Debunking professional golf myths on this! What is it really like playing professional golf? Whats the best golf holiday destination? What European Tour courses should you play? Alastair interviews one of the YGT experts Sam to find out what it’s really like playing professional golf.
Host: Alastair Harmsworth
Guest: Sam Robertshawe – Golf Travel Expert – sam.robertshawe@yourgolftravel.com
00:00 – Intro
01:00 – On a standard European Tour course, what would a scratch golfer shoot?
02:08 – Whats the toughest course to caddy on?
03:57 – What hole did you fear the most?
04:40 – What’s the most impressive thing you saw from a golfer?
05:15 – What is the easiest course on Tour & is there any courses which you could break par on?
05:52 – Which course would you recommend for someone who isn’t a pro?
07:02 – Are there any historic championship golf courses which you’d recommend?
08:12 – Whats the ultimate destination for a golfing weekend away?
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Host: Alastairs Harmsworth
Guest: Sam Robertshawe – Golf Travel Expert – sam.robertshawe@yourgolftravel.com
Right hello welcome back to the your golf travel podcast and today we’re here to debunk some myths have you ever watched a professional play a golf course and thought you know that looks easy I could easily shoot my handicap you know when they’re out there shooting
61 62 63s I thought you know it’s so so easy but today we’re going to debunk it I’m here with Sam who is a plus three handicapper Once Upon a Time yeah I mean I guess that is my official handicap still now um but yeah I was formerly a
Professional golfer played seven years between the sort of Euro Pro Tour and challenge tour um after that I CED for three years on a DP World Tour um so I’ve had a pretty pretty good bit of experience in the uh professional sort of playing and cting environment so a
Very very good gol for I wish I was a plus three takes a lot of hard work and effort and I’m struggling off nine I’m not really I I feel like I’m a n handicapper but I I’m really off very good mate single hat single figure
Golfer very very good give myself a p on the back so the first question um on a European on a standard European tour course during a tournament what would a scratch goal for shoot uh it’s a tricky one to sort of answer with one answer um the the venues do vary quite
Considerably on the DP World Tour um PJ tour slightly different they’re all pretty tough top end tough setups but European tour is quite varied I mean all your sort of Flagship events like your Wentworth Italian opens French opens they’re all extremely difficult test the
Golf but on the flip side of that you do have a lot of sort of Fillin venues that you won’t see the bigger crowds at um that often are quite not easy never never easy on tour but um you would see your standard scratch gol for probably
Um shooting level par if not better round but you know if you flip that to sort of vama um you’re going to be struggling to break 85 as a as a scratch goal for I mean you see the winning scores around there every year um round
About the level par Mark um just really gives you a good ideas to how tough some of the courses can be set up so no one answers if fits all there but um quite a mix yeah so just a vary between you know levels of courses yeah absolutely absolutely so you’ve obviously played
And caddied at a fair few golf courses what’s the one that is the toughest in competition or have you just answered that maybe yeah no I’ve actually never Cy R Val I wish I had um but the guys was working for at the time either a
Weren’t straight in the event or B i’ just started cying after that point um but for the the course I have Cy that um I’d have to say the green eagle is the toughest it’s a golf course over in Germany uh they play um it’s the BMW
There every year um and it’s just an absolute monster um it should be renamed the green monster instead of the green Eagle it’s just obsene it’s 7,700 yards from the tips absolute monster six par fives um you know can’t reach any of them unless you’re like super long
Hitter talking Wilco your neighbor South African guy or maybe Rory um so yeah I would say that that is probably the toughest I’ve seen what made the course so tricky uh it’s just purely the sheer length of the course I’d say I mean it’s just the monster I mean you think your
Standard average UK Golf Course being 6,300 6500 yards you then add you know effectively another three or four par Falls in within that length within 18 holes you’ve got the green Eagle um it’s just bruy long uh that’s what I can say about it I mean and ironically um it’s
Actually the midlength more accurate golfers it do around there because the top you know longest hitters can’t actually get to the greens in two on the par five so then it actually becomes a case of how good your third shot so it’s the guys actually 100 yards and in on these
Six par fives that eating up the golf course you don’t necessarily see a really long hit to win in this tournament but it’s just the sheer length of it really really really long but they’re all still shooting on the par round there so just about yeah just
About I think the winning scores there are between sort of you know seven and 12 under I think historically so again you take that versus your gr Canario ten opens at 20 plus under it’s a real real tough test to golf so is there one hole
On that golf course they gave you gave you the Shivers yeah and again it’s it’s very ironic again that um it’s actually the shortest hole in the golf course that it’s a par 34th it’s around about 155 yards long um that is the one that gives you Shivers when you’re playing it
You’ve got a green that’s quite literally three or four Paces wide from start to back you got a steep drop off short right you’ve got a huge Bank to the left if you bail out left you’ve got a near on Impossible chip back towards the water down the hill um and I’ve seen
Guys hitting wedges in there coming for sixes sevens eights one L A 14 there you know European tour professional golfer so funnily enough longest golf course on tour but it’s the shortest H that gave me the Shivers that’s for sure and what was the most impressive thing you saw
From a pro there um actually I think this year um actually wasn’t there this year been working at your golf travel since November um but L called Tom MC nibon uh Irish player um he had a very slender leag coming down the last hole he was kind of Beyond a tree um if
You’ve seen it on TV you’ll know what I’m talking about big old Lake short of the green he’s got five iron in his hands has to draw this thing 20 plus yards um and hits it to about 8T and wins the tournament in style absolutely amazing impressive stuff just when you
Needed the shot like that ah just when he needed it yeah just when he needed it which was the easiest course on tour and is there is there any courses that you’ll be able to break par for four rounds uh yeah um I’d say it’s not a
Regular European Tour event um it was kind of filled in in covid um but there are still coures out there of similar sort of you know test of golf not as difficult as some of these bigger courses I would say the gr Canaria open at melanurus sclf um I think the winning
Score was 28 under par um very very uh forgiving off the tea quite short tons of Birdie opportunity so I fancy myself to shoot underp around there I think I hope so which course would you recommend to people to play if they’re not a pro uh good question um I think if we’re
Talking the UK uh i’ probably all of the open venues I know they’re predominantly Links golf courses um but I just don’t think you can beat the sort of the history um and the quality the sheer quality of the Links golf courses that they play the Open Championship on um
They can be extremely forgiving when it’s calm conditions but they can also be some of the toughest golf courses you ever play which is fairly standard for Link Golf when the weather comes in got your wind your rain you see some of the winning scores of open championships
I’ve played in many top amateur championships where 15 over par wins are t for the best golfers around the world so I would go with with lyns golf for sure if we’re talking about Parkland um there’s a fantastic Hidden Gem that always stands out to me not too far from
Where I live down in Bournemouth called remed Oak um an absolute must play I don’t think many of people have heard about it outside of that small area but definitely worth a go so definitely if you’re heading down to Bournemouth for a tour Chuck that one in there absolutely
That with parkstone Broadstone you got some fantastic golf down there but as far as sort of hidden gems go you’re not a professional you want to enjoy your golf that’s a great spot for you so let’s say if you’re pretty new to golf and you want to follow the footsteps of
The pros you know you’re watching the Open Championship on TV and you’re wanting to get out and you’re wanting to get out there on these courses there any courses which you would recommend yeah um tricky one uh obviously being pretty new to golf because the standard of the
Golf courses you play and the ones you’d want to play that’s genuinely the toughest you know if you’re looking at your Flagship events like your BMW Wentworth event you got French opens you got your Valderas they’re going to be extremely difficult for your new golfers
Um so quite a tricky one to answer in that regard um I’d be looking pretty much at the scores for the event to give you an idea that I want to actually follow a pro tournament I want to follow where Pros have played go and look at
The scoring and if the scoring is quite considerably lower than level par then i’ go and give it a crap because you a following their footsteps and B probably get some sort of enjoyment out of it yeah and I love that about going to a course which obviously has a tournament
On obviously we saw last week the k club they have that plaque in the middle of the Fairway where Rory hit that shot and you know you can go and try and recreate it yourself you might not quite recreate it but you can give it a go yeah so on
To the final question so you’ve got a weekend away with your friends with your golf mates and you’ve got to pick three Championship courses or within like a relatively like the same area so you could be like Kent maybe you know Ro sing sandwich or St georgees but this
Could be anywhere in the world where would you go um yeah I mean it’s a weekend away I mean this is probably a bit too far for a weekend away but I mean I can’t think further than my sort of routs which is New Zealand my family
Are all qes um glorious part of the world um and if you haven’t been already there’s just unbelievable uh set of golf courses W there’s actually one at the moment the second one’s being built it’s called Tara eting yeah Tara um absolutely phenomenal world class one of
The best golf venues in the world um and the only there um has just decided that he’s going to put another golf course on site um it’s called the ter terar links probably got that pronunciation wrong but absolutely off the charts um so that’s going to be two of the best golf
Courses you ever play couple hours north of Oakland um and as a third again it’s not quite in that same area but um an absolute must Playman in New Zealand um is down by Lake TPO so it’s quite a bit south of ockland but place called W RI
Sort of doubles down as a nature reserve incredible owned by a French uh sorry American billionaire um and it’s absolutely spectacular so that’s where I’d be going that would be an incredible trip I think like every course I see in New Zealand just looks absolutely stun
It’s just the scenery I mean the golf course some much secondary although they’re fantastic golf coures the scenery is just amazing but yeah that’s it that wraps up this podcast thank you very much Sam for joining us very you’re welcome giving us a little insight behind the scen a professional golf and
What it’s like to play on some of the top courses in the world thank you for watching if you do want to find out any if you want to find out any more information click the link in the description head to the your golf travel website might even come free to sign
Himself yeah thank you for watching
