Bucket List Add

I've been fortunate to play many fine golf courses. Based upon what I see here, I'm thinking of adding this to my bucket list.

Any of you guys ever play here?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcmcBw2LYy4&feature=player_embedded

Looks like the sort of course that Mac would have a trouser accident about.

For those of us who are more casual readers and don't click on every link presented here - what is it? A little description before we click wouldn't go amiss

Good point Davie ... it's Cleeve Hill Golf Course, Cheltenham by "Golf Course Fly By".

How much of it is the lens I do not know, but it looks fantastic.

I don't get it? To be fair the fly-by thing will be nothing compared to walking the course. But looks to me like a boring, half-finished version of Whistling Straits. Wind will be a bit of a factor though...

Are cleeve hill and cleave cloud the same course?

Whatever the case, cleeve hill is definitely on my bucket list.

And yes super, I did have a trouser accident.

Ned

Just look at the terrain, what is not to get. How could those green sites be boring?

Cheltenham racecourse shows some similarity in terrain to this Cleeve Hill and it can be mighty desolate up there.
If Cleeve Hill is similarly affected by wind, Ned's warning should be heeded; imagine it could be a bear.

Mac,
Tried the Cleeve Cloud web-site and it looks as if it's a pre-war web experiment. Is it for real, or just a hoax?

cleeve cloud website is almost as bad as the old OWGR site.

I don't know how people have the patience but they have built the site as a massive table instead of using css.  Not that I am any good building websites but I know you don't do it that way.

I would love to do a tour of;

church stretton
kington
cleeve hill
painswick
minchinhampton old

I reckon it could be just about be done over a long weekend.  I increasingly dislike courses that are over manicured, probably why I love the braids so much.

There is ideal land for golf and then land not suited for golf.  Some of the land not suited for golf seems to provide the more interesting courses, as the braids and cleeve hill show.  Which begs the question of what land is actually best suited for golf?


PS anyone played Yelverton in devon?

It is another back to basics course that looks very interesting. I have driven past it but did not get a chance to play it sadly. Plus it is near the home of buckie.

Mac,
I think watching the US Open at Pinehurst this June will be fascinating, Coore and Crenshaw having got rid of most, if not all, the rough.
Not unlike viewing Oakmont without all the trees.
Worst thing that ever happened at Augusta was the growing of rough.
Some courses need rough, trees etc, but others would be better off without.
I love Harbour Town, very little rough and almost no forced carries, but the trees provide the strategy and protection for the greens. Brilliant design.
I think Drive4Show's office overlooks Stoneham, but that is also a wonderful design, just goes with the land (and unfortunately on some holes the heather).

Pinehurst will certainly be interesting. Do you think the USGA will trick the greens up because they fear low scoring without the deep rough we are used to?

As far as I know the scrub land does have the odd tuft of vegetation which could if you are unfortunate require a chip out sideways. Surely miraculous recoveries from the scrub land will be phil territory?

No idea what the USGA might do, but what would be the point of the minimalist appearance if they then tricked up the green complexes?
Not sure they got Merion 100% right, but it certainly showed a terrific design could hold its own against the very best.
If Pinehurst is all it's cracked up to be, I don't believe they'll have to change too much.

I suspect the USGA will tune up the greens to levels Donald Ross never envisioned. Why? Their usual obsession with "protecting" par.

The thing about Merion is that it was a very different course for that tournament. They took away a full 8 acres of fairway, the always penal rough was made even more penal, and different angles were added throughout. Regardless of how receptive a green is, when a professional has to take a driver to reach it, it's pretty much a crap shoot from there on in. It sure did show well for TV and is perhaps my favorite course of all time, can't wait until they bring back the fairways.

But back to Cleeve Hill ... be curious if any here played it.

Is it just me or does Cleeve Hill not look very interesting?

Maybe it's the camera angles. I don't know, but it doesn't really do anything for me.

super_realist wrote:Is it just me or does Cleeve Hill not look very interesting?

Maybe it's the camera angles. I don't know, but it doesn't really do anything for me.

No, not just you. Looks dull, likely as has been said to be very windy and looks to me like it has the potential in places to be overly punishing if you miss the green by just a fraction.

Shamed to say I haven't played it and it can't be more than 30 miles away. Looks proper old school which is fine, some people like that some don't, some people get it some don't. I'm not going to take a day off work and go play it next week but I'd like to get round to it at some point.

SmithersJones wrote:

super_realist wrote:Is it just me or does Cleeve Hill not look very interesting?

Maybe it's the camera angles. I don't know, but it doesn't really do anything for me.

No, not just you. Looks dull, likely as has been said to be very windy and looks to me like it has the potential in places to be overly punishing if you miss the green by just a fraction.

It's hard to tell from the aerial perspective - it tends to flatten everything out. However... is that a perfectly rectangular green @ 57 seconds into the video???