I have two rounds under my belt so far and they were both unique and exceptional in their own ways. Both are Top 100 World Courses: St. George’s Hill and Wentworth. Henry Colt designed both tracks, but I thought they were noticeably different.
It has been a very dry summer in England. With the exception of the tees and greens, everything is browned out. St. George’s Hill features severe sloping fairways so I found it nearly impossible to hit one of them. On the 9th, I hit a 4-iron up the right side and my immediate concern was that it was too far right. We were searching around in the weeds for a few minutes but then realized my shot had rolled 40 yards across the fairway into the bushes on the left. Another notable course feature was the raised greens–but if you missed one–the only thing stopping it was another bush. It was that kind of day. My lone highlight was “chipping” a frozen rope driver off the 18th tee. Due to the dry conditions, it travelled 300 yards. Straight into another bush. Henry Colt certainly took me out behind the woodshed and gave me a sound thrashing.
Wentworth has the BMW Championship in a few weeks, so they have the sprinklers opened up because BMW’s don’t belong in the dirt. This was a more “American” looking course that reminded me of courses I’ve played in North Carolina (Quail Hollow, CCNC), Michigan (Crystal Downs) and Washington (Sahalee). The fairways were lush, but also not as sloped as what we experienced at St. George’s Hill. It was nice to have some cushion under the ball. The slope rating at Wentworth is 155; my friend Rich plays off a 9.2 index and he was getting 15 shots! I am a 0.0 (yeah, I know, DOUBLE ZERO) and I was getting three. I reached the final par 5 in 2 shots with some encouragement from my playing partners, which included Nathan, who specializes in Golf Travel, and one of the Wentworth Golf Professionals, Callum. Callum is finishing his PGA certifications at Royal Dornoch, which is in the northernmost part of Scotland, and is in my top 3 courses ALL TIME!
If you are ever lucky enough to be hosted by Callum and you don’t give him a short putt for par, expect him to say, “I hope you’ve enjoyed your last round at Wentworth.” You can thank me for that. A seasoned golf pro’s job is to train the next generation on how to talk some smack.
I got a small amount of revenge against Colt at Wentworth as I started to find some rhythm. But I will be ice cold again in the first part of September when I ferry across the Irish Sea to tackle Royal Portrush, Portmarnock Old, and Royal County Down right out of the gate. I am certain I will have some fun golf stories to share so stay tuned!
I turn 58 on Saturday. In Amsterdam. That sounds like a potentially action- packed blog post…
