Today was going to be exciting. In addition to playing another World Top 100 golf course, we were being interviewed by Golf World UK’s Chris Bertram. Oh, what to wear…

Heading out at 6:30 am, we were unsure what we were in for at Ganton. The forecast was bleak and getting wet looked imminent. 3.5 hours later after a bad regulation coffee/takeaway bacon and egg roll at the service station, we arrived in the country town of Ganton.

With all the rain, everything is lush and we were delighted to see the golf course looking it finest.

Ganton GC is a country course and most of the 300 members travel in from surrounding cities including Manchester and Leeds. Set in an idyllic location with very little surrounding the course except rolling farmland, this is a great escape from the hustle and bustle of everyday life.

The course was in excellent condition. The greens were reasonably fast and true although the three blasts of showers slowed them down. The bunkers were deep and dangerous but consistent and protected holes that were otherwise somewhat exposed to long hitters. This course is a good example of how great courses can be created and maintained without large budgets. The terrain was gentle and as finely tuned athletes, this was a walk in the park.

Loren Justins, a colleague of Gary’s from Queensland joined us for the 18 holes which pleased us to no end as we always argue about the ‘shot of the day’, Loren was the arbitrator of this decision. Just what is the shot of the day – is it a 20 foot putt (Gary) or the tickling of the flag with an 8 iron (David)? Tension was rising, and it was resolved to give it to Gary with his drive onto the 17th short par four green, to secure his birdie to match Dave’s birdie on the fifth.

We have again missed lunch (we were on course) and dinner (we are on the road) as we drive 4 hours to Muirfield, our first course in Scotland. We experienced four seasons today (Gary is used to that coming from Melbourne), who knows what tomorrow will bring.

Overall Birdie Tally

Dave – (1 birdie, cumulative 6)
Gary – (1 birdie, cumulative 14)

The ‘interview’ with Chris from Golf World UK was enjoyable. It lasted about one hour. In fact, Chris was so impressed, he promised we would be on the front cover (just kidding Chris we know you are reading this).

Just a quick ‘thank you’ to all of you who care to read our blog. We hope you enjoy it and appreciate our average sense of humour.

Feel free to provide feedback – anyone we hear from will go into a draw to win a leftover sleeve of balls and left over unused band aids from our trip. On the road again…Stay tuned…

Word had not got out yet that we were playing Royal Lytham & St Annes (host of the 2012 British Open) so the grandstands were empty when we arrived.

By the end of the first few holes however when people knew we were playing the grandstands were……still empty. We both felt this was good as there is nothing worse than a spectator snapping a photo during our backswing (although Gary did a bit of that).

Lytham is hosting the Open in just over 6 weeks time so when we checked in at the pro shop we picked up our scorecards, directions to the first tee and of course, our mats.

What are mats you might ask? Well to prevent fairway divots leading into the Open all golfers are required to hit fairway shots from the mats. They need not have given us the mats for the first 4 holes because we were not on the fairway. Rough, bunkers, train lines and even a grandstand were in play but the only fairway action we saw was walking from one side of the rough to the other.

This course is long and robust. With over 200 bunkers and a prevailing stiff breeze finding the fairway is not easy nor is hitting the green in regulation. The course is located 500 metres from the Irish Sea and whilst you do not have any ocean views the sea breeze is one the natural defences of the course.

What we really enjoyed was the ability to see the fairways laid out before you on the majority of holes. This was a stark contrast to a number of other courses we have played to date.

Bunkers were strategically placed at key places on the course including the middle of fairways causing both of us to think more about ideal shot placement than we have to date. Visually we were fooled into thinking there was a mass of bunkers with no actual safe landing area.

This is where our Bushnell rangefinder was invaluable. Prior to hitting each tee shot we were able to aim and point at each bunker to determine the distance to each. The results surprised us but helped us with valuable intelligence about where we could hit.

Gary was very excited about the sensational and very true greens as they were similar to a number of Melbourne Sandbelt courses particularly Kingston Heath. As a result he holed a number of good putts to compensate for the shots hit in the rough. David was excited about the revetted bunkering on all but 3 of the 202 bunkers – very similar to those at NSW Golf Club.

The train line runs adjacent to holes 1,2,3,7,8,9 and adds something to the whole Lytham experience. Upon reflection we should have just caught the train to the 10th hole! But we didn’t have the correct change and they don’t allow golf clubs or Australian currency.

As is common with the courses we have played to date the 9th hole is at the furthest point from the clubhouse. Certainly no halfway house as this could slow down the round and is considered unecessary.

Lytham is a worthy club to host its 11th Open Championship and David and I look forward to seeing who will hoist the Claret Jug (which currently sits in the clubhouse). It is a great golf course that you could play week in, week out.

A key part of a visit to a new course is how you are treated when you arrived. Eddie (long time pro) and Sylvia and their staff were very friendly and Sylvia even managed to convince David to buy a pink shirt (good salesperson right there). Watch out for a future shot with David wearing his bright new addition to his wardrobe which may clash with Gary’s electric blue Peter Millar golf shirt selected by Ben (the incumbent head professional when Eddie retires at the end of this year).

Sadly Dave’s 30 points won the day. The shot of the day was Dave’s 3rd shot on the par 5 7th hole straight into the wind uphill from 200 metres to a well protected green to give him a good chance at birdie. It was fun to watch.

Overall Birdie Tally

David (0 birdies, cumulative 5)
Gary (1 birdie, cumulative 13)

Tomorrow we are up bright and early for a nice leisurely 3 hour drive to Ganton Golf Club in Yorkshire. Pudding for dinner… Stay tuned.

After the wetness of yesterday, the last thing we wanted was another damp day. Our clothes and shoes dried out quite well overnight so it was with fear that we opened the curtains to reveal what we would be facing weather wise…

“Here comes the sun” was very apt and the clear blue skies, slight breeze and crisp temperature were the perfect combination for a game at Royal Birkdale.

This course has hosted many memorable Open Championships and boasts amongst its previous winners Tiger Woods, Mark O’Meara, Lee Trevino and our very own home grown Ian Baker-Finch. The course is located a short 5 minute drive from the centre of the seaside town of Southport.

The Birkdale sand dunes where the course is laid out, reminds us of the topography of Barnbougle Dunes, the course built throughout the seaside dunes in Bridport Tasmania.

Royal Birkdale is very challenging even without the wind as fairway bunkering is prevalent and penal on most holes.

Hitting the ball out required use of a lob wedge to clear their steep faces.

It was peculiar to have the par 5s rated 1, 3, 5 and 10 in difficulty but after playing them we could see why.

The fairways were often visible however the clever positioning of the bunkers actually fools you in your club selection off the tee as you often have more fairway than you may think and sometimes the opposite was true. All in all this golf course is extraordinary and deserves its top 30 status in the world.

We are of the view that Peter Thomson, who was an Open winner here in 1954 and 1965, got his fairway bunker design inspiration from Birkdale. His courses feature many similar designs to what we encountered.

The subtleties of the greens made them trickier than most we have played. There were a number of three putts. We sank no ‘bombs’ today.

However, alas, there was one golfing highlight. Gary nestled his 4 iron second shot to 15 feet (‘shot of the day’) on the par 5 18th hole and yes, sunk the putt for Eagle! After filming his exuberance on the green, I think everyone he knows in Australia has now been informed. It was a picture perfect series of three shots.

A good hotel is half the battle when you are on the move like we are.

The Vincent hotel in Southport has been our home for the last two nights and we both are enjoying the features of this boutique hotel which we would highly recommend to anyone who visits Southport. Conveniently located on Lord Street, it is near the restaurants, shops and cafes.

Gary managed to photograph Royal Birkdale at 6am today, play golf and then also make the advance one hour trek to Lytham to get some evening course shots. He likely walked 25 km today between courses and we are writing this blog as we eat a kebab as no restaurants or pubs are still serving food at 11pm at night.

Overall Birdie Tally

David (0 birdies, cumulative 5)
Gary (1 eagle – equates to 2 birdies, cumulative 12)

Weather tomorrow was supposed to be wet but we are hoping it will clear as we take on Lytham only weeks before they host the Open in July. The grandstands are all up and we may have to hit off a mat that we carry around with us. Stay tuned.