GWD_MAY_16

whose fame was extended by the Joshua
Smith painting of it featuring on the cover
of American architect Tom Doak’s
waspish ‘Confidential Guide’.
They are holes of renown and
distinction, but they are far from all you
get from St Enodoc. They might well not,
indeed, even be the two best holes here.
That honour could go to plenty of the
12 that sit on the clubhouse side of the
valley that dissects the famous 10th and
the short, downhill 15th.
While effort has been made in
enhancing the loop after 10 and before
15, they are not quite of the standard of
the rest. On most courses in England they
would not be pinpointed so, but the rest
of St Enodoc is not like most courses in
England. Because even allowing for this
more modest quartet, no more than a
handful of England’s superstar courses are
notably ‘better’ than St Enodoc.
For those who relish ingenious,
enthralling golf and don’t mind a more
sedate phase among these many peaks, it
could easily appear in their top five.
St Enodoc does memorable holes of
diverse character better than most. It’s a
quality that is evident immediately. While
some links take a hole or two to hit even
moderate pace, St Enodoc instantly makes
you stop and stare with an opening par 5
of a rare calibre. Played along a tumbling
fairway between sizeable dunes towards
ABOVE: The 7th hole
is usually
overshadowed by its
high-octane
neighbours but is a
stellar two-shotter in
its own right. LEFT:
The dangers of the
excellent par-3 8th
are clearly evident in
the form of deep
pots. RIGHT: The
home green on the
Church course – hole
out for a bogey five
here and it is a fine
accomplishment.
DIVINE INSPIRATION
Help may be required to par
the Church’s ‘signature’.
The fairway is narrowed
by a huge sand hill
down the right and
water down the left.
© ILLUSTRATION GARY LEES
10th 457 yards, par 4
This is not actually our
favourite hole at St Enodoc – it
might not even be in our top
three – but it’s the one
everyone wants to know about.
And never before has our
monthly illustration of a hole
been more enlightening as to
the challenge that awaits here.
This is stroke index one and
its 457 yards are the obvious
demanding element. What
makes the 10th so exacting is
the fairway being narrowed by
a water hazard on the left and
sand hill all the way down the
right. Neither can longer hitters
realistically chew off a bit more
as the hill encroaches into the
fairway and leaves a width of
fairway you wouldn’t like to try
to find with wedge,
never mind a driver.
So the option is to hit your
club that goes 230 yards off
the tee then a mid-iron over
the middle sand dune – aiming
at the church spire and not the
flag, for the green is tucked
away on the left. That leaves a
pitch on from a good angle.
Stronger players will clearly
be able to reach the green
even if they lay up off the tee
as suggested, but it needs a
shot of rare power and finesse
to draw your fairway wood
suffciently off the spire and
onto the green. Lush, deep
rough lies to
the right of the
hole – the kind of
thick stuff where balls are
so easily lost – while the lateral
hazard that runs the length of
the hole is tight to the green.
No matter how you have
plotted your way to the green,
there is a sense of history and
presence as you putt out
overlooked by the handsome
church that spent part of its
time buried under sand dunes.
A long par putt may well be
on the agenda and a short
prayer in the vicinity of the
Norman church might return
a four to remember.
110 Golf World May 2016