Doing justice to the legend

Jul 1 2008 by Tim Taylor, The Journal

A GHOSTLY character with a flat cap and an old-fashioned bushy moustache is superimposed on the front of the scorecard used by all golfers who take on the glorious Goswick Links.

This is James Braid, who won The Open Championship five times in ten years in the early 1900s and helped to form the PGA. His large portfolio of design work included the most meaningful contributions to the Berwick club’s no-nonsense and full-blooded layout.

Certainly, any golfer who has stood on Goswick’s 15th tee, the highest point on the course, and taken in the view of Holy Island, Bamburgh Castle, the Cheviots and the North Sea will understand the meaning of the expression: “Burn my clothes, mother, I’m in heaven.”

It is likely Braid have would approved of alterations to four holes which have led to Berwick tomorrow becoming the first club in the history of North East golf to have the honour of staging regional qualifying for the Open.

Incredibly, they beat two rivals – The Northumberland at Newcastle racecourse and Pannal in Harrogate – to win the nod from the R&A without calling in a designer.

The Berwick club professional, Paul Terras, said yesterday: “This Open qualifying honour dates back to 2001 when our club thought we had a nice enough course – it has been for years. But we wanted to attract a better class of event, not particularly with Open qualifying in mind but maybe a county event more often or a North of England match.

“We applied to the R&A and got a £10,000 grant towards doing alterations and that allowed us to build four new greens and put four new tees in. The course was lengthened by around 200 yards to 6,803 yards. Because the R&A supplied that grant they came back to see how the money had been spent, and they must have liked what had been done because that led to the club getting regional qualifying for the Open.

“The club is proud of having done it mainly in-house and not having brought in a designer. There were about six committee men involved plus me and the greenkeeper, George Thompson.” Terras, a 42-year-old former Tartan Tour winner, reckons par 72 will be the qualifying target for a field of 90 chasing 15 spots to take them on to next week’s last qualifying stage for non-European Tour players. This will be at three courses near the Open venue of Royal Birkdale next week, the week before the Open.

The Rock champion, Stocksfield’s Chris Paisley, exempt until next week because of his R&A world amateur ranking, took some US college circuit pals to the course a few weeks ago.

“Goswick is a great course.” he said. “It needed lengthening but it has not been added to stupidly. It’s a really good test for the good golfer. For average club golfers, it’s not easy but it is really beautiful and not so brutally hard they won’t have fun going round. I have played Goswick before and after the alterations and they have made a really good job of it.”

An expert's guide to the changes

HOME club professional Paul Terras is among the field at Berwick tomorrow – and this is his guide to the four holes altered on the Goswick Links:

4TH: “It used to be a very short par five, so the club decided to make it more challenging and it went up by 50 yards to 545. Now it is inadvisable to go for it in two because if you miss the green left, you’ve got really heavy rough. Now there are penalties to be paid for missing the target. So most people will be laying up rather going for a narrower green.“

8TH: “It used to be a shortish par four with a little quirky green. Lengthened by 40 yards to 421 and now has a ridge running up the middle of the green rather than across it. Widened on the right hand side towards the boundary fence, so the idea is to push your drive out to the right to give you access to the green. Second shots down the left are penalised now. Was stroke index 12, now three. Much more severe.”

12TH: “Used to be a blind second shot over the dune. It was felt that was a little bit unfair because you could land on the green and go over – so the green has been pushed back 30 yards and the hole is now a 367-yard par four. The changes have probably made this hole a little bit easier as well as fairer. Before you could hit a good shot and be punished. But the green is a little bit tricky, it is now much more undulating.”

16TH: “The best improvement of them all. It used to be a fairly bland hole and now it’s a good 50 yards longer, a 431-yard par four with a much better shape and a slight dog-leg. Depending on the wind, it can be a good two-shot hole. Difficult green to hit but it’s a fair green.”

GOLFERS from the North-East and Cumbria competing in Open qualifying at Berwick tomorrow are:

(*denotes amateur)

Michael Archer (Newcastle United); *Brandon Bailey (Ponteland); Andrew Baston (Ponteland); *Andrew Bell (Durham City); *Adam Best (Cleveland); David Clark (Morpeth), *Martin Coup (Hexham); George Cowan (Westerhope); *Michael Curry (Brancepeth Castle); Alex Dobson (Wallsend); Gary Donnison (Unattached); Paul Fiddes (Matfen Hall); Jonathan Greenwood (Close House); Vince Guest (Teesside).

James Harper (Seaton Carew); *Sean Heads (Hexham); James Housby (Penrith); Ricky Lee (Tyneside); Paul Jenkinson (Penrith); *Martyn Jobling (Morpeth); Craig Johnson (South Moor); Hugh MacDonald (South Moor); Richard Mason (Durham City); Chris McDonnell (Hexham); David O’Brien (Burgham Park); Sam Oliver (De Vere Slaley Hall); David Ord (Berwick).

Andy Paisley (Matfen Hall); *Garrick Porteous (Bamburgh Castle); Peter Richardson (Eden); *Danny Shevill (Prudhoe); Martyn Stubbings (Dinsdale Spa); *Callum Tarren (Dinsdale Spa); *Ben Taylor (Hexham); Paul Terras (Berwick); Gary Vickers (Tyneside); James Wilkinson (Brampton).