In the Ruff

Great to see another golfing dog carry on Grace’s tradition of finding balls in the rough. German Pointer Bandit is featured on the yinzer_golf Instagram and his person recently posted a video of his ball-finding prowess on the golf course. They appear to play in Pittsburgh (by the hashtag on the post), but I didn’t get a response as to which course welcomes them.

Alfred Dunhill Links Championship

Alfred Dunhill Championships 1

A first for Dog Golf today with a guest review of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship by Fiona and David (spectating) accompanied by their golf-friendly spaniel, Chloe. The championships took place on several courses around St. Andrews where dogs are often welcome not just on the course, but by covenant, around the course by non-players.

Chloe’s report was distinctive in several ways.  First, of all, it was the first review of a dog-friendly event.  Walking the course as a psectator rather than a player.  Second, it added a new dog-friendly course to the Dog Golf database – Carnoustie.  But also , the Carnoustie course introduced a new dog protocol I had not seen as a rule. Carnoustie allows dogs on the course with players as long as another person, not playing, is attending to the dog.

Chloe (rescue Working Cocker Spaniel) took her crew to the East coast of Scotland in the motorhome in September 2022, because dogs and their people can all be spectators for free at this enjoyable Pro-Am competition www.alfreddunhilllinks.com It’s played in very good humour over St Andrews, Carnoustie and Kingsbarns, with the final day (ticketed) at St Andrews. It was to be Chloe’s final motorhome trip.

Starting on Sunday 25 September, we all walked round holes 1-2-17-18 at the Old Course at St Andrews, because it’s usually free for dogs attached to members of the public to walk there on Sundays. It was in the final stages of preparation for the Championship. Chloe would have preferred to get into the Swilken Burn, but she joined the queue to pose on the Bridge and carefully kept off the manicured tees and greens.

On Tuesday, we were all allowed to walk around the course at Kingsbarns on the practice day and were made most welcome. There was water for Chloe (paddling and drinking) at the Cambo Burn, which splits the course in two, and there were also plenty of drinking fountains around the course. Chloe enjoyed being cuddled by some charming greenkeepers and even by a caddie! She thought the sandy beach was tempting, but as her lead was on, she dragged us through the lumpy bumpy rough instead, following an interesting group. We found it hard going, but a Cocker’s 4-paw drive made light work of the terrain and there were some exciting smells to investigate. The day finished at the Carnoustie caravan site, where the neighbouring wood had squirrels to chase.

Alfred Dunhill Championships 2

Thursday 29th was the first day of the Championship, with players at all 3 courses. We all walked to the Carnoustie course (no ticket barriers) and stood by the 1st Tee to hear the teams introduced – though she wasn’t interested in the cheery banter between Rory McIlroy and his dad. She was a wee star: she lay down and slept when the walking stopped, she “made my day” for a young American woman, she cadged food (like any Cocker would), she was nice to other dogs, she kept out of the Barry Burn and – best of all – she made so many strangers smile. Those memories are a lovely lasting legacy for us. The course is well set up for responsible dog walkers too, if you’re staying locally, with good paths, plenty of bins (but water only at the food & drink outlets) and an adjacent beach.

Alfred Dunhill Championships 4

We didn’t stay for the remaining competition days (as we had in 2021), but plans are afoot (or a-paw?) to take our new young rescue over for the next Championship in October 2023. Do say hello if you see a wee ginger Cocker Spaniel called Poppy.

Alfred Dunhill Championships 3

  

  

A Dog’s Eye View on Golf

A Dogs Eye View on Golf

When I first added the reviews of the dog-friendly course to the Dog Golf website, I wanted the observations to be from the dog’s perspective and what they would care about, though I wrote about it in the first person. Robert F. Bradford (aka “The General”) recently penned a charming report of one of his golf outings with his trusty conscript Dashiell Doggett for Dogs Today magazine, but he wrote it from Pvt. Doggett’s voice. Here is an excerpt:

  • “The General (as he calls himself since reading that every boy with a dog becomes Napoleon) took me on field maneuvers for the first time today…He took his bag of metal sticks out from under the back porch, put snacks for himself in the little pockets, and topped up what he calls the ‘birdie bottle’…My job was to keep an eye on them to make sure we didn’t lose them in the gullies and woods into which they kept chasing a little round white thing…Whenever they caught up with it, they would beat at it with a stick, and it would skitter away – usually sideways. Then they would say bad words, usually in a growl, but sometimes in an explosive bark, and occasionally in a yip of pain. It seemed we were on a hunt, and their talk of hooks and slices bethought me of meat, hung and carved, but it was just an imaginary safari, beating their way up a series of narrow fields, deliciously lined by trees, bushes, and flowers, until they surrounded a gopher hole with their little round white things, which they would then knock back and forth, criss-crossing the hole several times before finally making the little round white thing disappear.”

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Hall of Fame 2023 – Grace

Hall of Fame - 2023 Grace

Gracie Girl. Our nickname for her. The literal face of Dog Golf. Our co-pioneer to explore the courses of the UK and share our insights with dog-loving golfers around the world. As reported, Grace left us in June. We still miss her every day. She still holds the “world record” for courses “played” by a dog. She wowed countless players with the ball-in-the-rough sniffing ability. Long may her legacy of role modelling of canine caddying live on.

Grace - Hall of Fame

If Dogs Could Actually Golf

JauncyDev dog golf

Despite having a Dog Golf Instagram account (@dogggolfing), we’re not really that active on it (as our solitary post would testify). But I do enjoy perusing Instagram when I’ve got a bit of time to kill and I must tip my hat to their algorithm as it serves me up mostly puppies and other dog clips (with occasion cats). But one grammer I actually subscribe to is the ingenious JauncyDev who caricatures various dog breeds in assorted human situations. Last week, JauncyDev depicted how different dogs would be if they weren’t just accompanying their human, but actually were doing the golfing. Enjoy!

Golfen Met Hond

Lady dogs 1

Today DogGolf.info features an exclusive piece by international dog golfing advocate in the Netherlands, Linda Van Borssum. I stumbled upon her Facebook page “Golfen Met Hond”. It included lots of lovely posts about her fairway adventures with her two pups as well as great references to other dog friendly courses on the continent and even several shout outs to DogGolf.info. She kindly shared her dog golfing story with us:

I have been playing golf for a while. Mostly 9 holes because I have 2 dogs and I don’t want to leave them at home alone for too long.

Then one day…..

I saw an advertisement of The Dunes; a golf course in Zandvoort, the Netherlands. They were organizing a golf fair and invited people to join. So I asked my golfing friend and her husband in the Facebook comments where the event was being advertised:

  • Me: “Hey Simone, this looks nice, shall we go?
  • Simone: “I think that would be fun. But what about the dogs?” (we both have dogs and Zandvoort is a 4 hour drive for us).
  • Nigel (owner of the Dunes)“Just take the dogs with you!
  • Me: “No way, is that possible? I have never seen a dog on a golf course.
  • Nigel: “Yes, off course that’s possible. It’s also common here to go for a round of golf with your best friend/your dog

What a great idea. We often play golf on different courses in the Netherlands and when we are on holidays abroad. But when we take the dogs with us on holiday, we thought that playing golf would not be possible. This Dunes opportunity is something we want to try.

So off we went to Zandvoort, the four off us, with our dogs. Especially my dog Brigges (the black one, a Rottweiler, 5 years old) thought this was a great idea. First off all he likes to come along wherever we go. He likes to exercise. And he likes to do chores. And soon we noticed: he likes to run after the ball. (but he is a bit too strong to just run off, so bad idea!) He has to wait first and can only start walking when we tell him to. Then he looks for the ball and points to it with his nose; not touching it, because that is, of course, not allowed. He is also not allowed to come on the green so he has to wait a while. Otherwise, we are afraid he would leave pitchmarks with his nails. And we haven’t been able to train him on reparing pitchmarks.

It took some practicing. But Brigges loves to practice and to find the ball. He is very proud when he does. And he finds a lot of balls (even ones we didn’t hit ). He also likes the Ping-sound of the driver. In fact so do we, when its sound like a good hit . Dabbert (The red dog, a Boulab, 3 years old)) just likes to walk and watch. He doesn’t care so much to do the exercises and listening is not his cup of tea. But he likes the walk and the company. They both don’t care so much for other dogs or people on the course. But once we saw a herd of deer running across hole 3 at the Ullerberg, Ermelo. They liked that a bit too much. But we always have them on the leash on the course. Just for these kinds of moments!

Anyway; dogs enthusiastic, we enthusiastic. We wanted more. But it turns out: not everyone is enthusiastic about dogs on the course in the Netherlands. You get a lot of comments from people who think this is a really bad idea. “I don’t take my cat or my bird in the cage either, so leave them dogs at home! What’s next? What if he gets a ball on his head? Dogs don’t belong on the golf course. What will he do when I yell Fore?” etc.

Well, here’s a tip. You can train your dog for FORE. And you can train your dog for a lot more. Sometimes better than people, I guess. Ever noticed when someone yells FORE a lot of people look up to see where the FORE-ball is coming from?

Anyway, I asked our dog-trainer to come up with a few exercises to train the dogs for a nice walk on the course. Sit and wait even when strange things are moving before you, is always a good exercise!

And when you try this golfing with dogs; not to forget; bring enough water and some snacks for your hairy friend. A lot of courses welcome your dogs but most restaurants don’t.

My dogs are strong enough to walk all day. And they don’t care about hills or rough fields. But they don’t like it when it’s too hot. And I always carry poopbags. Just in case. But I walk the dogs before we go golfing.

I got more and more excited and wanted to check what more I could find. Where I could bring my dogs to the golf course. It opens new opportunities for vacations for example. I checked in England, Scotland, Germany, France and it’s all perfectly normal to walk with your dog there. Even St Andrews is dog friendly. After a bit off digging, I found out that there are also a number of golf courses who are dog-friendly in the Netherlands. Then I thought; maybe there are other dog owners who want this too so I have created a Facebook page: Golfen met hond (the page is in Dutch). Through the page, I found that a lot of people want to take their dog(s) with them so I made a list and put it on Facebook and I got a lot of tips from people to make the list even longer and longer.

Some courses reacted because they got completely excited. It resulted in competitions for “dogs and owners”, the first one in the Netherlands. Of course, at The Dunes. I wonder if it was the first one ever? I hope to organize another contest this year in September.

What I like about this, is that all of a sudden, I am in contact with people in and out of the Netherlands. People who want to take their dog on vacation and want to play some golf.

And that’s how I became the lady with the golfing dogs .

Lady dogs 2Lady dogs 3

Hall of Fame Inductee 2022–Millie

Millie Hall of Fame

DogGolf.info is proud to announce the induction of Millie into the Dog Golf Hall of Fame. Millie has distinguished herself with an extensive golfing career of over 200 rounds on over 70 courses. Her golfing person, Terry, recently shared a post about one of her latest outings. In a very special scoop, Millie has shared her own personal perspectives of a dog’s life on the fairways:

Millie – A life as a golf dog

Well, it all started when I was about 6 months old. My owners, Terry and Jenny, were keen golfers but always left me with their daughter whenever they went to play. On this occasion Terry decided that I was old enough to come along and so began my golfing experience.

The first course I visited was Thorpeness. I had to wear my harness which was attached to the golf trolley by a lead. I soon learned not to pull as the golf trolley would topple over! I very quickly learned to sit quietly whilst shots were played and to wait patiently whilst visits to the green were made.

Thorpeness was very quickly followed by a number of visits to other local courses that allowed dogs – Dunston Hall, Diss, Bungay, Brancaster, Hunstanton, Great Yarmouth to name but a few.

My first golf holiday was to East Sussex visiting Cooden Beach, Crowborough, Mid Sussex, Royal Ashdown, Lewes, Seaford, Seaford Head and Littlehampton, Since then we have visited Shropshire, Northumberland, Scotland and Kent, each area more than once. I have clocked up over 200 rounds of golf on about 70 different courses.

Last year Winnie arrived to join me on the course. She very quickly learned the ropes and its great to have the company on a round together. We love the fresh air, the walk and just being with our owners – I wish they would let me off the lead to chase that squirell!

Millie is 6 and is currently passing on her caddying expertise to fellow working strain black Labrador, Winnie (1 year old).

Millie HOF 2

Millie HOF 3

2002 Hall of Fame

Canine Classic Competitions

Canine Golf Competitions 1

Happy National Dog Day (in America). While North America does not actually support dogs on the golf course (except in a few rare clubs), their canine appreciation does, inspire a few special fundraiser competitions on the tournament calendar. Many of these are in aid of canine charities (and yet, still oddly don’t integrate the beneficiaries of their largesse into the day’s festivities). In fact, one charity Canine Companions Golf promotes such events and keeps a list of those on its website (as well as a number of “Putting for Pups” events).

So show your appreciation for your best friend by asking your club about allowing canine companions on your round (even if for a trial period during off-peak times), or at least join in a golfing event which at least supports better lives our puppy pals.

Canine Classic Competitions 2

2021 Hall of Fame Inductee–Dexter

Dog Golf Hall of Fame - Dexter

Dog Golf UK announces the 2021 Dog Golf Hall of Fame inductee – Dexter. 

Dexter the black lab is a pioneer of dog golfing whose exploits were an initial inspiration for Dog Golf UK.  When we were first looking for courses to take Rusty and Grace on to.  His person Lorne Smith is editor of the Fine Golf website and newsletter which is a rich source of information on golfing in the GB&I and was the one place I found with information on the dog protocols of various courses.  It also featured a number of pieces about golfing with your dog.

Dexter holds the world record for the highest number of different Courses Walked by a Dog – 83.  Dog Golf’s Grace is up to 72, but since we have golfed most of the dog friendly courses within an hour’s drive, and given the uncertainty about 2021 with the pandemic impact (as many courses are limiting visitors with so much pent up demand by members), and given that Grace is going on 13 years old (still healthy and vibrant but get more fatigued on the rounds), Dexter’s mark could stand for quite some time.

Dexter’s obituary a few years back documented his illustrious career.  A few excerpt highlights:

  • “In early days, taking him on the golf course formed part of his training to be patient and not ‘run-in’ on squirrels etc. He learnt to wait by the green while the golfers putted out and then moving on to the tee would be seated in the right place to the front off-side.  He was seldom interested in the golf game itself but when he saw Lorne coming down the stairs in the morning wearing his golfing plus twos Dexter would not leave his side until he was in the car and on their way in case he was left behind.  Hares are the most difficult game to stop a dog from chasing and when out at Royal West Norfolk GC, Dexter put one up near the second tee and belted across the seventeenth fairway, losing it in the salt-marsh. When it is almost de rigueur to have a dog with you at Brancaster and many dogs can be less well-behaved than Dexter, Lorne was not too worried as the players disturbed on the seventeenth fairway were not angry but enjoyed the spectacle of his embarrassment and were at least impressed by Dexter’s obedience to return on the whistle.”

I contacted Lorne about Dexter’s honour, and he shared these added reflections:

  • “I am honoured for the late Dexter to enter your lovely idea of a golf dog hall of fame. A lot of people still ask after him as he was always with me if dogs were allowed and there are lots of photos on the FineGolf course reviews with him sat in front of somewhere that I wanted to photograph.  He did become a bit of a star primarily because of how well behaved he was having been trained as a gundog with whom I competed in trials as well as working him picking-up.”

2021 Hall of Fame Dexter

2021 Hall of Fame

Golf Dogs of Instagram

A great source of “golf dogs” is the social media site of the moment, Instagram. Unfortunately, it is not as great a site for identifying dog-friendly courses. I explored Instagram, especially the #doggolf tag with 820 posts (for some reason #golfdog has 19,087 posts!).

Of course there was over half of the pictures with hashtag grenades that only vaguely has anything to do with “doggolf”. Some were just dogs on indoor putting matts or sitting on a golf club at home. But a good number showed a dog actually on a golf course – just over 100. A dozen or so posts that were not geotagged, I DMed the post to ask which course they were on. Only 2 people got back to me (and they clarified that dogs were no actually allowed on the course for one of the reasons below).

Nearly 90 were actually geotagged with the name of the course so I simply contacted all of those courses. About a quarter (22) of the courses got back to me. 6 confirmed that they were dog friendly (so I added them to the Worldwide Dog Golfing Map). The other 18 told me that they did not allow dogs. Which did beg the follow-up reply of “Why does this Instagram post have a picture of a dog on your course?”

These false alarms tend to fall into the following groups:

  • Staff – Especially grounds keepers bringing their dogs to work.
  • Working – Scaring birds and some assistance dogs
  • Dog Walkers – Photos taken “by” the course.
  • Unauthorised – A few snuck rounds
  • Poseurs – Just there for the photo

Let me know by email or in the comments if you know any other courses in the world that welcome dogs.