Playing Panmure
The opportunity to play Panmure when in the Dundee area is well worth the short trip north. Not quite as far as Carnoustie, the course backs onto Monifieth’s links and is bounded on its east side, across the railway, by The Buddon, an active firing range after which one of Carnoustie’s sister courses is named. This immaculate member’s course is one of the must-plays when visiting this historic golfing coastline.
It’s a tightly traditional Clubhouse and links, and an historical tour of the Club’s many trophies, which includes the long-nosed silver club dating from 1845, is well worth including in your visit. The friendly Clubhouse itself features a variety of unique, charming and atmospheric lounges, full of character and historic style and three different dress code options exist for those who might wish to delve deeper into the Club’s fuller experience. Located adjacent to the Professional shop, and very close to the first tee, is the ideal 260-yard driving range and short game practice area. Complimentary range balls are provided, with options to warm up from turf or using the excellent all-weather mats, their bays defined with red shell Club-crested range dividers. The new club website provides a host of detail, quality images and great background to the impending experience.
Panmure lies just over 1,000 yards from the sea at its closest point, but this heavily-duned coastal area used to be much closer to the North Sea, hence its linksy nature. Protected now by the Barry Buddon, a triangular foreland on the north shore of the mouth of the Firth of Tay, it’s one of the largest and most important sand dune systems surviving in a near-natural condition in the UK.
The opening and closing stretches of Panmure occupy an unfeasibly tight strip of land between fields of hearty crops before widening into a marginally wider, tightly-defined area of the same distance that holds a further twelve testing holes of golf. After teeing off under the serene canopy of pine trees at the 4th, the course’s routing throws you back, forth and across the wind in equal measure demanding continuous concentration. Eleven out of the eighteen holes feature an OB: it’s all about placement. Like heathland, but with links turf, Panmure offers glimpses of Carnoustie and Formby. It introduces trees, and gorse and deep, revetted bunkers and with a prevailing wind that will push you hard on the opening four holes, plus a few later on, it’s a sigh of relief when you make it to the 13th and begin a run of consistently helpful breezes.
Ben Hogan practiced here in 1953 to get used to links golf prior to the Open, and using the smaller British 1.62” golf ball. It paid off, and in return for his insight into making the 6th hole better, the Club renamed it Hogan and took on board his addition of a greenside bunker. A tough hole anyway, the fairway narrows at about 260 yards between raised, old dune mounds left and right. From here the available fairway swings left, and the uphill second shot needs to carry a ridge, a valley and then find the raised green. Hogan felt that, into a prevailing wind, the hole could be made more challenging by placing a catch-all bunker front right on the face of the rising escarpment to the putting surface. How right he was, and it’s mostly hidden from view by preceding gorse bushes when contemplating your shot in. Standing in its sandy centre, the revettes rise level with your chest. It’s no wonder that this is Stroke Index 1.
Manicured walkways take you from tee to fairway. Upon reaching the putting area, precision is a must as the equally perfectly manicured greens are waiting to snatch the slightest slip. Swales, subtle slopes, pace-sapping tiers and apron drop-offs abound, and if you’re not quickly reading the speed of the greens, it’s easy to add strokes. And yet… would you trade this experience for anything else? Probably not, given the history, the challenge and quality of this wonderful course. To sneak one back against the tide here makes you feel as talented as Mr Hogan.
Teeing-off from outside the Clubhouse, the wind in your face might push you quickly towards the right OB, or at best the lush second cut which awaits you at every opportunity. An old, tin-roofed stone barn sits adjacent to the 1st green, witness to many a cry of woe at this tough introduction to the 1845 course, designed by Old Tom Morris and enhanced by James Braid. Further on, at the 2nd green, a lovely old, white-painted villa acts as the perfect target line.
The 10th is the main dogleg hole on the course, with the fairway turning away far greater than any of the others that might allude to also being called the same. It’s easy to block yourself out right by drifting too far into the relatively safe rough off the fairway. From this location though it requires a perfect fade to miss narrowing thicker grass all the way to the green, which is also protected by a hidden bunker on this line. It’s tough.
For a links course, the skyline is unusually dominated by trees, particularly behind the 12th where the forgiving fairway quickly pulls you into a green surrounded by shadowy trees. It’s the only hole where a burn, reminiscent of the omnipresent Barry Burn at Carnoustie, winds its way into your head on your approach to the green, its steep sides held in place by railway sleepers that remind you of the nearby track which will soon become your OB as you turn for home down the tight 14th hole.
Panmure has been pivotal in the development of the game of golf, and as a classic links it stands shoulder-to-shoulder with the best. It’s been a training ground for the top players in the world yet remains, at its heart, a warm and welcoming member’s Club that’s proud of its heritage, its well-presented course and who would enjoy hearing the feedback from visitors about their experiences on its testing links.
If you find yourself in range of Panmure, make it your target.