Playing Straight
Jeremy Ellwood, associate editor of Golf Monthly magazine spends a couple of days playing North Devon's top golf courses
Flinging open the curtains to glorious sunshine and perhaps the most stunning seaside hotel view in England, I gazed out from a height over Saunton Sands and the Braunton Burrows, home to Saunton's two fabled links. Over the next few days, from my base at the Saunton Sands Hotel, I'd be taking in a selection of this beautiful region's coastal and inland golf. The weather, injury and family circumstances had seen me go pretty much from New Year's Day to Spring Day without picking up a club, so I harboured no great ambitions for the round ahead.
Libbaton (pictured below) is around 20 years old and plays over rolling, picturesque North Devon countryside, with the downhill par-3 3rd over a pond providing an early visual treat... and a tricky club selection test. The three lengthy par 4s that followed formed a sterner challenge though. "Play these in 1-over and you've done well," said club pro and playing partner, David Jeffs. I didn't, inevitably bogeying all three. The uphill 561-yard 12th proved particularly hard work into the wind, and I'd swear the dogleg on the 14th was greater than 90?! But overall, my round of 82 was a pleasant surprise after my enforced sabbatical.
Next day it was the big one - finally, after 25 years of waiting, both Saunton courses in a day starting out on the East. I had no chance of reaching the daunting 470-yard par-4 1st in two into a strongish wind and racked up an easy double, but got both shots back in an instant with a rare, but welcome, eagle on the 2nd. The mighty links proved a worthy adversary on a blowy day, for though the drives are rarely intimidating visually, several more long par 4s were playing straight into the teeth of the wind and pretty much out of range. Despite this, I spotted new tees going in on the 5th, 8th and 10th to take things over 7,000 yards, thus ensuring Saunton remains very much in the thoughts of those organising Britain's top amateur events.
I then played the West in glorious afternoon sunshine, and right from the dramatic par-4 1st sensed more character than the East, probably because it flirts with the highest dunes more keenly. The climb up into them to the 16th tee was well worth it for the highly photogenic downhill par 3 that followed. As I walked off a closing short hole that must keep you on your toes right to the bitter end with a good scorecard in your pocket, I mentally awarded a hard-fought contest between Saunton's East and West courses to the latter on account of its greater character and variety, though better weather conditions - and indeed a better score - in the afternoon could just be clouding my judgment.
The following day I ventured down the A377 turning off a little way after Umberleigh for the delightfully quirky course and hotel at Highbullen in Chittlehamholt. I first played here many years ago when the new holes over the road had just gone in, and in fact celebrated my engagement on my birthday while staying in the village - so happy memories. The course is set on the spine between North and South Devon, with breathtaking views over the Taw Valley from the 12th and 16th tees and an uncanny knack of playing longer than its modest yardage. The 1st is a thought-provoking opener demanding accuracy off the tee before turning sharply left. You then head across the road for those newer holes and a chance to open your shoulders in places. This really is a fun place to play in an away-from-it-all setting, and also a wonderful place to stay in a family-run hotel with a real step-back-in-time feel about it.
Willingcott Valley, back up closer to the coast near Woolacombe, hails itself, "The best kept secret in North Devon" and is beautifully located either side of a valley floor. The 1st is an extraordinary par 5 with a distinctly linksy feel, twisting up and across the slope, after which the course then cascades startlingly back down via the remarkable 3rd, where it takes you a few seconds to fully grasp that you are indeed aiming at a green set way below you to the right. The best holes at Willingcott are in this part of the course, to which you later return via the par-3 10th played from beside an old railway bridge. A menacingly close front pond means only a fool will opt for the shorter of the two clubs in his mind here. There are two more good par 3s coming home, and overall, despite perhaps one too many crossover holes, it is a good and fair test where the chances to score probably outweigh the scope for disaster.
On this particular trip, time did not allow a visit to the wonderful course at Royal North Devon (or RND), but having played it a number of times before and since, it would be an unforgivable dereliction of duty not to include this unique links with strong associations to the great JH Taylor here. It's England's oldest course dating back to 1864, and as you set out over a couple of fairly barren holes and realise you'll be sharing the terrain with sheep and even horses, you may just wonder what you're letting yourself in for. But that's all part of its charm and character.
There are some tremendous holes as you turn and play more or less parallel to the coast until the long par-3 8th whose green can be frustratingly elusive if the wind is howling in off the sea to your left. RND's famous sea rushes make their presence felt on the back nine, especially the 10th, 11th and 12th where they hide the fairway you're striving to find alarmingly. As you finally turn and head for home via the 414-yard 18th the wind may well be off the sea and on your back. But if it's strongly against you could be standing in the fairway with a very long club indeed in your hands contemplating your chances of clearing the burn that crosses the fairway just short of the green.
RND is steeped in history and has an old-school feel, but mercifully that doesn't translate into a crusty or frosty reception. The people couldn't be friendlier and the clubhouse, with its fascinating museum, is a wonderful place in which to debrief over a pint of the local ale and reflect on a truly unforgettable links experience.
