West Cornwall Golf Club, 23rd May 2017

From St Wynwallow to St Uny at Lelant we became regular churchgoers.  Again we start with a par 3 before a wonderfully dunes banked second finishing on a wind lashed raised green and a gorgeous view, draws you into this course.  Over the first few holes the church is ever present and a reminder in a diverse test of golf to keep things in perspective.  

You then cross the railway bridge to a curious three hole triangle along the Hayle estuary. Another marker of my ideal links setting is the train full of holiday makers. In classic form it then rattles along the boundary between the links and the sea as you sweep along to the 11th green.  This last is a special hole where a good drive will set you up for a lovely pitch to the elevated green.

You then climb the hill a little and before you lies a run of holes which are open cliff top holes and not traditional links.  The 12th is a lovely par 5 which invites, and rewards, you for opening your shoulders off the tee and is followed, a couple of holes later, by a similar par 5 in reverse.  The prevailing winds will give considerable advantage to one of these and make the other a real battle so don’t congratulate yourself until you have faced it in the opposite direction.  The 17th finds you at the top of the hill and the 18th is fairly unremarkable other than the view it affords on a clear day of the course and the estuary beyond.

A few holes were compromised by tees crossing greens and the necessary extension of the 18th.  It was the shortest of the three courses we played at 5677 yards off the yellows, just under 200 yards less than Mullion and nearly 400 shorter than Perranporth.  It was a tougher test and more of a links course than Mullion.  We had another drawn match with scores that reflected the activities of the night before.

We stayed two nights in charming St Ives. We were amused by a quiz night in the locals bar and tried various forms of the local beer in a couple of pubs near the waterfront. The next day we breakfasted superbly at the Porthminster Kitchen on a balcony over looking the cleanest harbour I have ever seen at low tide.  Dinner that night was along the beach at the Porthminster Beach cafe.   It was an exceptional dinner of fresh oysters, squid and local fish.  Proper bookends for the round of golf. Recommended by a friend I booked months in advance and the place was packed on a Tuesday night in mid May.  A treat and a highlight of the tour.