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XXXIII: Royal Cinque Ports

Golfers and those who chronicle the game have long touted The Old Course at St Andrews as the finest encapsulation of golf’s most ideal playing arena. Countless words have been spent on its out and back routing, consistency of micro-undulations which muddle up fairways, the rambunctious contours of its natural green sites, and its smattering of quirky features driven by the land on which it lays – golf at its purest and most pleasurable. For all that has been written and spoken on The Old’s qualities and allure – none of which are in question, it would be hard to imagine a course which these words and ethos carry across to as seamlessly as Royal Cinque Ports.

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You could copy and paste this green from The Old Course

There are a number of elements which distinguish one links course from the next, none more so than the personality and originality of the landforms which rise from the soil, sandy and acidic. Truth be told there is no rhyme or reason for these mounds, rumples, ripples or dunes – they are nature’s fingerprints on the game, presenting an infinite variety and randomness beyond the imagination of even the most eccentric architects. As luck would have it, Deal was blessed with some of the game’s most crumpled land and pockets of original, one-of-one formations which define the layout and house the thrilling shots which survive longest in the memory.

The completely blind punchbowl third 

After negotiating the burn fronting the first green, golfers are smacked in the face by two flamboyant half-par holes of the finest order. The long two-shot second plunges into the peculiarities of Deal’s land to a fairway littered with irregular movements of every description. Its crowded landing area an entrée for the examination of the approach, an exercise of judgement in running a ball downwind, through the rollercoaster of contours and stopping it on the correct quadrant of the putting surface.

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The joys of Deal’s third remain out of sight for 450 of its 500 yards, an approach over a ridge into the abyss giving way to a wonderful moment of suspense. Cresting the ridge yields a special reveal, the sunken green resting feet below the fairway, an aggressively contoured rendition of a punchbowl. At the mercy of the land, any ball which creeps over the ridge stands a chance, this flicker of hope proving the intangible value of suspense to a round of golf. Random, suspenseful and alive, the third at Deal perfectly embodies the gravity of an old school links, its endless appeal making it one the world’s finest par 5s. 

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The delightful fourth and its slightly picked up surface

With the two previous greens welcoming the running ball with open arms and feeding into its heart, golfers are reminded at the fourth and sixth of the famous variety boasted by Deal’s green complexes. Continuing downwind from a raised tee, the attractive fourth plays straight out to sea, its bunkerless putting surface picked up just enough to repel a ball offline.

 

As it turns out, the fourth green is a soft introduction to the razor-sharp drop-offs surrounding the sixth. With a good dose of funk, the tee shot is blinded by a dune as the fairway swoops right – at 320-yards and downwind, temptations are abound for the longer hitter, the safe play as little as a 7-iron to the flat spot in the fairway. No matter how short the approach, there is nothing comfortable about the second shot into the plateau green which rises 10-feet above the fairway, primed to return balls to their sender. Two of Deal’s most exacting shots in quick succession.

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The pitch into the 6th is one of Deal's scariest shots

Much like the pacing of The Old Course, the juice in the land fizzles out a little as golfers get to the turn, in spite of this the 8th-12th remains full of merit, primarily driven by a heavier dosing of manmade features. Bunkers smother the 8th green and the corner of the dogleg 11th, while the angled surface of the 10th as golfers turn for home asks plenty of questions.

 

As the terrain rises again, it brings with it one of Deal’s most famous and joyful features – the halfpipe green of the 12th. Few approaches in links golf fuel the desire to drop a handful of balls and run them along its slopes quite like this one-of-one complex.

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The joys of the halfpipe green of the 12th

Heading for home and straight back into the wind, Deal’s famous finish is notoriously heavy handed. Delivering a pair of long two-shotters and a par three well eclipsing 200 yards, 13-15 forms an ominous stretch, asking separate questions entirely from its length. Dancing with the bunkers which straddle the corner of the 13th dogleg off the tee opens up the best angle, the 14th sticks a long iron in the golfer’s hands to characteristically contoured green, while the diced up land short of the 15th putting surface pushes judgement and creativity to the front.

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A cavernous sandscrape fronts the 14th green

Relentlessly rambunctious and in your face, the tumbling 16th is links terrain’s North Star. It’s the second shot into this par five which has roused golfers for centuries, an ocean of buried objects and deep depressions between the ball and the wild hilltop green dragging the golfer’s eyes and mind from the task at hand– nature’s most glorious distraction. The stroll through the depths of sixteen’s valley, completely immersed in its smooth intensity envelops golfers in the qualities of Deal and the deep connection to the land on which it lays.

 

If the third is one of the game’s great par fives, 16 may well be the greatest – thrilling, captivating and oh so natural.

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The tumbling terrain of 16 - linksland's North Star

At its best links golf is far from an exact science, scarcely truer than during a round at Deal. Its variables layered and wide reaching – gusting winds, haphazard bounces, hanging lies, its solutions lying far outside the box. Artistry, judgement, a decent helping of luck and a sense of humour go further her than most, the rub of the green at the core of its ethos.

 

Palaeolithic golf, where the terrain and its sandy qualities bring with it every type of shot you could imagine and a good helping of those which you can’t, I feel sorry for the golfer who can’t feel the overwhelming qualities of Deal as they encapsulate those which truly matter in the game of golf.  

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A closer look of the confusion at 16 sums up the qualities of Deal

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