Wallasey Golf Club – The Sleeping Giant of English Links Golf

Introduction — the Top 100 in 10 journey

Nish 0:35

Every good story is about the journey, and this is the story of our journey trying to play the top 100 courses of the UK and Ireland in just 10 years. This is the top 100 in 10 golf podcast. 99 is not where that course is gonna be sticking around for a long time.

John McLoughlin – Course Manager 0:49

I’d say Wallasey is it’s an English linked course, but it’s more of an Irish style linked so and we’re pretty much average hour in one a week.

Nish 0:58

Almost a crazy thing like that. Yeah, Twitter. Episode 70, the Wallasey Golf Club Review. Well, what a day we had at Wonderful Wallasey in this, and in this episode, we’ll be talking about our golf and impressions of the course and club. We’ll tell you about our Stableford match play, which we had to play there, and that was our side bet, and we’ll take an interview with the course manager over at Wallasey, the absolutely fantastic John McLoughlin, and he was really generous with his time. Prior to that, I’m going to ask you out there for a quick favour, please could you give us a follow, subscribe, like, share, anything you can do that takes a couple of seconds of your time. It’s really helpful to us because we can produce great content like we’ve got today. And if you’re listening in Podcast Land, an into an episode that’s just gone out last week with somebody from Sky Sports, which is incredible. I’m still pinching myself about. So let’s get back to this amazing episode. So, Chris, we are still basking, I think, in the glory of playing Wallasey.

Chris 2:04

I think we are a little bit. Um, it kind of felt like one of those like real cheat days in life, didn’t it? Like it was a Tuesday, everyone else is at work, the weather for the last few days had been awful, and then we kind of rocked up on a Tuesday morning, sun’s shining, we’re at Wallasey, yeah. It was a pretty day, wasn’t it? Yeah, achy bodies from from 48 hours of golf the uh the weekend before. But yeah, it just felt like a real cheat day, and it yeah.

Nish 2:30

Yeah, do you know? I never considered it that way actually, but you’re right. I think just because you get so used to like, oh, we’ve just played with the top 100, yeah, and I didn’t consider that yeah, everyone else is at work and everyone else is sending messages, weren’t they? Just going, oh, my hangover’s still going from the weekend up and we were out there, it was incredible in the top 100 world, yeah.

Chris 2:48

It was I think sometimes when you’re doing when we’ve been doing this journey, you kind of forget a little bit of how lucky we are, and then every now and again just something happens, or you you kind of stand on a tee or you uh roll up to a course and you’re like this is like such an incredible thing to do. And I think Wallasey was one of those moments for me for sure. It was, wasn’t it?

Nish 3:06

I think a lot of things came together, I think, that day. Like we got gorgeous weather, it was very windy, yeah, uh, but glorious sunshine, you know. Well, by the end of it, like you know, it was it was actually warm and all that kind of stuff, so but it was we were getting battered by the wind. Uh we got there earlier than we planned, so there was no traffic going over. It was two days off the back of just playing a couple of days of golf, yeah. Yep, yeah. Just everything fit really well, didn’t it? It did, yeah. Great, yeah. And then, well, then we got our sort of welcome and arrival and which was which was pretty awesome, wasn’t it? Spot on, wasn’t it? Yeah, spot on. Uh now I’ve alluded to it just very briefly, but we have just we’re gonna bask in this from for even longer now. But we’ve just had an interview with Sophie Walker from Sky Sports. Still sounds weird to me. Yeah, but she was brilliant, and please go and check that episode out. Yeah, but one thing that really struck me as interesting was I’d sent her our list and said these are the courses that we played, and she’s played a whopping 70 or something like that. Yeah, uh, but what was really notable was that out of whatever 25 is it Irish courses that we’ve got on our list, she’d only played three. I think Ireland is a difficult place for it.

Why Ireland is so hard to play — and our October trip

Chris 4:25

It’s unobtainable for lots of people, right? Even people you know that have got amazing golf contacts with you know within the golf world are still not going out there to play that much golf.

Arrival at Wallasey and the Merseyside welcome

Nish 4:35

So that says something it does about the it’s which is really interesting, and I bring that up because shameless plug is our Irish trip. And again, I sort of pinch myself that uh we’ve had these courses put together for us and we can play them like this October. Like that’s a bit mental, isn’t it? Yeah, it’s pretty cool. So look, if you are out there and you do want to go and play in Ireland, Sophie, you’re more than welcome to join us. But you we do have this trip available and it’s kind of like it anybody can come, all that kind of stuff. But I just assumed it’ll be a simple case of just getting in touch with a few people from Ireland, you can just get on, it’s no problem. But that is not the case for playing golf in Ireland, definitely not at all. Oversubscribed, isn’t it? There, so yeah, really interesting. But obviously, we are we are doing this trip. Uh, all the links are in our episode description, so please do check it out if you if you want to come and play with us. But we’ll give you an idea of our golf, and that might give you an idea whether you want to actually come and play with us. But we’ll rewind back to our kind of welcome and arrival, and welcome and arrival and all that kind of stuff that we got when we turned up at Wallace. And we’ve said it before, haven’t we? Like clubs around that area, yeah. A golf coast, there’s this massive concentration of amazing golf courses, yeah. But B, there is the famed Merseyside welcome, yeah, yeah. And we had it again, didn’t we? Oh, we definitely got it this time for sure.

Chris 6:02

Yeah, it was so nice, yeah. Yeah, again, just just everyone, right? All the bar staff, the members, yeah, John that we spoke to, everyone was just brilliant, and on the exactly the right level you want them to be on. There’s no kind of level of snootiness at all, just genuine, happy to have you there, really kind of proud of their club.

Nish 6:20

Definitely pride just yeah, like oozing out of everybody, doesn’t it? Yeah, a chap in the pro shop was called Adam and my son’s called Adam, so we had a little we we shared a little moment. Um the only two Adams in the world, obviously. That’s it, strong name, as everyone says. Uh but it was also you’re kind of like you’re kind of just driving up, and then suddenly it’s like, oh, there’s the turn, and like you’re there. Yeah, it’s just in your face, isn’t it?

Chris 6:43

Like massive, kind of I’m assuming it’s not Victorian kind of era, yeah, uh clubhouse, which is it’s pretty spectacular, isn’t it? Really? Not imposing that clubhouse is a cool clubhouse, I think. And like you say, it’s just you know, there’s no big long drive or anything, it’s just turn off car park, clubhouse, done.

Nish 6:58

It wasn’t massive, and it’s like this big main road on along the side, and you sort of go like, oh, we’re here now. But you know, we we we nearly ran a member over when we were when we arrived. I mean you said we were here.

Chris 7:10

So you you were driving, so yeah. I know I was driving, no, you were driving shit.

Nish 7:14

Yeah, yeah. There you go. Where’s the blame? There’s a claim. Um but you know, just we start obviously stopped in time because we’re we’re still here and we’re not in jail, but lovely warm smile, and just everybody was like, Yeah, yeah, happy to have you there, and and yeah, like the I thought the welcome were in the pro shop was just absolutely on point. Have you come here before? No, right, let me tell you a little bit. There’s the codes, all that kind of stuff.

The clubhouse — Bobby Jones, Stableford and the fireplace

Chris 7:39

Yeah, and again, it had that real that real nice feel of a members club, didn’t it? Like everyone knew each other, everyone was just kind of interacting with each other within the within the clubhouse, like it wasn’t you know, it wasn’t a kind of that snooty feel, it wasn’t B that kind of corporate feel, it was that proper, genuine golf club where everyone knows each other, everyone’s having a bit of crack with each other. Um, so yeah, no, that was that was nice. It was and John ticks a lot of boxes for me.

Nish 8:00

Yeah, and he kind of came and met us big beaming smile. John’s the course manager, he’s the guy that we interviewed. Uh yeah, big beaming smile, real welcome. He’s like, Oh, Gareth, who’s the general manager, he’s just with somebody at the moment, he said.

Chris 8:12

Yeah, yeah.

Nish 8:13

Who was Andrew Murray of BBC Golf, right? So uh who I didn’t I didn’t know who it was.

Chris 8:20

Well, I’d clocked him outside, so I went to have a look at the first T. I think you were probably taking pictures. I went to the first tee and I clocked him out there and I was like, Oh, what’s he doing here?

Nish 8:27

We shook that hand, didn’t he?

Chris 8:29

Yeah. I think he obviously thought we were being introduced to him. I was like, hi Andrew.

Nish 8:33

Should have gone like Nish top 100 in 10. Yeah, yeah. I think because you’re just so like who is it? Like, what’s going on? Yeah, get a bit taken aback, but it was brilliant. Now, that clubhouse, yeah, that was that was like ticking a lot of boxes for me, that place.

Chris 8:52

Yeah, I yeah, and we’ve kind of I think we said it before, I can’t think where we said it about, but it’s that it’s that mix of kind of more traditional feel like I mean the building itself is incredibly traditional, like it’s really old, old school, like I say, sort of Victorian feel building, and then you get inside and it’s been modernised but in a way that’s feels kind of modern and comfortable, and you feel like you could happily just kind of lounge, not lounge around there, like I’m not gonna go in my no my my shorts and flip-flops, but you know what I mean. You could happily you could happily sit sit and have a meal and and have a few drinks and and have a couple of breakfast or whatever, yeah, like a real comfortable feel, but you still know you’re in a golf clubhouse, yeah, and a quite storied golf clubhouse as well.

Nish 9:34

I mean the the two big things there are, and we’ve touched upon it in the preview. There’s a massive portrait of Dr. Frank Stableford and his scoring. Pretty big, yeah.

Chris 9:43

We’ve been seeing the Mona Lisa recently, and everyone was like, Oh, it’s really, really it’s tiny. It’s tiny. Actually, I was surprised at how big it was. It was bigger than I was expecting. I was kind of expecting like sort of phone size when I got right because everyone told me how small it was. Like, don’t bother going, it’s tiny. But yeah, this was a proper big, proper full-on wall-hanging portrait.

Nish 9:59

Imposing chap, isn’t he? Yeah, um, and then on the other side is just one of probably the most famous portraits in golf, and that is Bobby Jones, signed by Bobby Jones himself. And you know, you’re kind of like, well, which is the better side of this?

Chris 10:14

It’s like pretty good wall, isn’t it?

Nish 10:16

It’s a good setup, isn’t it? They’ve got like this central like fire in the middle, and then either side of it, on the back side, they’ve got Frank, yeah, Dr. Frank, and on the front they’ve got Bobby Jones.

Chris 10:26

I was a little bit worried about the sort of health and safety safety acts aspects of having two ex yeah, very expensive portraits hanging on walls directly below a fire, but anyway, yeah.

Nish 10:37

I do know, funnily enough, I thought exactly the same thing, and I was like, I I wanted to ask him about that actually. I was like, is it alright having these really quite famous paintings just over a fireplace? Like, is that hey, they know better than us, I’m sure. Well, yeah, absolutely. We we we will see to their their um expertise, I suppose. But you know, and the the thing about it is you can walk into a place like that and you could feel a bit out of place, but the staff were all so stuff like down to earth, just like, how are you? You’re playing today, all that kind of thing. They were lovely, and you know, they’re like happy if you now you know take a picture of you with a portrait and all that all that kind of stuff, and just it was just a lovely jovial atmosphere in that.

Chris 11:22

That’s the word, isn’t it? Jovial, like it had that just got that bounce, that feel that way you kind of a little bit of excitement.

Nish 11:27

That’s when you say the phrase members club, you see, you know, you’ve used it a few times, like members club. That for me is like that’s a classic, like members’ club house. Yeah, where it it obviously it is for the members, whatever, but they’re so proud of their club that if somebody isn’t a member, it’s not like oh well, you know, we’ve paid our membership fees, yeah, we deserve it more. No, there’s none of that. Yeah, not at all. We want to show it off and we want to be proud of what we’ve got, yeah. Um, yeah, it was it was ticking a lot, a hell of a lot of boxes, you know, this big tall ceiling with like wooden beams showing and lovely view of the 18th, like you’re right off the back of the 18th, aren’t you? Yeah, it’s uh no hiding there, I don’t think. Um, so that will yeah, that was amazing. Practice facilities, what do you think? You used them more than I did.

Chris 12:12

I mean, I just I went the putting green for a little bit and the practice net. So I think, yeah, probably not to to the level that some of the other top 100s are, to be fair. Yeah, there’s no range, was there? Yeah, I think John was just saying they’ve just opened a new short game area, which we didn’t quite have time to go and have a look at. I said go and go and pop your head down there and have a look, but we didn’t quite have enough time before we uh before we teed off, did we?

Nish 12:30

Yeah. Um no, it’s it’s ranked 99. That’s kind of you know one of the main stories out of this. I think that’s probably gonna be a thread that’ll come out. Yeah. Um and the story of how it’s gone is that it had slipped out of the top 100 for for a decent amount of time. Yeah. And then it’s not quite it’s not a coincidence because he’s been hired to do this, but John, who we’re gonna hear from in a second, he came and he’s brought in a raft of changes that have now, you know, borne fruit, I think. And boy, have they borne fruit. Yeah, because it was 99 is not where that course is gonna be sticking around for a long time.

Chris 13:13

That’s gonna be shooting up pretty quickly, isn’t it?

Nish 13:15

Yeah, and I think it’s fitting that the home of Stableford, which is the kind of the tagline of the club, and it should be.

Chris 13:21

Yeah, it’s fitting that somewhere that historic should have some representation in the top 100 really obscure, otherwise it’s you know, I think you’d be more than happy with that being sort of mid-table, you know, in the sort of 50s golf course, if not even higher. You’re just giving a whole game away now to him anyway.

Nish 13:39

Well look before we before we give any more. We’ll edit that bit out. Yeah, we’ll edit it out.

Chris 13:43

You edit most of my words out anyway, it’s fine.

Nish 13:46

Yeah, there’s three cameras trained on me, just one on Chris. Um, but let’s hear from John. He’s the course manager, he was a top guy to talk to, full of energy, full of enthusiasm. He’s been in the job for around about five and a half years. And do you know what? Once we finish that interview, and you’re gonna hear it now. I felt really lucky to have actually had a chance to speak to him because you could tell that he’s a guy who’s in demand now. Yeah, yeah. I think we would just before we do finally hear, we’d heard on the day that there were about two or three other podcasts and YouTubers who are out filming and things like that. So no, we felt imposter syndrome is probably a bit strong, but we were just like, oh well, little old us have been granted an interview, yeah, whatever.

Chris 14:31

So he he was brilliant though. I mean, me, you know, in my my day job, I’m a you know relatively senior manager, and I think watching him at work was brilliant. I just thought he painted the club in such a great light, and just he took you on that journey with him. Yeah, he did. So if you listen, listen to it. I think you’ll you’ll you’ll go on that journey with him and you’ll want to go and play Wallace.

Nish 14:49

And he’s he’s only been there for like five and a half years, but he lived and breathed that golf club. Absolutely, which is and my amazing credit to him. So let’s hear from John and see what he had to say. If you had to describe Wallasey in one sentence, what would it be?

John McLoughlin – Course Manager 15:03

I’d say Wallasey is it’s an English links course, but it’s more of an Irish style links. So your stereotypical English links are maybe a little bit more flat and and maybe not as much interaction with the sea. So where Wallasey is is certainly got a an Irish, Southern Irish links feel to it, with it’s it’s got some really big dunes running through the property. So 13 holes uh play alongside and over a dune ridge, so and it’s really prominent. So I’d certainly say, yeah, I Wallasey is a true English links with an Irish flavour.

Nish 15:40

Wonderful. You’re the course manager here at Wallasey. So tell us a little bit about what your role involves, uh, because we’re gonna have plenty of people who are listening who perhaps don’t understand what that job, what that job entails.

John McLoughlin – Course Manager 15:53

So if you could let us know what it is. So, yeah, hi, I’m John McLaughlin, course manager Wallasey. So I’ve been here five and a half years, and I think my role has has really developed in that in that time. We we started with uh when I when I started my my employment, we had six green staff plus myself. Um whereas now there’s there’s ten full-time green staff and five part-time staff who who work all year doing divinity duties and and other green keeping duties. So my role is is basically to lead lead the green keeping team and advise the golf club on agronomic and architectural sort of uh improvements for the course and work alongside our architects. So I I’d like to think I sort of pull everything together, whether that’s ecology, agronomy, architecture, uh strategy uh of the department. So it it’s it’s a fairly all-encompassing role. The fact that we we manage a uh you know, a half a million pound fleet of machinery. Uh there’s a lot of staff HR, you know, with 15 members of staff in the team. A lot of my time is doing appraisals and uh smart analysis of individuals. And with the golf course, there’s a lot of sort of strategic improvements and investment as well. So there’s a lot of there’s been a lot of investment and hopefully continues to be a lot of investment on the golf course, and and I manage that. So that is a big part of my role, sort of where we’re looking to spend money and where we’re looking to improve the golf course.

Nish 17:27

Wonderful. Now, obviously, the the story of why we’re here is that Wallasey came back into our top 100 list. Now, so you started five years ago, five and a half years ago, I should say, sorry. So you would have had a brief, or you would have been a driver of a lot of the uh initiatives that have brought Wallace back into that list and back into more. I mean, it feels like everybody’s talking about Wallasey Golf Club at the minute. So, what do you think has been the driver of that? What what what’s changed so much that’s that’s related to the billionaire?

John McLoughlin – Course Manager 18:00

Uh it’s almost been a perfect storm the last five and a half years. Obviously, COVID hit golf, certainly in the northwest, has just boomed completely. So, myself uh start starting at Wallasey just at the start of COVID, uh, was great timing. Uh, the club uh had decided they wanted a sort of a fresh regime where they were going to invest a lot of money into the course and and the infrastructure. So me starting was was a perfect time for sort of that that sort of reinvestment in the in the course. There was also uh Liverpool city centre uh started to thrive as well. So Liverpool, you know, everyone’s wanting to visit the city, and there’s a great feeling that it’s really built momentum. So a lot of the US and international visitors are now staying in Liverpool, which means we’re getting a lot more traffic and international footfall. So that’s been again the last five five years or so. Uh, so there’s there’s been a lot of different sort of angles and and areas where you know the club wanted to invest. I I’d done 25 years in in the green keeping industry and golf course management, looking at top venues around the world, working at a lot of the top venues, visiting and getting mentored by a lot of the leading course managers and architects in the world. So it was great for me to come into Wolsey and there was a step change where they wanted to invest. So uh, so that was perfect for me uh with wanting to take the course to the next level. I’d played at Walsey since I was 13 or 14, so I had a relationship where I was really familiar with the course for the last 25, 30 years, so I knew what could be achieved. And it was interesting in my interview for the role, uh I did say I believe Walsey is a sleeping giant, and I believe with the right investment and and the right direction, we can really take Walsey to the next level. And sort of five and a half years later, we’ve fulfilled that brief and we’re really on an amazing trajectory. So, and obviously I’ve played a small part on that, which has which has been fantastic.

Nish 20:13

I mean, it’s amazing how you saw that potential from you know that early time, you’re like, actually, that’s the the the place I’ve been able to do that.

Setting up the course like a major every single day

John McLoughlin – Course Manager 20:20

Uh I grew up at West Lancs, so I was a member there for 25 years, and that’s where I started my golf and was on the committees and scratched the team. And I’ve been playing Wallasey since I was 13, 14, and I always believed out of the the courses along the coast, I always believed Wallasey was was the sleeping giant and had had a hell of a lot of potential. There was a lot of trees on the course, which is unusual for a links course. So uh the the the green complexes were fantastic, but had grown in over time. So there was there was a lot of easy wins, I believed, and sort of we’ve acted on them and uh we’ve doubled down on our detail, and that’s really helped take us to the next level.

Nish 21:02

I mean it this it looks we’ve had one glance out at the course that it looks immaculately presented at the minute. And is is that a big part of uh each?

John McLoughlin – Course Manager 21:11

Yeah, so we’ve we’ve got uh as I touched on, we’ve got 10 full-time staff, five part-time staff. We we we rarely uh double down on attention to detail with our with our daily setup on the course. So we we have a lot of pillars and vision and mantras that that we live by. And one of our daily uh mantras that that we live by is we set up the course every day as if we’re hosting a major event. So it doesn’t matter if you play the Sunday or Monday, you know, the the the detail, the enthusiasm from the team is is really high level every single day. So when any whenever anyone plays or visits that that level of attention to detail, detail and and commitment from the staff is is consistent on every day. And by having that ethos and the mentality that we’re we’re setting up today, as good as we can do with the golf course, we’re able to deliver a really nice product, which is which is great, and everyone’s on board with that philosophy.

Nish 22:11

So yeah, and how good is that for a visitor to come to know that whenever you turn up at this golf club, you’re gonna get that attention of detail and the experience is gonna be good and your day out, which is what it is, isn’t it? It’s a day out of golf. It’s like an adult’s playground, isn’t it?

John McLoughlin – Course Manager 22:25

Yeah, uh and it comes back to me just from a personal point of view. Obviously, I’m a golfer and and and and grew up in Liverpool playing all the municipals and and All the different courses in the region. And I realise it’s a day out for someone. This would have been a day out for me back in the day. I’d have been really pleased. So I think it’s nice that I myself, leading the department, have got an opportunity to impact people’s day by putting in a team of people that are really dedicated, enthusiastic to present a golf course which helps you know impact someone’s day in a positive way. So we we see it as we we really hold ourselves accountable to that as well. That we really want people to come in and have an amazing experience. So it you know, we we we wouldn’t miss a tee peg on the golf course every morning, we wouldn’t leave litter, we wouldn’t leave divots because we realise we want to positively impact people and and and we don’t take shortcuts to do that.

Nish 23:25

That’s amazing. I mean, and actually that attention detail does bring that out. You you’d probably spot it, but you don’t really know what it is. Yeah.

Making it playable for every handicap

John McLoughlin – Course Manager 23:38

We get a lot of really nice feedback on on Instagram, on X and Facebook, and I don’t think people really put the finger on why they’ve had a great day and really enjoyed it. But I think what we’re working hard on on to be able to uh impact people’s psychology. So people play and they enjoy the pathways and the trim on the paths, and but they they don’t necessarily put the finger on that was why they had a nice day. It was it was uh the sum of all its parts, basically.

Nish 24:07

Yeah, which which obviously we’re working hard on all them individual aspects to to to make the sum of all its parts greater than the the how do you balance that with then it needs to be enjoyable for an average golfer, I’m a 17 handicap, and I need to walk off that course and not think, my goodness, I don’t want to come back because I’ve been beaten up by it. I want to have a fun day. How do you balance those two things?

John McLoughlin – Course Manager 24:31

Yeah, so working with the architects, Clayton’s a Reese and Pontaro architects, and we took them on five years ago. And with myself a bit being an avid golfer and and enthusiastic about golf and the architects, obviously being being sort of world leaders, it was very evident that Wolsey was a really tough course, and it was almost beat a lot of people up, but there was a lot of reviews. If you look back five, six years ago on Top 100 and other platforms where people loved the course but didn’t necessarily enjoy the experience, they were losing a lot of golf balls. Uh they were they were finding the course really difficult. Obviously, some of our fairways are really tight, and if you were offline, you you you’d never make a par. It was it was really difficult. And uh so we we’ve had a real conscious effort over the last five years to to make the rough less penal and and cut and collecting that. We we still want people to find the balls, but we you know we want it to be a difficult shot into the green, but we don’t want people searching around looking for balls and slowing down play. We’ve really opened up the green, so the green sites are really big now. So, you know, where beforehand you could miss a green by a metre or two, you’re in a long rough. That wouldn’t be the case now. You’d either still be on the green because they’re so big, or you you’d be you’d be uh cascading down in one of the runoffs that we’ve put in. So uh we set the golf course up so it’s it’s difficult and tricky for a scratch player because of these runoffs, and and and it’s added a lot of choice. But for for a sort of a double figure handicap, so anywhere from 10 above, the course is rarely playable. You miss a green and you you might run 30 to 40 yards away, but you’re just taking your putter out or a nine-nine or an eight-nine and bumping it back up. There’s there’s no long rough around the greens anymore where you’re losing your ball or you’ve got to hack it out. We’ve we’ve added a lot of imagination with with the short clubs now. You can literally on any of the green surrounds, you can take anything from a lob wedge to to a putter to a hybrid. So there’s there’s lots of different shot choices around the course. Um, by adding that variety of shots and and and these fantastic runoffs, it’s definitely uh made the course a lot more fun, and certainly for the high-handy guy.

Nish 26:51

Wonderful. That’s me sorted. I’m good, I’m good with that. Um, you know, uh you sort of mentioned that over the last five years you’ve really gone through this programme of of like change and and you mentioned some of the things that you’ve done. But what do you think? And somebody who maybe has played Wallasey 10, 15 years ago to now, like what’s the main difference they’re gonna spot?

The conditioning obsession and famous transitions

John McLoughlin – Course Manager 27:10

I’d say refinement and conditioning. How we’re operating now with the the finance and the infrastructure, it’s it’s just totally different than we were six years ago. And that’s everyone was doing a great job, but the money that’s come into golf, and obviously we’re charging, I think our peak rate of green fees £275 this year. So our green fee taken and our revenue is has has exploded, and but with that, so the investment has had to. So, as I touched on, we’ve gone from seven staff to sort of 15 staff. So there’s a high level, there’s a high level of investment that’s gone into the golf course with the the machinery, the agronomy, the the staffing levels. So through that, investment into the course uh has led to a higher level of agronomy and detail on the course. So um, so I’d say from 10 years ago, someone playing now, the they would really notice the the you know the investment, and it should be as well. Do you know back six, seven years ago, you could probably play well for C for 70, 70, 80 pounds, where now it’s 275 pound going up. Yeah, it needs to be that level, do you know it needs to be the expectations really high as well. And I suppose we we are quite big on social media now, and we are put on a bit of a pedestal, which actually puts a lot of pressure on as well. It’s it needs to be good as well. And yeah, um, my role is almost to make sure we are value for money for that for that green fee, yeah. Uh which which does put a little bit of pressure on you, but I think that’s nice that you know it’s we are driving forward, the industry’s driving forward, and I think how we are here. I think a lot of the other courses in the region over the last five years, certainly since the COVID bounce, there’s been a lot more investment in golf courses, so the standards are better. You know, we’re looking at four or five hundred pound green fees now for the raw clubs this year, yeah. So the the standards have got to be better, and and the American and international market almost demands that as well.

Nish 29:15

Yeah. I mean, it is nice to hear that uh from a club’s perspective, we we’re coming at it from a visitor’s perspective, yeah. But the clubs, there is somebody at the club who is thinking we need to offer value for the the green fee that we charge. That’s really, really nice to hear. Is it is there anything you think we wouldn’t notice, but that’s the really hard thing to maintain at a golf course?

Old Tom Morris — four original greens still standing

John McLoughlin – Course Manager 29:36

We we put a lot of energy, a lot of manpower, and a lot of resource into our grass pathways. Yeah. So that’s uh that’s something Wallasey’s almost famous for now is uh the transitions from the green complexes to to the apron to the next tee is is a real big feature of Wallasey now. And and we’ve got some of the nicest transitions in in the country, if not GB and I, with regards to the flow of the golf course. So five, ten years ago, probably wouldn’t have even been a thing almost. You know, you just play the hole and you’re on a shell path to the next T. And yeah, you sort of once you leave the green, you you’re you’re not thinking about golf, you’re just you know doing the transition and walking to the next T. And then as soon as you get on the T, you’re you’re in the zone where now more people take photos of our transitions and flows than they do with the actual golf course. So it’s a thing now. And I mean, I played the Ailsa course at Turnberry a couple of years ago, and I think I took more photos on their transitions than they did on the golf course. So it’s a thing now in the industry, do you know? Uh how it’s the whole experience, it’s it’s when you arrive, what’s the first tee journey like, yeah, uh what your practice facilities like, what you put in green, your range, uh, and obviously the whole experience on the golf course yet. So yeah, uh, but I must say we’ve we’ve spent a lot of time on the green complexes and the greens in over the last five and a half years. So our greens went from maintained at 1.25 hectares to we’re now maintaining them at two hectares, the greens and the immediate surrounds. So we we’ve almost doubled the green sort of surfaces and and immediate surrounds, which is does that mean I have more GIR or something? You definitely get more greens in regular. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, uh, that’s the idea. Yeah. So our greens now were the the sort of the tabletop element was mowed out, so they were quite they were seen to be quite flat, the greens at Wolsey. Uh, but they’re not flat now. There, you know, there’s a lot of contour in that we’ve we’ve crept from the surrounds, uh, and by pushing the greens out and running them over the edges of banks and slopes. Uh, I believe we’ve got some of the best greens in in Great Britain and Ireland now. So we’ve taken a lot of inspiration from the leg support rush where the greens really uh blend seamlessly into the slopes and the contours, and we we’ve done a lot of that here now as well. So is it is there a hole out there that you think out of the 18 perfectly encapsulates what wallace is all about? My favourite holes are 3, 11, which are which I’d say they were the two holes which are in the dunes and a sort of uh very wallacey, very Irish links, sort of in the dunes, a lot of land movement. But I’d say our signature hole would be our 12th hole of short part three. It’s an original old Tom Morris hole, so there’s only four greens that remain from from when old Tom Morris designed the course, and that was one of the originals, the 12th part three. Uh, we’ve kept the the hole the same for all them years, and it shouldn’t be good, it should be underwhelming because we’re going from dramatic dunes to flat land. But the way the green is bunkered and the flow from the grass pathways, the green surround. Uh it’s 150 yards downhill, so it can be a wedge, it could be a little gap wedge sandine, it can place anything up to a five iron in the in into the wind. But it’s uh I’d certainly say that’s our signature hole. We rebuilt the hole three years ago. So the the green complex stayed, but the the bunkering and the surround, the grass pathways, the tee complex all got rebuilt. So, but it was very it was built very sympathetically to how it was originally, and um, and and we think we’ve nailed it and it’s it photographs very well. So I’d say the whole 12 will be my we’ll make sure we get the camera out for hole 12, yeah.

Nish 33:41

Um yeah, uh this is the the golf nerd in me now coming out. So I haven’t had a chance to speak to somebody in your position at a golf club yet, and everybody in golf will know old Tom Tom Morris, designer of the old course. You know, that name is just it weighs heavily on everybody, right? And you’ve got four greens here that he originally designed. Yeah, like do you feel pressure to maintain the characteristics of that, or is that something that you sort of thrive on?

John McLoughlin – Course Manager 34:11

You actually want to Yeah, well, really yeah, I’d say thrive on it, really, because it’s uh we our second hole, our seventh, eighth, and twelfth uh original holes. And I believe now we’ve restored them to how old Tom Morris would have wanted them back when he when he designed them. So we uh our second hole we’ve really pushed back and increased the size. Hole seven is is our biggest green on the course, so we’ve really pushed that back. It’s 50 yards long now. We’ve really taken it close to the fence line, so out of bounds is is is really close, and there’s a lot of jeopardy. So there’s a lot of work there. This past 12 months, eight, we’ve we’ve we’ve reinstalled the bowl aspect of it that that was lost, so we’ve really increased the size of the green by a third and made it a punch bowl, which I believe when that was laid out, it would have been a punch bowl, yeah, and we’d lost that element to it. So it’s been amazing, sort of restoring the greens to how I believe old Tom Morris would have had them. And obviously, that must make you feel so proud to do so, you know. Yeah, so the four old Tom Morris greens, three of them are our three of our best greens on the course. Well, four of them, yeah. So it’s amazing that you know they’re coming up to 130 years old, and they’re at some of our best greens on the course. Yeah, so uh, so yeah, that makes me proud that each green now we have a plaque on the tee to stipulate that that the green complex was designed by old Tom Morris. And I believe they really sing now, them green, them greens. Yeah, so yeah, hopefully you’ll enjoy them.

Nish 35:53

Wonderful. Obviously, you touched on being proud of that, and and you you rightly you should be. You obviously must walk the course mornings, late evenings, things like that. What is it that makes you the proudest of from all the work that you’ve put into this amazing golf course?

John McLoughlin – Course Manager 36:09

I think I’m really proud of what the the team achieve really on a day-to-day basis. So we’ve got obviously 15 staff, and uh to really present a course to a high level, you have to have committed staff and people that are on the journey. So it’s very evident when you play that the staff they’re invested into the into the project, and to you know, to put a 15 kilometre path edge trim, which is which is handwalked every every week, you’ve got to have an investment from from from the team to be able to do that. And I think walking around and and and and and playing the course and and the morning walk is seeing the level of commitment from the staff is is inspiring, really. And not just the staff that are here now, even the staff that worked before and have moved on. And I’m very proud that in the last five and a half years, a lot of staff that have been at Wells even for a short time have gone on to bigger, better things, and they’re now running their own courses and or deputy course managers or spray tech. So people from our sort of our team have have gone on to really great things and and being able to impact on people’s lives in that way has been amazing, really. So, and hopefully, you know, we’ve really shone a light on if you look after people and treat them well and invest in them, you know, what they’re capable of is amazing, and and and being part of that’s been fantastic.

Nish 37:42

It’s very telling, John, that you mention your team rather than a specific thing in the course.

The Bobby Jones portrait — the original, not the replica

John McLoughlin – Course Manager 37:46

I think that just says says a lot about the way you’re thinking I think if you have a really great team and people invested, the byproduct of that is just a good golf course. Yeah. So if we can bring in staff and make them work to the best of their ability, the best of their ability, and they’re inspired to come into work and really enjoy it, then the byproduct is you get a fantastic golf course, and I believe that’s how we operate.

Nish 38:11

Amazing. Now, I’ll I’ll touch upon something you mentioned before about sort of the American market, American visitors and things like that. There is a very famous portrait hanging in your clubhouse, but it is a portrait of Bobby Jones, and it’s signed by Bobby Jones. That is the original, and there is a replica and a copy of that at none other than Augusta. We just had the Masters. You get a lot of American visitors here. Do they have an awareness of what they’re looking at when they’re starting the clubhouse?

John McLoughlin – Course Manager 38:41

Possibly not. So obviously, there is obviously Bobby Jones is such a big figure in America and and and still is obviously one of with Tiger that one of the most famous golfers that’s ever lived. So uh we find that you know a lot of the the visitors if they’re from East Lake or some some of the the the courses that Bobby Jones was uh really famous for being a member or playing a lot of golf there, they they will be aware of it, but not as much as we’d like really. So so we are uh we are wanting it to be a little bit more uh publicised, really. That we’ve got the original, and it’s interesting that Hoylake have got a copy as well that hasn’t their clubhouse yet. So obviously went on to win the open. So uh Mr. Berry painted a replica for Hoy lake, but he added legs onto the onto the picture. So where where where when Bobby Jones sat down for the image, he was a little bit like myself and it was and it was waist-up. Hoy Lake uh had legs put onto the the picture, and Royal Lytham was the same as well. So there’s a replica at Royal Lytham as well. So Royal Lytham and Hoy lake have both got replicas of the picture, apart from he’s got legs and he’s standing up, so they obviously didn’t want it to be an identical replica of the policy one. So uh that’s local competitions. So yeah, but I believe obviously uh it’s amazing that that’s the original. And because he he he he was blown away by by the the the the obviously the painting and how impressed he was. He obviously signed it, which is the only time he ever signed anything. So that just adds to the mystique and and how amazing it is, really.

Nish 40:32

I mean I’d encourage everybody to come down and we we just we had a cup of tea down there and it the the atmosphere was fantastic, all the well members coming and saying hello to us. But um what what do you think today? We’re we’re we’re sat here. If you’re watching the video version, you can see the the sun’s out today, so that’s a that’s a nice sign. Uh, what would we what should we be bracing ourselves for today on that golf course?

John McLoughlin – Course Manager 40:55

Yeah, so it’s it’s still obviously early in the season. Uh you know, we’re midway through April sort of thing, but the golf course is pretty firm and fast. So you’ve really got to control your golf ball still. Uh it’s mid to late April, but it’s almost going to play like July, which is quite unusual. Do you know we we haven’t had much rain this last week or two, so uh a lot of people you know turn up in April and expect it to be you know slightly winterised conditions, but it’s far from it. It’s you’re playing Walsey today, and it’s uh the wind’s just picking up 15-20 miles an hour wind, but it’s a very firm, fast golf course. The greens will be quite slick as well. So if you get the wrong side of the the pin, it’s about judging your speed. Uh so I think you’re getting a true links experience, really. Uh you’re gonna get it on a great day, and it could it could be it could be July, it could be August. Yeah, yeah.

Nish 41:56

Oh, fantastic. So go on. I’m I’m a 17 handicapper then. Have my moments, is how I’d describe my golf. Uh be honest, what do you think what do you think I’d say?

John McLoughlin – Course Manager 42:07

If you play Stableford, well, we have to, yeah. If you play Stableford, I’d expect you to be sort of 36, 37 points. Right. 38 points. So I’d say if you were medal, I’d say you’d certainly you’d find it difficult to break 90 because there’s a lot of tabletop greens at the course, it’s really difficult to judge perception, and the the card doesn’t play that long, but the course plays a lot longer because there’s a lot of elevation changes, and certainly some of the shots are uphill to the greens as well. So uh where I expect you to to par and even get the odd birdie on a par five because some of them you’ll be able you may be able to reach in two or get close to, but certainly some of our elevated greens and some of our par threes are really tricky. So I could imagine you know there could be a double bogey thrown in there or a triple bogey where stableford you can you can dust yourself off and carry on. So uh but I expect I’d be disappointed if you didn’t hit a few birdies along the way and a few pars and had a little bit of a mixed bag. But that that’s how we’re setting it up, really. We want people to enjoy it, we want people to come away with maybe getting the first eagle of the season and uh a couple of bear d’s and a couple of twos. We we we give away flags for holes and ones. So if anyone gets a hole in one, we have a collection of flags that that that we give away, and and we pretty much average a hole in one a week almost. It’s crazy the amount of time. Oh, that’s amazing. So could you put my name on one of them? I’ve big fellows. So people rarely come in and have a great time, and it’s not unusual for visitors or members or guests to get a hole in one. Yeah, you know, nobody’s ever mentioned that actually.

Nish 43:51

Because I mean it’s a it’s a rarity golf, anyway. Obviously, everybody knows that, but I almost needed one.

John McLoughlin – Course Manager 43:56

Oh, we have so many hole, yeah. It almost takes over our Instagram feed, the amount of holes and ones we have yet. So uh, but that’s great. It shows you know, we’ve got two par threes, uh, which can play the the ad you know for daily setup to play 150 yards downhill, people are hitting wedges, sandes and then there’s a gentleman who sat off camera here uh who I have set a challenge to get a hole and one at the top 100 cross. So yeah, he’s probably licking his lips at this right now. It’s gonna be the day. It’s gonna be the day, yeah. So I think I think it is can you reserve two flags, mate? I think we’ll we’ll we’ll have them today. Uh but that’s it, it’s it’s you know, which it’s Trying to be fun, and we’re trying to, you know, people might only come here once from America. We want them to really have a good day and enjoy it.

Nish 44:42

So I think one of the key takeaways that we took from our chat with John was the kind of conditioning elements. And he mentioned the transitions a lot that he was really proud of. Yeah, yeah. I’d never really considered that before, ever.

Chris 44:56

I mean, I think the first time that it became kind of something in my sort of cognitive thinking was at Trump. Yes. You’re kind of walking up those paths at Trump, and you’re like, fucking hell, these things are pretty cool.

Nish 45:08

Very similar to that, aren’t they? Like Dumbarnie as well. And you know, when you think about those two courses, Dumbarnie, total pay and pay and play makes it sound really like pitch and put, doesn’t it? But you know what I mean? Like it’s not a members’ club, it’s uh it’s a tourist club.

Speaker 1 45:23

Yeah.

Nish 45:24

Trump is a members’ club, but realistically they’re going for visitors and and all that kind of thing. So that the conditioning is really important because that’s the sales pitch. Yeah. It was it was up there with those two in that condition, wasn’t it? Totally up there. It wasn’t a blade of grass out of place.

Chris 45:39

No, it was. I mean, considering it’s you know it’s April, it’s mid-April, grass is a week. It was still still growing, terrible winter, it was in absolutely incredible condition, wasn’t it? Like you say, but just not just like you know, greens and fairways, just everything was just felt perfect.

Nish 45:54

Uh yeah, everything. Like somebody being out there with scissors and just been manually cutting things down, and there was not a thing out of place in that whole golf course. I love the fact that you got to the T’s and there weren’t loads of divots taken out of the T’s, they’ve obviously been repaired overnight. I think John mentioned that as well. That I mean they get they go and repair all that sort of stuff. The fairways were pristine. Yeah, they were like and you and greens. I mean the greens, unfortunately for us, the greens have been sanded on that day, and even with the strong wind, even still, but they were st they were amazing still, weren’t they? Those greens. It’s been funny that’s that the last time that happened was at Hankley Common, and we both had a decent putting day at Hankley Common as well, I think. Uh speak for yourself, I think. Should have yeah, should have been I should have known that really, shouldn’t I? Um but yeah, the c it was yeah, it was and when he said transitions, I was like, oh you know, okay, and how much can that be a thing? But you do notice you’ve got these wide, like the grass is all uniform, level walkways between from green to hold.

Chris 47:00

Yeah, and it really just feels like it just accelerates it up that kind of ladder of quality, doesn’t it? Like it really feels like you’re somewhere genuinely premium, like you feel like you’re in a top 10, top 20 course. Yeah, because it just feels it just feels special, right?

Nish 47:16

Got that feel about it, hasn’t it? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, the way it’s been kind of yeah, the way the I mean he said it in the attention to detail is our thing. Yeah, and that is so apparent when you’re out there, nailed, yeah, like everything, yeah, absolutely nailed plaques. I love the plaques, that was cool.

Chris 47:30

Flags, the flags were really cool.

Nish 47:31

Touch they were amazing, like these wooden flags, and they weren’t like the standard flag shape, it was like two long, um, yeah, kind of what they call like pageant type flag things, but they’re the best flags I’ve seen so far where we’ve gone. So I expect them to be copied somewhere somewhere along the way. Yeah. Um, we’ll probably let’s go straight into the real nitty-gritty of this. So we’re gonna go with our top three holes each. So let’s start with you, Chris then. Okay. So they don’t have to be in order of three, two, one kind of thing, but what were your top three holes? Uh one, two, three, done. Easy. One, two, three, done, right. Easy. I’ve gone with 16, 17, 18, so in the middle it was shit.

Chris’s picks — holes 3, 10 and 18

Chris 48:11

That was a short section, wasn’t it? Um no, so my I think this is quite a tough one because I think it was four or five holes out there, which I could quite easily have taken as my top three. Correct. Um, so I think it was quite a difficult one to narrow down. So I feel like there’s maybe a couple of holes that I’ve done a little bit of disservice to by not including them in here. But hopefully between us we’ve got to be. Between us, we might have covered them. Covered them. Um so my first hole, and I’m gonna do them in in order because that’s just the way I am. Okay. You’ve said you told me not to smart anyway. Break the rules, break the rules. Um, was hole number three, which I thought was a great hole. And I think uh I think encapsulated Wallasey really well. I think I think it in John’s interview he talked about Wallasey feeling like that kind of Irish links where you’re in and amongst the dunes. Yeah. I think the first two holes you can’t you are in and amongst the dunes, but all of a sudden three, you’re like, oh now I’m really in the dunes.

Nish 49:01

Wallop.

Chris 49:02

Yeah, and it’s not a particularly long or difficult hole, it’s quite a narrow fairway, you know, it’s just an iron into the into the fairway, and then a short iron up to a kind of raised green. Um, but in terms of a vista, and just a just a good looking hole on the eye, and also a also a good kind of challenging hole to play. Like it was. I love a short par four, um, and I think that was a really great example of one.

Nish 49:24

Yeah, because it tips down, doesn’t it? And then the green’s around.

Chris 49:27

Yeah, so you’ve got a little valley that you kind of hit in your first shot into it, five iron into the middle of the fairway, nice bit of run-out, and then a short iron into the into the green.

Nish 49:34

It was quite nice that because like when you were hitting to the green, like you’re look obviously looking up a little bit at the green. Um, not for me, I was up up high right in the dune.

Chris 49:42

I mean, you were looking down at the green from the way down at the green from where I was.

Nish 49:45

But you you know that kind of that bit when and you’re looking up at the green as like, and behind it is just like blue sky. Yeah, that’s beautiful, isn’t it? Yeah, that is good, stunning to look at. That’s a that was a great hole at the green. And it was right downwind as well. So I’d forgotten. Yeah, it was pretty uh simpler off the tea. I’d totally forgotten about that hole, so it’s a really good choice, Chris. Yeah, I enjoyed that one.

Chris 50:06

Uh my next one was hole number 10, which again is maybe uh me falling foul of my love for a short par four. I do love one. If I can hit an iron off the tee, then I’m a happier boy. Um, but yeah, just again, another great, great short t-shirt, like only a seven iron off there, you know, raised tea bed. You’ve got this dog leg right up to the right hand side, but again, just very dramatic rise, yeah. Really dramatic rise up to the right, up to the green.

Nish 50:32

Um that that’s in my top three as well. That was it was like a roller coaster hole, wasn’t it? Yeah, and it was that kind of I thought that set off the back nine like really, really well. That was originally gonna was according to Jim, was a signature hole. Okay, we would have happily played that as a signature hole. Yeah, I’d quite happily take that as a signature. I would have as well, so wouldn’t that one? But um yeah, wonderful, wonderful hole.

Chris 50:55

Yeah, and again, one of those holes that I isn’t it gives you a chance, right? You you’ve got a real birdie chance there, but if you don’t quite hit the right shot, which I didn’t for my second, yeah, it was unfortunate that, wasn’t it? It’s just a little bit skinny and then I couldn’t find my ball through the green. But um, but yeah, like a real good opportunity for a birdie, but also still demands some good golf shots to be to be hit.

Nish 51:16

Um yeah, it like two half decent hits, you know, in a year. Yeah, and like it’s only seven-nine. But where the elevation change really, really sort of makes it a bit of a bit of a challenge, doesn’t it?

Chris 51:27

I think I think that theme kind of runs through Wallasey a little bit where there’s quite a few fairly significantly raised greens, which actually make what is a you know just a short wedge shot or whatever become a really difficult shot. Yeah, and it that’s the greens are you know the greens are pretty big. So the greens are very big, you know, for a links course. I think John was saying in his interview that they’ve expanded the green complexes by is it two acres? Yeah, two hectares.

Nish 51:53

Two hectares of greens, like it’s crazy.

Chris 51:56

So the greens are quite big, but uh when you’re kind of playing from below, it doesn’t necessarily look like that. It looks kind of flat and doesn’t really look like you’ve got loads of room to go at, so it just makes that shot a little bit more intimidating. My final top three top third hole. No the third top three holes? My number three top four holes in the country are no, so my third and final hole is the 18th. Uh and again, I’m just such a sucker for a short par four arna, because it’s it’s pretty much you know, pick three holes and the probably the three short par fours on the score. I really don’t see you on the phone. I just think if you’ve got a short short iron off a tee, you know, or a mid iron off a tea, and then a wedge in, and you’ve got but you’ve still got a real good amount of challenge on that hole. I just think if you’ve got that balance of burdy opportunity versus you can make a bit of a mess of it quite quickly if you don’t get the right shot. Yeah I just love that. I love that balance.

Nish 52:48

You had a touch of the fourth at Silloth for me that not quite the blind tee shot, but the approach is more blind, and it’s like you can’t really quite see where you’re going with that.

Chris 52:56

Yeah, and just lots of humps and hollows, and just really feels like you’re playing links golf down the 18th, and you can’t you’ve got the clubhouse in the background and the and the beautiful Church as well, and you’re coming in. I just I yeah, I think that’s a lovely finishing hole. One of my favourites, I think that’s probably that clubhouse, yeah.

Nish 53:10

And like you could legitimately, it was so well conditioned, you could probably put it from a hundred yards out and it would just follow the probably should have followed, probably should have done. Yeah, yeah, that’s it. Yeah, probably would have been a better way to do it. In thinking back to it now, there were a lot of gettable par fours there, weren’t there?

Chris 53:34

There were. I mean, we played it with sort of 25, 30 mile an hour wins, so I don’t think anything felt that gettable. But I think if you’ve got a yeah relatively calm day out there, I think you put a score together if you’re putting well around there.

Nish 53:46

I mean, John said that, didn’t he? Yeah, this course is about giving you a chance to score. If you’re not really coming off with 36 points, he’s like pretty disappointed. Yeah, you know, you’ve had a bit of a stinker then. Yeah. Um I wholeheartedly endorse that.

Chris 54:02

Like I say, I mean, 25-30 mile a wins changes that, it makes it more difficult. Like you’re coming off happy with a par, but I think you you tone those wins down a bit. Yeah, I think there’s six, seven, eight holes out there where you’re coming off going, I had a birdie chance there, or I had an eagle chance there, or whatever.

Nish 54:16

Um I mean, look, I hit three drives over 300 yards with wind assisted, obviously. But um, that’s gonna make you feel good no matter who you are or where you are, you know. That was like some of them were just like, I think it’s kind of just in this right rough. And you’re like, What’s that in the fairway in the distance? Like, oh, that’s my ball, 320 yards off the T, you know. Brilliant, I mean, obviously, then you have the pain the other way where you absolutely stonk it right down the middle and it’s gone 180 yards with your driver, and and but it it it that’s the fairness of golf, I suppose, you know, one side and and the other. But yeah, those part I thought those par fours were collection of par fours of really, really good. Yeah, agreed. There was one, I think I can’t remember, it might have been a fifth 14th or 15th, where there was like a bunker on the left hand side, and like you could carry the carry over the bunker was like 205 yards or something like that. And it was like I’ll just go straight the bunker, you know, and then I did, and it went exactly where I wanted it to go, and it was like I was you know, you get over the top and you go, I still can’t see it. Oh done, where’s it gone? You know, didn’t quite see it down, and then there’s this little hollow just before you get to the green, it’s like just in there, and you’re like, it’s 280 yard drive, that happy days, like it’s almost in the not in the short stuff anymore. So good, feel good course if you can keep it straight somehow.

Chris 55:31

And again, another one which a notable mention was eight as well, which I thought was a great hole. Another another short part four. It feels a lot, it feels quite intimidating.

Nish 55:39

Is that the one with the the the practice area on the lab? Yeah, oh yeah, because we sort of got on the T, didn’t we? And we went, strange hole this one.

Chris 55:47

Yeah, yeah, but actually, this like the second shot, the approach right there is is a great little approach.

Nish’s picks — holes 4, 10 and 12

Nish 55:50

Yeah, it was it was yeah, it was brilliant, wonderful. I think there are three fantastic holes there. Um, my choice is ten. Obviously, I um echo that. I thought that was a that was a great hole. Slightly elevated T, dip down, then up to the right, bunker on the left hand side to sort of stop you just going straight. You’ve either got to try and cut the corner or land it shorter and then take that elevation change on. Um, I went with four, which is the par five that’s right along the beach. I mean, that’s definitely the greatest, the best t shot on that. I mean that, and you’re the highest point of the course and you can see everything.

Chris 56:26

Jonathan told us to go and play from the whites up there. I’m glad he did because that was just pretty epic up there. I felt like I was about to get blown off, but yeah, that’s true.

Nish 56:33

Uh yeah, it was but I mean, you know, but we had the wind behind us, so yeah, like crack to drive, wind assisted, 312 yards. Bob’s your uncle, thank you very much. Yeah, six iron. It was a 550-yard hole, was it 500 and something?

Speaker 1 56:49

Uh 512 yards. 512. I had to 530 from the whites, to be fair.

Nish 56:53

I played a s I played a six iron as my second shot, and it landed in the middle of the green. And I was like, this is what it feels like. This is what it feels like. Yeah, it was that does make you feel good if you can.

Chris 57:06

And it’s yeah, I I think I think maybe not a lot of the time, but certainly a good proportion of the time when you come off a link’s course, you think, fucking hell, that was a that was a tough day out. Yeah. And you come off and you feel a bit bad and bruised. Like Bernard Barrow played the weekend before, came off there thinking, I mean, that was a tough round of goal.

Nish 57:22

I felt sorry for the people who were like, you know, first experience playing in the top 100 sort of thing.

Chris 57:27

Yeah, but this wasn’t that at all. No, like they’ve really kind of opened it up and given you some real, real chances to play well and score well around there. Yeah, I think. And I think it’s all the better for it. Like, you know, we both love Dumbarnie for that reason, didn’t we? But this is this is an old, you know, hundred-year-old links that they’ve almost converted into like this kind of more modern, yeah, uh, you know, playable style of links course. And I think that’s the hell of an achievement to to get that course playing like that.

Nish 57:53

It’s why it’s gonna keep climbing the rankings, I think.

Chris 57:56

Ah, for sure, for sure. I mean, I I can’t imagine anyone’s gonna go there and go, oh, having a bad day.

Nish 58:01

That was the idea. It wasn’t that’s not that’s not it for me, sort of thing. Yeah, yeah. Um, well, look, yeah, so I obviously went with 10. Uh I went with four, so that and that was great. It does help you play it well, but that I went with four, and that’s a bit no matter what you’re playing, just at least go up to the white T. It’s worth it. A tiny little tee box, doesn’t it? Um, and then I went with the 12th, which ended up being our signature hole. So I told us that should be. That was the par three. Yeah, it’s a great little hole, which was a fantastic par three, and I’m surprised I picked a par three for uh my top three holes because I don’t play them particularly well.

Chris 58:38

So that’s one of the old Tom Morris ones as well, isn’t it?

Nish 58:40

Old Tom Morris one, so a bit of history with it, yeah. But you you get up there, and actually, I’m gonna give everyone a little extra bonus tip on this hole. It looks stunning from the T, don’t get me wrong. You got the plaque or that kind of thing, and you see these pot bunkers around the front. So the danger’s not at the back, it’s all at the front. When you finish playing that hole, just turn around and look back towards the T. Yeah, and it is so beautifully sculpted. Yeah, it is. It I took a picture of that, yeah.

Chris 59:08

We both did that, didn’t we? Both turn around and went, Oh shit, that’s yeah, it’s become a bit of a thing now.

The par threes — tough but fair

Nish 59:12

If it’s a good hole, like just turn around and look from the green back to what you’ve just played. Um, it it was it was stunning for me that. Yeah, it was. And I thought actually the the par threes were they were all really interesting, weren’t they? They were and I think in that wind, they were they were a tough set of parts. But it really put us off on one of them. I think it was a 16 or something, it really put us off because like we were like, how are we gonna like it looked like the green would fall into the abyss on the other side and we didn’t know what was going on? Like, don’t don’t go along, don’t go along. So we both just went both just went like 30. 50 yards short. Yeah, yeah. That’s one way of playing it, I suppose. Um, but I thought they were all but they weren’t like rock hard either. They were they were decent.

Chris 59:52

I thought they were tough. I wouldn’t say they were rock hard. I think in those those windy conditions, they all seem to be downwind. It’s like stopping the ball, so keeping the ball on the green was genuinely difficult in those conditions.

Nish 1:00:03

I suppose maybe what I mean by rock hard, or maybe I should qualify that a little bit, sometimes you get up on a tee on a par three, and the only thing you can think see and think is bunker, bunker, bunker, bunker, bunker, bunker. Yeah. So you’re like, I’ve got to hit the green or I’m screwed here. Yeah, yeah. I I felt there was always a there was always a safe out, wasn’t there? So there was like you could go long and it’ll be okay. Yeah, it’s not ideal, but it’d be okay. You could go back left or you could go just left. There weren’t that many bunkers around.

Chris 1:00:32

And apart from the 12th, they’re all reasonably decent-sized greens, aren’t they? They’re quite big greens that you can hit.

Nish 1:00:37

Tiny, tiny green, yeah. I thought Tom Morris was famous for big massive greens, but clearly not on the 12th. Um, so I thought the par threes were were were were really, really good. How was your hole-in-one watch, Chris?

Chris 1:00:48

Uh so annoyingly, we’d had this kind of chat with John before, and I think they give flags out for hole in ones. And I just have this weird little feeling in me. I was like, shit, today’s actually gonna be the day I’m actually gonna get a hole-in one today. And I don’t think I hit a single green, did I? You had your worst performance on the par threes? It was yeah, it was definitely my worst par three performance for quite some time.

Nish 1:01:06

I’ve not played that badly on par threes for a while.

Chris 1:01:08

I mean, some of them weren’t even bad shots though, like there’s a hit a wedge in into one of them and I just just stopping it was impossible because it was it was so windy so far downwind.

Nish 1:01:17

The fifth was a par three, wasn’t it? Where you just send it out into the abyss and then just yeah, yeah, which is like downhill par three. Uh yeah, it was uh it was I think it was a tough day to with the wind to get close to you know uh but yeah, was it like a holding one a week to get there? Which is two a week, did he say? It was whatever it was, it was mad. I was like, okay, right, fair enough. Yeah, we’ll obviously you you’ll have heard in the interview we’re pretty bullshit, and we were like, yeah, just reserve a couple of flags for us. Um do you have any notable moments from your play before we get into our challenges, Chris?

Chris 1:01:51

I mean, I hit one of my favourite shots that I’ve hit in a long time. I you know me, I love playing lunx golf, and I love playing in the wind. Like it’s one of my favourite conditions to play in. I just think it makes you hit some some different shots, and you’ve really got to think about those shots. And I think just playing playing shots under the wind is one of my favourite things to do. So I think that approaching to 17. I mean, I was only like 160, 70 yards away, and it was a full tilt four iron off the back foot. Didn’t go more than about 20 yards, 20 feet high.

Nish 1:02:19

I mean, you couldn’t put it higher in the air, could you? With the wind against it, it was just impossible to do anything.

Chris 1:02:24

Yeah, nice 10 feet away from it from the hole, which was a pretty nice little feeling to finish the round.

Nish 1:02:29

Um I’m yeah, I’m beginning to appreciate that different shot making. It’s only taking me 22 courses to get there, but you know, yeah, just having to think a little bit differently. And yeah, I mean, like I say, with it’s so well conditioned, you probably could just get your butter out or just a chipper. There you go. Perfect. That’s what that’s what would do it. Does it get into before I do get to side bets and things like that? Does it get into your top five for Chris?

Chris 1:02:56

I think it probably does. Does it? I think it probably does. I think if so, where are you sticking it? I think when you play the first sort of five holes, we both were just like, whoa, this is what is this, yeah. Um and then you get to kind of six, seven and then you kind of kind of come back for six, seven again. Yeah, you come back for sort of thirteen, fourteen, and on the flat side of the course. I think if you take those four holes out and put those in a similar kind of setting to the rest of the course, I you know, I think you you’re well into kind of top top ten territory for me. Yeah, you know, I think uh John had said it before in the interview. He said that um you kind of get in the Irish links feel, but in England, yeah, and like when you’re in the like it was genuinely just like breathtaking dunes, but not like rock crazy rock hard, was it?

Nish 1:03:50

I was like, not impossible. Totally playable, but just I mean that gets excited for Ireland, doesn’t it? Yeah, they like the courses a lot. Yeah, absolutely. Do you know you know you’re not you’re not wrong, you know. I I’ve sort of reflected on that and we we said it, didn’t we? We were through six, seven, yeah, and then we were through six, seven, and then we were through the other little section where it was just I think there was two holes, wasn’t it, where it was like out and back, and it’s the inner inner loop almost, uh, that were that were just flat, I suppose, generally speaking. Yeah, yeah. And you know, we were like, oh, because now we’re expert course architects, wouldn’t it be nice if they just sort of built this up or built that up or whatever? Probably still stand by that a little bit, but I’ve kind of reflected on it and gone. But that there’s always sometimes in a course where you probably just need a little bit of like respite before the next big section comes in. Yeah, yeah. And if it just gives you a couple of holes of like, I’ve not lost a golf ball or not whatever, that’s yeah, not it’s not to be sniffed at, but yeah.

Chris 1:04:50

Yeah, it almost makes you appreciate the other holes more, doesn’t it? When you kind of come back as I what I did like about that is it wasn’t just like you play play four holes, and then there’s like five holes that are flat, and then you play another, you played a couple of holes, and then you went back into the dunes, so you kind of get back into it, and then you go back, and then you come back around into the dunes again for the second time. So you’re kind of like you’re just kind of going in and out of it, so you feel like you’re kind of just going on that journey, you get back into it, and you get excited again.

Nish 1:05:15

Eight was the T. We were lost like, oh, there’s the third hole in a row where it’s just yeah, flat and straight. Once you get to the second shot, you’re like, oh, this is incredible. Exactly, and that took us by surprise. So wonderfully paced golf course, I thought that was. Yeah, yeah. Um, and I do like it. There are occasions when you’re playing it, playing a hole. We had it a little bit hillside as well, where you feel like it’s just you on the course, so that was always quite a quite a nice thing. Um I mean, in your if it’s making you top five, is it getting into top three?

Chris 1:05:47

Perhaps I think it’s probably around that four. I think it probably four. I think it probably goes in four.

Nish 1:05:53

Yeah, um, so it it it reluctantly is it’s unfair on Wallasey, but it’s because I have a real uh affection for this golf course that it would potentially knock out, and that is it’s Hindhead, it would knock out because Hindhead’s fifth on my list. Right, okay. So Wallasey does go into the top five for me that we’ve played. I told you, didn’t I? I toyed with it being my number one. I really did. And then Chris was like, shut up, it’s a recency bias. And I think you’re right, it is a bit of recency bias, played well, all that kind of thing. Um, but it shared so many traits for me with Trump International in Aberdeen. The conditioning was unbelievable. I mean well my one and two are um Trump and Dumbarnie. Yeah. So Dumbarnie had gettable power fours, drivable power fours, you know. Uh it was fun, it was well conditioned, all that kind of thing. I mean Wallasey is is is there, it’s in that conversation. Um so does it creep into my top three though? You know, does it displace Dumbarnie and Hankley Common? Maybe maybe it’s probably fucked into four for me as well. Yeah, maybe just creeps into five, actually. Uh, because I don’t actually know what my fourth favourite. Oh, Queen’s Gleneagles . Oh no, I’ve got a real soft spot for that. Yeah, this is gonna get sentimental now, isn’t it? It’s not gonna be about the course, which is why we’re not doing proper rankings. Yeah, um, but I’d say it’s in a top five. I mean, it’s it’s up there ultimately. It’s it’s like you say, it’s part of the conversation. We need to have it, yeah. It would be in there, wouldn’t it? So uh, yeah, okay. That would be our our views on uh being top five. Now our side bets. So we had a signature hole challenge, so it was supposed to be the 10th.

Speaker 1 1:07:39

Yeah.

Nish 1:07:40

Uh but then obviously John said no, it people consider the 12th to be the signature hole, and yeah, what a substitution for a signature hole. Yeah, yeah. Uh so we did that. It was on a par three, which immediately puts me on the back foot. Yeah, um, but I parred it.

Chris 1:07:57

You did from fucking nowhere. Which was absolutely a t-shirt. I was like, brilliant. Yeah. Another par three. I’m in the bunker. I’ll be in the bunker, I’ll get up and down from an hour.

Nish 1:08:05

Yeah, up and down from a bunker, no problem. Yeah, I went wide right into some rough near a bush.

Chris 1:08:10

I mean, I came over and looked at your lot and I was like, fucking good luck with that, mate. Yeah, that’s it.

Nish 1:08:14

I mean, it wasn’t close your eyes, just swing through it, see what happens. I don’t think it came out anywhere near like I intended to, but it just scooted along the ground. And again, I think the way that the place is done. I think a good player, which I’m not classing myself as, tries to play a particular type of shot to try and get it close. Average Joe over here just goes, just get it moving. And I think that’s a pretty low bar to say. It was it was just I just need it out of here. I don’t want to be playing a second shot from this bush. It was essentially what I was thinking. But I remember also, and we will have heard, but John did say, didn’t he? He’s like, for a scratch golfer, this is a tough course, yeah, it’s a challenge. But actually, for the average golfer, you probably come away from that, and you’re not gonna go, I’ve been beaten up by the golf course because you can like put it and whatever. And that that was that’s all I wanted to do, just get it somewhere near the putting surface. Yeah, scratch golfers go in, I need to get close with this, and that’s where they can maybe not get the contact, whatever. So, anyway, we ended up roughly the same sort of spot, didn’t we? For uh after our second shot. So now I had a shot on it anyway. Uh, so I was like, easy, I’ll just walk this one in, which I did.

Chris 1:09:23

You raked it, didn’t you? Yeah.

Nish 1:09:25

Just went in, gave it the full full beans fist pump. Uh, and that’s we’re back to one up. You’re just one up now through 22 signature holes, Chris. So I finally clawed it back to the point where I’m now better off than when you first told me after three courses that we’re doing a single job challenge. So, yeah, get your finger out, mate. I know, yeah. Get your finger out. Um, the side bet was a stableford match play. Now, I played quite well. If there is such a thing, if there is such a thing, no, I I I played quite well because I was three under my official handicap. Uh, because I was bumped up to 21 from 18 and I I I shot a 90, so I was yeah, you play you played well to be fair. You did. Um, but as the match play when I won three and two, deserve it.

Chris 1:10:13

So we’ll give you I’ll give you that one, Nish. You played well.

Nish 1:10:15

We did yeah, did I just say halfway through the round, which you shouldn’t do it halfway through the round, should you? But I was quite happy with what my game is at the minute.

Chris 1:10:21

You were getting well solid and getting off the tee well, yeah.

Nish 1:10:23

You’re in position you does help if you can drive it okay, doesn’t it? I think um which despite the wind was the wind was weird, wasn’t it? Because everything it always everything was always generally either into or against or with, wasn’t it? Which is Link’s golf, though, innit?

Three reasons to visit Wallasey Golf Club

Chris 1:10:37

It was great that very rarely get a side wind.

Nish 1:10:39

Yeah, fantastic, love it. Um we’ll leave everybody with our three reasons to visit Wallasey Golf Club. We had to limit it to three in this one, I’m afraid. Um, but our top three reasons for you to go and play Wallasey. Number one, the conditioning. Yeah, fabulous golf course.

Chris 1:11:01

I mean, for I mean, what’s up, what’s around around there in the summer?

Nish 1:11:05

200 quid three, five, I think. I think is it two, three, five, two, seven, five, maybe.

Chris 1:11:10

That amount of money, the condition that that course is in is a that’s a bargain compared to the rest of the city.

Nish 1:11:14

I mean, what are we saying? It’s it’s comparable to Trump Dumbarnie, which are getting into mid 300 up to 400. So, yeah, 500 for Trump, sorry, yeah. So you you’ll get the same condition, like if not, not quite, but it’s it’s it’s very close. It’s it’s yeah, very close to that. Yeah, so you if you to get the all the feels, you used a phrase, you’re getting all the top 100 feels off this course, and you really do.

Chris 1:11:40

You get that real kind of like, yeah, just tingle on the back of your net when you’re walking around here. We’re both just that excited, weren’t we? Like, yeah, absolutely.

Nish 1:11:48

So the conditioning’s unbelievable. The clubhouse. We we cannot uh overstate how good this clubhouse is. It’s not massive, like it’s not like this big imposing room or anything like that. We’ve been into some really amazing facilities at like Carnoustie places like that. Yeah, yeah. It’s the perfect blend of just a nice members’ club, but you’re welcome. And it’s traditional in its decor, and Hillside was a bit like that, wasn’t it? Traditional decor, but but a modern twist to it. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, so it was nice, comfy chairs, all that kind of stuff, and big old windows so letting all that light in. Yeah, it was it was a nice place to go. Yeah, nice place to have a post-round drink. And then our third reason to go, and it’s in light of the fact that you can’t really get on to play in Ireland, it’s proving very difficult. I mean, if you as John said, if it’s an Irish links in England without having to travel all the way to Ireland to play, sign me up for that. Yeah, I mean, yeah, it was just spectacular, wasn’t it? So good.

Chris 1:12:47

When you’re in the dunes around there, it’s as it’s as good as anywhere for me.

Nish 1:12:50

Yeah, feels like it was an absolute travesty that it was out of the top 100, but I mean I suppose they made the changes, haven’t they, which is what we’re talking about. Yeah, yeah. Um, but I suppose the course probably would have been still the same, right? Much over much, I don’t know. Yeah, I mean you can’t. Who knows? And he gave a lovely answer about it.

Chris 1:13:08

It sounds like they made a lot of changes there recently, you know, to the green complexes and the yeah, a lot of investments got into it. Like, yeah, they’ve spent a lot of money on it, and you can you get that sense, don’t you? Like the they’ve spent it well, whatever they were whatever they’ve spent on it. They have they’ve spent it well, and they’ve done a real good job of it.

Nish 1:13:23

Absolutely, and it’s definitely put it on the the mapping all of that that that Golf Coast again, yeah, for sure. Um, and you know, you you look at the the the the round, I think it was like I think it was two two three five shoulder season, two seven five height summer. Yeah, um these things aren’t good value as such, but if you know what I mean, like in the numbers you compare the the cost, you know, it’s a cost versus the quality of the course I think it’s it’s up there for me. And we’ve got to peg it against what we’ve played, yeah. And yeah, that’s you know, some of the course your fees you’re like, well, that’s a bit punchy that, but that did not feel punchy, that feels feels worth it in in inverted commas. So yeah, bravo Wallasey. What a wonderful day we had, yeah, what a wonderful welcome we had. Stick it on your list to play. I think you will not be disappointed, and maybe do that sooner rather than later, because as the word gets round and this place starts climbing the rapidly.

Chris 1:14:26

I mean, everyone’s talking about it, right? At the minute, everyone seems to be talking about Wallasey, and they can see why now we’ve done it.

Nish 1:14:32

Yeah, and that could set it up, couldn’t it, for a fall? Because you go there with high expectations. Yeah, expandable. We try to be as clear-minded about it as possible, but but ultimately, if people keep going on about a place, you’re like, oh okay, what’s the fuss about? And you get there and you go, hmm, mm-hmm, it’s alright. No, no, no, absolutely delivered. So, uh, yeah, what a what a great experience. Thank you, Wallasey, and thank you for listening. Next time on the top 100 in 10 Golf Podcast, we were reviewing our society weekend in Burnham, which left us quite battered and bruised, but we had a wonderful weekend nonetheless.