Dormie

Golf & Country Club

The course

Eighteen holes, drawn to scale.

The plan below is the greenkeeper's survey, redrawn. Choose any hole to read its sheet — the drawing, the measures from all three tees, and the honest note.

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The card, hole by hole

Every hole has a name, a number, and an opinion.

1

First Light

Dew still on the fairway; the honour is decided by coin. The right half of the fairway gives the better line in, but the coin does not care.

4

412

9

2

The Chalk

A short hole across the old quarry face. Every yard of it is carry, and the chalk throws the light back at you at nine in the morning.

3

176

15

3

Long Meadow

Three honest blows; the wind chooses the third. The green sits in a hollow the mowers call the soup plate.

5

548

5

4

Drover's

Follows the old sheep road to a raised green. Anything left of the marker post finds ground that has never once been kind.

4

401

11

5

The Beck

The stream crosses twice; the brave carry both. Laying up is respectable, and the members will tell you so at length.

4

434

3

6

Hollow Oak

Blind from the tee. Aim on the oak and trust — the fairway is wider than your doubt.

4

389

13

7

The Gorse

Gorse the whole left side. The card says four; the gorse has other opinions and keeps most of the evidence.

4

386

7

8

Short Thorn

A wedge, in theory. The green is two paces wider than the thorn hedge behind it lets you believe.

3

152

17

9

The Steward

Long uphill home; the Steward watches from the window. Stroke index one, and it earns it into any wind.

5

522

1

10

High Fescue

The highest ground on the course; four counties on a clear day. Take the view first — the drive needs your full attention.

4

428

8

11

The Warren

Rabbit scrapes are a local rule. Play generous to the right and putt from anywhere inside the props.

4

442

2

12

Still Water

Nothing moves here but your nerve. The pond has kept a century of second thoughts.

3

187

16

13

The Avenue

Down the lime avenue, straight as an invoice. The only hole where a straight ball is rewarded twice.

5

517

6

14

Green Keeper's

His cottage garden is out of bounds. He insists, and the committee has never once overruled him.

4

396

12

15

The Brae

Uphill all the way. Take one more club, then take another — the green is a full storey above you.

4

411

4

16

Little Chapel

The green sits in the old chapel yard. Par here feels like absolution.

3

165

18

17

The Procession

The members walk it two abreast, by habit. A three-shotter that plays shorter downwind and much longer in conversation.

5

533

10

18

Home & Dormie

If your match is alive here, nothing else matters. The clubhouse windows fill with free advice; the beck waits right of the green.

4

413

14

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