XXIX: North Berwick
At its core, golf is a game of obstacles and problem solving – the depth of a course’s puzzle often lying in the diversity and originality of its hazards and conundrums. Nowadays there is an abundance of layouts with hazards constrained to bunkers on the outskirts of fairways, overbearing trees, man-made ponds and shin-tickling, ball eating rough – obvious conundrums and linear solutions which muffle creativity and smother the golfing soul. Forgettable and uninspiring, these courses age poorly, growing tired and failing to capture golfers’ imaginations as they long for a puzzle more complex and captivating.
Fascinating and intricate golfing riddles stand the test of time and when you combine North Berwick’s diverse collection of obstacles with an intoxicating seaside setting, you find yourself amongst one of golf’s most endearing walks and invigorating puzzles – its pieces unreplicable but its principles and spirit undeniable.
One of golf's great settings
The atmosphere surrounding North Berwick’s opening tee shot tugs on a string close to that of St Andrews’ – playing straight from the heart of one of the world’s great golfing towns, out along the coast and into the heart of the purest of linksland – no feeling matches it.
Many of the great and colourful links offer golfers a gentle push to ease them away from the clubhouse before peppering them with quirky queries, North Berwick on the other hand flashes its flair immediately with opportunities to find themselves on the beach below with the opening pair of shots. With a hundred yards of fairway width and a mid-iron in hand, the opening tee shot is stirring, but the time spent musing over the blind approach to a hilltop green best aimed 10 yards left of the marker which paints North Berwick’s outlandish personality from the outset.
The view from the first green back towards town
Exiting the first green, head in a spin, the thrill of a classic cape hole tee shot across the shore awaits at the spine-tingling second as the fairway wraps around the water, clinging to the edge for dear life. Heart rate elevated, the third gently introduces one of North Berwick’s famous features with an approach shot over a weathered stone wall, the elegantly rippled third green lying in wait to embrace the running ball. Dynamic, stimulating and varied, the opening trio perfectly embody North Berwick’s balance of holes where, much like the pacing of Cruden Bay’s layout, quirky eccentricities are broken up by the endearing qualities and classic principles of links golf.
There is a short list of more scenic opening stretches to a round of golf, and even shorter list which golfers would find greater satisfaction in playing over and over again.
The cape hole at 2
As the routing dives inland at the fourth and meanders through the interior of the property for a seven hole run, the land loses a little bit of its gusto and outside the gorgeous sunken green at the one-shot fourth and the dominant ridge splitting the eleventh fairway, much of the strategy and interest centres around manmade features.
The treacherous bunker fronting the sixth green, a burn slicing across the front of the wonderful contours of the seventh putting surface, the two centre-line hazards bisecting the 9th fairway all provide character to individual holes, elevating what could easily have been a let-up in the layout’s quality. North Berwick is the poster boy for a light touch and restraint on the most dynamic pieces of the property, allowing the land to be the dominant feature, and a heavier hand where the land needs a little assistance.
Manmade features like the burn on 7 elevate the flatter land
Few stretches of a half-dozen holes deserve a blow-by-blow recount, but falling outside the guise of the fun police’s realms and boasting some of golf’s most recognisable and eccentric features, North Berwick’s famous closing handful may be the most original, imaginative, mind-bending and smile inducing hour in the game.
13 – Pit
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Scottish links and stone walls walk hand in hand and North Berwick is no exception, yielding three direct interactions on a loop – the 13th being the most famous. It’s one thing to have a wall running the length of a hole or cutting across the fairway, but the wall flush against the entire length of the sunken 13th green’s front edge is what makes is a one of one. Playing along the water, the wall dictates ‘Pit’s’ entire strategy and sitting on a diagonal ensures every approach has a chance of falling on the wrong side of it – a tee shot as far left as possible brings the beach into play but also opens up the most advantageous angle. The narrow putting surface sits a couple of feet below the fairway and the dune at its rear gives it a punchbowl effect when mown tight.
The shock value and novelty of the stone wall may well fade over multiple plays, but its strategic merit and moments of comedy will never tire.
Is there a more entertaining green site in the game?
14 – Perfection
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​At 370 yards, from the tee the only view is of a sea of ripples and a marker pole peaking over the horizon and a layup short of the cross-bunkers leaves a blind second straight at the mast of the post. Beyond the dune ridge, the hill cascades sharply to a green straddling the shore and presents a breathtaking reveal. If the prospect of two blind shots into a par four set against the sea doesn’t get the juices flowing, you may be in the wrong place.
The 14th green from the top of the dune - Magic!
15 – Redan
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The original expression of one of golf’s most mimicked one-shot templates, the 15th green is obscured by a ridge and smothered by two dominating bunkers. It’s green tilts severely from front right to back left, making covering the bunkers and stopping the ball one of the round’s most exacting shots.
Redan's fronting bunker
16 – Gate
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Green complexes have the ability to transform and define holes and there may well be no finer, more entertaining or endlessly frustrating green on the planet than North Berwick’s 16th. Set against the angle of the fairway, the long, narrow green is bisected by a three foot deep depression in its heart – its presence making every approach and recovery shot full of life and deeply uncomfortable. There’s a science to navigating this putting surface and most could happily fill their day chipping and putting to different spots in an attempt to figure it out. One of the game’s great enigmas which photos and words will never do justice.
The finest green complex on the planet
17 – Point Garry
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With a tee ball aimed at Bass Rock, the sea to your left and the punchbowl green perched atop a cliff in the distance, the 17th is an invigorating penultimate test. The real drama comes with the uphill, mostly blind approach which must cover a deep bunker at the front and stick the landing. Like the Old Course at St Andrew’s, North Berwick’s sternest test precedes its most lenient.
The view back down the 17th fairway
18 – Home
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A favourable half-par hole playing straight back towards the town with a 100 yard wide fairway sounds a lot easier without a line of cars parked at the right edge. Navigating the gully short of the green with a full terrace is nervy test, but like many of the holes preceding it, opportunities are presented to the bold golfer.
Home Hole - easy on the scorecard.....
Sitting on the patio overlooking the 18th green, players muse over their own invigoration – how a combination of natural landforms, a wondrous setting and a scattering of bold human touches can delight and compel on so many levels. Few courses in the world touch North Berwick’s variety and fewer deliver such a wide variety of outcomes day to day. North Berwick is the poster boy for fun golf and delivers every single element I could ever want in a links course.