St Enodoc

 The famed Himalaya on the sixth: the UK's biggest bunker

Tight much? The 457-yard par four 10th - just eight yards wide in the driving area - and after negotiating that, you get to hit a 200-yard hook over a creek to a green obscured by bushes!

Looking across the new green on the par five 16th to the Camel Estuary and Padstow

 

Course name: St Enodoc GC 

Location: Rock (Wadebridge) Cornwall 

Four Word Course Review: Blinder than Stevie Wonder 

Every now and then you'll be talking about music at a party or something and some muppet will say The Beatles are shite. Disbelieving looks will be exchanged and unkind things whispered behind hands.

That's what I expect when I say, not without long and stern thought, that I think St Enodoc is overrated. I still very much enjoyed the course, but the reverential tones I had heard it discussed in are, in my mind, unwarranted.

In short, I felt the combination of narrowness and blindness ruined several holes.

The green complexes were amazing, as were the surfaces themselves, and the views were other-worldly. I have never seen a course that offers vistas that take your breath away from so many holes.

The par five 1st was a great way to start the day, and walked into my lifetime composite course. Following that, I really enjoyed the 6th, 7th, 8th, 13th, 14th, 16th, 17th and 18th.

The par threes, I thought, were good without being great - the 17th rising above the other four. The par four 6th was an experience: driving towards, then pitching over the Himalaya bunker, but the other most famous hole, the 10th was long and narrow - a brutal two-shotter and a bit bland as a three-shot hole.

If I was to head back to the south west, I would definitely go back. I suspect it might be a grower, and I would love to feel the love so many others have for the course.

The welcome was very warm, but don't forget your handicap certificate!