309
00:12:06,833 --> 00:12:08,300
that would be quite discouraging

310
00:12:08,366 --> 00:12:10,966
and we didn't want to make anyone feel that

311
00:12:10,966 --> 00:12:12,300
you know anything that they were doing

312
00:12:12,300 --> 00:12:13,600
wasn't in the right direction

313
00:12:13,600 --> 00:12:16,500
so the best way to look at this is

314
00:12:17,600 --> 00:12:20,566
if you think that you've moved up or down

315
00:12:20,633 --> 00:12:23,166
it's not about that it's almost a complete reset

316
00:12:23,166 --> 00:12:25,900
and this is where we think you're in

317
00:12:25,900 --> 00:12:27,766
and it's probably good to look at it as tiers

318
00:12:28,200 --> 00:12:29,833
I think we see this you know

319
00:12:29,833 --> 00:12:33,433
elite tier think about 40 courses now make it into GBI

320
00:12:33,433 --> 00:12:34,500
and I from Scotland which is

321
00:12:34,500 --> 00:12:37,166
I think more than anything that's been done before

322
00:12:38,466 --> 00:12:41,866
so you kind of have god tier which courses in the world

323
00:12:41,866 --> 00:12:43,800
which is probably 10 to 20

324
00:12:43,866 --> 00:12:45,300
and then you've got GBI tier

325
00:12:45,300 --> 00:12:46,766
which is probably 20 to 40

326
00:12:47,000 --> 00:12:48,233
and then the bastion country

327
00:12:48,233 --> 00:12:50,000
which is probably the next 25

328
00:12:50,100 --> 00:12:51,833
and then you can start looking at your neighbors

329
00:12:51,833 --> 00:12:55,500
regionally so I wouldn't put too much emphasis on

330
00:12:55,500 --> 00:12:57,866
we've moved up or we've moved down so many spots

331
00:12:58,433 --> 00:13:00,366
look at your neighbors in the ranking

332
00:13:00,366 --> 00:13:02,566
and then that'll help you see who you're up against

333
00:13:02,566 --> 00:13:04,366
and who you can move up and down against

334
00:13:04,400 --> 00:13:05,766
moving forward well

335
00:13:05,766 --> 00:13:07,466
there's something that I have noticed

336
00:13:07,466 --> 00:13:10,733
in the change of the ranking is um

337
00:13:10,966 --> 00:13:16,366
if you're have a golf course that has very good ground

338
00:13:16,366 --> 00:13:17,900
and interesting ground movement

339
00:13:17,900 --> 00:13:20,733
you've been rewarded for that with our panel

340
00:13:21,066 --> 00:13:23,766
so there's places like Lanark Ely

341
00:13:23,766 --> 00:13:27,666
Botogarten of all had good uh

342
00:13:28,000 --> 00:13:30,200
jumps because they deserve that respect

343
00:13:30,200 --> 00:13:32,766
that hasn't really been given to them before

344
00:13:33,233 --> 00:13:33,766
uh yeah

345
00:13:33,766 --> 00:13:36,100
and I think then on the other side of it

346
00:13:36,100 --> 00:13:37,366
we touched on parklands

347
00:13:37,600 --> 00:13:40,333
and it's not anything against parklands um

348
00:13:40,500 --> 00:13:42,566
I think you all you have to do is look at your

349
00:13:42,566 --> 00:13:43,700
your Loch Lomonds

350
00:13:43,866 --> 00:13:46,166
and you could make an argument that Gleneagles

351
00:13:46,166 --> 00:13:47,666
is a Moorland

352
00:13:48,200 --> 00:13:50,866
a high heathland but let's be honest

353
00:13:50,866 --> 00:13:52,633
there's probably not a lot of Heather on Gleneagles

354
00:13:52,633 --> 00:13:53,233
anymore no

355
00:13:53,233 --> 00:13:55,666
it's a Parkland it's a Parkland golf course really

356
00:13:55,666 --> 00:13:56,300
so

357
00:13:56,300 --> 00:14:00,233
and those two courses do really well in our rankings um

358
00:14:00,233 --> 00:14:04,166
so it's not that we're anti Parkland in any way

359
00:14:04,166 --> 00:14:06,000
shape or form absolutely um

360
00:14:06,033 --> 00:14:08,966
it's just that the bar for being a very good Parkland

361
00:14:09,166 --> 00:14:10,433
is world set is

362
00:14:10,433 --> 00:14:12,166
is set by the world yeah

363
00:14:12,166 --> 00:14:14,900
just like if you go to America um

364
00:14:14,900 --> 00:14:16,133
and you play links

365
00:14:16,766 --> 00:14:17,233
you'd say well

366
00:14:17,233 --> 00:14:19,700
this is the best links in America therefore it must be

367
00:14:19,866 --> 00:14:20,300
well no

368
00:14:20,300 --> 00:14:23,200
the standard for links is set in the UK exactly

369
00:14:23,200 --> 00:14:25,466
and so if you go to New Zealand or Australia

370
00:14:25,466 --> 00:14:28,133
or Bandon in America for example

371
00:14:29,166 --> 00:14:30,500
what do you compare those to

372
00:14:30,500 --> 00:14:34,400
well the standard is set by the home of golf

373
00:14:34,466 --> 00:14:36,866
exactly where links links golf originated

374
00:14:36,866 --> 00:14:38,900
so it in some ways

375
00:14:38,900 --> 00:14:41,966
it felt like we've level the playing field

376
00:14:42,066 --> 00:14:44,166
is that we were sometimes

377
00:14:44,166 --> 00:14:46,166
maybe the bias towards the higher end

378
00:14:46,166 --> 00:14:47,733
Parkland resort courses

379
00:14:47,800 --> 00:14:52,600
they were getting a bit of a boost because they were um

380
00:14:53,033 --> 00:14:57,166
the best of their kind in the UK and because of that

381
00:14:57,166 --> 00:14:58,600
they were artificially higher

382
00:14:58,800 --> 00:15:01,000
but as you know to your point

383
00:15:01,000 --> 00:15:03,900
um when we look at it from a world perspective

384
00:15:04,633 --> 00:15:06,666
um that bar is set very high

385
00:15:06,966 --> 00:15:08,100
well it's like a

386
00:15:08,100 --> 00:15:09,366
going to a steak restaurant

387
00:15:09,366 --> 00:15:11,333
and expecting a world class salad

388
00:15:11,766 --> 00:15:13,600
you know it's yeah

389
00:15:13,866 --> 00:15:16,000
or world world class fish and chips

390
00:15:16,000 --> 00:15:18,100
it's like order the bloody steak

391
00:15:18,100 --> 00:15:19,466
exactly that's what they do

392
00:15:19,466 --> 00:15:20,766
that's what they do well

393
00:15:21,066 --> 00:15:22,500
and that's what you expect to be great

394
00:15:22,500 --> 00:15:22,866
so yes

395
00:15:22,866 --> 00:15:24,366
so to your point um

396
00:15:24,500 --> 00:15:25,666
you know I

397
00:15:25,966 --> 00:15:27,200
you know let's

398
00:15:27,200 --> 00:15:29,800
let's call a spade a spade courses

399
00:15:30,300 --> 00:15:31,266
you know Fairmont

400
00:15:31,266 --> 00:15:33,666
for example other two courses in

401
00:15:33,666 --> 00:15:37,000
in 5 they've fallen a little bit or a lot um

402
00:15:37,000 --> 00:15:40,600
other courses of a similar ilk uh

403
00:15:40,600 --> 00:15:45,533
maybe the higher end highly polished resort offerings

404
00:15:46,166 --> 00:15:48,300
and we keep coming back to this uh

405
00:15:48,300 --> 00:15:51,066
top 100 is and should be

406
00:15:51,633 --> 00:15:53,700
um a broad church

407
00:15:53,700 --> 00:15:55,400
it should be very inclusive

408
00:15:55,666 --> 00:15:58,000
but those elements of great golf

409
00:15:58,100 --> 00:16:02,066
firm turf running golf golf played on the ground

410
00:16:02,833 --> 00:16:06,766
that rewards all skill sets that you can play quickly

411
00:16:07,066 --> 00:16:09,466
that give you options on and on and on

412
00:16:09,466 --> 00:16:11,400
all the things that we know make for good golf

413
00:16:11,800 --> 00:16:13,733
whether it's a big shiny

414
00:16:13,900 --> 00:16:17,000
brilliant golf course that's got a concierge and a

415
00:16:17,100 --> 00:16:18,900
you know a boot clean and a

416
00:16:19,400 --> 00:16:20,633
like Gleneagles yeah

417
00:16:20,633 --> 00:16:23,366
like Gleneagles they should get a fair shake

418
00:16:23,366 --> 00:16:25,233
but then also other courses

419
00:16:25,233 --> 00:16:27,766
like Durness should also be there as well

420
00:16:27,833 --> 00:16:30,133
um and you can't have

421
00:16:30,433 --> 00:16:32,700
you know one more different than the other

422
00:16:32,700 --> 00:16:34,300
but when you step onto the first tee

423
00:16:34,300 --> 00:16:36,266
what does the what does it play

424
00:16:36,266 --> 00:16:37,966
like what how does it play yeah

425
00:16:37,966 --> 00:16:41,233
it's not about whether you get your shoes shined

426
00:16:41,233 --> 00:16:44,633
exactly and maybe that's a good thing to keep in mind

427
00:16:44,633 --> 00:16:46,666
you know whenever we put things out on social media

428
00:16:46,666 --> 00:16:49,900
we always get quote unquote fan mail back um

429
00:16:50,000 --> 00:16:51,966
something something ha ha ha ha

430
00:16:52,166 --> 00:16:53,433
and you know

431
00:16:53,433 --> 00:16:56,433
I've played this three times and I know that great

432
00:16:56,433 --> 00:16:58,133
not a problem at all uh

433
00:16:58,366 --> 00:17:00,300
if you in your opinion

434
00:17:00,566 --> 00:17:02,266
this course is better than that course

435
00:17:02,833 --> 00:17:05,233
you're right for you um

436
00:17:05,233 --> 00:17:07,866
our criteria is probably different haha

437
00:17:07,866 --> 00:17:09,733
um and that's fine

438
00:17:09,766 --> 00:17:11,666
and by I say our criteria

439
00:17:11,666 --> 00:17:13,766
I'm saying top 100 and perhaps

440
00:17:14,200 --> 00:17:15,800
you know just a golfer in

441
00:17:15,800 --> 00:17:17,700
in the wild um

442
00:17:17,800 --> 00:17:19,666
so it's good to compare apples to apples

443
00:17:19,666 --> 00:17:23,933
and before you say that we're right or wrong um

444
00:17:24,233 --> 00:17:27,600
it's good to see like what we say is important um

445
00:17:27,600 --> 00:17:30,600
cause even within the rankings sometimes we get that uh

446
00:17:30,600 --> 00:17:32,566
and especially we we hear from golf club managers

447
00:17:32,566 --> 00:17:36,866
sometimes you've ranked us here and we're this

448
00:17:36,866 --> 00:17:38,700
in this ranking and that and that ranking

449
00:17:39,800 --> 00:17:42,433
but not all rankings are created equal

450
00:17:42,433 --> 00:17:44,066
and not all of them have the same criteria

451
00:17:44,066 --> 00:17:47,300
well we don't a load of other rankings have um

452
00:17:47,366 --> 00:17:49,400
sections of it to do with practice facilities

453
00:17:49,400 --> 00:17:50,433
or to do with the clubhouse

454
00:17:50,433 --> 00:17:51,800
or to do with whatever yeah

455
00:17:51,800 --> 00:17:53,233
we don't do any of that no

456
00:17:53,233 --> 00:17:55,600
it's not about that's nothing to do with us

457
00:17:55,666 --> 00:17:59,166
so maybe you have a fantastic um

458
00:17:59,233 --> 00:18:01,800
selection of food which actually here was banging

459
00:18:01,800 --> 00:18:03,633
the food at Southport mainstays is really good

460
00:18:03,633 --> 00:18:04,366
yeah and

461
00:18:04,366 --> 00:18:06,900
or you have an amazing practice facility or

462
00:18:07,800 --> 00:18:09,466
it doesn't matter to us no

463
00:18:09,466 --> 00:18:10,166
that's irrelevant

464
00:18:10,166 --> 00:18:12,100
it's the moment we hit the first ball on the first tee

465
00:18:12,100 --> 00:18:13,666
and then play on from there

466
00:18:13,666 --> 00:18:15,966
this podcast is brought to you by Echo Shoes

467
00:18:15,966 --> 00:18:18,433
particularly their new biome C5 David

468
00:18:18,433 --> 00:18:20,633
I know you have a wee bit of a fondness for an Echo

469
00:18:20,633 --> 00:18:21,300
yeah no

470
00:18:21,300 --> 00:18:21,700
no doubt

471
00:18:21,700 --> 00:18:24,000
I am literally a walking advertisement for Echo

472
00:18:24,000 --> 00:18:25,166
and I can honestly say

473
00:18:25,166 --> 00:18:27,000
I played the world top hundred in my echoes

474
00:18:27,000 --> 00:18:28,366
I spent years running around

475
00:18:28,366 --> 00:18:28,666
you know

476
00:18:28,666 --> 00:18:30,700
diving around tennis court and stuff like that for

477
00:18:30,700 --> 00:18:31,933
for a really long time

478
00:18:32,066 --> 00:18:34,066
and that takes a toll because it was hardcore

479
00:18:34,166 --> 00:18:35,666
and so hardcore there's a lot of

480
00:18:35,666 --> 00:18:38,200
you know things going on with your feet and

481
00:18:38,200 --> 00:18:40,900
and as I when I started to get a little bit older

482
00:18:40,900 --> 00:18:42,066
not even old you know

483
00:18:42,066 --> 00:18:43,633
like in in my 30s

484
00:18:43,633 --> 00:18:45,100
I had you know

485
00:18:45,100 --> 00:18:46,266
my feet were bothering me

486
00:18:46,266 --> 00:18:48,566
when I had to do long walks and stuff like that

487
00:18:48,566 --> 00:18:51,200
I mean four and a/2 miles is the standard golf route

488
00:18:51,300 --> 00:18:52,500
so four and a/2 miles right

489
00:18:52,500 --> 00:18:55,000
so four and a/2 miles of walking when your feet hurt

490
00:18:55,000 --> 00:18:56,500
it's the worst thing ever

491
00:18:56,500 --> 00:18:56,900
and like

492
00:18:56,900 --> 00:19:00,266
I had so many rounds where I would get done and

493
00:19:00,266 --> 00:19:03,100
you know when I first started playing golf and I just

494
00:19:03,100 --> 00:19:03,900
I couldn't take it like

495
00:19:03,900 --> 00:19:04,800
I had to get the shoes off

496
00:19:04,800 --> 00:19:06,600
and my feet were just throbbing

497
00:19:06,666 --> 00:19:07,433
and you know

498
00:19:07,433 --> 00:19:09,966
I I ran into Echo probably in

499
00:19:09,966 --> 00:19:10,866
you know 2007

500
00:19:10,866 --> 00:19:12,166
2008 2009

501
00:19:12,166 --> 00:19:13,033
whatever the year was

502
00:19:13,033 --> 00:19:15,366
it was before I started my journey really for the for

503
00:19:15,366 --> 00:19:17,166
for playing the world top hundred yeah

504
00:19:17,166 --> 00:19:19,100
as if you're doing the world's uh

505
00:19:19,100 --> 00:19:19,833
top 100

506
00:19:19,833 --> 00:19:22,600
you need to be able to trust where your clubs are going

507
00:19:22,633 --> 00:19:24,966
and never get sore feet exactly

508
00:19:25,500 --> 00:19:27,466
yeah the rest you can sort out along the way

509
00:19:27,466 --> 00:19:31,400
so just a couple of uh things about the Echo BMC5

510
00:19:31,400 --> 00:19:33,233
every detail's crafted for the perfect feel

511
00:19:33,233 --> 00:19:34,500
and I know David

512
00:19:34,500 --> 00:19:36,666
and his many adventures in golf have enjoyed

513
00:19:36,666 --> 00:19:37,600
echoes over the years

514
00:19:37,600 --> 00:19:38,633
but these have been designed to play

515
00:19:38,633 --> 00:19:40,466
and built for comfort so uh

516
00:19:40,466 --> 00:19:42,333
thank you very much Echo appreciate it a lot

517
00:19:42,433 --> 00:19:44,433
this episode is brought to you by the Lockhart

518
00:19:44,433 --> 00:19:47,933
Travel Club we believe golf is more than a game

519
00:19:47,966 --> 00:19:49,966
it's a journey a journey

520
00:19:49,966 --> 00:19:53,066
we've made across 34 of the world's top 100 courses

521
00:19:53,066 --> 00:19:56,100
last year and now it's your turn

522
00:19:56,633 --> 00:19:57,633
we create

523
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bespoke travel experiences for passionate golfers

524
00:20:00,433 --> 00:20:02,233
who expect nothing but the best

525
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membership is limited so join us at Locker

526
00:20:05,233 --> 00:20:06,666
Travel club.com

527
00:20:07,933 --> 00:20:09,000
so I think the

528
00:20:09,000 --> 00:20:12,200
the other ones that maybe make a bit of a splash uh

529
00:20:12,633 --> 00:20:16,800
you're still waiting for a couple of courses to

530
00:20:16,833 --> 00:20:21,400
perhaps make their way into the Scottish rankings

531
00:20:21,400 --> 00:20:24,266
the big two this year were Old Petty and Trump new

532
00:20:24,666 --> 00:20:27,266
which perhaps we can have a quick word about um

533
00:20:27,266 --> 00:20:29,066
the other ones that were interesting

534
00:20:29,066 --> 00:20:30,500
let's be honest I think our

535
00:20:30,666 --> 00:20:32,766
listeners are probably bored of us speaking about that

536
00:20:32,766 --> 00:20:34,533
so much yeah yeah

537
00:20:34,700 --> 00:20:35,633
hey I mean I

538
00:20:35,633 --> 00:20:37,800
I have seen some of the other rankings

539
00:20:37,800 --> 00:20:38,200
of course

540
00:20:38,200 --> 00:20:40,266
we don't pay too much attention to what other people do

541
00:20:40,266 --> 00:20:42,666
we feel comfortable in making our decisions

542
00:20:42,666 --> 00:20:44,900
but just out of curiosity um

543
00:20:44,900 --> 00:20:46,000
I think there was

544
00:20:46,033 --> 00:20:48,366
a couple of rankings that have been brought out

545
00:20:48,633 --> 00:20:51,266
of other companies that do rankings as well

546
00:20:51,366 --> 00:20:54,966
um and I think Trump news above old petty

547
00:20:55,233 --> 00:20:57,133
uh we've gone in the inverse of that

548
00:20:57,166 --> 00:20:59,600
so old petty above Trump's new

549
00:20:59,600 --> 00:21:01,666
what I appreciate about what we did was actually

550
00:21:01,666 --> 00:21:04,366
the two of us and um

551
00:21:04,633 --> 00:21:07,766
we looked at what we got back from our

552
00:21:08,000 --> 00:21:11,433
our guys and there was a pretty consensus

553
00:21:11,433 --> 00:21:14,200
pretty strong consensus to what we agreed on

554
00:21:14,366 --> 00:21:15,766
and uh

555
00:21:16,500 --> 00:21:18,266
we never looked at another

556
00:21:18,866 --> 00:21:20,433
no another a ranking

557
00:21:20,433 --> 00:21:22,866
we just saw what was coming after and trusted our gut

558
00:21:22,866 --> 00:21:24,400
because we know what we're doing

559
00:21:24,400 --> 00:21:25,800
we it's not a bloody

560
00:21:26,033 --> 00:21:27,633
it's not rocket science it's

561
00:21:27,633 --> 00:21:29,700
this is what we think and this is how we rate it

562
00:21:29,700 --> 00:21:31,866
and there was some panelist that liked Trump

563
00:21:31,866 --> 00:21:34,900
more than old petty but overall

564
00:21:34,900 --> 00:21:35,500
um the

565
00:21:35,500 --> 00:21:37,966
the data was skewed towards old petty

566
00:21:38,033 --> 00:21:39,100
I think the other thing too

567
00:21:39,100 --> 00:21:44,266
is that we wanted to wait a little bit and not make a

568
00:21:44,266 --> 00:21:46,300
a knee jerk reaction so we

569
00:21:46,300 --> 00:21:49,466
we had people from the Scottish panel

570
00:21:49,500 --> 00:21:52,466
the GBI panel and the world panel

571
00:21:52,800 --> 00:21:54,366
they'd all went to see it

572
00:21:54,366 --> 00:21:56,700
and then we we took all of their comments into account

573
00:21:56,700 --> 00:21:58,900
and then obviously a final decision was made

574
00:21:58,900 --> 00:22:00,200
it is cool um

575
00:22:00,400 --> 00:22:01,866
for Scotland as a whole

576
00:22:01,866 --> 00:22:04,033
the fact that there was two new courses built this year

577
00:22:04,033 --> 00:22:06,700
they're in the discussion of whether

578
00:22:07,466 --> 00:22:09,500
we need to have the world panel going there

579
00:22:09,900 --> 00:22:11,300
well and that's the exciting bit

580
00:22:11,300 --> 00:22:13,433
and I think you know

581
00:22:13,433 --> 00:22:14,600
we've got one uh

582
00:22:15,500 --> 00:22:18,566
1 one fellow that helps us out who's very well played

583
00:22:18,966 --> 00:22:21,400
uh played amateur golf to a very high level uh

584
00:22:21,566 --> 00:22:22,766
eventually turned pro

585
00:22:23,100 --> 00:22:24,433
he says when I look at the rankings

586
00:22:24,433 --> 00:22:26,966
I kind of break it down to like groups of five

587
00:22:27,000 --> 00:22:27,300
you know

588
00:22:27,300 --> 00:22:30,900
and if you if you look at where old petty and Trump are

589
00:22:31,066 --> 00:22:31,633
you know there

590
00:22:31,633 --> 00:22:33,466
there's not much between them yeah

591
00:22:33,466 --> 00:22:35,033
so well it's buckets

592
00:22:35,033 --> 00:22:37,166
so for people that don't know what the bucket system

593
00:22:37,166 --> 00:22:38,366
can you just explain it a little bit

594
00:22:38,366 --> 00:22:40,866
yeah so effectively what we do is

595
00:22:40,866 --> 00:22:42,900
because we want all of our rankings to align

596
00:22:43,166 --> 00:22:46,266
uh world panel with GBI

597
00:22:46,266 --> 00:22:47,533
Great Britain and Ireland

598
00:22:47,633 --> 00:22:49,300
and then down into the respective countries

599
00:22:49,300 --> 00:22:51,066
and then down into the county levels

600
00:22:51,166 --> 00:22:53,566
when we issue our sheets out

601
00:22:53,566 --> 00:22:55,733
our ranking sheets out to our panelists

602
00:22:56,600 --> 00:22:59,766
what we'll oftentimes do is ask for uh

603
00:22:59,833 --> 00:23:02,433
maybe a a top 10 a top 20

604
00:23:02,433 --> 00:23:03,100
a top 50

605
00:23:03,100 --> 00:23:05,933
perhaps if our panels played all of those courses

606
00:23:06,633 --> 00:23:08,200
after that you're splitting hairs

607
00:23:08,500 --> 00:23:10,866
so for example in Scotland

608
00:23:10,866 --> 00:23:12,300
I think we made the you know

609
00:23:12,300 --> 00:23:13,366
when we were looking at it

610
00:23:13,366 --> 00:23:14,466
uh together

611
00:23:14,800 --> 00:23:16,433
uh after everything came back

612
00:23:16,433 --> 00:23:20,766
once you get down to 75 from 75 to 100

613
00:23:20,766 --> 00:23:25,400
the difference in quality and caliber is

614
00:23:25,633 --> 00:23:27,800
you know you have golf courses on there that have

615
00:23:27,900 --> 00:23:29,033
nine really good holes

616
00:23:29,033 --> 00:23:31,466
and then they've got nine holes that I would

617
00:23:31,466 --> 00:23:34,266
Scotland elite to maybe 70 yeah

618
00:23:34,266 --> 00:23:37,000
and then it does take a plumber

619
00:23:37,100 --> 00:23:38,400
and it's not say

620
00:23:38,400 --> 00:23:40,900
there's not brilliant golf at those golf courses

621
00:23:40,900 --> 00:23:42,066
and you can go and experience

622
00:23:42,066 --> 00:23:44,966
amazing golf for good value at those golf courses yeah

623
00:23:45,033 --> 00:23:45,433
it's just

624
00:23:45,433 --> 00:23:48,933
you're gonna have a section of golf that is a dud

625
00:23:49,366 --> 00:23:50,066
exactly and

626
00:23:50,066 --> 00:23:53,700
and that's where what when we ask for the the buckets

627
00:23:53,700 --> 00:23:54,933
we're effectively saying

628
00:23:54,966 --> 00:23:57,733
give us a numerical ranking from 1 to fifty

629
00:23:58,166 --> 00:24:01,366
and then your next best 10 from your point of view

630
00:24:01,366 --> 00:24:04,200
from 51 to 60 and then 61 to 70

631
00:24:04,400 --> 00:24:07,966
the next 10 all the way down to 1 hundred uh

632
00:24:07,966 --> 00:24:08,866
and then we've also asked

633
00:24:08,866 --> 00:24:10,800
this year was the contenders lists

634
00:24:11,133 --> 00:24:11,833
so we wanted to know

635
00:24:11,833 --> 00:24:13,966
what they thought were the next 10 courses

636
00:24:14,166 --> 00:24:16,400
and once you get to about 90

637
00:24:16,566 --> 00:24:18,066
you've got courses on there that

638
00:24:18,066 --> 00:24:19,200
there's probably

639
00:24:19,366 --> 00:24:21,100
a 30 different courses that come up in conversation

640
00:24:21,100 --> 00:24:23,066
if not more if not more like it

641
00:24:23,200 --> 00:24:25,166
so there's 100 golf course in Scotland

642
00:24:25,166 --> 00:24:27,300
that could be in the 90 to hundred bit

643
00:24:27,300 --> 00:24:30,633
and that's the point and I think it's quite exciting

644
00:24:30,633 --> 00:24:32,400
especially when the um

645
00:24:32,766 --> 00:24:35,233
the England rankings come out uh

646
00:24:35,233 --> 00:24:36,300
you've had a look at those

647
00:24:36,300 --> 00:24:39,033
the the turnover from like 90 to 100

648
00:24:39,033 --> 00:24:41,000
or even 85 to 100 is quite

649
00:24:41,033 --> 00:24:43,066
quite big so

650
00:24:43,066 --> 00:24:44,966
but it's nice to see different courses coming in

651
00:24:44,966 --> 00:24:47,566
I feel like that happens every time

652
00:24:47,566 --> 00:24:49,500
for every ranking ever it's always

653
00:24:49,500 --> 00:24:53,166
I always remember seeing certain golf courses come in

654
00:24:53,166 --> 00:24:56,400
certain golf courses come out and it was actually um

655
00:24:56,433 --> 00:24:59,466
I remember when I first started doing the GBI

656
00:25:00,233 --> 00:25:01,933
aim for the GBI ranking

657
00:25:02,800 --> 00:25:04,266
if you didn't pick a year

658
00:25:04,566 --> 00:25:06,766
you'd go and play two or three courses in Dorset

659
00:25:06,766 --> 00:25:08,100
or something and the next thing you know

660
00:25:08,100 --> 00:25:10,000
they're not in it the next year yeah

661
00:25:11,633 --> 00:25:12,466
so and that's

662
00:25:12,466 --> 00:25:15,333
I think that's a good point is that the calibre of golf

663
00:25:15,466 --> 00:25:20,100
I think the one thing that we found is in Ireland the

664
00:25:20,100 --> 00:25:22,500
the ranking probably top 30

665
00:25:22,500 --> 00:25:24,100
pretty elite golf Scotland

666
00:25:24,100 --> 00:25:27,466
you're looking at 50 to 70 are really

667
00:25:27,466 --> 00:25:28,633
really good uh

668
00:25:28,633 --> 00:25:30,233
England though is next level

669
00:25:30,233 --> 00:25:32,300
the amount of golf in England very deep

670
00:25:32,300 --> 00:25:34,866
you get up to 100 and you're still picking between

671
00:25:34,866 --> 00:25:36,800
really good golf courses that make it in

672
00:25:36,900 --> 00:25:38,600
so but look

673
00:25:38,600 --> 00:25:40,000
that's the nature of rankings

674
00:25:40,000 --> 00:25:41,666
um did we get it right

675
00:25:41,666 --> 00:25:43,566
we did our best um

676
00:25:43,566 --> 00:25:44,900
the nature of these things is that

677
00:25:44,900 --> 00:25:47,266
things change and evolve um

678
00:25:47,266 --> 00:25:50,000
you can't be everywhere all the time to see everything

679
00:25:50,433 --> 00:25:52,500
but I think the exciting thing about Top 100 is that

680
00:25:52,500 --> 00:25:53,333
we've done

681
00:25:54,033 --> 00:25:56,700
a really good job over the last year or so

682
00:25:56,766 --> 00:25:59,000
of bringing in a lot more people

683
00:25:59,000 --> 00:26:00,266
into the panel

684
00:26:00,766 --> 00:26:03,400
and last year you played a lot of golf in Scotland

685
00:26:03,400 --> 00:26:05,200
over the last year

686
00:26:05,200 --> 00:26:08,300
what uh golf course surprised you the most

687
00:26:08,300 --> 00:26:10,366
so Elie's one that surprised me

688
00:26:10,600 --> 00:26:11,466
um

689
00:26:12,233 --> 00:26:13,066
obviously it's it's

690
00:26:13,066 --> 00:26:15,600
it's getting that cult kind of following

691
00:26:15,833 --> 00:26:19,233
um a lot of the bigger kind of social media

692
00:26:19,233 --> 00:26:22,200
golf nerd architecture type brands

693
00:26:22,200 --> 00:26:23,666
I think it's because they listen to the podcast

694
00:26:23,666 --> 00:26:24,500
the last three years

695
00:26:24,500 --> 00:26:26,300
I've been shouting about how good it is

696
00:26:26,500 --> 00:26:27,466
they've been listening to you

697
00:26:27,466 --> 00:26:30,800
eventually and hopefully it's now become

698
00:26:30,800 --> 00:26:32,500
it's now become the hipster classic

699
00:26:32,633 --> 00:26:35,800
it is and and the new North Berwick as they call it

700
00:26:35,800 --> 00:26:37,300
yeah the the first time I played it

701
00:26:37,300 --> 00:26:39,500
I I liked it cause it was different

702
00:26:39,500 --> 00:26:41,833
I think there's a couple holes out there where like

703
00:26:41,833 --> 00:26:42,666
if you're really critical

704
00:26:42,666 --> 00:26:43,666
you look at and you say oh

705
00:26:43,666 --> 00:26:45,666
if you play that hole this way as opposed to that way

706
00:26:45,666 --> 00:26:47,133
I'm thinking about the seaside holes

707
00:26:47,500 --> 00:26:48,833
um yeah

708
00:26:48,833 --> 00:26:50,866
and then the backdrop some of the par threes

709
00:26:50,866 --> 00:26:53,633
but again you're being hypercritical of a golf course

710
00:26:53,633 --> 00:26:55,466
that was laid out you know

711
00:26:55,466 --> 00:26:59,666
120 years ago or more and hasn't really changed

712
00:26:59,666 --> 00:27:01,733
and just it is what it is

713
00:27:01,800 --> 00:27:02,833
and it's absolutely brilliant

714
00:27:02,833 --> 00:27:03,666
I think the green sites

715
00:27:03,666 --> 00:27:05,366
especially the ones that run away from you

716
00:27:05,433 --> 00:27:07,600
that's something that you don't see very often

717
00:27:07,833 --> 00:27:10,300
and it's so good if you play it in the summer

718
00:27:10,300 --> 00:27:11,933
when it's burnt out and fast

719
00:27:12,233 --> 00:27:14,100
and you have to think about where you land your ball

720
00:27:14,100 --> 00:27:15,366
so that it rolls onto the green

721
00:27:15,366 --> 00:27:16,633
and you're thinking about like 20

722
00:27:16,633 --> 00:27:19,966
30 maybe more yards on some holes in front of the green

723
00:27:19,966 --> 00:27:21,666
to where you have to land your ball

724
00:27:21,866 --> 00:27:24,333
that type of golf is so special

725
00:27:24,466 --> 00:27:26,366
and it's a type of golf that I don't think

726
00:27:26,366 --> 00:27:29,100
most people that are coming from overseas

727
00:27:29,466 --> 00:27:31,400
as one myself um

728
00:27:31,866 --> 00:27:33,400
when I moved here in 2009

729
00:27:33,400 --> 00:27:34,900
and started playing links golf

730
00:27:35,433 --> 00:27:37,666
you know I'd never seen anything like Eli

731
00:27:38,000 --> 00:27:40,766
no one's but there's not many things like Eli right

732
00:27:40,766 --> 00:27:42,666
the one of the things that

733
00:27:42,666 --> 00:27:43,900
if you ever had a Twitter

734
00:27:43,900 --> 00:27:45,500
that was overheard in the clubhouse right

735
00:27:45,500 --> 00:27:46,400
so it

736
00:27:46,466 --> 00:27:49,166
one of the things that you'd always hear not about

737
00:27:49,166 --> 00:27:49,866
not about Eli

738
00:27:49,866 --> 00:27:53,233
but in any clubhouse when they talk about a golf course

739
00:27:53,233 --> 00:27:53,566
that oh

740
00:27:53,566 --> 00:27:55,866
there's too many blind shots or there's a

741
00:27:55,866 --> 00:27:57,733
there's no chance you can get close

742
00:27:57,900 --> 00:28:00,100
but that guy's probably just trying to put a wedge high

743
00:28:00,100 --> 00:28:01,666
and land it next to the pin

744
00:28:01,666 --> 00:28:04,566
it's like you're not thinking about your game

745
00:28:04,566 --> 00:28:05,966
exactly also chess game

746
00:28:05,966 --> 00:28:08,166
yeah and I think that's the thing the

747
00:28:08,166 --> 00:28:09,766
the cerebral side of the game

748
00:28:09,766 --> 00:28:12,266
so the ability to see options

749
00:28:12,266 --> 00:28:15,966
where they're not necessarily hitting you in the face

750
00:28:16,066 --> 00:28:16,433
I think

751
00:28:16,433 --> 00:28:19,133
that's what really makes a course like that special

752
00:28:19,266 --> 00:28:19,800
um I mean

753
00:28:19,800 --> 00:28:21,500
you start off with a blind shot

754
00:28:22,066 --> 00:28:26,166
um and then it just gets like more quirky from there

755
00:28:26,633 --> 00:28:28,166
so yeah Eli was really good

756
00:28:28,166 --> 00:28:29,800
the other one that was um

757
00:28:30,066 --> 00:28:30,900
I really enjoyed

758
00:28:30,900 --> 00:28:33,300
we played together actually was a boat of Garten

759
00:28:33,633 --> 00:28:39,466
that was I had heard how mental the ground was that

760
00:28:39,466 --> 00:28:41,633
that it was more rambunctious than

761
00:28:41,633 --> 00:28:44,166
than even most links golf courses and I

762
00:28:44,566 --> 00:28:45,500
I didn't really believe it

763
00:28:45,500 --> 00:28:47,400
I thought it was a bit of a myth

764
00:28:47,400 --> 00:28:49,100
we played in pretty much winter

765
00:28:49,566 --> 00:28:51,666
this is in the centre of the Highlands right

766
00:28:51,666 --> 00:28:54,200
so this is down the A9 yeah yeah

767
00:28:54,200 --> 00:28:56,833
this is next to the ski resorts of Scotland

768
00:28:56,833 --> 00:28:58,866
it was yeah and um

769
00:28:58,866 --> 00:29:00,733
it was firm as hell mmm hmm

770
00:29:00,766 --> 00:29:02,766
firm as hell I

771
00:29:02,766 --> 00:29:04,266
I immensely enjoyed yeah

772
00:29:04,266 --> 00:29:06,433
that that was uh enjoyed it immensely

773
00:29:06,433 --> 00:29:10,533
that that was a cracking experience um

774
00:29:11,400 --> 00:29:12,600
try to think of some of the other courses

775
00:29:12,600 --> 00:29:15,366
obviously Cabot I enjoyed Trump

776
00:29:15,366 --> 00:29:16,800
Trump knew I enjoyed as well

777
00:29:16,800 --> 00:29:18,700
it was good to see something completely different

778
00:29:18,700 --> 00:29:21,200
you got you got absolutely beaten up

779
00:29:21,466 --> 00:29:23,500
we need to tell them the story OK

780
00:29:24,000 --> 00:29:27,466
we need to so it's not Trump news fault

781
00:29:27,466 --> 00:29:30,300
it's uh very much our fault for being crap at golf

782
00:29:30,300 --> 00:29:32,300
but the main reason is

783
00:29:32,300 --> 00:29:35,100
because when you have a golf course that's just open

784
00:29:35,100 --> 00:29:37,633
brand new you need to thicken up

785
00:29:37,633 --> 00:29:38,833
you have to have thick rough

786
00:29:38,833 --> 00:29:41,700
cause you need to grow it thick to be able to then

787
00:29:42,300 --> 00:29:43,400
cut it back

788
00:29:44,033 --> 00:29:46,800
and so it was new laid turf that was being cut

789
00:29:46,800 --> 00:29:49,866
and so it's not their fault at all and uh

790
00:29:49,866 --> 00:29:52,600
for some reason the width there is massive

791
00:29:52,633 --> 00:29:54,800
and we step on the first tee expecting

792
00:29:54,800 --> 00:29:55,766
you know let's yeah

793
00:29:55,766 --> 00:29:56,666
we're gonna do alright yeah

794
00:29:56,666 --> 00:29:59,000
let's shoot 75 and what did you do Jasper

795
00:29:59,000 --> 00:30:01,633
uh I think I lost three balls on the first hole

796
00:30:01,633 --> 00:30:04,033
ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha yeah

797
00:30:04,033 --> 00:30:04,633
it's pretty dicey

798
00:30:04,633 --> 00:30:06,633
I don't remember how many golf balls I had in my bag

799
00:30:06,633 --> 00:30:09,033
but I was definitely like walking along the

800
00:30:09,033 --> 00:30:11,966
the rough line just just in case

801
00:30:12,233 --> 00:30:14,566
I stumbled across someone else's ball that I could like

802
00:30:14,566 --> 00:30:16,900
put in the bag got a glimmer of hope hahaha

803
00:30:18,000 --> 00:30:21,266
I think we hit on to the we were on the 4th or fifth

804
00:30:22,033 --> 00:30:24,466
yeah fourth and this ball appeared

805
00:30:24,466 --> 00:30:26,800
it was just like lying in the middle of the Fairway

806
00:30:27,000 --> 00:30:29,200
and there's a sat and there's a Dune down your left

807
00:30:29,200 --> 00:30:32,100
and then there's six holes on the other side

808
00:30:32,266 --> 00:30:34,666
and Jasper got very tempted by that ball yeah

809
00:30:34,666 --> 00:30:36,266
I was gonna nick it it wasn't even a good one

810
00:30:36,266 --> 00:30:38,200
it wasn't like a nice shiny new Pro V1

811
00:30:38,200 --> 00:30:41,466
it was a a shrikson a D 3 3 3 or something like that

812
00:30:41,466 --> 00:30:42,833
but uh yeah

813
00:30:42,833 --> 00:30:44,366
but you never steal anything in your life

814
00:30:44,366 --> 00:30:45,400
it shows you the gravity of man

815
00:30:45,400 --> 00:30:47,766
I got desperate the gravity of man

816
00:30:47,766 --> 00:30:50,633
I wanted to finish the best thing about it was when on

817
00:30:50,633 --> 00:30:52,566
when we're on the sixth hole and you

818
00:30:52,566 --> 00:30:54,000
found a noodle in the bunker

819
00:30:54,000 --> 00:30:55,066
yeah and I was tempted

820
00:30:55,066 --> 00:30:56,366
but you weren't that deprived

821
00:30:56,366 --> 00:30:57,033
no no

822
00:30:57,033 --> 00:30:58,833
I have to draw the line at some point

823
00:30:58,833 --> 00:31:00,666
and still maintain my dignity

824
00:31:03,066 --> 00:31:04,766
but yeah it was a rough start

825
00:31:04,766 --> 00:31:06,600
um I would say it was windy

826
00:31:06,600 --> 00:31:08,733
but now it sounds like I'm making excuses

827
00:31:08,800 --> 00:31:10,066
but like you say it's

828
00:31:10,066 --> 00:31:11,966
I think a lot of times um

829
00:31:12,166 --> 00:31:13,733
you're right in

830
00:31:14,266 --> 00:31:15,800
when you're growing something in

831
00:31:15,800 --> 00:31:18,300
and you're just putting a shed load of water

832
00:31:18,300 --> 00:31:20,833
on a golf course the grass can get quite thick

833
00:31:20,833 --> 00:31:22,300
especially on the perimeters of the fairways

834
00:31:22,300 --> 00:31:24,200
we saw a lizard today yeah

835
00:31:24,433 --> 00:31:27,300
if you go into the new Junes at Lytham

836
00:31:27,600 --> 00:31:29,433
the rough is unbearably thick

837
00:31:29,433 --> 00:31:31,866
yeah but that's cause they need to let it grow in

838
00:31:32,000 --> 00:31:32,866
yeah and in time

839
00:31:32,866 --> 00:31:34,600
it'll all get dealt with knocked down and

840
00:31:34,600 --> 00:31:36,000
you know thin out and all the rest of it

841
00:31:36,000 --> 00:31:36,800
and then you'll be able to play

842
00:31:36,800 --> 00:31:37,300
it's a yes

843
00:31:37,300 --> 00:31:38,500
nothing to do with no

844
00:31:38,500 --> 00:31:39,000
no them

845
00:31:39,000 --> 00:31:40,633
but it was good I mean

846
00:31:40,633 --> 00:31:42,866
I think yeah Cabot

847
00:31:42,866 --> 00:31:44,833
Cabot was one it was nice to see

848
00:31:44,833 --> 00:31:46,533
um there was no rough at Cabot

849
00:31:46,566 --> 00:31:47,866
no and that was interesting

850
00:31:47,866 --> 00:31:49,433
I mean I think the big thing for me

851
00:31:49,433 --> 00:31:51,066
at Cabot was knowing that

852
00:31:51,066 --> 00:31:52,266
when they built that golf course

853
00:31:52,266 --> 00:31:54,000
they effectively had to remove

854
00:31:54,833 --> 00:31:57,133
a layer of clay across the whole thing

855
00:31:57,366 --> 00:31:58,900
uh the sand was underneath it

856
00:31:58,900 --> 00:32:00,233
they took that out

857
00:32:00,233 --> 00:32:03,166
and then they effectively had to reshape

858
00:32:03,166 --> 00:32:05,566
the entire golf course um

859
00:32:05,600 --> 00:32:08,000
but when you go across that golf course

860
00:32:08,466 --> 00:32:11,533
and you look at the contours in the fairways

861
00:32:12,200 --> 00:32:14,300
it it's impossible to see

862
00:32:14,433 --> 00:32:16,500
you know what they've done where they've been

863
00:32:16,500 --> 00:32:19,566
what they've shaped and then you realize that no

864
00:32:19,566 --> 00:32:22,433
all of it's been shaped I mean that's

865
00:32:22,433 --> 00:32:24,100
that's pretty spectacular yeah

866
00:32:24,100 --> 00:32:27,233
so I think from a construction point of view

867
00:32:27,233 --> 00:32:29,766
that was definitely a highlight uh

868
00:32:29,766 --> 00:32:31,200
to see what can be done

869
00:32:31,200 --> 00:32:32,900
by people that know what they're doing

870
00:32:33,066 --> 00:32:34,800
that the level of skill

871
00:32:34,966 --> 00:32:37,400
if they're given time and resource

872
00:32:37,700 --> 00:32:39,633
to produce something special

873
00:32:39,633 --> 00:32:42,700
the quality of work that you can get

874
00:32:43,400 --> 00:32:44,400
um is

875
00:32:44,400 --> 00:32:46,766
is phenomenal so shout out to

876
00:32:46,766 --> 00:32:49,100
to Chris and Clyde for for their hand in that

877
00:32:49,100 --> 00:32:50,200
I know both of them were there

878
00:32:50,200 --> 00:32:53,366
and spent ridiculous amount of time on the machines

879
00:32:53,366 --> 00:32:54,533
massaging that place

880
00:32:55,200 --> 00:32:57,366
um they've done a great job the

881
00:32:57,400 --> 00:33:01,633
the ability to marry in farmland into what is built

882
00:33:01,633 --> 00:33:03,233
tune land is really impressive

883
00:33:03,233 --> 00:33:05,200
and they've done a great job yeah

884
00:33:05,200 --> 00:33:07,533
and so from a construction quality point of view

885
00:33:07,566 --> 00:33:10,500
I think that's definitely a highlight um

886
00:33:10,500 --> 00:33:13,600
as far as the rest of it's a really nice walk as well

887
00:33:13,766 --> 00:33:14,433
it is yeah

888
00:33:14,433 --> 00:33:15,433
I mean you know

889
00:33:15,433 --> 00:33:16,400
you talk you know

890
00:33:16,400 --> 00:33:18,133
Tom Doak's famous quote is

891
00:33:18,166 --> 00:33:19,300
you know if it's a good routing

892
00:33:19,300 --> 00:33:21,100
it's kind of where you would

893
00:33:21,300 --> 00:33:22,600
go for a walk with your dog

894
00:33:22,600 --> 00:33:24,666
if you just had to go walk through the

895
00:33:24,666 --> 00:33:26,900
the property and it is true

896
00:33:26,900 --> 00:33:27,400
you know you

897
00:33:27,400 --> 00:33:31,000
you kind of walk out and you kind of come to the edge

898
00:33:31,000 --> 00:33:32,366
walk down three

899
00:33:33,033 --> 00:33:35,066
walk out to the the Bay

900
00:33:35,266 --> 00:33:37,233
turn around walk back in

901
00:33:37,233 --> 00:33:38,033
up over the Highland

902
00:33:38,033 --> 00:33:40,300
back and then back where you've come from it

903
00:33:40,300 --> 00:33:42,100
it's a it's a brilliant walk uh

904
00:33:42,100 --> 00:33:44,200
it reminds me a little bit of the

905
00:33:44,366 --> 00:33:47,733
it's like almost a hybrid of the routing from well

906
00:33:48,466 --> 00:33:49,466
uh Tarawera

907
00:33:49,566 --> 00:33:52,500
Saint Patrick's and uh

908
00:33:52,500 --> 00:33:53,966
maybe a bit of Crewe and Bay

909
00:33:54,000 --> 00:33:56,400
it's not like uh that man built to others

910
00:33:59,033 --> 00:34:00,800
so yeah it's an interesting one

911
00:34:00,800 --> 00:34:01,166
but I think

912
00:34:01,166 --> 00:34:03,266
the more you see from these various architects

913
00:34:03,266 --> 00:34:04,766
you know you start to uh

914
00:34:05,666 --> 00:34:07,033
you start to see similarities

915
00:34:07,033 --> 00:34:09,000
or how they've approached various features

916
00:34:09,000 --> 00:34:10,100
and how they've overcome them

917
00:34:10,100 --> 00:34:11,633
and what works but that's also

918
00:34:11,633 --> 00:34:13,633
what makes the study of golf course architecture

919
00:34:13,633 --> 00:34:14,700
really interesting

920
00:34:14,800 --> 00:34:17,200
is because you can do that for a modern architect

921
00:34:17,200 --> 00:34:18,733
who's still practicing and Tom Doak

922
00:34:19,200 --> 00:34:20,600
but then you can also look at

923
00:34:20,700 --> 00:34:21,433
you know the

924
00:34:21,433 --> 00:34:23,200
the legends like you know

925
00:34:23,200 --> 00:34:26,100
Colter Mackenzie you look at their best work

926
00:34:26,166 --> 00:34:27,866
and what they did to make it great

927
00:34:27,866 --> 00:34:29,866
who do you think Scotland's best architect

928
00:34:30,900 --> 00:34:31,566
you know what we

929
00:34:31,566 --> 00:34:33,266
we spoke about this um

930
00:34:33,266 --> 00:34:35,833
I would have to say and this might be controversial

931
00:34:35,833 --> 00:34:38,366
but when you actually look at the facts uh

932
00:34:38,366 --> 00:34:39,333
James Braid

933
00:34:40,400 --> 00:34:41,566
well he did

934
00:34:41,633 --> 00:34:46,366
a lot of people don't give him justice for quality of

935
00:34:46,366 --> 00:34:48,400
his top level is work

936
00:34:48,433 --> 00:34:50,833
he also did a lot for small village golf

937
00:34:50,833 --> 00:34:52,633
yep he would go in and

938
00:34:52,633 --> 00:34:54,400
support places that didn't have the funding

939
00:34:54,400 --> 00:34:55,433
teach them how to do things

940
00:34:55,433 --> 00:34:56,866
so they could build their own golf course

941
00:34:56,866 --> 00:34:59,233
and then he was branded as a great course

942
00:34:59,233 --> 00:35:01,333
yeah and I think

943
00:35:01,466 --> 00:35:04,133
Brad gets the reputation of

944
00:35:04,633 --> 00:35:07,500
being prolific and doing low quality work

945
00:35:07,966 --> 00:35:10,800
um I think when you look at the facts

946
00:35:11,433 --> 00:35:14,033
what you realize is that often times

947
00:35:14,033 --> 00:35:18,133
he was probably the most generous in his time

948
00:35:18,300 --> 00:35:21,266
and didn't necessarily charge the most

949
00:35:21,366 --> 00:35:24,300
I know even from courses that I've researched um

950
00:35:24,700 --> 00:35:27,166
you know Colton Simpson

951
00:35:27,700 --> 00:35:31,300
they were from a certain stature in society

952
00:35:31,300 --> 00:35:35,200
they ran in certain circles and they charged

953
00:35:36,300 --> 00:35:36,800
you know yeah

954
00:35:36,800 --> 00:35:38,033
according to you know

955
00:35:38,033 --> 00:35:39,000
where where they were

956
00:35:39,033 --> 00:35:40,700
they had London prices yeah

957
00:35:40,700 --> 00:35:42,266
exactly and now London

958
00:35:42,266 --> 00:35:44,666
the 20s was center of the world and

959
00:35:44,666 --> 00:35:48,700
and so that's where I think braid traveled

960
00:35:48,800 --> 00:35:51,566
you know near and far and wasn't uh

961
00:35:51,800 --> 00:35:54,933
wasn't exorbitant in his in his costings

962
00:35:55,233 --> 00:35:57,566
so I think he probably got more work than most

963
00:35:57,566 --> 00:35:59,200
but if you look at the the really

964
00:35:59,200 --> 00:36:03,666
really top end of braids work

965
00:36:03,666 --> 00:36:05,166
it's it's impressive

966
00:36:05,166 --> 00:36:06,200
how about Willy Park

967
00:36:06,800 --> 00:36:09,000
yeah I mean the

968
00:36:09,100 --> 00:36:10,200
I think that's the other thing too

969
00:36:10,200 --> 00:36:12,500
is that I think Willy Park's underrated

970
00:36:12,500 --> 00:36:13,633
he's been forgotten about

971
00:36:13,633 --> 00:36:14,700
he's been underrated and forgotten about

972
00:36:14,966 --> 00:36:16,600
and the other thing about Willy Park is

973
00:36:16,600 --> 00:36:18,300
I think after he built Huntercombe

974
00:36:18,633 --> 00:36:21,500
he he definitely overspent uh

975
00:36:21,500 --> 00:36:23,166
on the club not necessarily on the course

976
00:36:23,166 --> 00:36:25,333
but like on the club and all of the peripheries

977
00:36:25,600 --> 00:36:26,466
I think he had

978
00:36:26,500 --> 00:36:28,800
he was the first one to import a Mercedes

979
00:36:29,100 --> 00:36:29,966
you know it

980
00:36:30,000 --> 00:36:31,966
he was spending money at Huntercombe

981
00:36:32,000 --> 00:36:33,800
like no one had seen before

982
00:36:34,033 --> 00:36:37,233
and he effectively went broke uh

983
00:36:37,233 --> 00:36:39,100
and then that's why he had to go stateside

984
00:36:39,200 --> 00:36:42,866
but I think some of Willie Park's best work is overseas

985
00:36:43,200 --> 00:36:45,066
and what's amazing about Willie Park is that

986
00:36:45,066 --> 00:36:47,733
you know coming from Scotland down into England

987
00:36:48,200 --> 00:36:50,133
laying out Sunningdale old

988
00:36:50,300 --> 00:36:51,500
moving to Huntercombe

989
00:36:52,166 --> 00:36:53,533
doing work around London

990
00:36:53,666 --> 00:36:56,733
then he emigrates to North America

991
00:36:56,833 --> 00:36:59,733
and he got as far as we know for sure Calgary

992
00:36:59,866 --> 00:37:01,800
she's in Canada of like 500

993
00:37:01,800 --> 00:37:03,100
why would you want to go to a place like that

994
00:37:03,100 --> 00:37:04,100
I it's terrible

995
00:37:04,100 --> 00:37:04,966
I hahaha

996
00:37:05,066 --> 00:37:07,400
yeah it's be a preaching to the converted hahaha

997
00:37:08,833 --> 00:37:12,500
so but is she not involved in places like Chinook

998
00:37:12,500 --> 00:37:15,066
was he not around when Chinook Hills was being built

999
00:37:15,066 --> 00:37:16,566
and different things he

1000
00:37:16,566 --> 00:37:18,966
he definitely had a part in a lot of the big

1001
00:37:18,966 --> 00:37:20,966
kind of northeast clubs

1002
00:37:21,166 --> 00:37:23,700
and I think that's the thing where in America

1003
00:37:23,700 --> 00:37:24,400
they might have an

1004
00:37:24,400 --> 00:37:27,000
a deeper appreciation for Willie Park Jr

1005
00:37:27,200 --> 00:37:28,966
than we do even here

1006
00:37:28,966 --> 00:37:31,366
because it's a little bit like Mackenzie

1007
00:37:31,400 --> 00:37:34,100
I think if you looked at Mackenzie's body of work

1008
00:37:34,433 --> 00:37:35,266
um

1009
00:37:36,000 --> 00:37:38,466
in but Mackenzie over here

1010
00:37:38,466 --> 00:37:40,533
never did anything like Sunningdale Old

1011
00:37:40,766 --> 00:37:42,333
or Huntercombe

1012
00:37:42,433 --> 00:37:45,433
whatever he found on the way to Australia yeah

1013
00:37:45,433 --> 00:37:46,500
so when he got to Australia

1014
00:37:46,500 --> 00:37:47,400
New Zealand and then

1015
00:37:47,400 --> 00:37:50,266
he made it to the west coast of the United States

1016
00:37:50,666 --> 00:37:53,733
whatever he was drinking on that ship ride

1017
00:37:54,066 --> 00:37:56,233
I mean if you could bottle and sell that he

1018
00:37:56,233 --> 00:37:58,566
he he reached another level

1019
00:37:58,766 --> 00:38:00,833
and I think I think that's the thing rum

1020
00:38:00,833 --> 00:38:02,266
it's probably rum probably rum

1021
00:38:02,966 --> 00:38:05,266
gin and tonic get the malaria away yeah

1022
00:38:05,266 --> 00:38:06,766
on the way to India it definitely would have been

1023
00:38:06,766 --> 00:38:08,700
turns out if you wanna be a great uh

1024
00:38:08,800 --> 00:38:10,600
great architect of golf uh

1025
00:38:10,900 --> 00:38:13,466
and please just drink lots of gin tonic yeah

1026
00:38:13,466 --> 00:38:14,866
I'm trying my best James

1027
00:38:15,466 --> 00:38:17,933
I think about malaria it's definitely cause of malaria

1028
00:38:18,666 --> 00:38:19,266
so yeah I

1029
00:38:19,266 --> 00:38:20,266
I would have to say

1030
00:38:20,266 --> 00:38:22,166
without putting too fine of a point on it

1031
00:38:22,166 --> 00:38:25,600
I think and I think he could make a pretty substantial

1032
00:38:25,666 --> 00:38:28,400
uh substantive claim to say that uh

1033
00:38:28,400 --> 00:38:31,233
braid was the best Scottish architect

1034
00:38:31,233 --> 00:38:32,800
even looking at current rankings

1035
00:38:33,266 --> 00:38:34,033
um I mean

1036
00:38:34,033 --> 00:38:36,266
obviously the two headliners would be Carnuistie

1037
00:38:36,700 --> 00:38:38,566
um not as a new build

1038
00:38:38,566 --> 00:38:40,633
but he made it what it is for

1039
00:38:40,633 --> 00:38:42,500
for honest and then Saint Enedoc

1040
00:38:42,866 --> 00:38:44,300
um but yeah

1041
00:38:44,300 --> 00:38:47,766
oh the one that I think is underrated

1042
00:38:48,166 --> 00:38:50,166
and not given enough love

1043
00:38:50,166 --> 00:38:51,566
because I think they've

1044
00:38:51,766 --> 00:38:53,633
lost the essence of the course of Reba

1045
00:38:53,633 --> 00:38:54,800
is king uh

1046
00:38:54,800 --> 00:38:55,800
Glen Eagles Kings

1047
00:38:56,633 --> 00:38:58,133
when you if anyone

1048
00:38:59,100 --> 00:39:00,266
go play Gleneagles Kings

1049
00:39:00,266 --> 00:39:04,233
and tell me that the bunkering and the green sites

1050
00:39:04,233 --> 00:39:06,266
and the way it sits on that ground isn't wholly

1051
00:39:06,266 --> 00:39:07,633
unique to Gleneagles Kings

1052
00:39:07,633 --> 00:39:10,200
and very very attractive on the eye

1053
00:39:10,200 --> 00:39:12,033
yeah it's incredible and

1054
00:39:12,033 --> 00:39:13,100
and I think that's the thing

1055
00:39:13,100 --> 00:39:16,000
what I really love about Gleneagles Kings is

1056
00:39:16,066 --> 00:39:16,833
you know we said this

1057
00:39:16,833 --> 00:39:17,766
this morning even

1058
00:39:18,066 --> 00:39:20,700
you get to a piece of links land

1059
00:39:20,700 --> 00:39:22,266
that's completely random

1060
00:39:22,466 --> 00:39:28,100
and you look at some of the bunkering green sites

1061
00:39:28,566 --> 00:39:31,500
and some of them most of them

1062
00:39:31,500 --> 00:39:32,566
a lot of it

1063
00:39:32,566 --> 00:39:34,866
especially in this part of the world is cookie cutter

1064
00:39:35,000 --> 00:39:36,266
they all start to look the same

1065
00:39:36,266 --> 00:39:38,000
yup you have sand scrapes

1066
00:39:38,000 --> 00:39:40,566
you have top line edges and bunkers

1067
00:39:40,566 --> 00:39:43,866
you've got bunkers that don't tie into dunes

1068
00:39:44,300 --> 00:39:47,266
um it's almost like they've taken in a lorry of sand

1069
00:39:47,266 --> 00:39:48,166
dumped it on the Fairway

1070
00:39:48,166 --> 00:39:49,800
and then cut out a revetted bunker

1071
00:39:50,100 --> 00:39:55,800
it's it's shameful that you have bunkers

1072
00:39:55,800 --> 00:39:57,666
where there's not a lot of variety in size

1073
00:39:57,666 --> 00:39:59,600
shape or in character

1074
00:40:00,166 --> 00:40:02,766
um they all face the same way as well

1075
00:40:03,500 --> 00:40:04,366
it it

1076
00:40:04,366 --> 00:40:08,733
it's sad because you you have these amazing tapestries

1077
00:40:08,833 --> 00:40:09,900
uh to put golf on

1078
00:40:09,900 --> 00:40:12,866
but to to bring this back to Gleneagles Kings

1079
00:40:13,233 --> 00:40:15,800
if I showed you one picture of one bunker

1080
00:40:16,133 --> 00:40:18,266
at Gleneagles Kings you would say to me

1081
00:40:18,266 --> 00:40:20,700
that's Gleneagles Kings and

1082
00:40:20,866 --> 00:40:21,700
you know if you

1083
00:40:21,700 --> 00:40:23,000
if you ever had an opportunity

1084
00:40:23,000 --> 00:40:24,600
brave ass routing as well

1085
00:40:24,600 --> 00:40:28,266
imagine going to your big hotel group

1086
00:40:28,633 --> 00:40:31,800
who's wanting to load of holiday people to come around

1087
00:40:31,966 --> 00:40:34,500
and you point to the third hole and you go yes

1088
00:40:34,500 --> 00:40:35,866
see that thing

1089
00:40:35,866 --> 00:40:37,500
we're gonna climb it we're going over there yeah

1090
00:40:37,500 --> 00:40:40,366
exactly we're going over the top with Hickory's well

1091
00:40:40,500 --> 00:40:42,400
and that's the thing even the first hole it's like

1092
00:40:42,400 --> 00:40:44,000
oh yeah nice easy drive and then you're like

1093
00:40:44,000 --> 00:40:44,633
oh where's the green

1094
00:40:44,633 --> 00:40:45,033
it's like oh

1095
00:40:45,033 --> 00:40:47,900
it's 40 feet up that right there on that ledge and

1096
00:40:47,900 --> 00:40:48,900
and it's yeah

1097
00:40:48,900 --> 00:40:52,566
it's it's an amazingly ambitious golf course uh

1098
00:40:52,566 --> 00:40:56,900
but it's it's relatively easy to play it there's width

1099
00:40:56,900 --> 00:40:59,000
there's width um and

1100
00:40:59,000 --> 00:41:00,033
and that's even now

1101
00:41:00,033 --> 00:41:01,966
I mean when you look at the old pictures

1102
00:41:02,100 --> 00:41:04,600
the amount of bracket on that golf course is incredible

1103
00:41:04,800 --> 00:41:06,800
um and I'm thinking of head girdle

1104
00:41:06,800 --> 00:41:10,533
there's pictures of the like the the volcano par three

1105
00:41:12,200 --> 00:41:13,633
and I mean there's bunkers that are

1106
00:41:13,633 --> 00:41:16,166
that's hidden by Bracken now um

1107
00:41:16,166 --> 00:41:19,400
and it's still it's quite a big part 3 like you

1108
00:41:19,400 --> 00:41:20,800
you don't get up there and think well

1109
00:41:20,800 --> 00:41:21,966
I have to thread a needle to even

1110
00:41:21,966 --> 00:41:23,300
get this to stay on the green

1111
00:41:23,566 --> 00:41:25,300
it's quite generous uh

1112
00:41:25,300 --> 00:41:27,400
but the width that they had built into that course

1113
00:41:27,400 --> 00:41:28,000
was incredible

1114
00:41:28,000 --> 00:41:29,966
that would be one course I would love to see

1115
00:41:30,033 --> 00:41:32,466
even just moan out to it yeah

1116
00:41:32,466 --> 00:41:35,000
but I think that's if you're an architect

1117
00:41:36,200 --> 00:41:38,200
and you have an opportunity to put your

1118
00:41:38,200 --> 00:41:40,733
your fingerprint on a golf course

1119
00:41:41,000 --> 00:41:43,533
whether that's a new build renovation restoration

1120
00:41:45,500 --> 00:41:47,066
if it's restoration obviously

1121
00:41:47,066 --> 00:41:48,033
we want it to look like

1122
00:41:48,033 --> 00:41:49,266
the way it did when it was built

1123
00:41:49,266 --> 00:41:50,700
that's why you're restoring it

1124
00:41:52,266 --> 00:41:55,500
but being able to

1125
00:41:56,466 --> 00:42:01,533
give a golf course a unique personality and character

1126
00:42:03,166 --> 00:42:04,733
and I think that's the thing

1127
00:42:04,800 --> 00:42:07,900
you have so many architects now that are practicing

1128
00:42:08,233 --> 00:42:13,266
that are so reliant on the same two or three companies

1129
00:42:13,266 --> 00:42:15,733
and they're not unfortunately

1130
00:42:16,166 --> 00:42:17,866
um either on site enough

1131
00:42:17,866 --> 00:42:20,966
I don't know or switched on enough

1132
00:42:21,633 --> 00:42:26,100
to expect anything different from whatever's just been

1133
00:42:26,100 --> 00:42:28,033
you think about those three braid courses

1134
00:42:28,033 --> 00:42:29,600
you're talking about sandok

1135
00:42:30,066 --> 00:42:30,800
uh clinicos

1136
00:42:30,800 --> 00:42:32,266
kings and um

1137
00:42:32,966 --> 00:42:33,566
what was it carnuisty

1138
00:42:33,566 --> 00:42:34,366
carnuisty

1139
00:42:34,833 --> 00:42:36,700
they have personality absolutely

1140
00:42:36,700 --> 00:42:38,833
they have they are the essence of what they are

1141
00:42:38,833 --> 00:42:40,033
and there's nothing like them

1142
00:42:40,033 --> 00:42:40,833
yep

1143
00:42:41,166 --> 00:42:43,066
and if you took a picture of and for

1144
00:42:43,066 --> 00:42:44,766
and it but that's a good example

1145
00:42:44,866 --> 00:42:45,800
nowadays

1146
00:42:45,800 --> 00:42:48,633
you could have an architect working on three courses

1147
00:42:48,633 --> 00:42:49,500
like that

1148
00:42:50,233 --> 00:42:52,266
and they're using the same company to

1149
00:42:52,266 --> 00:42:54,066
to build to shape

1150
00:42:54,600 --> 00:42:57,400
and the bunkers that you would get on course a

1151
00:42:57,400 --> 00:43:00,266
are the same as course B and the course C and

1152
00:43:00,266 --> 00:43:02,366
and it's a shame um

1153
00:43:02,366 --> 00:43:03,900
you know you look at some of the old pictures

1154
00:43:03,900 --> 00:43:06,400
of what was done at you know

1155
00:43:06,400 --> 00:43:08,066
even cults courses you

1156
00:43:08,066 --> 00:43:10,700
you look at a course like Saint George's Hill

1157
00:43:10,800 --> 00:43:12,400
Wentworth East and west

1158
00:43:12,600 --> 00:43:15,766
and even some of the you hate to say it

1159
00:43:15,766 --> 00:43:18,866
but like the B list stuff like your tandridges

1160
00:43:20,200 --> 00:43:21,866
every course was different

1161
00:43:22,100 --> 00:43:23,866
so this whole notion of like

1162
00:43:23,866 --> 00:43:25,966
oh that's a cult bunker

1163
00:43:26,100 --> 00:43:28,733
what do you mean by that yeah it's like

1164
00:43:29,966 --> 00:43:31,166
Cole and

1165
00:43:31,166 --> 00:43:32,200
all the good architects

1166
00:43:32,200 --> 00:43:33,566
were able to look at a piece of land

1167
00:43:33,566 --> 00:43:35,866
and give a course character and personality

1168
00:43:35,866 --> 00:43:39,666
and that's something that I find is definitely lacking

1169
00:43:39,933 --> 00:43:42,100
in a lot of practitioners of

1170
00:43:42,100 --> 00:43:47,300
of the of the craft uh especially here in the UK

1171
00:43:47,433 --> 00:43:48,600
I second that

1172
00:43:48,600 --> 00:43:50,000
and I think I might just leave it on that

1173
00:43:50,000 --> 00:43:53,566
cause that's a bit of a Mike drop moment yeah

1174
00:43:53,566 --> 00:43:54,833
don't drop the mic explosion

1175
00:43:54,833 --> 00:43:55,633
oh yeah sorry

1176
00:43:56,833 --> 00:43:58,766
last one you threw down I broke yeah

1177
00:43:58,766 --> 00:43:59,766
I got on my yeah

1178
00:43:59,766 --> 00:44:01,766
soapbox and threw it across the room

1179
00:44:03,833 --> 00:44:06,100
but thank you very much to everyone who's listened uh

1180
00:44:06,100 --> 00:44:08,000
I know that's a bit of a Mike drop moment

1181
00:44:08,000 --> 00:44:10,866
and Jasper's gonna be out on uh

1182
00:44:11,000 --> 00:44:12,133
Southport and in deal

1183
00:44:12,166 --> 00:44:14,266
wondering how he can edit that bit out

1184
00:44:14,266 --> 00:44:15,200
but hahaha

1185
00:44:15,900 --> 00:44:17,400
thanks very much to everyone who's listened

1186
00:44:17,400 --> 00:44:18,500
and thank you very much again

1187
00:44:18,500 --> 00:44:18,900
thanks Jimbo

1188
00:44:18,900 --> 00:44:20,766
I hope you guys enjoy the Scotland rankings

1189
00:44:20,766 --> 00:44:24,400
please let us know on either social media or whatever

1190
00:44:24,400 --> 00:44:26,866
just right to us this uh

1191
00:44:26,866 --> 00:44:29,166
pigeon anything don't mind and

1192
00:44:29,900 --> 00:44:31,633
but we would love to hear what your thoughts are

1193
00:44:31,633 --> 00:44:32,633
and if there's anything we missed

1194
00:44:32,633 --> 00:44:34,600
or any golf courses that you think are underrated

1195
00:44:34,600 --> 00:44:35,500
overrated

1196
00:44:35,766 --> 00:44:39,300
please do tell us cause that's what we are right

1197
00:44:39,300 --> 00:44:40,500
yeah we're here to debate yeah

1198
00:44:40,500 --> 00:44:41,866
exactly right and it's

1199
00:44:41,866 --> 00:44:42,433
it's it's good

1200
00:44:42,433 --> 00:44:45,000
just to have something that spurns on that discussion

1201
00:44:45,000 --> 00:44:46,466
so yeah here

1202
00:44:46,466 --> 00:44:47,600
here here here right

1203
00:44:47,600 --> 00:44:50,000
thank you very much top 100 Golf courses.com

1204
00:44:50,000 --> 00:44:52,366
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1205
00:44:52,400 --> 00:44:54,600
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1206
00:44:54,766 --> 00:44:56,866
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1207
00:44:56,866 --> 00:44:58,666
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1208
00:44:59,000 --> 00:45:01,566
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