Gopher Watch Competition – October 2023
Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland is widely seen as the greatest work of Harry Colt.
The epic par-three sixteenth/fourteenth (the traditional routing has changed since the course was altered to bring the Open Championship back to Portrush) has a deep ravine to the right that so scared the great South African Bobby Locke that he deliberately missed the green to the left every day of the 1951 Open. The depression he played for has been known as Bobby Locke’s Hollow ever since.
Mark Mennell, head greenkeeper at Fulford Golf Club, spotted where Sandy was visiting, and was the first entry out of the hat. Mark, your prized GCA shirt is on the way.
Sandy has journeyed to a course that is short by modern standards, but it still very highly regarded. It was designed in the mid 1920s by one of golf architecture’s big names.
Know where Sandy is and fancy a shirt? Answers to gopher@golfcoursearchitecture.net.