Dunbar Golf Club: A Review

A couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to visit and play golf at Dunbar Golf Club in East Lothian with a couple of friends. As well as having a great day’s golfing, I used the opportunity to use the course and my playing as the subject for my second golf course review.

Golf Course: Dunbar Golf Club

Location: East Lothian, EH42 1LL

Web: www.dunbargolfclub.com 

Holes: 18

Par/SSS: 71/72

Type: Links

Yardage: 6597

Location:

Dunbar Golf Club is situated in East Lothian about 30 or 40 minutes east of Edinburgh on the A1. It is a links course (used as regional qualifying for the Open Golf Championship). The course runs along the edge of the Forth estuary and has been in existence since the year 1856.

It's original design has been altered on several occasions by such great golf course architects as Old Tom Morris, Ben Sayers and James Braid. It has history!

Layout:

Being a links course it is quite flat but there are always the natural undulations on the fairways and greens which can give inconsistent, or at least, unexpected bounces. It is also full of small, nasty little bunkers.

Condition:

The condition of the course was generally good. The expected tight lies in the fairways were always fair. The bunkers contained rough shell sand and was generally of a good depth. Unfortunately, I can definitely vouch for the truth of that fact as I tested far too many during the round!

The greens ran true but were a little rough with bare patches and on a whole the grass on the green was a little inconsistent. I’m happy to forgive this fact, however, as I suspect it had been burnt by the sun during the unusual Scottish summer we’ve been having.

Overall:

Dunbar is a good demanding course which favours the shot maker over the longer hitter. There are approximately 100 bunkers around the course, including the many fairway bunkers, which makes the course a good challenge or seriously frustrating depending on how you’re playing and your frame of mind on the day! The bunkers are designed so if you hit into one it's virtually a guaranteed drop shot. So avoid if you can!

I had played the course a couple of years ago in a very strong wind but today there was only a slight breeze (1 or 2 clubs). This was especially evident around the turn (holes 9,10,11 and 12)

These are probably the hardest sequence of holes (especially with a wind ) and if you can score well here it can make a good round.

The first three holes and the 18th hole are slightly away from the shore line and consequently are a little sheltered from the on-shore breezes. The other 14 holes, 7 out and 7 back, run along the shoreline and are subject to the lovely tidal breezes.

The are a few blind shots such as into the 7th and 13th greens and off the 9th tee. Some local knowledge is useful here so try and chat to some members before you head out if you’re new to the course.

The 7th green is situated over a rise and slopes away from the player's approach. Stopping the ball is difficult - don't be too aggressive.

The 13th green is similarly over a rise but the green slopes toward the approach.

The 9th hole tee shot should be kept left. If you go to the right of the marker the ball can be gathered into a gully which makes the next shot blind and difficult. Again, something I know for fact.

The scenery is fantastic with views east towards a lighthouse and views west towards the town of Dunbar and further towards the stunning bass Rock. To the north, The Isle of May and Fife are visible on a clear day.

My Game:

This was definitely a round of two halves for me. But…I’m still recording it as progress overall. My ball striking was sound and I didn’t have too many bad putts which is always a relief!

My statistics that I calculated after the fact, on the other hand, were so weird and made me rethink. I hit 12 greens in regulation and had 38 putts. Eh? A bit strange that I had previously felt so happy with my putting.

I soon realised that the reason for the disparity was that my approach shots to the green, although well struck, were not getting particularly close to the hole. Oh well - I never could cope with links golf!!

I was happy that my sessions with the iPing putting aid have improved the consistency of my short putts. I’m going to keep going with that and see whether I note any further improvement.

As time went on, tiredness set in and a few of my shots felt the force of my lethargy. I think this accounted for my 4 over score. Still, breaking 80 is still satisfactory in my book.

As an added bonus, the clubhouse of Dunbar Golf Club is comfortable and welcoming. The food was great (we all partook in different variations of delicious burgers) and, most importantly, the company was excellent. A good course that’s definitely worth a revisit.

Quote of the Week

Who's Going To Win?

It’s not long to go now until The Ryder Cup and I’m very excited!

I was looking at the teams playing for The Ryder Cup this week and I tried to find which one has the advantage and was more likely to win.

Well… not as easy as I had thought!

So before I go to the bookies to place my 10p bet (last of the big spenders, I know!) I decided to look at some statistics.

So, combining my love of golf and numbers, I drew up a spreadsheet. Who doesn’t love a good spreadsheet?

Some of the most interesting bits and bobs:

The Europeans are older with an average age of 35 v 33 for the Americans.

Europe’s players have had 31 previous appearances on the squad with America trailing at 29.

The top 2 most experienced players are in the American team with 17 appearances between them. Europe has 14.

There are 3 players who are making their first appearance on a RC squad.

The average world ranking is 20 for Europe and 16 for the Americans.

The European players have had 14 tournament wins this year v 11 for the Americans.

The European players have won 3 of the 4 majors.

It is even in the 4 WGC events.

In the top 10 shoot-out the Europeans have 91 v 89 for the Americans.

Am I any the wiser? 

Erm, not really! But it was fun (did I mention I love a spreadsheet?!).

One statistic which pops up is that the player with the poorest record this year seems to be Phil Mickelson.

That alone tells me to forget the statistics. (Any player that can hit the hospitality area two times in two rounds has something special going on!! #philwashere)

They are all great players and the team that wins will be the one that wants it most.

With that said: Come on Europe!!!

Quote of the Week

Quote of the Week

Sneak Peek…Golfer’s Soap

We’ve been lucky enough to have been given a sneak peek of a new product that’s coming soon from one of our lovely sponsors.

I’m delighted to present (inspired by yours truly) Golfer’s Soap from The Wee Soap Shop.

Now, I haven’t seen the final packaging but I did get a sneak peek of the soap itself.

Okay, so it looks like any normal soap but it’s not!

This one is special because it’s just for us golfers as well as being 100% natural and 100% handmade.

What makes it so good for golfers? The not-so-secret-ingredients, of course!

You have a lovely mix of warming ginger, scots pine to soothe those muscles and lavender to relax your whole body and mind at the end of a game of golf - good or bad.

So you won’t just smell like the home of golf, you’ll be soothed, relaxed and warm. Bliss.

I’m going to try and get a sample before it goes on sale and I’ll give a review (as well as trying to wrangle a nice little discount code for their website). Check back soon.

iPing App: A Review

I have a confession to make…

…I have trouble putting.

I know, I know - it’s embarrassing - but in my defence I’m pretty sure it’s inherited!

Anyway, as a result of my, er, problem, I am always on the lookout for a way to get better. If you look at different golfers, past or present, they all different styles, different putters, different approaches - no real consistency which I can copy. 

However, they do all have a few things in common:

• Pre-putt routine 
• Tempo 
• Consistency of stroke 

But how to make this work for me?

That’s where the iPing app came in. Could it help me improve?

I downloaded the app to my phone from iTunes. I have an iPhone 5 but it’s good to note that it’s also available for the iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPod Touch (4th Gen) and the Samsung Galaxy S III. And the best news? It’s free for all platforms.

The app works in conjunction with a PING cradle which attaches the phone to the putter shaft. You can buy this cradle in most golf shops.

So what does it do?

The app overview states that the iPing calculates and tracks your putting handicap to help improve your putting. Using motion sensor technology, it analyses your impact angle to improve the way you putt and classifies your stroke rotation to help match you to the proper putter model for you to achieve better consistency. You can also measure the tempo of your stroke to improve your control and even compare your stroke with tour pros and friends.

Excellent - that covers all three of the areas that I identified as being important for all golfers.

The first thing to do after downloading the app is to calibrate your phone. Easy - follow the simple instructions on screen and you’re ready to go.

Next, set-up your user profile. Pop in your name, putter, hand choice and whether your putter is a standard length or long putter.

And we’re ready to choose one of the menu options:

• Practice 
• Measure 
• Compare 
• More 

Measure

Let’s start with the measure option. This allows you to record the details of a group of five of your putts of 10ft.

It records the stroke type (straight, slight arc or strong arc), the impact angle (the angle face of the putter at impact - open, closed or square), the tempo (ratio of backswing time to forward swing time), the lie angle (a comparison of the lie angle of the putter between set-up and impact) and finally the shaft lean (a comparison of the position of the putter head relative to the ball at set-up and at impact).

Compare

The app stores each group of five shots in a session. You can compare the sessions with one another, with other users or with the pro golfers included in the app.

Using the compare option allows you to identify weak spots which you can then work on in the practice area.

Practice

When you are in the practice option you can switch off any of the five recording details so that you can concentrate on one area, for example tempo.

More

But wait, there’s more! You also get an extensive help system - useful for first time users. There’s a skins game if you are interested in playing against other users. The iPing Fit section allows the user to select from a range of PING putters and is the only ‘up-selling’ aspect of the app. There’s a video showing you all the features of iPing and a set-up video - another useful tool for first time users. Finally, you can share your measure sessions with others (or yourself) using e-mail or Facebook.

My main purpose in using the app was to analyse my putting and improve the iPing handicap.

As I noted earlier, since every golfer has an individual putting style I was not really interested in comparing with others but rather with ensuring that I could build a consistent and reliable stroke that worked for me.

Being comfortable over the ball is essential to create consistency, as is a consistent lie angle between set-up and impact. I found practising different postures and making sure I was comfortable let me keep the lie angle consistent. This was noted on the app and gave me confidence as I progressed.

Shaft Lean. One thing that great putters achieve is a good ball roll. 

When you hit a putt the ball will first skid along the ground before starting to roll. Achieving a roll quickly can be helped by maintaining the desired putter face angle. This will change if the shaft lean changes between set up and impact. If hands move ahead of the club then loft will be reduced - if the club head moves ahead of the hands then the loft is increased. As before, it quickly becomes apparent that the most important thing is consistency.

Tempo. Guess what? Consistency is key to this as well! Some golfers have a faster tempo, some slower. Being able to record the tempo of my best shots and trying to replicate this gave me a good idea of what speed works best for me.

Impact angle. The app measures the angle of the club face at impact - closed, open or square. A 1° closed angle over 10 feet will cause the ball to be left of centre of the hole by approximately 2”. This will, all other things being equal, not produce a miss. My target was to replicate an impact angle of less than 1° closed.

Stroke type. My natural putting stroke is to have a slight arc for putts over 4 feet. This was what I was trying to replicate consistently and it was handy to have a way to measure and report on what I was doing and when I was doing it right.

Overall this is a very good app. It helped me see what I was doing when I hit a good putt and what I was doing when I didn’t. This gave me sufficient data to practice and improve. The app doesn’t tell you whether you’re doing something wrong or right - it simply analyses your stroke and lets you know. You have to read the data and see what it tells you compared with how your putt went. In achieving consistency of your putting stroke - this is a great thing to have on your phone. 

The cradle isn’t too expensive (although for the more handy among us - I’m sure you could knock something up out of plywood and glue!) and, of course, the app is free - my favourite price!

I compared the recorded sessions over a week and was able to see what I needed to work on and how. My specific issues lie in the shaft lean area and getting that all illusive consistency. The main drawback of the app is the effect of the weight of the phone and cradle on your putting stroke. To counter this, I used the app for measurements and some practise and then removed it for an extended practise. After this, I went back to the app to see if I had been able to improve on the areas that I had intended. If you have it on your putter all the time during practice then you might find it difficult to make the corresponding changes/improvements to your stroke when you get out on the course.

So, all in all this app gets 4 out of 5 stars from me.