Carnoustie should bring cream to top

IT is difficult to know which was the more immortalized - Jean Van de Velde or the Barry Burn itself - when the Frenchman went paddling during the final hole of the 1999 Open at Carnoustie.

The bizarre climax certainly helped to elevate the course back to its deserved status as a world-famous venue and when the Open returns next July spectators will look at the Barry Burn and wonder what on earth possessed Van de Velde to dip his toes in there.

Until technology produces a club designed for the purpose, the only way anyone could extricate a golf ball from the Frenchman's creek is with one of the fishing poles provided.

A six would have been good enough for Van de Velde to win on that 72nd hole, but he took seven and went out on the first hole of a three-man play-off won by Paul Lawrie.

Despite his two brilliant birdies to clinch the title, subsequent events have shown Lawrie to be a fluke winner and it would probably be better for the course's reputation if the world's top ten featured prominently next year.

In the 1930s the legendary Walter Hagen said it was the greatest course in the British Isles, while Gary Player, who won the Open there in 1968, felt it was the toughest course in the world.

The way the course was set up in 1999, with narrow fairways and punishing rough, it was as though they were trying to make sure it lived up to Player's assessment.

In truth, the course has enough natural defences without toughening it up and these days more good judges are likely to agree with Hagen than Player.

Carnoustie is certainly not as wild, forbidding and intimidating as I had expected. Among the great British links, it doesn't have the backdrop of Royal County Down in Northern Ireland, or the rugged, clifftop stretch of Turnberry, but it is more interesting than St Andrews or Muirfield.

It also maintains the interest throughout, which Turnberry doesn't, and it's an obvious tribute that the Open is returning after a gap of only eight years.

The previous gap was 24 years since Tom Watson won the first of his five Opens in 1975, the reason being the lack of suitable accommodation for professionals used to high standards of comfort.

The hotel which was built prior to the 1999 Open has solved the problem, although its rather bland external appearance leaves a little to be desired as a backdrop to the 18th green.

Such trivia, however, cannot detract from the attractions of either the course or the area in general as a golfing destination.

Travelling east from Dundee along the north side of the Tay estuary, the sight of the two courses at Monifieth, followed by Panmure, provide a truly appetising foretaste of Carnoustie.

Further round the coast, facing the North Sea, there are more excellent links at Arbroath and Montrose - the fifth oldest course in the world - while inland there are more Scottish football towns with very fine courses in Forfar and Brechin.

The more adventurous can venture a few miles north from Brechin into the foothills of the Grampians to play Edzell, or west from Forfar to Kirriemuir, where you had better stay clear of the gorse and broom if you want to admire the lovely views.

A Carnoustie Country golf pass is available which features 19 courses and offers three rounds for £60, although supplements are payable at four clubs, including Carnoustie for the championship course.

There are two other courses at Carnoustie, the Buddon and the Burnside. The latter is good enough to have staged Open qualifying, notably in 1953 when eventual champion Ben Hogan marked his first competitive round in Britain with a 70.

The Barry Burn meanders over several holes on a course which has a fine set of par threes and is said to be a great favourite among the locals.

The Buddon is the newest course and the closest to the sea. Relatively short at 5,420 yards, it features seven par threes on flat land which is enlivened by heather, gorse and water hazards.

All the courses can be booked as part of a package, with one or two-night stays at the hotel starting at £229 (see factfile), but as with all Open venues these days if you just want to play the championship course it will set you back £120.

Don't pay it if you're the type of golfer who enjoys the game only if he's scoring well because unless you're fortunate enough to play it on a calm day Carnoustie will bite you at some point.

But if you can enjoy the triumph of your pars and birdies and ignore the disasters, you might just find that the unrelenting challenge of following in the footsteps of such great champions as Hogan, Player and Watson is worth every penny.

The sea is not visible and it's more humps-and-hollows than high dunes, with the unusual feature for a links of trees on several holes. Another rare feature is the horseshoe lay-out, which provides continual switches of direction and is far preferable to nine holes downwind and nine back.

The third is comfortably the shortest par four at 337 yards, but it's a superb hole, well worth studying from the tee both for its aesthetic qualities and to work out a strategy.

There are dunes down the right and bunkers at driving distance in the middle of the fairway, so it's best to play left or short of those. Then Jockie's Burn sweeps unseen across the face of a sharply-contoured green.

The sixth, the first par five and usually into the wind, is known as Hogan's Alley. Off the tee it offers a narrow landing area between a staggered set of bunkers on the right and the out-of-bounds fence all the way up the left, but Hogan threaded his drive into this strip in all four rounds of the 1953 Open.

The eighth is the first of only three par threes - and one of those, the 16th, measures 245 yards. This one is a mere 167, but a sea of gorse and heather and a deceptive hollow make club selection difficult.

The ninth and tenth are where the trees come into play on the left, while ten and 11 also feature the Barry Burn.

It crosses the fairway about 30 yards short of the green at the magnificent 446-yard tenth, after which the next real highlight is the par five 14th, known as Spectacles after the two huge bunkers in a bank 50 yards short of the green. Prior to that it's an intimidating drive to a sliver of fairway visible to the right of three bunkers on the corner of the right to left dogleg.

Then comes what is said to be the toughest finish in golf, although it requires an easterly wind to render the 16th unreachable. The last two holes are characterised by the apparently ubiquitous Barry Burn, which wanders all over the place.

It requires a good smack off the tee to clear it into the prevailing wind at the 17th, while at the last it's more of a problem for the approach, as a certain Frenchman knows only too well.

No doubt we'll see him on television next July telling us all about his 1999 adventures. But I'll wager that at the 2007 Open Carnoustie will bring the cream to the top.

FACTFILE

Tee times can be booked on all three courses by logging on to www.carnoustiegolflinks.co.uk. Written enquiries should be sent to: Carnoustie Golf Links Management Committee, Links Parade, Carnoustie, Angus, DD7 7JE. For telephone bookings ring 01241 853249, and for the caddie master 01241 851340.

Packages for 2007 are as follows:

April: Two-night stay with dinner on first night, plus one round on the championship course and one on the Burnside, £229 per person. Extra night £55.

May-Oct: same two-night stay, £299, extra night £75. One-night stay with dinner, plus one round on the championship course and one on the Burnside, £259. Extra night £75. Prices are based on two sharing, with a single supplement of £25 per person.

The website offers details of other accommodation in Carnoustie.

Details of the Carnoustie Country Golf pass, featuring 19 courses and offering three rounds for £60, are available on 01382 527527. Supplements are payable at Carnoustie, Panmure, Monifieth and Montrose.

Further details of the area are available on www.angusanddundee.co.uk.