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Gleneagles
For those who are
addicted to the game of golf, the Gleneagles Hotel golf
resort offers the chance to play on the world's finest
golf courses with its' three championship golf courses in
Scotland.
The PGA Centenary
Course, created by Jack Nicklaus, has five different tees
at each hole, building up to the ultimate 7,088 yard
championship test.
The famous 6,741
yard King's and the challenging 5,965 yard Queen's were
both designed by James Braid. As the first man to win five
Open Championships, he knew a thing or two about the
perfect course.
Kings Course
The King's Course,
opened in 1919, is a masterpiece of design, which has
tested the aristocracy of golf, both professional and
amateur.
James Braid's plan for the King's Course was to test
even the best players' shot-making skills over the
eighteen holes. When they play the King's the world's
greatest golfers admire the cunning and craft with which
he achieved that goal.
You find out all
about it with your first approach shot. If you have
driven straight and long from the tee, you will have
what looks like a simple pitch to the elevated green.
But you must be sure to select the correct club, because
the shot is always a little longer than you think, with
the wind over the putting surface often stronger than
you can feel it from the fairway. And if you do not make
the severely sloping green, a bunker yawns twenty feet
below.
Selecting the
right club for each approach shot is the secret on the
King's. It is certainly one of the most beautiful and
exhilarating places to play golf in the world, with the
springy moorland turf underfoot, the sweeping views from
the tees all around, the rock-faced mountains to the
north, the green hills to the south, and the peaks of
the Trossachs and Ben Vorlich on the western horizon.
All the holes have evocative and pithy Scots names. For
example, the fifth, "Het Girdle" (Hot Pan), is a
challenging par 3 with trouble every-where except on the
green, while 17th's name, "Warslin' Lea" (Wrestling
Ground), reflects the difficulty so many golfers have
had with this long, sweeping par 4.
Queens Course
The natural beauty
of the Queen's Course inspires the world's most
experienced players. The Queen's Course, in its long
history, has played host to some of the world's golfing
greats.
The beautiful
settings and the challenge of the golf have attracted
such top golfers as Johnny Miller, Greg Norman, Seve
Ballesteros, Tom Watson, and Lee Trevino, as well as
great names from the entertainment and sports worlds
including Sean Connery, Burt Lancaster, Bing Crosby,
Jackie Stewart, and astronaut Alan Shepard (the only man
to hit a golf shot on the moon).
Threading through
high ridges on the north and west sides of the estate,
the Queen's offers lovely woodland settings, lochans and
ditches as water hazards, as well as many moorland
characteristics. At 3,192 yards long, the challenge of
the first nine can be deceptive, with even some of the
best players finding it a test to make par into a fresh
south-westerly breeze.
Do not be lulled
into a sense of false security as you stand on the first
tee. The "Trystin' Tree," or lover's meeting place,
after which the hole is named, is a challenging opener.
The ground falls away at your feet, the fairway swings
round to the left and slopes towards the trees, and
there are a couple of cunningly placed bunkers testing
your approach into the miniscule green.
PGA Centenary Course
The PGA Centenary
Course, created by Jack Nicklaus, is a modern classic.
Even for a
champion and acclaimed golf architect like Nicklaus, The
PGA Centenary Course was a challenge.
It had to be a great course and, set as it is in the
heart of Scotland, the country that gave the world golf,
Nicklaus describes the course as "The finest parcel of
land in the world I have ever been given to work with".
It had to be
unique in its challenge, a course in the modern design
ethos that at its fullest stretch tests the greatest
players, while, in the immortal phrase of Bobby Jones,
"offering problems a man may attempt according to his
ability... never hopeless for the lesser player nor
failing to concern and interest the expert."
From the back
tees, the PGA Centenary Course measures 7,088 yards, the
longest inland course in Scotland. However, the tees are
graded at each hole in five stages, including a
challenging 6,558 yards from the white markers down to
5,072 from the red. Fittingly, the PGA Centenary Course
begins by playing southeast towards the famed glen of
the eagles sweeping up the Ochil Hills to the summit of
the pass below Ben Shee which joins it to Glendevon.
A feature of the
PGA Centenary Course is the feast of views of the
spectacular countryside in which Gleneagles is set.
Putting on the two-tier second green, you are distracted
by the lush panorama of the rich Perthshire straths. As
you move westwards over the next few holes, the rugged
Grampians come into view on the right, then distantly
purple ahead, Ben Vorlich and the mountains above the
Trossachs.
The Wee
Course -
A 9 hole golf course
The name the "Wee
Course" recalls the original nine hole course at
Gleneagles which was constructed in the summer of 1928.
Designed by Head Greenkeeper, George Alexander, it
complemented the already renowned King's and Queen's
Courses, requiring neat play and offering a pleasant
challenge. Members of staff from Gleneagles Hotel
carried out most of the work themselves, using turf
produced by the hotel's nursery.
Enjoyed by many,
the Wee Course remained much as George Alexander had
intended until 1974 when a further nine holes were added
and the Prince's Course was formed.
Now history
repeats itself as the Wee Course has been resurrected
mostly on the ground that formed the original course
using turf from the Prince's greens. Golf Courses and
Estate Director James Kidd and his staff have built the
course themselves, recapturing the spirit of George
Alexander's design.
The new Wee Course
offers a happy combination of skill and enjoyment for
golfers at every level. Enjoy your game!
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