Design Influences at Sea Temple - No. 4 'Tribulation'

The 4th hole at Sea Temple which we know is a strong Par 4 usually played into the south-easterly breeze where a par is a very good score. Following his writings on the 15th, Mr Michael Wolveridge has kindly provided the background into the creation of the 4th 'Tribulation'.

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Links golf is such an ancient game that those of us who dabble in the art are rarely lost for inspiration. Take our 4^th hole for instance. I had planned for a long Par 4 to be played into the prevailing winter Trade Winds, which with a Par 5 to follow, would comfortably cover the eastern boundary of the property. There is a famous hole of similar length at Royal Dornoch, “Foxy” the 14^th at that splendid old Scottish links, a par 4 headed down the coastline some 450 yards long, with no bunkers but a brute of a hole. “Foxy” is a slight double dog-leg, a little bit to the left and a little to the right, created by a series of intervening mounds too high and too rugged to see beyond, finally ending at a large plateau green, very, very hard to hit in two shots be a drive slightly off the proper line, whereupon the target becomes blind and probably unattainable. It is a hole many pundits include in their ‘Best 18 Holes’ – a famous hole from a famous links.

At our Links, there was available heaps of material suitable for mound making and of course, the underlying sand was ever present for gently contouring into typical seaside fairway links land. With this material I managed to create a series of mounds at a realistic height, interposing them to confuse and mask the green for any who would stray from the designed line of approach. Originally we made them rugged also!

The main deviation in principle from the original are the two ponds near the green, two elements I was unable to avoid as in our case they were necessary for drainage and as nutrient stripping ponds for displacement of fertilizer with respect to the significant rains we can expect during our Wet Season, when we receive a great deal more rain than the east coast of Scotland. Trying it out into a strong Southerly, we agreed entirely with the unfortunate Captain Cook and named it “Tribulation”.