So a couple of weeks ago i got an email from a tv comp tv show i won't give it away yet because it's going to come coming out soon. And this director this researcher this tv show said rick watch your videos i'd love you i'd love to get you involved in a little project because through lockdown in the middle of wales they were sorry i'm telling this the wrong way i'm going to tell the story of the golf course first in an area called raider r-h-a-y-d-e-r right bang in the middle of wales in the 1920s there was a golf course built a nine-hole golf course built on the side of a hill 40 years later it shut down right. And for most golf courses that would be the end of the story yeah it they tried to build a golf course it didn't work it wasn't financially viable. Or whatever it was it shut down 40 years later however. there's a number of twists in this story the biggest twist is that the golf course again in the middle of nowhere in the middle of wales on the side of a hill one of the most if not the most famous golf course designer in the whole of the world that's ever lived designed that golf course now this gentleman dr aleister mckenzie has designed 50 60 odd golf courses around the world he's actually from leeds here in the uk some of his biggest golf courses that he's done is like cyprus point royal melbourne. And augusta national golf club that was in 1920. Or 1934 was 1933. you almost forgot baltimore links in 1924. well you know what's the mad one. So i was looking at i was looking at his uh list of golf courses designed. And it's staggering i wasn't mad i so wish he was still alive because i would honestly i feel like i'd do a five hour podcast with him because how did he design all these golf courses in such a short period of time all different places around the globe when travel was. So hard back then.
In the 1920s 30s etc what i didn't know is i saw it on the list recently. So the golf course i kind of semi knocked about when i was a junior member um a golf course called regents park in bolton it was 25 pounds to be a member there as a junior right. And when i grew up i actually collected golf balls off the driving range there when i was at through college i didn't realize that's the golf course he designed exactly after augusta national. And it's his last golf courses ever designed that is madness it's just like a it's like a municipal in bolton. So anyway why this particular story was. So interesting um so again this golf course is shut 60 years ago yeah through lockdown there was a very passionate very enthusiastic golfer by the name of chris who wanted to quite simply just rediscover this golf course like he remembers it briefly when he was a very very young boy riding a pony up on this hilly remember golf being played there. So over time over research he spoke to local residents old residents he's used the website um got lost golf links i think it was called the website phenomenal website how good is it it's. So cool so basically through trial and error and a thousand hours of hard work cutting back that the bracken that's on this hill which is like really thick kind of gorgeous yeah it's not nice through trial. And error through research he's managed to find all nine original greens and all nine slash 18 original teas when you said at the start it's on a side of a hill i think that is it that's what we thought when we got there like a bit of a hill it's honest to go. And we'll put if you listen to this watch the video versus on youtube i got a couple of videos you hitting some shops i'll put a video over this bit now it's literally like a mountain you can't believe there's a golf course there never mind the mckenzie one yeah. And then.
You see it you're actually out there and you're actually hitting golf shots and you and you're starting to see now and again don't be under any illusion this is not a golf course in any regards right now yeah like it's very rustic you know it's this is a one-man band. And a bunch of sheep that have that have maintained this goal of course for a lot of sheep literally do cut the grass literally eat the grass to cut it. But what chris has done he's cut away all the brac and all the really harsh um kind of um foliage to open up these tees and you can actually see tees that would that were designed by alistair mackenzie you can see fairways you can see how holes were playing you can see the greens. And again allison mckenzie if you don't know was was kind of famous. For um like um a teared green teared green and again we spoke with minwoo lee later in this podcast about the really famous ninth hole at augusta national like that's the perfect mackenzie green where it's like tiered um and anyway long story short i i actually end up playing pretty much every hole in the golf course with him again the greens aren't you can't put on them i actually have to put with like a three-way that was very clever because the greens are like obviously kind of short weird grass. So we had a real flag in it it was like an inner tube like a bicycle tire wasn't it it was a bit weird about the size of a foot golf hole have you ever seen the videos where rick plays. Or foot golf hole similar size to that and basically once your ball goes oh that kind of line it's it's classified in this kind of hole which is a great way of doing it you can't put on them. So you're in a little three-wood bumper runs and drivers but what was mad i think i'm was at the eighth. Or ninth hole i think it was the eighth we hit some tee shots down. And although it's not a golf course it kind of felt like a golf because you're looking for balls and you suddenly you go from being on a massive hill to being actually on a golf course it was class it was absolutely unbelievable. So um massive shout out to chris um the tv show what i tell people it was the one show that actual segment of the show is going to be out in the end of may because chris has got a charity golf day. And again if you want to play in it i don't know if there's still spots left and this is not a paid advert whatever i just i like supporting somebody who's. So passionate about golf and what's crazy what's a fantastic story um he's had this now rediscovered for the last two years he's played the golf course four or five times a week for two years so he's played it like 200 times whatever in the last in the last two years no it was unreal. And i think maybe we have to head back though one time doing actual video how good was the scenery as well phenomenal it really was. So there was two things that came out of it. For me is that you know it's a shame when golf course is shut down it's it's obviously sometimes not always financially viable etc. But the other thing was how unbelievable dr alastair mckenzie is ridiculous i can't get i almost can't get over it i almost want to speak to a relative of his i wonder if he has any grandchildren. Or great grandchildren that i think he was he lived in america towards the end of his life though. So it might be based in the us but i reckon we could find that but i think what was mad about that as well last thing on this was when you looked like the old costa since andrews. Or whatever i'm sure like press ricoh somewhere where golf was really kind of started you get the feel of the history. But equally the golf courses now although they are similar in some ways they're. So much more manicured and even the things to use on them to maintain them it's not quite like playing a golf course would have been 200 years ago or whatever but when we were playing that golf ball you played that golf course high a couple of shots like it kind of felt like what golf probably would have been like more authentic maybe even longer ago than when that was built like a few hundred years ago you know the greens back when tom morris was playing wouldn't like they are today.
Obviously i bet that was a true reflection imagine playing there with hickory clubs. And little like uh feather balls and the other thing that was quite fascinating because when i when we jumped out the car. And i was like is this. For real did someone wind us up here is this like a you being framed moment um. And but then.
Actually when we started seeing the golf course but under the ground it was quite rocky wasn't it. But some of the rocks almost acted as like natural hazards yeah there's no bunkers just just rocks it was phenomenal it was awesome then.
Really good.
