How often have you looked around you during a medal or stableford – maybe on an elevated tee or in the middle of the fairway – and thought, ‘I’d love to hit a shot from here into that green?’
We do it all the time, especially at our own course, where we’ll often discuss how we’d like to tweak holes and picture how we’d play certain shots into different greens.
Perhaps, when no one has been looking, you’ve even played the odd shot into a different green. Certainly we’ve all thought about it. Sometimes on a quiet day, with no one else in sight, it’s too tempting.
When you do, the course you’ve been playing on for so many years can suddenly feel different – it’s like a whole new set of holes is waiting to be discovered. One shot, and a course you know so well becomes unfamiliar.
You’ll know what I mean if you’ve played in your club’s Cross Country tournament, which is where a composite course is created from the usual layout. What a brilliant idea – one that, for various reasons, is probably an underused competition.
(Image credit: Cookie Jar Golf)
I recently played in the Formby/Formby Ladies Golf Club Cross Country. It didn’t disappoint; it’s just a shame it’ll be another 12 months before I’m able to hit a tee shot from Formby’s 13th fairway into Formby’s 16th green – a slightly bonkers hole but very fun.
First up, in what was a shotgun start, we teed off on the 2nd tee of Formby. Ten minutes later, and after carefully negotiating some tricky heather and manoeuvring our trolleys onto Formby Ladies (it’s called Cross Country for a reason), we putted out on their 2nd green.
(Image credit: Cookie Jar Golf)
Next up, a par 3, 150 yards into a raised green (Formby’s 5th). It’s hard enough to find the putting surface from the usual tee, but from the 4th tee on Formby Ladies it was one of the hardest shots of the day. In fact, with two deep bunkers now in front of the green, and with steep runs off either side, it looked terrifying.
It’s not a hole that has been designed to receive balls coming in from this angle. It’s something we found ourselves saying throughout the round. In normal circumstances, we probably would have had criticised its design and moaned about a lack of fairness, but not today. Some holes were quirky, of…
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