Looking Beyond The Top 100: A Golf Fanatic’s Guide

Nish 0:11

Every good story is about the journey, and this is the story of our journey trying to play the top 100 courses in the UK and Ireland in just 10 years. This is the Top 100 in 10 Golf Podcast. Episode 89. The Top 100 and Beyond. So we’re very lucky in our position. We get to play some of the most amazing courses in the world sometimes. We get to speak about them. We get to give our unbiased uh biased, probably, let’s say, biased opinions about them, and people listen, which is great. But more importantly, you get to meet some great new people. Now, social media gets a bad reputation under normal circumstances. But I would say in the golf world, it’s a very vibrant community. There’s people who are willing to help each other, take time out, they will message you in the middle of the night, and you will have a series of five-ten messages with people, and you’re not thinking, Why are we both not in bed? What’s going on? But the important thing there is that people are willing to give you their time. So today I’m joined by Andy, who has a great many stories to tell us about his life in golf, the courses that he’s played, and helping out a world record holder. Um, so we’re gonna delve into all of that knowledge and his repertoire of some of the big names and some of the not so big names. But prior to that, I’m gonna ask you out there to do us a massive favour. Just hit follow wherever you’re watching or listening to this podcast. That single thing indicates to all the algorithms, and everybody knows what an algorithm is about now, that that is the one factor that’s gonna help them distribute this podcast to more and more people just like you. Now back to this great episode. Um so hello Andy, how are you? Very good, thank you, Nish. Yeah, thanks for having me. What’s that for an intro? Do you like it? Um, right. Well, we’re gonna go straight in with a heavy-hitting question. Okay. Okay, we’re gonna highlight straight off. So I’ve promised people you’re gonna tell us some courses that they might not have heard of, they probably have heard of, or they’re gonna hear it and they’re gonna go, Whoa, this guy who’s played top 100s as well, actually rates my course. Yeah. So give us one right at the start that you think people ought to try and make the effort to go and play.

Andy 2:22

Um,

Hidden Gem: Pleasington

Andy 2:22

one that is right, I think, on the fringes of the top 100, but is right up there as a very, very good golf course, is Pleasington Golf Club, yeah, okay. Which is near Blackburn. Uh near Blackburn, yeah. So Lancashire. Um, they’ve done a lot of work over the last probably five or six years, they had a long-term plan.

Nish 2:43

Yeah.

Andy 2:43

Um, and I’ve played it a few times and it and it is an absolute cracker. It’s really, really good. Is it not known enough to be a hidden gem? I don’t know, but it is, it’s not in the top 100. It’s in the chat, definitely. Um, but yeah, it’s it’s a it’s a really, really good Parkland course, but has a lot of character. And as you probably know, all great golf courses have train lines running through them, and it has one running right the way through the middle of it. So yeah, it’s it’s a it’s a really, really good course, very quirky, um, very, very well maintained, but yeah, and it drains well, but it’s yeah, really, really good.

Nish 3:20

Hidden gem is an interesting phrase, isn’t it? Because everybody’s after that. But I suppose nowadays we just gave social media a good boost then. But actually, in these days of social media, is anything a hidden gem anymore? Because everybody’s heard about it somehow.

Andy 3:33

That’s the thing, though. It’s like you you you you if you wound the clock back, say five, ten years ago, Silloth was classed as a hidden gem, but it was it was always in the chat of could it host the open? But it it’s uh something a bit different, isn’t it? Really?

Nish 3:47

Everybody knows about Silith now, don’t they?

Andy 3:48

Everyone knows Silloth. It’s like if you if you want to play a top 100 like or a top top course and you want to spend under a hundred quid, Silloth is the answer. It’s the answer, isn’t it?

Nish 3:57

Absolutely. Um right, so look, Andy, we we went straight with the highlight, but tell us a little bit about how you got into golf and you know where that journey’s taking you.

Andy 4:06

Okay, so I got into golf. I I played very rarely as a junior, nine olds here and there over the summers. Um, and then I used to work for Mini and BMW, and as I was getting into my late 20s and early 30s, um, a lot of the lads who I used to work with um they were heading off to play with customers. We used to play at Birkdale, we’d play at Formby, we’d do um they’d do financial services comps, and I was got a bit tired of everyone just kind of get leaving me behind. So I was like, right, well, I’ll take up golf again. And then uh after uh probably a summer or so, really got hooked into it, got really obsessed with it and become a passion, really. So yeah, that I kind of fell back into it by kind of by default, really. Yes, but no, it’s it’s it’s a it’s um yeah, and then joined a club, and then once I’m quite analytical, quite bothered about tracking stats and tracking KPIs or whichever the way you want to look at it, yeah, and trying to start to figure out how I can get better, yeah. Yeah, I got really deep, deep dive into that side of it.

Nish 5:14

And that then would lead to so Andy’s Instagram handle is at 28 to 8. Yeah. And that that then tells me why you you picked that anti-or handle, right?

Andy 5:27

Yeah, so so I when I when I first started the Instagram page, my wife used to say all you ever do is post about golf. Um, and I got caught out a couple of times where I just thought, you know what, I’ll uh I’ll I’ll um I want to set up a page that’s just just for golf. Yeah. So I thought, right, well, I’ll try and document my journey and um I set myself a target. Um in the first year of it weren’t really much about posting, but in the first year I came down 10 shots for I went from 28 to 8 in one summer. 18. Uh sorry, sorry, 28 to 18. That’s gonna be so I went 10 shots in a summer, so I went from 28 to 18. So that’s when I was kind of in the middle of the journey. I thought I really want to track it, and I’ve kind of got down to hovering around the 14.6, I think it is, mark at the moment, which I’ve hovered around that area for a while now, so I’ve kind of really looked at the analytical side of it, but also looked at not just how I hit the golf ball, it’s more how I mentally deal with it. So I’m actually going through some uh mental coaching at the moment, which is which is something very different, and looking at things in a very, very different way. I’m very, very early stages in it. Yeah, I have a mental coach, which is a a specific um golf mental coach who specialises in mental game, yeah, very, very good. I had a couple of sessions with him, really, really good. So really enjoying that side of it.

Nish 6:58

Yeah, we had somebody on the podcast as well. Um, I will actually name checking because he was my guest, but he was the cog coach and he was unbelievable. And just the things that he was telling us, it was about how you do training, all this kind of stuff. It was absolutely unreal, and it does, it totally changes the way you look at things, isn’t it?

Andy 7:15

Yeah, absolutely. The uh I think there’s certain vocabulary that you use on a golf course, and and I think when you get to a certain level, you have like a bit of an expectation, yeah, and it’s it’s changing the expectation. And one of the um things I’ve been challenged with is I I can’t say should, I should say could. Yeah, okay. And then also give it an example, sorry. So my ex my problem, I feel, is and and a lot of the time, like if I’ve had like for example, if I had a pound for everyone who said, Oh, you’re not off 14, you can hit it far too good for 14, yeah, I wouldn’t have to work. But so my expectation is quite high, and I should be doing better, or I should have hit that shot, or I should have hold that putt, yeah, but instead I’ve got to I’m not allowed to say that. So if I say should on the golf course, I have to make three consecutive six-foot putts as a punishment to myself, right? Okay, so I could have held that putt and it’s flipping it on its head. So that’s what I’m going through at the moment.

Nish 8:18

Just recalibrate your expectation around.

Andy 8:20

Recalibrate my expectation, but also recalibrate um how I treat all I’ve kind of got to categorize three my shots. So I don’t ever hit a bad shot, I hit a good enough shot.

Nish 8:34

Yeah.

Andy 8:34

And then I hit a good enough, good, or great. And it’s categorizing the shots in those three categories, yeah. So, and looking for a positive with every single shot. So if I’ve fatted a shot, yeah, I can’t say that’s a bad shot because it’s good enough because I’m 20 yards closer to the hole. Yeah. So it’s then having the the mental strength to go through that. So that’s what I’m the journey that I’m on at the moment. Yeah. And I feel like I’ve plateaued a lot. Um, I’ve got a really, really good coach in uh my kind of golf coach, yeah, whoach technique-wise, which I’ve done really well, but I feel like the technique goes out the window because of the mental side of it.

Nish 9:17

Yeah.

Andy 9:17

So I’m really trying hard now, especially over the coming months, to deal with the mental side of it. So then I can kind of get back into my technique very quickly. So that’s the theory behind it at the moment.

Nish 9:29

So well, look, I’m I’m a big proponent of all of that. Um, I I’m I’m a fortunate person. That what’s happened proves it doesn’t tend to. I’m not gonna say it doesn’t impact my golf for the whole rest of the round. Everyone has that, don’t they? You have a bad hole and it just kind of bleeds into the rest. But I certainly don’t beat myself up because I just always have just viewed it as there is not much more I’d rather be doing right now than playing golf and and whatever. And that does happen with bad shots quite a lot. You know, you just tend to just go and like, well, do you know what? I was happy with this strike. You think direction was wrong, but I I struck that really, really well. You know, it’s just categorizing it, though, isn’t it? Correct, yeah. You’re like, it’s just kind of like it’s alright, it’s fine. And yet, I’m not trying to qualify for any tournaments, so we’ll it it all seems to work okay. But I find that interesting, like your route into golf is a little bit more unconventional. You say most people have been like junior members somewhere or whatever.

Andy 10:19

I played

Hidden Gem: The Players Club, Bristol

Andy 10:19

so rarely as a junior. I I think I remember I got a house and set when I was really young, and then I went to a few like group lessons, but then played in the summer here and there, where we’d go and play nine holes, where the nine-hole course that we used to play is houses now, so it used to be so few and far between, and then as I got older, I kind of wanted to play more and tried to you know play different. I was a very much a club golfer where I was playing the same place every week and out, and that kind of I enjoyed that side of it, and there’s nothing wrong with that. But then as I probably got into my especially over since the last probably seven, eight years, I’ve really gone into playing different courses, going on trips. And one thing I I go on a lot of trips with my dad. I try and go away every year with my dad just just to have those memories because I want and then my my son plays, my eldest son plays, so it’s uh it’s having those memories and going to different places and finding these hidden gems. Yeah, yeah. So we we found a few, so yeah, Pleasington definitely up near us was one. Um okay, give us another one then. Another one, right? Okay, um, another one, again, similar sort of thing to Pleasanton, probably not well known. Have you heard it’s called the Players Club in Bristol? Right, okay, not heard of it. They’ve got a par three course and two other courses, but the one of the courses called the Codding uh Coddington. Okay. That’s a really, really good course. And and again, it’s no the play it’s not that well known. They’ve got a really good little stay and play place, yeah, but again, bit of a hidden mon. Um I think they’ve done some I think they’ve done some uh DP World Tour Q school events there, but again, not really well known. But if you want to go somewhere that and go in, I’ve been watching a lot of um Josh Mayer at the moment, and he does like different levels. That is such a good place to go and play golf for a stay and play with your mates, great bar, great food, yeah, all the sort of stuff that you would do, and to go and play there over a weekend or whichever. There’s a par three course. I’ve done it in the past with um we did par three course in the morning, 18 holes in the afternoon, and then the champ, what they class as the championship, which is the hidden gem one I would say of them, is that as an as a either 36 or 18, and it’s not going to break the bank. And it’s a really, really, really good course, great condition, great layout, challenging, yeah, something very different. And that’s near Bristol, you say? Yeah, right near Bristol. And I say it’s it’s um it’s not in the middle of nowhere, it’s quite easy to get to, it’s just off the motorway. So it again, there’s another one like that. If you want to go somewhere a bit more out there, um well, I’ll push you for that in a minute. Okay.

Nish 13:05

I like I’m liking the fact that we’re gonna drip feed these in. Yeah, yeah, no, no.

Andy 13:08

But yeah, but the thing is, is it’s I uh what I really enjoy is going having different experiences at different levels because don’t me wrong, I’ve been very, very fortunate to play some very, very, very exclusive great golf courses, but uh that’s not the be-all and end all to me. I want to play different places and meet like-minded people, and like you said you know, on social media, uh, that’s what I kind of really enjoy. It’s incredible.

Nish 13:33

I mean, like I’ll I’ll I’ll definitely lean into what you’ve just said there about the experiences kind of thing, you know. As look, we I started this whole thing with Chris, and there’s that naivety about it, and you’re like, Yeah, we’re just gonna stick to that. And I remember actually last year we probably had a couple of conversations, a few opportunities came up to play a couple of courses that we were like, Oh, we could do it, but it’s not really on our list. Yeah, I’ve I’ve flipped around on that. Yeah, I’m just like, I want to play it because if somebody’s coming out there and saying to you, like, you need to go here, it’s a great golf experience, like it will be, won’t it? Because they’re not gonna stick their neck on the line like that.

Andy 14:10

Yeah, I think I think there’s a there’s a lot of courses in different places, and and again, how I look at it is especially like for example, it when we’ve been away, my sister-in-law has a place in Wales. So I know I’ve been away with a family. Me and my son will just go and play somewhere on a Sunday morning, go and get 18 alls in, we’ll tee off early. Um, and you know, I found some cracking little courses like that. I’ve played some really like you know, top 100 courses with him. He’s he’s doing he’s started an Instagram page at 11, but he wants to do the top 100 in England by the time he’s 18. That’s his challenge. So yeah, he’s doing well at that so far, so he’s uh he’s getting a good start. But yeah, it is it’s it’s not all about you know having history and you know, finding these courses with great architecture and various different bits like that. It’s about the experience, the enjoyment of it. Yeah, you know, those memories for me uh big things like I I’ve said for a long time, my my favourite courses are not always about the course, or well, it’s about the overall experience, you know, on the course and off the course. So it’s it’s kind of having that really that there’s a lot, there’s a lot of course, like for example, with the the current top 100, and again, I’m not gonna kind of try and cause controversy, but I think the the most recent changes in the top 100 for me, I have no idea where they’ve got them from. I’ve played courses that have dropped 45 places, and I’d probably put it in the top 50, back in the top 50. Um there’s courses that I’ve played, and I think that this has gone up in the rankings, and I just don’t see how. But I’ve never had a bad experience with anyone kind of saying, Oh no, that you you you don’t know what you’re talking about because it’s subjective. Of course it is, yeah. So and and I think it’s a game of opinions, of course it is, and the whole thing is, you know, but again, that’s coming back to experience uh as in how you felt, and that is obviously not quantifiable because how you felt no one can tell you how you feel. So exactly right. So that that’s the thing though is like like I said, we were having a chat before about my top ten courses, and I always try and take out a little bit of condition. Yeah, I do think that condition is going to play a big part in it, but obviously condition can change, is it you know, from we’ve had a really dry summer, yeah, so a lot of like the lot of the the course like I played St George’s Hill and it was burnt to a crisp, but it wasn’t uh it’s an absolutely sensational golf course, yeah, and they’ve just decided to rip it all up. But that’s right, you didn’t do that, isn’t it? Yeah, they’ve ripped up the uh the red, I think it is the all nine holes of the red, and doing it again. But that is we played it the day before the last day. Well, before the shovels go in, and yeah, and that is a brilliant golf course. Amazing, but the there’s there’s other golf courses that are ranked, for example, for me, the Addington. That for me, when all the at the moment it’s going through transition, yeah, like it’s in flux, yeah, but that when it’s done will be a top 20 golf course. Wow, that high. I think it’s amazing. It’s a brilliant golf course, that right, very, very clever, very well structured. But again, when you come to experience but also architecture and bring that into it, so yeah, it’s kind of like ranking it in what matters to you, isn’t it?

Nish 17:36

Yeah, of course. That’s what I always think is most important. That’s interesting, you’ve got the the top on today from Walton Heath. So we played Walton Heath when it was burnt out, yeah. And yeah, same thing, like you know, you walk away and you’re like, you know, the the thing about golf art that I like that suits my eye is is the green, you know, trees and the those colours popping. When that gets taken away, I remember saying to Chris in the review, it took me seven or eight holes to adjust to that. Yeah, because normally you can definitively tell where the fairway is and where the rough is, and this was this was becoming more tricky. Yeah, so kind of getting and I had to like I always have a camera strapped onto my trolley, yeah, and I had to watch four and a half hours of us playing terrible golf, but I had to go and watch it all back, and I was like, oh, actually, those early holes probably don’t remember them, but that’s still my eye getting into it, you know.

Andy 18:26

And yeah, I think I that’s really interesting when you say that because I look at it in a very different way to that. Yeah, I look at placement of bunkers, the structure and framing of the hole. Yeah, I look at what’s behind the green, how the the bunkers come into play. One thing I really, really do, especially and Walton Heath Old is a really, really good example of that, is how the heather comes into play, but also how it kind of shapes the whole.

Nish 18:58

Yeah.

Andy 18:58

Well the fairway, yeah. I I don’t mind like I’m I’m like a bit of a fan of like I I it really annoyed me in the summer that all the you know Americans slated. Oh, birds burnt out. Yeah, because it’s but I’ve loved it. I was like, that looks wicked. Yeah. Obviously, I’m a bit biased because I’m a member of the links course. So we’ve had it really burnt out, and I think it looks brilliant because I think it just it’s it’s more about how the hole is framed, not the because not the how green it is and how Yeah, yeah, not the turf. Yeah, yeah. I think because the I still think it looks really, really good like it other than the first hole at Wall and Heath. You know, the second, third, and five. Yeah, I don’t know. I mean it does it. I know, yeah. I’m not a fan of par three starts, but that that’s uh the weirdest opening hole. It’s like they built it, and then we went and then someone went, Oh no, we’ve only done 17 of them.

Nish 19:57

You and they just took the words right out of my mouth. That’s exactly what I said. Is it feels exactly like that? It’s like, oh no, we miscounted. Yeah, it should have been 18 holes.

Andy 20:04

We’ve done the thing to do is how big that uh how vast that property is. For me, I think it’s almost they’ve put it in because it’s a link between the clubhouse and the course. Because if you didn’t go to the first there, it’s you just cross a road, it’s very detached. But for me, I’d I’d probably make that because I’m trying the range is quite far away, isn’t it? I’d make that like a little like a pit, I’d make that as in like a really good practice, short game area. Yeah, really good. It could be really good, couldn’t it? Like if you brought that green really far forward and then put bunkers in, and you did say you could do from like 40-50 yard pitches into it, which would look brilliant, and you could make a really like undulated um green, that would be brilliant as that, because that would be a brilliant area to warm up. Yeah, well the hilt side sensationally, isn’t it? Something like hilt that amazing, perfect for that bit of land. And if you think because old and the old and the new are so intertwined, I think the actual it’d be really good because I think there’s a lot of room on the on if you come in on the first on the second left of the T. Well the left of the T, but they’ve also you’ve got a load of room in the top right hand corner, right? Okay, which is up near the new, yeah, you could re-jig one of the new holes. The thing is always a lot of it is to do with because they have the um they have the qualifying for the US Open there, don’t they? Right, the English qualifying draft opening par threes of the no, they don’t use it. I think they don’t use that. They’re not used that they do a composite, they do 16 and 2, so 16 of the old and two of the 16 of the old, two of the new, but the it’s a very, very good golf course. I loved the new, the new was brilliant, and I was a bit and I was a bit let down by the new. The lad who I played the new with was a great guy, really we had a great laugh, again, which are uh all all part of it, but yeah, the the old was um the far is more about how the the heather comes into play and the bunkering for me, like especially the first probably two to there’s a part. three I think is it the sixth that kind of you go up two or three holes and then you kind of take a left on a par three then you have a par five yeah I think that par three is really clever yeah but yeah it’s it’s um yeah it is it’s a it’s a great I’m gonna put it out there as one of the most mental opening holes ever I’ve ever encountered it’s we’ll have we played it and I was just we were just like oh yeah this is Walton I was like I think we bowed we didn’t say it to each other but we were just like it’d be better not be like this.

Nish 22:40

Did you play it with a member? No we played it on a pairs event all right okay so that’s because we would have probably been warned about it if it was a member playing with us well I played it with a member and he’s a really really good guy um he’s a um yeah really really good guy and uh I’ve known him for a while and he was like not apologetic but borderline apologetic anyway and he said to me don’t worry the second’s a great horse yeah yeah judge it from the second onwards yeah I don’t know yeah yeah crazy well look um tell us how many on the top 100 list you’ve played it’s list specific obviously because there are so many of them which one are you going off and how many of them have you played um the 2025 list I’m going off and that’s a official top 100 list are you going on official top 100 yeah so that was kind of when I really started to I’d I’d played quite a few of them but when I really started to focus on it and and kind of enjoy it. So and is that how it started for you?

Andy 23:37

Did you sort of play a few and you thought actually I’m sort of working through this looks like I’m getting through a few of these lists I’m gonna start doing it officially yeah I think I played when I played in the space if between November and May so six seven months in 23 24 I can’t quite remember I played Royal Liverpool twice. Amazing and I’d played I played I’ve played Formby twice and never and that was always with BMW so I played quite a few different courses and then after that I was I kind of thought well do you know what I played like for example I played Wallasey with my dad and I wanted to kind of play different places and then I started getting to the point where I was like I didn’t really know there was a top 100 and I was like well do you know what I’m really starting to enjoy this here here I really enjoy playing there I really enjoy playing there so where else can I play? Like up until I’m trying to think up until April this year I had I don’t I hadn’t played in Surrey right I played Woben one of the Woben courses but yeah I hadn’t played in Surrey up until April this year. How good is it down in Surrey? Well the thing is since then I reckon I’ve played ten in in that was April this year and I reckon I’ve done eight to ten of them this year. Yeah until this year I’d never set foot in Surrey to play golf. Well thing is I used to get the tra I I work a lot in London so I used to get the train down. Go past did you and then now I tend to drive so yeah.

Nish 25:02

But no it’s uh funny though isn’t it yeah but uh one of the perks but no it’s such an amazing place isn’t it to play golf.

Andy 25:08

Yeah you’ve got to do it once in your life I think if you’re a if you’re a well I try and go a couple of times a year so I’ve got a few books for next year already which is two sorry trips next year so in in a month so yeah so I’m very jealous um right go on so how many have you played then of your list? 35 in GB and I and 36 in England. Wow’s a so yeah get getting there just yeah you know roughly a to just over a third the way through yeah so this year’s been pretty intense I re I’m at 20 different 20 yeah 20 courses not all top 100 this year but 20 different courses I did set a target for myself this year to do 18 different golf courses I’ve never played so I’ve played a few that I’ve played before but my top 10 really has reshuffled this year.

Nish 25:59

Has it right yeah there’s some been some big changes um so let’s do let’s do let’s do it top of the pop style we’ll count down we’ll get the music going in the background whatever but um let’s do your your your your 10 to five 10 to six then to do that to the so one thing I will say before I say this is for me the story starts with a caveat I know yeah this changes when you’ve play obviously there’s course in there that I’ve played once and I get that but when you play a course for a second time you see it in a slightly different view and my number 10 is a perfect example of that.

Andy 26:35

Okay so

The Countdown Starts: Hillside to Yas Links

Andy 26:36

number 10 is Hillside. Hillside right okay so Hillside I played it the first time I played it was December and I I love the back nine is sensational. It’s gone real isn’t it yeah so I’ve always said that if you put the front nine of Birkdale and the back nine of Hillside together what a golf course you got you’ve got one of the best golf courts in the country but then I played it again so it didn’t go into my top ten but the second time I played it I played it in March with with a member and I loved it and I I really really really kind of like enjoyed it and I feel like I I always want to give place that I’ve not necessarily gone in my top ten another chance.

Nish 27:24

Yeah okay so that’s a good way of doing it actually I quite like that.

Andy 27:27

I think as well is when you when you know when you know what’s coming you probably not you’ve you’ve not focused like for example a perfect example of it would be hole number one at Walton Heath not necessarily yeah if you know that’s coming yeah you know that’s coming you’re gonna be disappointed now the um the 11th at Hillside yeah the par five downhill not just that but it’s everything else that goes with it so when you play it a second time it’s kind of the how you you notice more things yeah and you you really like start you kind of like you’ve taken in the wow factor another great example and again it’s unfortunately it’s not in my top 10 it has been in my top 10 is the fourth at Wallasey yeah and you notice a lot of other things yeah there that’s why I think when you start playing courses a couple of times yeah you pick up on it movement yeah there’s one there’s one in here that I don’t think I’ll ever be able to play again but we’ll come to that we’ll come to that yeah yeah and you you’re dead right about playing second time so just this today in fact we’ve got an episode out and that was I’d played Swinley Forest again.

Nish 28:34

Right okay so we did a revisit series and I’ve actually played Hillside a second time just a few weeks ago yeah you are absolutely spot on and I think it’s because I felt it was because a new 11 yeah had a stunning view it takes your breath away you stand on it and you go oh my god what a golf hole this is I wasn’t looking for that yeah this time round and actually wasn’t distracted by it you’d probably call it but you’d go oh god that’s amazing you do suddenly pick up a few more things yeah like you know your little the reveal of it yeah for instance like it slowly reveals itself as you head up to the top of that yeah that tears yeah it was it’s it’s in it’s a phenomenal golf hole yeah in so many ways and then I’ve really taken in how well the green complex was framed.

Andy 29:20

Absolutely and the thing is is that that’s what I mean about looking at it it from a second time and one place I isn’t was in my top ten and isn’t but I’m due to pay it play it for the second time is Royal Lytham. Yeah okay so I played it last year after I had a very quickly after I had a bad injury yeah and I was in a buggy because I had a bad injury and I really enjoyed it but I’m gonna play it I’m playing it again in a few weeks actually walking it walking it which is a whole different experience so I’m really looking forward to that yeah so that’s why it’s always moving yeah right go on then so number nine yeah um mention it already played it and it was burnt to a crisp but what a golf course um St George’s Hill St George’s Hill yeah so one I ticked off from surrey this this year yeah um I love the clubhouse it’s that’s the one but it’s like a castle doesn’t it to the clubhouse it’s so it’s on such a good piece of land you it’s uh again very vast the the the kind of the it’s a it’s an enjoyable golf course and obviously there’s a lot of golf courses that really want to beat you up but St George’s Hill is is quite wide it’s quite you know the the heather weren’t overly penal a play and I just really really enjoyed it really enjoyed I think the par threes are arguably but some of the best in the country every single par three was an absolute endorsement isn’t it yeah and then they ripped it up but anyway but it’s um no the the the whole experience was really really really good really good just a top top golf was a hospitality like then in the clubhouse brilliant really good the thing with what I always like with a clubhouse is I don’t I wouldn’t say I don’t like but my preference is something that’s best way to word it something that’s modern yeah but something that is fit into golf. So kind of like for me inside I think like a form where it’s like wood look like a kind of wood affair but it’s it’s been done very recently so it’s it’s that look but with the the right lighting like um inside Royal Lytham is is very much that kind of look where and like like for example Birkdale very modern paneling’s there. Paneling that sort of look yeah but the style of furniture it’s like it’s like traditional but modern yeah yeah yeah I won’t I don’t like for example one thing that I think is a great is a very very good clubhouse but I don’t feel it fits is Dundonald. Okay really great design really really good but it just it’s ultra modern right okay so they gone the other way yeah it’s gone the other way where I like traditional but with a modern twist yeah but probably more along the traditional line of it we can’t avoid the heritage of the game can you and that’s that’s kind of what is good about it like a a great one a really good clubhouse at Moortown. More Town’s a wonderful clubhouse yeah so Moortown the like when you when you work what when the the thing for me obviously it hosted the 1929 Rider Cup you walk in the rider cup is right in front of you right in front of you the first thing you see yeah really and again but the the locker room is ultra traditional yeah and then all Woodley very very you know did I think um McKenzie had a desert hand in the design of the clubhouse yeah really but again modern but traditional and that’s where that’s the kind of look that I really like St George’s Hills and St. George’s Hill is very much like that really nice you know that big bay windows loads of big glass you know open very a lot of natural light yeah but very traditional but modern like the the locker rooms in there are brilliant it’s really it’s amazing what gets you going sometimes at a golf course it is lovely really really liked it amazing right believe me and that was one what I had built up in my head and it did not disappoint.

Nish 33:27

See that’s a good one isn’t it if a club doesn’t disappoint yeah it’s doing well yeah it’s really doing well I think that’s what helps with that second time revisit as well yeah if you go back and you go like oh my god it’s like almost better than what I thought it was.

Andy 33:39

Well I’d like to go back to St George’s Hill um so that is one that I would when when they’ve when well when when when they’ve done all the changes when they’ve done the work that’ll be brilliant to go back but it it was so good and things again the people who I played it with were a great laugh as well so that always makes a big difference. Of course it does so go on then counting down number eight number eight okay Hankley Common oh well of course yeah Hankley Common I played it in terrible weather in December the day before Josh broke his world record absolutely sensational golf course brilliant and it’s obviously he’s been doing the rounds recently because Rory McIlroy’s just come out and said it’s in his top three I said it for Rory to be honest. Yeah but we’ve we’ve been saying it we’ve said it in lots of meetings you know yeah Hankley’s absolutely sensational dreamy golf course isn’t it that yeah everyone says is it the seventh of par three everyone says that that it was coming in sideways when we when we played this the seventh my favourite hole was I think it’s the 13th or 14th there’s a par four and it’s all tree lined but then the trees are at the back of the green but there’s a big dip in the fairway and you can’t see it.

Nish 34:53

Yeah that’s a great golf yeah the bunkering effort that is a great golf course I really liked um I think it’s the fifth yeah it’s the fifth so you do the four don’t fourth don’t you and you finish up where the ten terraces the fourth green yeah oh yeah yeah and then you take a over the green yeah yeah and and it was like it’s just very gently sort of sweeps to the left yeah and then it curves up to the right and it’s an elevated green it’s a lovely green complex big big long green and it just like I was stood in the we played it on a opposite weather to you so it was like 26 27 degrees it was shorts weather it was just perfect not clouded the sky and I remember turning around you can see the clubhouse in the background and I’ll do this thing now where I turn around quite a lot to see it’s behind me and it you changed your perspective a little bit and I was like do you know we’re in you know we’re obviously down in in England like this could be in Portugal very easily.

Andy 35:50

Well I was thinking though is when I played St George’s Hill you got onto the first I can’t remember because there’s three courses there’s three loops of nine and I got onto the first green and I turned around and looked back down the fairway and I thought this is absolutely incredible. Sensational place yeah a lot of people forget if you actually turn around and look at how it’s structured because then that’s when you can actually see the real structure of the holes and when it’s so good from the green like the green view of the hole back towards the first the towards the Tee is is just top tip that I think if you Hank ley’s got it’s so good.

Nish 36:22

It was so good. We played it and they just aerated the greens and they they were really apologetic they knocked our green fee down further as well we were like playing with a member and I had one of my best putting days ever I was like I’ll I’ll take this these aerated greens with me everywhere.

Andy 36:36

The par three second yes that is a cracking what a hole yeah that’s just that’s just danger from every angle really cracking oh what a great golf course good choice good choice right go on then it’s then going from playing in the absolute pouring down rain yeah and I am playing this course for the second time this year in December Yas Links nice not a drop of rain it is I played it I reckon I played it 10 years ago maybe eight years ago something like that absolute great golf course it’s so good I was love one of my best mates lived in Abu Dhabi in Dubai so we used to go twice a year and it was yeah and we we get a few courses in play quite a few courses in in the UAE but that is just what are the course characteristics like at Yas Links then um very much kind of it’s kind of similar sort of feel to it has dunes so it’s not but it’s not like traditional it’s kind of like man-made dunes yeah and it’s all round kind of like estry kind of so it’s right near the water yeah a lot of undulation a lot of clever greening my favourite course um designer Kyle Phillips designed it which out of my top ten he’s had a hand in three of them right so it kind of just tells me there’s a certain style that I like yeah you like that style yeah very you know clean bunkering very very you know I do like how I do feel that bunkering does shape a whole yeah but yeah yas is right up there for me again the the clubhouse is very open very very you know welcoming feel to it so yeah looking forward to that one wonderful but that’s that that that may I’ve got a feeling it may move up do you think right okay on second yeah on second but then there’s the next three I’ve played once so what was Yas Link’s was Yas Link’s number six seven right then six rounding out the first five that you’re telling us which is again quite people are gonna hate on me here but it’s tumbling down the list because it used to be top