The Pit—13^th Hole at North Berwick

You’ve been on North Berwick for the past two and a half hours and it’s been an exhilarating experience.  The wind has picked up and is now directly in your face as you approach, “The Pit”, the par four of 390 yards now playing much longer than that as you take the tee.  The tee shot will have to be long enough to be either in the middle of the fairway or the left side of the fairway to set up the approach shot to the green.  There are two bunkers on the left side of the fairway, but I believe the wind is too strong to risk a tee shot into those bunkers.  The rough to the left side of these bunkers has to be avoided or there is no opportunity to go at the green.  My tee shot is perfect but not long enough to approach the green.  The green is enclosed by a five- foot high  stone wall surrounding the green and daring you to cross and hold this green.  Surveying the expanse of the hole, there is plenty of room to get something out there, but it presents a false sense of security.  The pit bunker on the left has to be avoided with its vertical walls bringing to mind Hell Bunker at the Old Course at St. Andrews  There is no heroic outcome from this bunker as punishment is delivered unevenly as you generally have to punch out sideways or backwards.  Pit bunker delivers a psychological blow as a decent tee shot ends up as a par disabling effort.

The wall has nothing to do with the golf course and its architecture.  The wall is a feature of the agricultural use of the land that was used for animal grazing, segregation of agricultural crops and animal inhabitants.  The wall stands in deference to the prime use of the land and now is present to shape the mental acuity of the golfer attempting to hit the 13^th green in regulation.  The custodians of the course saw no reason to remove the wall and merely incorporated it into the design of the hole.  A simple stone wall—weathered over the years by the elements and proximity to the sea-simply becomes a psychological and tactical challenge for the player to deal with integrated into the basic identity of the hole.  The wall differentiates the hole without any effort from the course architect-a freebee delivered by agricultural history.  The wall prevents an unusual barrier for any golf course let alone a links course as it prevents the player from hitting a “bump and run” to the green.  The wall increases the degree of difficulty for the hole by taking away this option as the player must hit a approach iron from the fairway or a wedge that’s required from a lay-up shot to the wall.  The difficulty of the fairway shot will be completely dictated by the force of the wind–for the good player-a well struck 7 or 8 iron that will be make the hole relatively easy but a lot of wind (prevailing) will be a real tester.

The green is large but horizontally large and not very deep so that an aggressive shot at the hole will probably not hold and head for the scrub in the back of the green.  My playing companions all hit terrific tee shots that left only about 145 yards to the green.  The wall was not going to be in play for them, but club selection and execution were far from making this an easy shot.  All three of them ended up airmailing the green ending up in the thick spinach over the green, leaving them with very difficult chip shots.  They would eventually all make bogey from these positions.  Players that really fly the green can also play a visit to the sandy beach along the Firth of Forth, where a chip shot through the beach sand has to cover the spinach behind the green and the wall itself.  For me, I surmised that 170 yard shot over the wall to the green against the wind was not in my bag so I decided to take a 9 iron and layup to about 85 yards.  A flick of the gap wedge to seven feet rewarded me for a par on what was one of the most interesting holes I have ever played.  The Pit is yet another notch on the board that makes North Berwick so special.

The Pit is another example of the mystique of North Berwick—seemingly charming but nevertheless severe-the golfer is mystified with its beauty surrounded by the sea and the untamed winds that impact the entire environment.  The hole speaks to its history and unaffected by anything presented in the modern game—it almost speaks softly and says, “Bring it on” baffling both the daily fee player and professional alike.