St Mellion - the New Nicklaus Signature Course

I’m just back from trying out the newly revamped Nicklaus course at St Mellion, now rechristened as ‘The Nicklaus Signature Course’. Trying is the word – very trying. I’d originally wanted to call this piece Dye Hard, as Pete Dye was a big influence on Jack’s early course designs, and this just about summed up my feelings for the course once I’d been battered by it.

As this was Jack’s first ever signature golf course design in the UK, I was keeping an eye out for the Dye influence, and it is there in abundance –noose-tight fairways, and bikini-top small greens.  But this  doesn’t really do justice to what Jack (sorry, Mr Nicklaus to me) originally bought to the party –  high tees with good views of the fairway, oceans of water, and the absolute need to think your way round the course, and position yourself accurately on the fairway.

This might sound like common sense, but if you turn your course management brain off here for more than a nanosecond, then you’ll be in deep....rough, water, sand, whatever. There’s a ‘wealth’ of different hazards to be endured – streams, lakes, ravines, rivers, the odd tree in the middle of the fairway (the 10^th), and that rough I mentioned; nasty, deep, ball-loosing, club-clenching stuff.

We were sent off on our round with 3 shiny new balls, and in hindsight a rather knowing ‘Good Luck’ by David Moon, St Mellion’s Director of Golf and the South West’s leading Wolves fan. I’d had a premonition that I was in for a bit of a roughing up, so had loaded myself up with some spares, and if you’re not all over your game, you’ll need them. Especially if you try and muscle your way round this course – it simply will not be overpowered.

My single piece of advice is to put that driver away until the 15^th, unless you’re really feeling super-confident.  And certainly leave it well alone for the 1^st which, unusually for a Nicklaus design, is a blind drive. This is a real RTFM course (‘Read the F**** Manual’ for the uninitiated), or otherwise you’ll be off to a nightmare start.  I missed the fairway by a yard at most, but ball number one had already gone into permanent hiding. This is not a course that tolerates any lapse of concentration or failure to pay attention to detail.

The first nine just doesn’t let up as it winds its way through some stunning Cornish valley scenery, with no two consecutive holes following the same direction, and never a sight of the hotel. You feel if you’re out there on your own to do battle with the course, uninterrupted by the cares of the real world, or other golfers for that matter.

By the time you’ve emerged onto the 10^th, you’ll be in need of some therapy. A quick burst of electro-shock treatment and a banana was all I could manage before setting out again on my quest to amass a grand total of 18 woeful, but hard fought for, Stapleford points.

I’m told by David Moon that the downhill Par 3 11^th – 145 yards of the yellows – ‘echoes’ the 12^th and 16^th at Augusta, and that holes 10-13 are often referred to as Britain’s Amen Corner. These are a testing run of holes for golfers of any standard, and it’s only when I get to the 15^th that I feel that I can start to open up my shoulders, and drive with any confidence. 16^th and 17^th – no sweat, but then there the 18^th to contend with, and this doesn’t disappoint either.

It’s a 431 dog-leg right off the yellows, which should suit my game – OK, my slice. But the reality is you have to be long off the tee here, and keep it left to have any realistic chance of making the green in two. Oh, and the green is protected by a lake. Thanks Jack. Thanks very much. No, really, thanks.

I was a guest of the St Mellion International Resort, which has just spent a whacking great £2.5 million upgrading and reconfiguring The Nicklaus Signature Course and the Kernow Course at St Mellion.

I’m reliably informed that £2.5 million buys you:

·         1,000 metres of new drainage

·         1,000 tons of sand used in bunker replacement

·         4,000 tons of rootzone for use on new trees and greens

·         13,000m2 of cart path resurfacing

·         1,100 new sprinklers.

And, while they were  at it, they dropped another £20 million into creating a brand spanking new 4 Star 80-bedroom hotel, with gym, spa, Brassiere, top notch restaurant and a new driving range – where I’d suggest you spend a few hours practising your long irons before taking this beast on.