Hole 3: Sanctuary – Par 4, 417 Yards
Waterville is part of a special Links fraternity in a region where the game has its roots and the course rating process is rigorous and often debated. The rating season has just begun as Golf World (U.K.) announced their 2010 – 2011 “Top 100 in Britain and Ireland”. They have published their findings for the past 28 years, and along with Golf Monthly (U.K.), produce the definitive list of who’s hot and who’s not.
Ireland has twenty courses on the list. and Waterville is ranked third on an All-Ireland Basis behind Royal County Down and Royal Portrush.
Ireland has twenty courses on the list. and Waterville is ranked third on an All-Ireland Basis behind Royal County Down and Royal Portrush.
Waterville is number one in the Republic, two ahead of Ballybunion.
Our overall Britain and Ireland ranking has improved one notch to twelve replacing Kingsbarns position.
Waterville is now one of the “12 Apostles “and if you delete the three parkland apostles, we move closer to the center of the table.
Among the remaining top nine Links, who’s got the momentum? Two are down, four are unchanged and only three are up (Waterville, Royal Birkdale and Muirfield),
Are we destined to stall out with six prestigious Open courses smothering our advance? For sure it’s been a great run from 49th in ‘88, 21 in ’96 and now 12 in 2010. But is there another “Fazio” hare to be pulled out of the hat?
Our next surge of momentum may well be found in the R & A’s recent initiative to encourage Links to improve the quality of all playing surfaces.
Last month Nick Park, Chairman, Golf Course Committee, posted a news article on the Course Management page of the Royal and Ancient web site in which the article tells the remarkable story of Waterville’s success in transforming our old Poa Greens to fescue dominated surfaces and singles out our course Superintendant, Mike Murphy for his initiative and professionalism.
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