BELVEDERE BRIDLINGTON GOLF CLUB (Who's In The Chair Now?)
BELVEDERE BRIDLINGTON GOLF CLUB https://www.bridlingtongolfclub.co.uk/
Type of course Parkland 18 holes Par 71
Course distance White 6552 yds Yellow 6272 yds Red 5540 yds
Holes 3 x par 5 11 x par 4 4 x par 3
Played 14/08/20
Claim to fame: Bought and sold land from the council in order to benefit its members.
Today sees me at another course, in another town, playing another game of golf. Great isn’t it!
Nigel, Steve and I, decided to take on Belvedere Bridlington Golf Course. A course that has had its fair share of publicity but not necessarily for the right reasons. As I commented in the blog, Cherry Burton Golf Course (When and Where To Play) posted August 17th 2019, the course sold off part of its land to developers and used the money to build a brand new hotel and golf shop. I was therefore interested to find out what the new development would look like and whether it would have an impact on the game.
As you drive into Bridlington from the South you catch a glimpse of the course on your right hand side, seeing first the 13th tee and then the 6th and because of its extreme dog leg nature you also come across the 6th green as you take a right towards the sea. Another two turns and you are in the car park.
Exiting the car, you can’t see the sea, but you know it must be close by as the squawking of the seagulls is incessant and there is that distinctive odour of fresh sea air. The uninspiring edifice of the hotel is to the left and the green keeper sheds to the right. Directly ahead is a separate building, which I assume held the original shop but also holds the locker rooms, hotel restaurant, bar and patio area. Beyond the patio is a small practice green which looks more purple than green! Clearly chemicals had recently been applied but not necessarily worked in. A crisp bacon buttie and coffee on arrival sets you up nicely for the game ahead and a £25 fee sees you on your way.
Before leaving the pro shop you are informed that if you are using GPS then it will not work on the 15th and 16th tee as these are the ones that have been altered since the land was sold. The gentleman behind the transparent covid screen supplying this advice was more than happy to explain how the sale had benefitted the club immensely. I didn’t press him however to find out how transparent the sale had been!
The view down the first is invitingly wide and as several ladies stand ready on the red tees we don’t hang about and are off on time.
The game today is Chairman. and the rules are as follows. The first player to win a hole (untied) becomes the Chairman. If the Chairman wins the next hole, then the Chairman wins a point from the other players. Should the hole result in a tie there are no points earned and the Chairman keeps the chair. On the number of occasions, I have played this game the result has always been close and tends to be decided on the last hole. I doubted if today would be any different.
The first, as is the case on most courses these days is a gentle opener. SI 14, par 4 at 346 yards. Nigel and I par it with Steve not far behind, nobody in the chair then.
The scorecard provided is highly informative if you bother to read it as each hole is shown in detail as is the direction of travel to the next tee.
This continues until we reach the fifth when Steve handsomely pars the table topped green of the 296 yard par 4 SI 12, while I stick one in the out of bounds and place my second off the tee behind a rather large hedge and copse.
The 6th is the first of three par 5s on the course and is a right-angled dog leg left. SI 8 at 490 yards. Steve suffered the ‘curse of the chair’ and quickly lost his upholstered position. Nigel and I both hit a net 4.
As we meandered this criss cross (name of the 13th hole, that you have to cut across twice, between leaving the 3rd and playing the 4th) course Steve posed an interesting golf question which I had never ever considered up till now. Why is it, golf is played on 18 holes and not 10, or 15 or 20?
Later research revealed that according to the website “Scottish Golf History”, the number of holes on a golf course was once arbitrary and the 22 at the home of golf, “St Andrews”, was cut to 18 when four short holes were combined into two (played in two directions) in 1764. This still wasn’t immediately taken up as the template, as evidenced by Prestwick Golf Club opening in 1851 with just 12 holes. Eighteen holes became firmly established as the standard length when the R&A, wrote it into the rule book in 1858.
Based on folklore however I did like Steve’s plausible answer. Apparently it takes exactly 18 shots to polish off a fifth of Scotch. Drinking only one shot per hole meant a round of golf was finished when the Scotch ran out. Might try it one day and see what effect it has on my game!
Arriving at the 9th the long par 3 at 219 yards SI 4, Nigel takes the chair but is quickly dethroned by Steve at the 10th.
The 11th SI 15 par 3 at 166 yards sees yours truly get his backside on the seat for the first time. A poor tee shot followed by a decent iron and putt sees a nice par take the hole and regardless of the sneaky tactics incorporated into the game by Messrs Nigel and Steve I will not be usurped until the 17th , by which time I have a point. If the truth be known I should have had two by then however at the 16th Nigel refused to give me a gimme. As any reader will now know this guy is a charlatan, a fraudster and a total con artist. Meeting him for the first-time people are easily duped by his sanguine nature. He is relaxed to the point of horizontal, but this belies his steely determination to win at all cost.
Let us consider hole 13 SI 11 363 yards with a pond on the right hand side of the fairway and at that moment in time a strong cross wind, Steve and I drive short, Nigel (Boom Boom) lives up to his name and drives long. Second shot sees Steve get wet and I compensate by hitting too far left. Boom Boom overshoots the runway. As I set up to chip in, a cheery gent enters my eye line it’s the cad with the bag. He stops, as if to watch the shot but I’ve got his measure, he’s been reading too many Andy McNab books and is using covert tactics to distract me from my goal. I tell him so and allow him to pass. Ha, you can’t get one over on me Sonny Jim!
There is more to this game than meets the eye and I am wising up after three years of constant disappointment.
As to the course itself one has to say the fairways were in excellent condition and varied. In particular, holes 7 and 8 are extremely undulating. According to the club website you are playing over the medieval village of Hilderthorpe. I’m not sure how Archaeologists would take to this, but the ridges and furrows can shoot the ball in any direction. The fairways seem to provide plenty of width but then strategically narrow to enhance the difficulty of straight holes and obviously dog legs. The greens in the main were quick and although the course was busy, one never felt as if you were being chased by any others. Apart from the ladies who caught us up at the 8th as we failed miserably to find one of Nigel’s designer football golf balls in the allocated time. Thankfully, they like some of our balls, departed after the 9th never to be seen again
As we moved on Nigel regaled us with a story of when he played the course in his youth with another long-lasting pal of ours who will forever be called Rick. Rick is a character in our current circle who refuses to play golf, indeed he also refuses to retire from work. Probably in the fear that he will have to take on DIY tasks as directed by his good lady, Doris.
It appears that at the 14th Nigel had boomed one into the trees on the right of the fairway and as he went to look for it, Rick, the cricket fanatic, twatted one right into his back. The guy was ahead of his time and had invented paint ball without the paint! Genius!
As for our outcome at the 14th 395 yard par 4 SI 3, Steve found the fairway, I was on the verge of the out of bounds and Nigel was well and truly in it. Nigel then invoked a covid rule that allowed him to take a penalty drop and play on. Later in the day I checked this rule only to discover it was a two-point penalty and not the one he took, the fiddling ***. From now on I will be carrying a rule book in my bag when ever I go out to play with this fraud.
Regardless, the game progresses, I have my posterior firmly entrenched and I’m not allowing anybody to peel those buttocks off the leather upholstery.
Standing on the 15th tee the GPS indicates I am 507 yards away from a 132 yard par 3 green. The guy in the shop wasn’t lying! Nevertheless, we tee off, me left of the green, Nigel to the right and Steve travels through to the back edge. He is in the driving seat. This green however seems to be suffering from the weather more than most and is covered in chemical fertiliser, sadly for some, the ball does not roll well and I still sit atop the throne!
As stated earlier the 16th 379 yard par 4 SI 9 gives me the opportunity to extend my lead to two points and provide me with a win! A two foot putt is all that is required as the opposition become deaf mutes and ignore my pleas for a gimme. I miss and much to their delight I am observed circumnavigating the flag like a whirling dervish.
As we head for the 17th passing the land sale, there is no development whatsoever on this piece of rough pastureland and one can only consider the developers are sitting on it until the price is right to either sell on or build on. Whichever way I am sure in the months and years to come someone will reap the dividend.
The 17th a 405 yard par 4 SI 5 is named Tigers Leap and with Nigel being an avid Hull City supporter I had a feeling that I might be up against it. One point up two holes to go and still in the chair I drove into the trees, whereas the other two didn’t. Suffice to say I am eventually dethroned. To be fair my bum was numb after being in it for so long, but more disconcerting, Nigel was in it!
As we waited for a four ball to move on at the 18th 502 yards par 5 SI 13 we engage in conversation. Steve having not played the game before asks a number of questions, perhaps a little late in the encounter but nevertheless relevant and I try to impress upon, if by any chance I should go awry, he needs to support me by winning or at least halving the hole with Boom Boom. Steve being the shrewd investor that he is quickly realised a handsome sum of money could be exchanging hands but only leaving his and sadly his minimal support for me diminished even further.
We won’t dwell on the detail of the hole, only to say that I had no chance of recovery after going out of bounds on the left hand side of the green and Steve didn’t have enough in his artillery to see off the explosion that was Boom Boom.
We end therefore with a dishonourable draw.
And so, Sonny Jim did get one over on me and my continual disappointment lingers.
As one departs Bridlington a sign on the roadside hopes that you enjoyed your stay and will return soon.
To be fair I did, and I will, but only for golf.
Till the next time.
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