In Which We Get Trumped

I have long been curious to see what The Donald hath wrought in his Aberdeenshire project, a/k/a The Greatest Golf Course in the world.  It's been mired in controversy since inception, natch, since controversy is part of the business plan for our hero...

First came the issues with assembling the site, and his difficulties negotiating the purchase of a small plot with a recalcitrant gent named Forbes became the basis for this unflattering documentary,  Then ensued a snit related to offshore wind turbines, a subject on which I am in complete agreement with Trump and yet feel dirty for doing so.  At one juncture he ceased construction of his hotel and second golf course, and then was seemingly distracted by his purchase of Doonbeg in Ireland and later of Turnberry.

Now it seems, at least according to my caddie Jack who works in a range of positions for the resort, that they've scaled back to a small twenty room resort, which doesn't seem sufficient to his objectove of hosting Scottish Opens and the big Kahuna, an Open Championship.

So what has he created?  To be candid, I'm struggling to get my arms around it all....It is, first of all, the most spectacular stretch of dunes on which I've ever seen a golf course constructed.  They are massive in scale and there's an other-worldly feel to the property at times.  Now large dunes are not an unalloyed good for the routing of a golf course, as they can require compromises in the utilization of the terrain.  The comparables in this aspect, think Doonbeg or Machrihanish Dunes, were subject to severe environmental scrutiny, which Trump seems to have largely avoided.  If one spoke with a Tom Doak or Bill Coore they'd most certainly take a Goldilocks approach to dunes, seeking land with dunes that are just right.  Oh some large ones off to the side for effect would be swell, but better not to have to play directly through them

True to form, he has built a links on a scale not previously seen, a links on HGH if you will.  The course is 7,428 yards from the Tiger Rory tees, and even that seems inadequate to describe the sensation.  It's simply all big, bigger and biggest, and it's all integral to the course.

Of course the day begins with superior practice facilities, including this large chipping area.

I was amused that as we hit some balls on the range, an employee identified and radio'd in a haar alert at the southern end of the property.  My first question when the property was acquired years ago was, "Has anyone told The Donald about the haar?"

The course features six sets of tees, and here architect Martin Hawtree has shown imagination.  Before pegging it I noticed a difference of a mere three hundred yards between the blue and white tees.  But as explained by caddie Jack and confirmed by your astute correspondent, he's provided far softer angles for the shorter tees as well, and a good thing that, as this is a brawny, very difficult links.  And while we played it in a proper breeze, you're gonna have high-nadicappers playing in a gale out here...

So let's post a few photos and give you a sense of the terrain:

The first four holes play in a southerly direction and our wind was from the south, so if one hasn't brought one's swing one is unlikely to find it out there.  I didn't and I didn't....

The green at the Par-3 third (I think) offers the first view of the North Sea, and one is forever turning 360's to capture every sight angle.

While I credit Hawtree for the wide range of teeing options, his boss and he left us with an endless number of walking paths that look like the photo below.  Fescue grasses cannot withstand heavy traffic and trolleys and buggies, so these are planted in something else, I's guess a strain of bent.  The result is that they look completely artificial, and I's further worry whether an infestation of the dreded poa is inevitable.

The art in golf course architecture is often to be found in whether the course plays appropriately (I'll skip the concept of fairness, which Tom Doak calls the "F" word) for golfers of widely varying abilities.  The photo below is of the approach to the Par-5 fourth, a difficult three-shotter for myself as it played into the fan.  But  lying two Theresa found herself outside the left edge of the frame of the photo, and had no obvious spot of green on which to drop her next shot.

When the golf course works, as it mostly does, it's a rare combination of physical beauty and exhilarating golf shots, such as the Par-3 sixth pictured below.  The green is nestled amid massive , bushy dunes with the long marram grass swaying with the wind.  The angle of the photo is the line for the shorter tees, I played from a box further to the left with only the top of the flag visible.  Again per caddie Jack, this hole had been missed in the original routing and it was only when Hawtree's dog ran off and sat on what is now the tee did see it, a story too good to fact check.

Madam hit a cracker of a shot here.  Also a good example of those walking paths I spoke of above.

The green at the short Par-4 tenth was the venue for my first 4-putt.

Theresa and caddie Matthew take a respite in the dunes.

The mandatory photo of the bride with our babysitters at the highest spot on the course, in this case the 14th tee box.

The view from the back elevated tees on the home hole, which plays as long as 651 yards.

The green surrounds were as challenging as you'll find, as most of the greens are raised a considerable amount, and ridges at all sorts of angles have been shaped into the turf.  It's all a bit too much it seems, as the change in elevation would be challenging enough without also managing to artificial contours.  In small doses it's good fun, but four hours of it eats at one's soul.

I have a video of such a shot that simply refuses to upload properly,but I was able to capture a still frame from it to show the nature of these contours:

We both played poorly, though I managed to improve from abysmal in that early stretch to achieve rank mediocrity, at least judged on the curve of that day's match.  I pulled a Castle Stuart on m'lady, coming back from a two-down deficit at the turn to win 2 up.  It was far from our finest hour, but the golf course had some input there...

In a perfect world the quality of my play shouldn't affect my opinion of a links, but when one is out of position all day it's only fair to consider how that might influence your reaction.  My touch around the greens was as dreadful as I can recall, and therefore my take on the green complexes should be read with that caveat in mind.

I'm quite glad we played it (except for the part about dissipating Chigger and Ray's inheritance), and enjoyed the greater part of it.  It's a very unique links experience, especially in contrast to our next foray at the iconic Cruden Bay.  As many have noted, it's far too severe for conventional resort play, and The Donald's bluster notwithstanding, it seems to be a course designed to be played once.  Our caddies did say that play was down significantly this year, and while that's no doubt due in part to the bad summer's weather and difficult economic environment, I would also posit that it's a one and done course for most.