New Kid On The Block – Dumbarnie Golf Links Preview

Nish: 0:00

Every story has an ending. Does our quest to play the top 100 courses in 10 years have a good ending? I’m Nish. I’m Chris. I’m Jim. And we’re here to guide you through this golfing journey. This is the Top 100 in 10 Golf Podcast. Brand new swanky swanky muck swankerson. So the starter starts you off with a wee dram of whiskey. It’s a flat foot, there’s no breaking it or anything on that. Makes no sense to me, mate. And I guess it just shows what range of courses that are available in Scotland, right? Unrivalled anywhere in the world. Episode 48. The New Kid on the Block. Dumbarnie Golf Links Preview. It’s the baby that dared to stand amongst giants with its rookie swagger. Risk and reward is a mantra for a course that risked it all, opening during the pandemic. They say you can’t build a genuine Lynx course these days. There’s no land left, there’s no patience, and there’s no appetite. Well, build it they did. And we’re playing it as part of an epic Scottish doubleheader with Carnoustie. Will this new kid on the block stand up to those big boys? Well stay tuned to find out. But before we carry on, if I may make a little plea for a subscribe button on YouTube, on your Spotify, on your Apple Podcasts, because it helps us get a little bit of extra clout clout with the clubs and we’ll run you through what it can get you potentially. Because one of the first questions we always get asked is what are the numbers looking like on your podcast? And the subscriber and follow account is actually quite an important one. So if you are listening along and you haven’t done it yet, please do. That’ll really help us a lot.

Chris: 1:30

Also it gives you a little uh hit of dopamine as well, doesn’t it, Nish? So it makes you it makes you more tolerable on a round of golf.

Nish: 1:36

Yeah, I’m a pleasant person then. No like, no niche. Now back to the episode. So I’m gonna attempt it to guide you through this experience, which as part of we do in the preview, I’m led to believe the experience at Dumbarnie starts the moment we rock up to the car park and we haven’t even got out of our car, and it’s a proper welcome when you get there. So from inside the car greeting at the car before you even step out of the car, yeah, like someone jumps in. Massage seats and all that kind of stuff. That’d be great.

Jim: 2:10

Drummer whiskey.

Nish: 2:11

That’d be nice, wouldn’t it? It’d be nice because it was a long drive up, isn’t it? But um we we booked this round through a lovely gentleman that I’ve been uh communicating with his name’s David Scott, he’s the general manager at Dumbarnie, and he unfortunately isn’t around, he’s on official PGA business that day. Oh nice. However, in his stead, and this is one of the reasons why it’s important to kind of get that cow out with the clubs if we can, we’re gonna we’ve been granted the opportunity to interview the professional at the club. So with this being a new course, you know, there’s not really that much out about uh it, famous holes, anything like that. So it would be wonderful to pick his brains about that and the welcome, and we’re gonna get the full welcome anyway, uh, but who better to hear from all that than the person who’s the program from the start? I’ve seen it since inception. Yeah, so a fantastic little extra bonus that we’re looking forward to. But the facility is magnificent, it looks absolutely brilliant, doesn’t it? Yeah, all brand new, like swanky swanky muck swankers and I’m really looking forward to that. Uh and it just they do the little things like you’re on a grass range, you get a basket of balls that you can go and hit, and it’s you know, everything’s done. Just really, really well. Well, I mean they had a blank piece of paper, right? Yeah, yeah. So do whatever you can, yeah, you know, and make it. No, it is also it’s a course and a club that’s very quickly, amongst a lot of people who do play golf courses up in Scotland and do review, it’s very quickly become what some people are calling a real hidden gem in Scotland. Yeah, and some people have even called it possibly the best course bar none in Scotland. Right, okay, which within five years is phenomenal, isn’t it?

Jim: 3:54

Yeah, that’s pretty much brilliant history because obviously in this double header, you’ve got the new kid on the block, and we’re playing at Carnoustie as well, where they started hitting balls around in 1527 or something. Absolutely, what a contrast. Absolutely, yeah.

Chris: 4:10

I think I think we said in one of our earlier episodes we were talking about the fact that golf courses just aren’t really built these days, it’s just not something that happens. But actually, there’s a surprising number of new or new-ish courses that we’re playing on on this um on this trip, isn’t it?

Jim: 4:24

And in Scotland as well, there’s a few. I mean, they haven’t built a one of this magnitude to think, you know, in serpent how grand it is for 10-15 years, like King King’s Barnes, right?

Chris: 4:34

So that was that was the more recent one, and then obviously the two new Trump ones. Yeah. Um but yeah, there’s a there’s a few, isn’t there, kicking around up there? Yeah. I mean, I guess ultimately they’ve got the they’ve got the income, right, from the American tourism to make it worthwhile investing and doing that, doing that.

Nish: 4:49

Yeah, I mean it feels like I I couldn’t actually on the Dumbarnie website, I couldn’t find anywhere that sort of said anything about members. So I don’t think they’d even need it. Yeah, it’s not a member club, is it? So it’s kind of something it is just golf tourism.

Jim: 5:02

There are there are honorary members. Is that what is that right? Yeah, but there’s no actual members.

Nish: 5:06

So they’re the badgers then that they’ve they’ve got rid of to clear clear the way. But I mean, you but you can tell that in the way that I’ve been getting communication from the club, you can tell that it’s a customer focused golf club. You know, it’s none of this like snootiness, we’ve got our members, and oh you know, by the way, you can’t play on this time.

Chris: 5:24

Yeah, you can play on every third Thursday at 4 pm, and that’s the only time you’re allowed out. Yeah, yeah.

Nish: 5:29

The seventh weekend of every month, yeah, that kind of thing. But you know, little things that they’ve done, like when we’ve now started to pick up on it, like you get your little welcome pack off the starter at the first tee with your little drawstring. I think they’ve got their own Dumbani Tartan as well. So that we’ll get that as a bag.

Chris: 5:45

I’m sure you’ll have that in a pair of trousers before we get up there with you.

Nish: 5:48

Well, yeah, I’ve got to make a decision.

Jim: 5:52

I mean, that’s that’s a given. That’s a given, yeah.

Chris: 5:57

Too much finish. I think anything’s too much finish to be fair.

Nish: 6:00

I think the inside of one of my pair of shoes might be a bit of a I think I wore them at Trump actually, so for that reason.

Jim: 6:08

At least you didn’t leave yours behind.

Nish: 6:14

Uh so right, let’s talk about how this course came about. So we said it opened in 2020, that’s right in the midst of the the pandemic. Let’s not mention it. Good. The designer is a chap called Clive Clark, who is a former Ryder Cup player, I believe. I’ve never really heard of him if I’m perfectly honest with you. He’s a broadcaster now as well, I think. Is he? Is he a Scottish chap? He’s American, isn’t he? Is he American? Yeah, right. Uh but it’s been obviously been purpose-built to basically capture the essence of Links Golf and make it into a theme park. I think is what it is.

Chris: 6:54

It’s kind of weird, isn’t it? So like like you’re saying, it’s kind of that it’s it’s a very different experience, isn’t it, from like going into those older clubs. These have been purposely designed for the for the here and now. Um so you do feel like you get you get a little bit of extra, I don’t know, just a bit of extra, like you say, probably like customer service, isn’t it? Ultimately use it’s designed for yeah, it’s designed to attract people in rather than yeah, the opposite. All the golf clubs are designed to keep people out in some ways.

Jim: 7:24

I mean, they are extra special just for getting in without actually having made you feel about this small in the first instance. That is a fair point. You haven’t had that experience though at all, I haven’t seen it.

Nish: 7:35

We haven’t yet, but we’ve heard, I mean, certainly from Alex. Alex was very kind he joined us in the Hollingwell preview, and we chat quite a lot just generally in exchange message about courses we’re gonna come up and play, and actually, even some of the ones where we have played well, uh played already, sorry, yeah. He has actually said that. Yeah, he’s had a bad experience there. Yeah, it could be like I’ll I’ve known that it has been bad in those places now. Whether our study disposition has disarmed people when we get there, or I think the membership podcast and it’s thinking about it.

Chris: 8:08

Maybe they’re just gonna be on their members are so angry because Nish’s taking photos of everything that it takes them like three hours to recover to the point where they can actually talk again. I think they just go, let it go, let him do what he wants to do, because then it’ll be over quicker. Maybe they’re just like, oh god, another one of those American tourists.

Nish: 8:26

Do you think I’m gonna have to like start going and like wearing like backpackers do, like Canadians do, they don’t put Canadian flags so you don’t you know I’m not American, sort of um yeah, maybe. But I mean look, it it in in 2021, so very quickly it hosted the Women’s Scottish Open.

Chris: 8:42

I mean that’s pretty remarkable, that isn’t it? Very quickly within 12 months of opening or 18 months or whatever, you’ve you’re already hosting the women’s open. Yeah, but there’s got to be somebody connected. I mean, surely that must have been pre-prearranged before it’s opened, right?

Nish: 8:54

So you’re gonna have to be planet a few years in advance and stuff. Got to be. But again, like that’s phenomenal. Yeah. Uh they already have made a few adjustments, so they redesigned the 10th this year, uh, after some some feedback, which is which is crazy. And then kind of just looking at the well here it is. So Clive Clark’s comment about what he wanted to do when they interviewed him about what he wanted to achieve with the design of the course. And his phrase was he wanted to frame holes and breathe soul into them. Okay. I don’t know what that means. But it sounds good. So it doesn’t. We’ll go for that. I don’t know. I mean, I wonder whether it’s sort of thing, he’s sort of saying each hole is its own event, and you look at it as such, and you get to the T and it’s Lac Trump was breathtaking, wasn’t it, on each hole once you got to the T. So it could be something like that. I don’t know. Clive, if you’re listening, phone in and let us know what’s going on. You don’t phone in because you can’t. It’s ridiculous without comment.

Jim: 9:49

But like and subscribe anyway, please. Yeah, please.

Nish: 9:51

If you are listening, please do subscribe, yes. Uh now, in terms of the actual characteristics of the golf. Well, no, let’s do the welcome a little bit more, because I think that’s the bit that’s that you’re most excited about. I’m most excited about that. Actually, like so somebody described it as a fun golf course, and I think the ones that have so far been described as a fun golf course so far, yeah, yeah. It’s been bomb on that description, hasn’t it? Yeah. And we’ve always come away and just gone, wow, what a round that was. Yeah, that’s great. True. So I think they’ve done it, they’ve not done it to make it impossible. I think I don’t actually, I think, if I’m correct about the videos that I’ve seen, I don’t think it’s like heather everywhere.

Chris: 10:29

Big wide fairways, I think, isn’t it? Yeah, I think so. They want everyone to just enjoy themselves, yeah, exactly. Yeah.

Nish: 10:33

Hunting for a golf ball and all that kind of thing.

Chris: 10:35

Yeah, so it’s gonna be a bit of a uh a yin and yang kind of trip, isn’t it? We’re gonna go play Carnasty on the Sunday and then and then hopefully Dumbarnie will be a soft opener.

Nish: 10:43

So I feel like starting with that is probably the right way, isn’t it? Get us into the into the weekend now. Couple of things that you do get with your because we talk about welcome pack and all that kind of thing, the starter. The starter starts you off with a wee dram of whiskey.

Jim: 10:59

So I believe, yeah.

Nish: 11:00

They call it swing juice. So in in in perfect Scottish. Swing juice. Swing juice. Swing juice. Yeah.

Chris: 11:06

Oh, it’s in like your golf swing. Yeah. I’ve never heard that term before.

Nish: 11:10

No, I hadn’t until we got the little bottle from Cruden Bay, and that’s the same as well, is a little bottle of swing juice. So again, I wonder if that’s an Americanism.

Jim: 11:18

Did he have that before you started at Cruden then?

Nish: 11:21

It’s still in my still in my uh my wardrobe at home.

Chris: 11:23

Yeah, I’ve not had it, but we got we got given the bottle when we checked in. Yeah, we were driving home that day, weren’t we? So we were both driving, so now it’s good to drink.

Nish: 11:30

I do think I wonder if that is an American influence thing then, because Cruden Bay’s on that circuit, isn’t it?

Chris: 11:35

Yeah, maybe.

Nish: 11:36

I suppose we didn’t get that Gullane though, did we? So it but it felt like it could be like an old Scottish term though, but a swing juice. Um and then so you first I mean, and again, because it’s all new, like purposeful facilities, yeah. Yeah, it’s gonna be like the flow’s really good, yeah, and like the ranges are nearby and all that kind of stuff. So yeah, we’ll get a bucket of balls waiting for us to go use. How big’s that bucket, Nish? Just for the people listening. People listening, it’s about what? About 17 feet, massive, absolutely massive. You were a great fisherman, weren’t you? So you get a bucket, a bucket of golf balls, and then there’s the first T. Now I’ve seen a video about what happens on the first T. Stays on the first. Stays on the first T. Uh and they’ve got this is how much thought they’ve put into it, they’ve got off the side of the first T, they’ve got a green, which measures nine or ten on the stint meter rating, and it’s it’s flat as a pancake, right? It’s quick, it’s fully maintained, okay, with a couple of holes punching into punched into them, right? And it’s the place that you then put into to see who goes first on the first T. Okay.

Chris: 12:44

Oh, we can we can we can miss that bit out, yeah.

Nish: 12:46

I’m not gonna be holding any putts, so you might as well just go up there, Nish. Yeah, okay. Yeah, just go. Nish’s got the honour, it’s fine. Uh never seen that, but what a lovely number.

Chris: 12:57

Yeah, it’s quite a nice little.

Nish: 13:00

Something you remember. Yeah, yeah.

Jim: 13:01

I mean, I didn’t know that, so I mean I changed my side bet then.

Nish: 13:04

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It’s over before the round has a fit started.

Jim: 13:08

Right, I’ve got another one in the bag, that’s it. Yeah, I like that.

Chris: 13:11

Yeah, you have to drink the whiskey before that.

Nish: 13:14

You you you yeah, you it’s you’re giving a glass.

Chris: 13:16

It’s like whiskey and putting or putting whiskey.

Nish: 13:18

Oh, uh, oh, oh, that’s a good point. I think you’re giving your whiskey first. Whiskey first, right? Yeah, I think so. Okay.

Chris: 13:24

Yeah. Not sure whether that is gonna help you positively or negatively.

Nish: 13:29

If it does, does that mean you just carry a bottle around with you and just before you go to each green? Just a little.

Chris: 13:34

So yeah, if you if you if you take the shot and then hold the putt, you’ve got to have a shot before every putt on the way around. Goodness, not the way it works. What is it? We should just do that anyway. You do do that anyway. None of you drop neither of you driving. Good lord. How much whiskey have you done?

Nish: 13:48

Well, we get into 42 puts a hole.

Jim: 13:51

I’ll be careful of that actually, because I think in in like like in quite a lot of the the courses up in up in that part of the world, in Fife, um, they do have the course marshals who like to make sure that you’re keeping up with the group in front. Because I think having looked at the reviews, because you look at trip advisor reviews or what are just reviews from the web anyway on various golf courses to see if there’s anything funny said about it. And it wasn’t actually at all. Everything was five-star reviews apart from one who uh two groups who playing a bit too slow, and um the course marshals were uh harassing them apparently.

Chris: 14:24

Uh I think in these places, like you’ve got to be playing really slow, haven’t you? Like you know, I think it’s like four and a half hours is expected time.

Jim: 14:33

Yeah, they were taking they were taking five, so um so they’re one star reviews on that basis, but I think most people who looked at it will probably think well you’re you were the one who was slow, so you just think if I’m taking five hours for a round of golf, I’m probably not gonna finish anyway because I’m probably bored by that point.

Nish: 14:48

Yeah, we don’t know what time we’re seeing off, we’re pretty dark by the time we didn’t. Yeah, so I can’t remember what’s how we’d see enough, but yeah, it’s you see you got this amazing, noteworthy welcome, and you know, you get that feel that it’s about that whole your whole day, your whole experience that you’re gonna get. Yeah, and like just even the the bar in the clubhouse looks amazing, the restaurant looks amazing, food’s got a great review. Did it on your review hunt, did you find anything that was notable that you saw, or were you just like looking for the one stars and two stars?

Jim: 15:17

I was looking at the one and two to two, three stars really to see what stupid comments came up, yeah, yeah. Uh, more than anything else, I mean the five-star comments were all just what a wonderful course. Yeah, um, it looked absolutely stunning, not necessarily your traditional Lynx course, and it’s not just kind of they’re back, they’re back, they’re back. Yeah, um, or you know, out one way and then come back the other way, like the ones you played, or a lot of the ones you played previously. So it’s got quite a significant bit of land that they’ve you know spent a lot of time with with the architects designing it, so and you know, all the way along the coast, closer to the sea than probably most of the other Links courses as well.

Chris: 15:51

Yeah, and I I I like like that.

Jim: 15:54

The dolphins, yeah, the seals in the in the sea, obviously the view over to the Firth and Forth, Firth of Forth of Forth over to Edinburgh, and then you’ve got Muirfield that side, yeah.

Chris: 16:06

So um but that I think that that modern slant is yeah, like golf courses were just built for you know, golf courses, right? They weren’t necessarily built for the views, I can’t imagine back then. Maybe they were a little bit, I suppose. But I feel like there’s a lot more thought that goes into that kind of stuff, doesn’t it? And just like just thinking that more kind of modern mentality about the overall complete experience that you’re getting, and I think just stuff like that, like rooting the holes in a way that you’re gonna see the sea more, like brilliant. Yeah, I think it’s 14 holes feature a sea view, yeah.

Jim: 16:35

Elevated T’s, which is not generally the norm for Lynx courses and so on, is it? Um, and and having kind of a mile a mile and a half. They were talking about a lot of similarities, well, not similarities with pebble beach, because obviously there’s probably a bit of sunday.

Nish: 16:47

It’s called the Scottish Pebble Beach, isn’t it? Colloquially, so it’s like okay, like the salmon. Could take that, yeah, absolutely. Yeah, interesting. Did you watch any videos? Oh golf-related Jim. Did you watch any videos? I haven’t been watching some videos, yes. How do you know?

Jim: 17:06

I’m logged into your Wi-Fi now, so you’re checking my history.

Nish: 17:09

I’m actually this isn’t my script, this is just me going, oh my god, Jim. Wow. Not that again.

Jim: 17:15

I watched a few, I watched a few on YouTube and particularly those with the reviews just saying, Well, what a tremendous golf course it was. So um, it might be a it might be an actual proper links experience for you overall, not just a golf course, but the weather, because obviously we are in October now.

Chris: 17:27

Well, yeah, I mean they’ve just been playing the the Dunhill Links up in up in Scotland this weekend, they’ve had to make it a 54 hole rather than a 72 hole. Yeah, cancelled the fourth day because it was Storm Amy or whatever is coming. Yeah, am I glad we weren’t playing this weekend?

Nish: 17:40

Well, I know very much are, yeah. But yeah, we’ve taken off this this is a real test of our top 100 weather philosophy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let’s see what actually happens. I mean, if we can get through this, then yeah, we’ve pretty much got it nailed on. Plain sailing after that, is it? No, they’ve got they’ve got like uh Trump, they’ve got T’s that are ranging from 5,300 yards all the way up to 7,600. Okay, 7,600 it is. 7,600 has never been used. You need permission, public can’t play that and it’s never been used, but they’ve got them.

Chris: 18:14

I mean again, like there’s no but not even when the pros are out, they’re not using those T’s. They’re not using those, yeah. It’s too long for a Links course, that yeah.

Nish: 18:21

So have it have it available, yeah. And it means you’re on a on a certain hole, you might want to bring that a few play or whatever. And obviously, we talked about the uh uh the vistas. So should we talk about the actual golf course that we’re gonna encounter when we get there? Let’s do it. Um I’m I’m actually quite excited about playing this golf course because anything described as fun is always gonna be good. Yeah, and you know if they’ve done it with the like they’re they’re not gonna make if you’re building a golf club and course that’s designed to almost fit into that tourist rotor, then you don’t want it to be impossible because people aren’t gonna come back. Yeah, yeah. Because if it doesn’t have the name prestige, then they’ll just go forget playing there, yeah. Do that. Yeah, I mean in within five years for it to even climb into the uh top 100. But not even a little bit, it’s like 40, isn’t it? Yeah, right up there, isn’t it? Yeah, so and that and that new course like Trump comes up, like there’s gonna be fanfare about it because of the owner of the golf club. Yeah, yeah. But a new course like Dumbarnie Golf Links opens up, it’s got to do all the hard work itself. The course has got to do all the work, right? Yeah, yeah. You know, so to get that, which it is gonna be amazing, yeah. Then and then the fact that they say there’s a lot of risk and reward, you know, we mentioned Redditfield before and we’re members there, and that’s uh basically a pure risk and reward course, isn’t it? It’s not very long and you can go for a lot of stuff. So I think it’s gonna play into quite a lot of our uh things that we like about a golf course, yeah, for sure. And then apparently it’s got a great opening hole, so it’s downwards downhill towards the sea, hole number one, and it’s a great opening, a good temptation to try and fly it. And I think that might be one of the drivable. It’s got three drivable par fours, and that might be one of them. So it’s kind of like bang straight in there. Which holder is hole number one, I think. Is that right? Is that not right? It’s not drivable part four. Alright, sorry, scrap that start again. And then we’ve got the the fifth and the fifteenth have split fairways. Okay. So you can make a choice to go left or right, yeah. And then they’ve got bunkers and stuff in the middle and and whatever.

Chris: 20:26

So yeah, I mean it’s absolutely guaranteed that you’re gonna hit only straight t-shirt at the start of the day. You aim at the middle, aim at the middle. What’s in the middle? The one that you have to nail straight down.

Nish: 20:37

I’ve had a lovely baby draw today. I’m gonna aim right in the middle and it’s gonna come. Yeah, yeah. Draw onto what’s that gone against the wind? Classic. It’s you know it’s gonna happen for sure. You know it’s gonna happen. Yeah, so that’s gonna be a nice little thing. And we get in our woke of pack, we get a free-course planner. So nice. I’m excited about that. Get to use that. I thought you said three then.

Chris: 20:56

I thought three-course meal. I was like, brilliant. Yeah, three-course planner.

Nish: 21:01

That can absolutely be arranged. Uh, and then it’s described by reviewers as generously balancing the challenge of the course and the defence of the course without being punishingly unfair. Yeah, okay. So you put you you play well, you’re gonna get rewarded. Yeah, if you spray it about, you’re gonna get you’re like gonna have a chance, probably. So I think that’s always nice, isn’t it? Because it’s a bit of confidence off the tee. You know, and like so we we want a gentle opener before we hit the probably what’s gonna be the car crash, those cards to you the next day. And then naturally, any course built newly is always gonna be a visual feast, isn’t it? Because they know how to maximize what they’re happy. Exactly. You know, it wasn’t some some guy in the 1800s going out doing it with a horse and three men. Yeah, that’s it, dragging a donkey along a field to try and try and make a golf course. It’s all well considered and manicured. And I suppose the new course now in the age of social media and things like that, you know, you every tea box is going to be photographed and it’s gonna be out there, so it needs to be spectacular, doesn’t it? And it looks it, honestly, it does look it on the thing. So I think we’re in for a real real treat, and I suppose there’s no history of note for us to talk about as the Scottish Open. I think people take photos in the clubhouse, really, in this no, but you know, it could be one of these things where you take photos of stuff and you go, Oh, this could be in 10-15 years, like a thing, I don’t know, but so basically what I’m saying is I’ll take a picture of everything. Yeah, yeah, exactly. See what happens. Isn’t this wonderful? What a wonderful bit of history. Uh okay.

Jim: 22:38

You make the history there for them.

Nish: 22:40

So yeah, exactly. So there isn’t such a thing there, I suppose, as a signature hole, is there, Jim? Because I suppose it’s not been signed off yet. Yeah, I don’t know. The ink is still d wet on the uh in regards to those signature holes.

Jim: 22:53

I mean, does the actual the the club, the board, do they decide what it is, or is it actually just the mystique that comes from people playing there and go, this is the best hole?

Nish: 23:02

Yeah, I don’t think that there’s not never an official, is there? I made that assumption that every hole had like this is our signature hole. Of course, yeah. Every course, sorry, yeah.

Chris: 23:10

And they I’d say majority, I mean I’d say 90% do, but then there does seem to be a few where it’s just it could be one or few other things.

Jim: 23:18

I mean you had Moortown, which was built around the signature hole in Gibraltar, and everything else was well it’s shoved in your face almost.

Nish: 23:26

Gibraltar’s shoved in your face, it’s like this is the signature hole, this is the signature hole, and that was the second course we played, so it was like okay, this is a thing.

Jim: 23:32

And then there’s been plenty of times when you’re just like it doesn’t actually say on the website what the signature hole is, or I’m so you’re just having to look, you know, look at the look at the the got the reviews from people who played there and and and and trying to to gain what they think is uh suggests.

Chris: 23:49

I’m onto you, Jim. I’m on to you.

Jim: 23:50

It’s the 17th. Is it the 17th? It is it is it is I think that’s what what what a fair few people have uh they’ve said that right. So I did that uh the 17th is probably the signature hole, and that’s one of those potentially drivable. Is it nice?

Nish: 24:07

Is it interesting? Part four, so what we it’s obviously a net, it’s a net signature hole challenge, then isn’t it?

Jim: 24:13

Yes, it is, it is. And what I mean, because it took me so long to find out what the probable signature hole was. I’d already decided on the side bet by this time. Um because it’s quite probably research, it’s quite probably mentioned about the three relatively short path fours. I’m not gonna say that they are short because for me they’re still five to get kind of halfway up the uh the fairway. Um, but they are potentially drivable. So I’m thinking that they’re the whole there holds three, eleven, and seventeen. Right. And so the side better on this is you get one point if you drive the green machine.

Nish: 24:52

Absolutely, it’s fun course with risk and reward because that means that’s a good one. Decisions taken out of our hands, we just have to go for it. Yeah, absolutely. No, no, no.

Jim: 25:00

But you’re always going to, but we knew it suggested that it’s potentially driven. Absolutely.

Chris: 25:04

Yeah, none of us laying up. How well are you playing? A couple of apart, and you’re like, shit, I’ve got I’ve got to get the driver out and have a go at this.

Nish: 25:13

I mean, on whole three, you’re still full of confidence, aren’t you? By 17, you might be like, oh my god, mate.

Chris: 25:18

I’m gonna have no confidence standing on the first tee this time because I’m gonna have to have made a putt before I stand around. Yeah, hey, this is great.

Nish: 25:25

Maybe I should just like like write ahead to everyone. Just can you just put a little putting mat out or something like that? Just make this a thing. Just just to crush, crush Chris mentally before we even start like, I haven’t done this. Yeah, it was funny. On as a comforting note, Chris, it’s a flat putt, there’s no breaking it or anything like that. Makes no worse to me, mate. That’s probably worse, isn’t it?

Jim: 25:49

Yeah, you’ve got less to think about so you think about it more. I’ve got my new fat grip though, but who knows what’s gonna happen with that?

Chris: 25:56

The only way I can hold puts is by just misreading them, right? Misreading them and mishitting them. Yeah. So if I if I misread it enough to compensate for my miss hit, it’ll go in. I’d love to see the start. He’s overthinking this already.

Nish: 26:07

If you misread the first that first one, it’s like, it’s okay, lads, it’s just a nice straight one, just that it’s fine. It’s like, how on earth has he managed to do that? You’re gonna have a tough day on the course. Yeah, I know, yeah. Alright, okay, that’s an interesting one then. So you get a point, so it’ll stuff yeah, so a point for driving the green.

Jim: 26:24

So the maximum of three points, most point wins.

Chris: 26:28

And what’s the if it’s three all or more like a zero of the three holes? What’s the what’s the play? The words right out of my mouth, Christopher. Do we have to go back to the to the start and have a putt on the putting green? Yes, you have to go back to that.

Jim: 26:42

Maybe maybe it’s uh maybe it’s a countback to the how many whiskies you can have before throwing up in the 19th hill.

Nish: 26:49

So Jim has done what? So I uh when I did the preview with of Hollinwell with Alex, yeah. So we were just sort of chatting away about general stuff, and he was like, Oh, it’s the same James Boys couldn’t be on. I was like, Yeah, so Jim, and then because he sent your side bet to Harbs. Yes, and uh I said, Oh, it’s it’d be nice to actually get the side bet in a in a timely fashion this time because normally we go to Jim, what’s the side bet? And your face just drops like it’s a brand new question that we’ve asked you, but we’ve asked you every single time we played what’s the side bet?

Chris: 27:19

He’d just go, playing for the cameras, but also add into that suspense and the mystique of it all. So you’re trying to say that me and Jim aren’t prepared, Nish. 100%. I’m putting out my notes here. I’m putting out there. No, yeah, Jim’s got his iPad today with with with Sonotes, but putting me to shame, Jim.

Nish: 27:33

But you’ve not we we had an agreement, but you’ve not prepared for the eventuality which is absolutely gonna happen, which is we’re gonna have zero points from three drivable par fours up. I don’t know, my driver’s looking pretty pretty good at the minute. There’s a chance you’re gonna have to hit it straight. Okay.

Jim: 27:52

Yeah, so what what is our what’s our right if if it if it ends up even ends up kindly call it a draw rather than.

Chris: 28:02

I think it should go back to that opening put, and then it just puts a bit of extra pressure on that opening put.

Jim: 28:07

Well it depends where the 18th, the finish of the 18th is compared to the start of the first, isn’t it?

Chris: 28:11

Well no, but from the from the from the original opening put. Oh, from the original opening put, okay. The very first put.

Jim: 28:15

You either do that or lowest net score on a 17th, which is a signature hole.

Nish: 28:20

I don’t know if you’re okay, right? Oh, so yeah, but it then goes right whoever wins a signature hole then wins that. Okay, what if that’s a draw? Which is feasible.

Jim: 28:30

Count back to 13 and so on.

Nish: 28:33

Sorry, you’re level.

Jim: 28:34

What if they’re all draws?

Nish: 28:35

What if they’re all drawers?

Jim: 28:37

I’ll just make something up after the event. You made the butt on the buttons. You made the butt on the event.

Nish: 28:42

I mean that has to be the event in the bar when we finish. Yeah. Brilliant. I love that all of those things can be draws the whole way. It could be, apart from one. So we’ll just have to at that point, we’ll just have to shake hands and call it a draw and then we’ll try. Yeah. It’ll just be who can who can run back to the car quicker than anything like that? All right, okay. Not me. 100% not me. Running isn’t in my vocabulary at the minute, unfortunately. Okay, that’s a good that’s a good side net. I like that. I wish I had to check the course maps now before I came on to see the drivability of those parts. Let’s have a look, shall we? What’s the what’s the distances? What I mean, you know, one man’s drivable is another man’s impossible, isn’t it? What we what are we talking distance wise? Because I’m I’m assuming they’re pretty short. If they’re calling them drivable for me, it might be around 300 yards, right?

Jim: 29:36

Yeah. So you’re gonna be playing from black or blue?

Nish: 29:42

Blue is that six four?

Chris: 29:45

Black is six nine, so yeah, six four is six four blue, yeah.

Nish: 29:48

When we’re playing off blue.

Jim: 29:49

So right, the third’s three hundred and eleven. Oh. The eleventh is two six three.

Nish: 29:56

Shit, they are drivable. That’s not even two six three is not even drive a few, is it, Chris? No, it’s not very much.

Jim: 30:00

17’s 316 from the blues. So that’s why when I looked at it, I thought actually they are drivable. Yeah, yeah. I think they I’m not sure they’re quite protected.

Nish: 30:10

Uh, downhill, anything like that. Then you you could roll up and it won’t be uphill, will it, if it’s drivable? There’s not gonna be an uphill. Although the 266 might be an uphill one, I’m not sure. Not got the elevation change.

Jim: 30:23

Scorecards are generally too though, do they? Topograph topographic topographical topographical map. Topographical map.

Nish: 30:31

Interesting that, yeah. Okay, good. I I like that.

Jim: 30:35

I like the fact that it’s not something that’s completely unfathomable that you’ve got to do.

Nish: 30:39

No, no, what I like is you’ve sort of gone decision making’s done, you’ve got to take a driver on it. Yeah. Oh, we have to hit it with the driver. Just technically.

Jim: 30:45

As you said, Chris doesn’t have to take the driver out on it.

Nish: 30:47

Oh, yeah, we shouldn’t have 266 then, because you’d have to throttle back a drive, so actually you can’t you it’s not that you’d sandwich. You just yeah, just hit whatever you need to. It’s gonna be either driver or I can’t. We’ve got a plenty of conditions as well. Five five would.

Jim: 31:01

See what see what the what the wind and the wind direction.

Nish: 31:04

Yeah, just get nine iron out. Punchy nine iron. But you again, you never know what the turf’s doing is do you? So if the turf’s firm, which it will be rolling, if it’s a downhill hole, could be a tactical one, couldn’t it? Just like I’ll just little do a little scut scuttling five-iron and let it roll up on a two six six. You could do that, you could do a five-iron rolling up on a two six six yard hole, couldn’t it? Maybe yeah, all this talk. Oh, not from me, so I’m just giving Chris some ideas. I could also shank one 50 yards into the because I remember when we did the uh longest drive on 18 at Queen’s course at Glen eagles. Because I topped my drive, didn’t I? And then you were like, Oh, this is great, I’ll just play a seven-in and proceed in the and I was like, No, you gotta hit your driver, and you were like, Do I? That’s not technically like true, so yeah. The honor the honour’s important, then, isn’t it? Yeah, it is. Shit. Yeah, lose the first lose the first two holes. Chris gets uh Chris gets the honour and then he decides what going on. Yeah, right, I got it. Oh, this could be one of those brutally.

Chris: 32:10

You still gotta get on the green, though, right? So you still gotta get on the green.

Jim: 32:12

So it doesn’t really have to be a seven nine hours. I think it’s just a case of getting up and hitting it. Don’t overthink it.

Chris: 32:18

Hit it as hard as you possibly can. That’s my advice for you, Nish. Yeah, nice.

Nish: 32:24

Try and hit the ball. That’s that’s the advice I’m taking from all of that.

Jim: 32:27

Wonderful, Jimmy. It’d be really interesting, obviously, to you know, to hear your feedback, obviously, playing and brand new course versus one of the oldest courses as well when you when you finish on that on that weekend. Um, obviously, it’s gonna be completely different challenges with the golf, but you know, I’m sure the experiences will both be pretty tremendous.

Nish: 32:44

Yeah, we almost couldn’t have planned this doubleheader better in terms of contrasting. It’s proper like new versus old little uh competition, isn’t it? This this kind of bluffing our way through it is kind of working out alright, isn’t it? Yeah, fucking 10 out of 10 blaggers, or is it one of these things where we can just build the narrative to whatever we want? Like we’ve got just gone, oh, isn’t it wonderful? We’ve got this contrast, and if it wasn’t that, like, isn’t it wonderful we’re playing two courses exactly the same, you know, just whatever it is. But it has worked out like that, and it was the same with when we went for the other Scottish trip, the big Scottish trip we did, yeah. Gullane, Cruden Bay, Trump, like three vastly different courses and experiences and and all that kind of thing. So um, yeah, wonderful, isn’t it?

Chris: 33:27

I guess it just shows what range of courses that are available in Scotland, right?

Nish: 33:31

You wouldn’t really get that anywhere else you were going, but you just have such a wealth of diverse golf options up there that it’s the the the gentleman who come up in the next episode to give you a little bit of a preview who we are playing at uh Carnoustie with, his name’s Paul. Hello, Paul, because I know you listen. Uh he said exactly that like the quality and breadth of golf course in Scotland we we say it was Scottish, but unparalleled unrivalled anywhere in the world, you know. You’re gonna and every almost everybody can have a go anywhere, yeah, like it’s for the people golf. Yeah, I think it’s that’s absolutely wonderful. Yeah, so yeah, it’s for all the people that people can afford to pay for it. The hefty credit limit. Yes, absolutely. Uh yeah, wonderful. Next time on the top 100 in 10 golf podcast, we’ll be previewing the highest rated golf course we’ve played yet. And it comes with a fearsome reputation. The big dog, that is, Carnoustie.