GREAT GOLF HOLES.

No.10. The par4, 17th hole at Castletown, Isle of Man.

I always have a great time at Castletown. The hotel is comfortable and friendly, the food is fantastic and the golf course is one of those tracks that manages to present a serious challenge while still maintaining enough width to inspire your confidence. This combination provides a subtle form of flattery, and personally I find I always play really well at Castletown as a result.

The course sprawls out over a high rocky peninsula on the Southern tip of the island, and, although it would be stretching things somewhat to refer to Castletown as a true links, there are holes running in several directions that border the sea. The pick of these is undoubtedly the 17th. A choice of well-appointed raised tees are reached via a clifftop walk from the idyllic par3 that precedes it, and from these the player must drive over a massive gully onto a fairway which is divided into distinct sections by several rocky outcrops, which are so strategically positioned that the cynical onlooker might question whether the course architect had actually faked the whole thing. The largest of these outcrops acts in a similar manner to a pair of cross bunkers, and are positioned 120 yards short of the green- exactly the distance from which I would prefer to attack the relatively small target. I can clear this bump from the white tees, but a large, highly obnoxious gorse bush on the left and a deep sea inlet on the right make this choice very risky. The green itself is fairly long, but is set at a 45 degree angle and is very narrow. This makes it very difficult to hit and hold, and I have found that it is much easier to find if you hit your tee-shot down the left side, a choice that also keeps the player sufficiently far away from the sea to be able to enjoy the view as he walks down the fairway! As this is the course`s feature hole, I might be inclined to tighten up this option, but, as I have already mentioned, every hole at Castletown is furnished with a bale-out area that inspires confidence and therefore adds to the player`s enjoyment of the whole experience.

The 17th at Castletown merits its inclusion on this page simply by having a spectacular setting and by being superbly well proportioned. But the enjoyment of taking on this hole can be diminished if you allow yourself to be sucked in by the terror of having to drive over a rocky sea inlet that takes no prisoners whatsoever. The trick to avoiding a seizure on the tee of a hole such as this is to pick a point in the fairway that you want to hit at, and focus on that instead of the horrors that await your ball in the murky deep below. Like most holes of this type, the actual challenge set is far less severe than the reputation that precedes it, and indeed from the yellow tee nothing but a top or a real duff actually goes in the water. A quick glance over the edge at all the balls on the rocks, though, will show you how many people succumb to their fears on a daily basis.

“This article was featured in the latest issue of GOLF LINKS magazine, and has been reprinted with their kind permission”

For further information please contact:

DebbieBarron – Golf Director, Castletown Golf Links,Derbyhaven,Isle of Man, IM2 2LP.
Tel +44 (0) 1624822220. Email – 1sttee@manx.net