Advent 6

Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink. The 12th hole at Fulford Heath is, if you break it down logically, an easy enough golf hole. What you have to do is put out of your mind the River Cole which meanders through the hole such that it it manages at various times to be in front of, to the left of, and to the right of the target. That mental mission accomplished, all you need do is thread successive five irons through the needle of the fairway. After all the whole thing is only 321 yards. Easy. Not. Charming to look at and play. Definitely.

Tomorrow I will introduce you to the best finishing hole in golf.

Twelve Films At Christmas - 2 & 3

Holiday Inn is best known for two factors - on the positive side it gave the world the song White Christmas, rather less creditworthily, it has a blackface minstrel sequence which offends modern sensibilities. I won't get involved in any controversy (how unlike me) but will simply say that you should put your politics to one side and enjoy the Irving Berlin musical numbers and the silly plot. Crosby croons tellingly and Astaire dances brilliantly. Good Christmas fare. 63/100. 

Another pleasant diversion is the film version of All Creatures Great and Small. This predates both television adaptations and is largely faithful to the Herriott novels. If you want a film to coddle you rather than challege you, this is recommended. A youngish Anthony Hopkins has fun with the gift of a role that is Siegfried Farnon. 61/100.

Advent 5

Depending on my mood, County Sligo at Rosses Point can be the best course I have ever played. The hole I have chosen from this magnificent links is not the hardest of the eighteen, indeed as I read the course website I realise that the hole I played does not exist any more. After two relatively benign holes the third launches itself from the top of a dune - when the Pig played it, it was a short par five. I learn that the powers that be have built a new green some one hundred yards further down the hole in order to make it more of a challenge. That's as maybe, but I will choose to recall the four iron I hit from the fairway to about six feet. I missed the putt for eagle. Of course.

No picture available of the hole as I played it, instead I have chosen a photo that communicates just how fabulous a course this is. A thing of beauty.

Advent 4

There is a class of golf hole that deserves a special mention - holes that are par 5s off the white tees but 4s off the yellows. In a bizarre manner this makes them seem far harder off the yellows. This is a trick of the mind but I am menatlly weak, particularly on a golf course.

Now such a hole is the 5th at Handsworth. Estimable but I choose instead the 10th at Holyhead. 433 yards from the forward tees.

You drive over a brow and then, Heaven be praised, there is a bell to be rung before playing down to a distant green with gorse beckoning on all sides.

Did I mention that I won the Dunmore Shield this year?

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas. Yesterday was beer and lunch with the Dunmore crew of ViperJoihn, Big Willy, and the Boy Bacon. And today the tree is going up.

Advent 3

Today we're back on the downhill track. There are several downhill par threes that come to my mind as among my favourites, not least the almost impossibly scenic 4th on the Duke's at Woburn, however I choose for inclusion today the 17th at the less exalted Rufford Park. 169 yards across water. What tips the balance in favour of this hole is the company in which I played it and also the fact that the Duke's will get a mention elsewhere. It was the second day of QMT Tour 2020. I worked a five rescue onto the green and three putted from fifteen feet. That just about sums up golf Pig style.

I'm out for lunch with the Ireland tour boys in Brum today and in tribute to their company tomorrow will feature a fearsome hole we played on our own little expedition to play for the Dunmore Shield this year. Modesty prevents me from saying who won.

Advent 2

I have written before about Bull Bay Golf Club on Anglesey, the course that was the traditional aperitif to our annual expeditions to Ireland. For the most part I have always played this course after a hearty liquid lunch, buoyed by the thought of the fun and games to come after the ferry trip the next day. This preliminary status does the course a severe disservice - it is better than any of the courses we used to play in South East Ireland. 

There is an abundance of good holes and views aplenty but I choose the 17th as the hardest of the lot. 425 yards of double dog-leg par 4, first left to right, then right to left. Don't take too safe a line off the tee however because you will run into the left gorse. Too daring and you will plummet into the right gorse. Take a fairway wood perhaps - fine but you'll have a mile to go to the green, slightly, but meaningfully uphill. 

The entire course at Bull Bay is up there with my absolute favourites and the 17th only marginally gets the vote over, say, the 7th, the 10th and the 18th. 

Probably a good time to comment on my new winter golf boots - the only good thing about my golf in the cold and rain of yesterday at Pype Hayes was that my feet were dry.

Advent 1

Back in my days as a minor corporate something I was entertained at Bowood Golf and Country Club annually - it had to do with where we deposited client monies. This was arguably the best freebie of the year.

The course wends its way around Capability Brown grounds and is modern in its idiom - off the back pegs it stretches to almost seven and a half thousand yards. The Dave Thomas design has hosted the Europro Tour. Lengthy modern courses aren't usually my thing but this is done with taste and skill. To start our imaginary twenty-four hole round, I choose the 2nd, a mere bagatelle at 340 yards off the yellows.

As this list progresses you will learn that I favour raised tees - they give a feeling of possibility no matter how daunting the set-up. This one starts high up and dives down before turning sharply right. Driver is usually too much club, instead you carry to the corner - cutting the corner is not on, too many trees.

No raised tee tomorrow. Things get harder.