Virtually every hole at Sunningdale could be the "signature" hole at most courses, but the par 4 10th is probably the most visually stunning of all.  

 

    The Willie Park Jr. designed Sunningdale Old Course, opened in 1901 and updated by Henry Colt in the ‘20s, should be on every seriously golfer's list to play whilst in England.  Although we were hosted there by an acquaintance, the club will accept some outside play Mondays through Thursdays.  Green fees range as high as $370 US but the experience is well worth the price tag.  The extra little touches of a great club are there as well:  The best cup of coffee I had in three weeks in the British Isles was in the Sunningdale clubhouse lounge, overlooking the practice green.  And it was complimentary.
    The par 70 Sunningdale course reminded me at times of Pine Valley, the best golf course I have ever played, as well as Shinnecock Hills.  Both those classic American courses

put a premium on distance and accuracy off the tee, as does Sunningdale.  Like Pine Valley and Shinnecock, Sunningdale seems relentlessly challenging, with its many forced carries not the only considerations from the teeing ground.  Heather abounds, and it is not the wispy stuff between fairways on the links of Fife, but rather the tall, gnarly grass that makes finding your ball as challenging as extricating it.         

    Fairway and green turf conditions were near perfect, with firm and fast putting surfaces and lush fairways.  Sunningdale is every bit a player's course, and those looking for a relaxing resort type trip around are advised to stay away.  One American in the foursome behind us seemed exhausted as he trudged up the 17th hole.  I sympathized mightily.  I played to double my handicap at Sunningdale because I did not hit the ball straight off the tees.  My son Tim had a similar problem off the tees and scored his highest round of the week, a 78.  Yet we enjoyed the experience and recognition that we were on one of the finest routings in the world.  Next time, we hope to add a round at the adjacent Henry Colt designed New Course (circa 1923), considered by some members the equal of the Old Course.
    Sunningdale presents virtually every hazard a classic course can muster, in addition to the heather.  A huge grassy knoll covers the view of the entire right side of #1, a short par 5 at just 492 yards.  A large bush and bunker protect the left side nearer the green.  The effect is of a narrow entranceway, which toughens up the reachable five-shot hole (reachable, that is, for some).  The course mixes in a few short par 4s, such as #3, at just 278 yards.  But these are not grip and rip holes, and the smart player will substitute brains for brawn on those holes whose distances are embellished with trouble.  At #3, for example, two nasty spectacle bunkers guard the right side landing area, and the fairway beyond tilts right toward the heather.  The green is one of the more undulating on the course.
    A few creeks frame some of the holes at Sunningdale but water is not a big factor on the course except at the 400-yard par 4 5th hole, with a perfectly round pond that stretches from 74 yards from the green to 33 yards, making any thinly hit approach a sure bogey or worse.  There is no safe entryway to the green as the left side is fully guarded by sand bunkers, as is the front right side just a few yards beyond the pond.  If you play too long, heather and trees await beyond the green.
    I found the greens quite difficult to read.  A few times I aimed my putts a ball or two to one side of the cup and they rolled an equivalent distance the other way. (My eye doctor tells me I need some corrective surgery on my eyes in the fall, so perhaps the greens were not that tough.)  But they were easily the fastest surfaces of any we played over 10 days, not exactly lightning but they will be for the Women's Open in a few weeks.
    Sunningdale permitted my son Tim to play from the back tees (6,700 yards), the only course of our vacation that didn't force him to play the regular tees.  The Old Course at St. Andrews and the other links courses we played in Scotland reserve the "medal" tees for professionals and official club tournaments.  Those medal tees, by the way, are barely longer than 6,000 yards but, okay, it is their courses and they make the rules. 

    But Sunningdale (back tees 6,600 yards), according to our gracious host for the day, Helena Felix, is a "members club"; members and their guests have mostly unimpeded access to the premises. (On the day we played, Sunningdale's Old Course was available for four-ball play only; twosomes were required to play the New Course.)  From the free and terrific coffee in the stunning old clubhouse to the friendly greetings in the pro shop and locker room, Sunningdale presents itself pretty much like any well-run, casual private club.  However, there is nothing "casual" about the wonderfully challenging Sunningdale, the toughest test of the eight outstanding courses we played in the United Kingdom. 

    Tim and I will publish our overall rankings of the eight here in the next few days.

Beyond the 17th green lie the 18th fairway and Sunningdale's stunning and accommodating clubhouse. 

 

Sunningdale Golf Club, Old Course (Par 70)

Yardages (rating and slope not available)

    Back tees/6,627; white/6,308; orange/6,063; red/5,825(par 74) 

The challenging par 4 7th hole at Scotscraig presents a split fairway with an option to approach from either the upper side (above left) or lower.

 

by Tim Gavrich
    Located in Tayport, in the Kingdom of Fife, just about a 20-minute drive north of St. Andrews, Scotscraig Golf Club hosted its first rounds in 1817, making it the 13th oldest golf club in the world, although it lay fallow for 50 years during the 19th Century. The current course dates back to a redesign in 1923 by the famous James Braid.  Scotscraig, an excellent combination heathland and parkland course, has served as a final qualifying site for the Open Championship.
    The elements of the course are rated on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being "as good as it gets."

Golf Course Setting: 7.5
    Located in the bustling town of Tayport, Scotscraig gives the feeling of a green oasis in the middle of town life.  The pastoral setting of the course, while unspectacular, is pleasant and well-suited to golf, with areas of gentle movement in the terrain and some spots with rumpled ground most typical of linksland.

Golf Course Conditions: 7
    The fairways and roughs at Scotscraig were in very good shape.  The fairways were firm, rewarding good drives with lots of roll.  The rough was fairly easy to play from in some places and thick and problematic in others.  This inconsistency is not at all a bad thing; unpredictability is a reasonable penalty for a misplayed shot.  The greens, while fairly smooth, were quite slow.

Quality of Green Complexes: 8
    The greens and surrounds at Scotscraig are strong and interesting.  The approaches to the greens and the greens themselves are kept very firm, forcing the player to think twice about making high approach shots, even from short distances.  In that regard, Scotscraig plays much like a seaside Scottish links.  Also, bunkers that appear to be snuggled up against the putting surfaces are often actually set as much as 30 yards short, giving the green complexes a psychological, as well as physical, defense.

Quality of Par 3s: 7.5
    The short holes at Scotscraig are quite good and vary an adequate amount, from the 150-yard 6th to the 214-yard 3rd.  The most compelling of Scotscraig's par 3s is the 165-yard 13th, named "Island," which features a semi-blind tee shot to an undulating green guarded by a bunker short and left of the putting surface.  In order to take advantage of slopes that feed the ball from left to right on the green, the best line is dangerously close to that bunker.  The hole may take its name from the trenches of rough surrounding the green which create the island effect.

Quality of Par 4s: 8.5
    The two-shot holes at Scotscraig are a strong bunch, with the only slight disappointment that there is no drivable par four on the course.  Nonetheless, the variation and range of difficulty among the par 4s is engaging.  The most compelling of these is the 401-yard 7th, named "Plateau," which features a semi-blind tee shot to a short upper fairway with a lower fairway beyond.  The conservative play is a short tee shot towards the end of the upper fairway, leaving a long, partially blind shot down towards the green over very rumpled land.  Bounces are unpredictable and, in some cases, unwelcome.  The aggressive play is down to the second fairway in order to have a short iron or wedge into the green, giving the player more control over which contours the ball needs to traverse in order to find its way near the hole.

Quality of Par 5s: 7.5
    The three long holes at Scotscraig offer good opportunities to make birdies and possibly an eagle or two.  The 9th and 16th are both under 500 yards from the back tees and offer good chances at getting home in two.  If the player's drive on the 479-yard 16th finds the narrow fairway between stands of gorse, the green becomes an inviting target.  But, a wild drive could put par out of reach.  The 523-yard 14th tempts the player to reach back and unleash his longest drive of the day.  A stream running along the hole about 20 yards left of the fairway must be avoided off the tee, but the best spot for trying to attack the green in two is from the left side of the fairway.

 

Routing of Golf Course/A Good Walk?: 9.5
    Scotscraig represents one of the most efficient uses of land that I have seen in golf.  Though it sits on only 106 acres, there is never a time at which the golfer feels threatened by play from other holes.  The only crossover is at the connected 5th and 8th tees, but even then the intrusion of one hole on the other is minimal.  Furthermore, greens and tees are close together, which leaves the willing player with more than enough energy for a second round after the first is finished.

Overall Rating: 8
    Scotscraig Golf Club is an excellent course in a relaxed, lovely part of Fife.  Even though it does not have the eye-candy of its more famous links brethren, that is no reason to dismiss it as an afterthought golfing experience.  It is a challenging course from the longer tees, but is nonetheless manageable for higher handicappers and shorter hitters.  It would be an excellent complement to a roster of links courses on a golfing vacation in the St. Andrews area.

Yardage/Par/Rating/Slope
    Blue: 6669/71/73/NA
    White: 6550/71/72/NA
    Yellow: 6310/71/71/NA
    Red: 5791/72/74/NA

We had lunch in the classic old clubhouse at Scotscraig whose dining room (far right) looks out upon the practice putting green.