{"id":2066,"date":"2022-08-05T13:05:26","date_gmt":"2022-08-05T13:05:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.scotlandgolfbible.com\/?p=2066"},"modified":"2022-08-05T17:57:27","modified_gmt":"2022-08-05T17:57:27","slug":"141-thornton-21-may-22","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.scotlandgolfbible.com\/?p=2066","title":{"rendered":"141. Thornton. 21 May 22."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Well presented course proves greenkeeping importance in competitive market<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Round \u00a330. Par 70. Course Rating \/ Slope Rating (yellow) 68.4\/119. Value (out of 5) \u2013 4.0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Golf operates in an increasingly competitive market. When clubs come to trim budgets, the last to go should be good greenkeeping staff. Thornton has invested wisely. <\/p>\n\n\n

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The appealing opening tee shot at Thornton, typical of the first 6 holes.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Thornton is a fairly unmemorable village in Fife set between Glenrothes and Kirkcaldy. Nestled not far off the high street is a surprisingly well conditioned parkland course, well worth a visit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Established in 1921, and seemingly ‘designed’ by the forming committee, this course of about 6000 yards presents a course of three distinct phases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Holes 1 through 6, are of an “up and down’ nature and although fairly repeatable, and I could imagine some visitors bemoaning this part of the course, it had sufficient variations in length and subtlety to deserve your attention. Interestingly, a couple of members ‘jumped in’ in front of us at the seventh tee, which is close to the clubhouse. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The tough par three 3rd hole at about 200 yards, with a tree in the front of the green.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

A number of more changes of direction ensue between 7 through 13. But the most interesting holes are from 14 through 17, dominated by the Lochty Burn.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Fran putts at the 10th, the only double green on the course. Great putting surface.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

We played on a very nice May day and the course was in fabulous condition. In fact, it was the best condition of a course at its price point I had played in a while. You expect courses at \u00a350+ to guarantee good playing conditions, but at \u00a330 or under, you never quite know what to expect. Clearly you’re not going to get Open Qualifying conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Moly sets up for his second at the par five 13th hole.<\/strong> The quality of the fairway in clear evidence.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The greenkeepers at Thornton had done a magnificent job. Tees, fairways, bunkers, greens – all were first class. Rough was very appropriately managed as well. Although we didn’t try the clubhouse (we played late on a Sunday, it was closed), it looked an impressive set up. <\/p>\n\n\n

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The 14th “Burn”, a hard par 3. SI 3 tells the story, e<\/strong>specially with the hard right to left wind!<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The club pro, Jamie McLearly, who was a former touring pro, was really friendly explaining the course before our round – this is also important as it’s not always usual to get such a warm and genuine welcome. Clubs are also a business and visitor income is a crucial part of the business model. You could do worse than copying Thornton’s all round professionalism,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As mentioned, the best part of the course starts from the 14th, a very difficult hole. However, I don’t really need to be too explanatory, as there is an excellent set of hole videos on the website here<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n

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The lovely “risk reward” short par four 16th hole. <\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

I played well, scoring 84, net 1 under par, despite taking an 8 on the par five 6th. My highlight was parring three of the four par 3s; of most note was my par on the long par three 3rd hole, with a tree in front of the green. However, I “couldn’t hole a putt for toffee”. Never mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I really enjoyed Thornton, not because I played well, but because it was in such great condition. In a competitive market, this is what will keep it in business. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Course<\/strong><\/em> Type<\/em>:<\/strong> Parkland<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Par <\/em>70 (2 par 5s, 12 par 4s, 4 par 3s)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Distance<\/em>: 5859 (yellow)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moly\u2019s Gross score<\/strong><\/em>: 84<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

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Moly’s Thornton scorecard – 84<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Well presented course proves greenkeeping importance in competitive market Round \u00a330. Par 70. Course Rating \/ Slope Rating (yellow) 68.4\/119. Value (out of 5) \u2013 4.0 Golf operates in an increasingly competitive market. When clubs come to trim budgets, the last to go should be good greenkeeping staff. Thornton has invested wisely. Thornton is a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,23,35,46,19,29,32,9,15,31,38,2,1,28,20,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2066","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-18-holes","category-1901-1945","category-3-star","category-4-star-overall-value","category-course-architech","category-course-owned-by","category-course-quality","category-course-type","category-holes","category-members","category-overall-value","category-price-range","category-uncategorized","category-unknown","category-when-course-established","category-20-39","post-preview"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.scotlandgolfbible.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2066","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.scotlandgolfbible.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.scotlandgolfbible.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.scotlandgolfbible.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.scotlandgolfbible.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2066"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/blog.scotlandgolfbible.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2066\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2082,"href":"http:\/\/blog.scotlandgolfbible.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2066\/revisions\/2082"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.scotlandgolfbible.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2066"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.scotlandgolfbible.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2066"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.scotlandgolfbible.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2066"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}