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[Pete Lavallee]

The Addington is J F Abercrombie’s masterpiece in the London suburb of Croydon. The visitor is quite surprised by the rugged nature of the terrain; it’s canyon golf at it’s best, replete with several trestle bridges. It plays to 6338 yards with an SSS of 71. Typical for this style of Club course there are 5 par 3’s and only 2 par 5’s. As we were waiting to tee of on the par 3 1st, I was standing on the white, medal tee to get a better look at the 18th. The Secretary was driving by and got out of his cart to apologize for the arid conditions (severe drought, no fairway irrigation) and confirm that I would be playing from the yellows . There were only 6 other golfers on the course the whole time we were there.

The par 3 1st, 164 yards


The par 3 3rd, 212 yards


These little mounds around the green of the 443 yard 5th are a predominant feature around most greens


The 5th green, 442 yard par 4


This green was reachable off the tee at 356 yards, I had a chip from 15 yards off the edge for birdie


But miss a little to the right and this bunker is in play, it’s a beauty


The par 3 7th, 151 yards over the bracken

The tee shot over the first ravine at 9. That’s a “white fairway”


And the next shot must cross this ravine, 381 yard par 4


This makes a great short par 4 from the forward tee, 314 yards. It’s 391 from the back


The 135 yard 11th


Fantastic natural hole the 12th, drive to a terraced fairway, uphill to the green, 485 yards


Ringing the bell to alert players it's safe to drive back on the tee


The all world par 3 13th, 230 yards, left, right and long are dead


A closer look


Tee shot calls for a draw on the par 5 16th


Second must be faded to get to the green in 2 on this 512 yarder


Tee shot to the 190 yard 17th over the 16th green


And a closer look


The second shot onto the 432 yard closing hole


And a closer look at the 18th green

[Rick Shefchik]

God, what a cool looking course. Did Colt or Crump ever see this place?

[Robert Mercer Deruntz]

Wonderful pictures of a great course.  I now know where I'll try to play in Sept.  It sure looks like a world class layout.

[Gerry B]

Looks like a beauty. Another great London parkland course with interesting elevation changes. When was it built? I wonder if Herbert Fowler (Walton Heath -one of my favorites) saw this property.  

[SPDB]

Its amazing the insightful responses this thread is getting. Although Tom MacW is the source for definitive info, i can add the following in the interim.

Rick -
Colt most certainly has seen The Addington, he assisted Aber in designing.

And as far as Crump is concerned, I know of no visit he made to The Addington, but the Colt connection should suffice. Moreover, there have long been comparisons made of Addington's 13 with its carry over a "vale of tears" to PV's 5th. At one time, each hole could barely be mentioned without reference to the other.

Gerry - Fowler & Aber were partners (with Simpson). Starting with Park, and continuing with Aber, Fowler, Colt, Braid and others, these guys were all very close.

[Gerry B]

SPDB:

Thanks for the info.
Do not know much about Fowler -I should research his history. Love Walton Heath Old -try and play it (and Sunningdale)whenever I travel to London. Great caddies, staff,and the course is fun to play.Great green complexes and bunkering. Wentworth could learn a thing or two about etiquette and decorum.
I suppose Fowler / Park / Braid / Colt etc.  were all a "fraternity" like Tillinghast / Thomas / MacDonald / Raynor / Flynn /  etc.

Makes sense.

[Neil Regan]

Great pictures, Pete. The 12th and 13th are each unique and great and unforgettable.

Here is another picture of the 7th. The London skyline can be seen well from this tee.





Here is Scott's aerial, which I've marked up.The thread is from March 31, 2003.

The clubhouse is just above the middle. The green closest to the clubhouse is 18. The first is a par 3.
There are some mystery fairways. The one in the top right is I think across the street from The Addington.

[Mike_Sweeney]

I have always been intrigued by this course because of Paul Turner's comparison with Yale. Now I can really see why. Hopefully I will get back to London soon. Thanks.

[TEPaul]

I've never seen the course so thanks for that nice progression of photos. There certainly are some interesting green sites and the use of that ravine is great to see. I like how the 17th plays over the 16th green--that just gave me an idea. Another hole I liked the look of from the tee was #16 and the way the hole turned slightly and flowed down---looks like an inviting walk. I like the way the top "lines" on that hole twist and turn with the other lines out there and the treeline etcl. And what a surprise to see that green-end on that hole. That wasn't what I was suspecting. Must be an interesting second shot to try to hit that green!

[James Edwards]

Tom,

It is..  Due to the relatively short length of this par 5, the shot is generally worth taking on although as you suggest, it can be interesting, especially when the vegetation / heather etc is in full bloom and you are trying to play a delicate lob shot from it with the possibility of leaving it there or seeing it run back into a worse lie.  The lay up isn't that easy either with the fast running conditions.

Mike,

Be sure to drop me a line when you want to go as I live nearby.

James

[Lloyd_Cole]

Those bridges look too narrow for my cart...

[James Edwards]

lloyd,

I wouldn't know, I'm generally walking through the 'clag' at the bottom  

[A_Clay_Man]

Pete, Thanx for the texture, man. I love the look of the un-irrigated, and I wonder how technology would help the golfer on this course?

I can almost feel the subtle movement, build and build, appaerntly climaxing on the 17th. WOW!

I do have a question about the routing; Specifically the second. Where's the tee and how far is the walk from 1 green?

Tom Paul, Isn't this a wonderful example to highlight to Herr Goodale, that the areas in green, are the acceptable unnatural, Behr conceeded?

[David_Tepper]

Pete-

Thanks for another set of great, GREAT photos. When were they taken? I presume last summer when conditions were so dry in the UK.

The area around London has so many wonderful courses that I am sure many get overlooked much of the time. Thanks for bringing this one to our attention.

DT  

[Neil Regan]

Adam,

  You walk back into the woods from the 1st green to the 2nd tee. The tee is barely visible in the woods above and slightly left of the yellow "4" in the aerial.

  Does anybody know about what seems to be an extra fairway between 16 and 18 ? Is it a practice ground ?

  And what is the fairway across the street ? Is that part of another Addington golf club ?

[Pete Lavallee]

David;

The photos were taken this past September. It was a very dry summer in the UK, not a drop of rain in the 3 weeks we were there.

[TEPaul]

Pete:

I was in England last September too and it sure was dry but not anywhere near as browned out as Addington in those photos. Just out of interest it would be educational to know and I'd love to find out from the club what the course looked like shortly after they got their first good rain. My bet is that course probably started to green right back up again!!

[Lynn_Shackelford]

One of my greatest golfing experiences.  Thanks for the pictures Pete.  7-13 is about as good as it gets.  The club was working hard to improve the conditions of the course.  Except for the drought it appears improved.  I think they did extensive tree removal.
Pete did you know Henry Longhurst and PG Wodehouse were members?

[Jeff_Mingay]

The Addington is WAY UP HIGH on my "too see" list. Wow. Fantastic photos of what appears to be an outstanding golf course with sporty holes.

The unirrigated fairways are a dream. The ruggedness and naturalness the property exhibits in these photos is nearly my ideal.

Awesome.

[Scott_Burroughs]

Those browned-out fairways look just like southern U.S. Bermuda/Zoysia courses in the winter.  The rough is much easier to hit out of but the tight lies in the fairway even it out.

The Addington was in Doak's "Gourmet's Choice" section in The Confidential Guide.  In fact, it was the first course profiled in the entire book, since it came first alphabetically amongst the "31 flavors" courses.

[Pete Lavallee]

Lynn;

I was unaware of those two famous members. Your recommendation to play there was one of the reasons we added it to our itinerary. The Club is working very hard to improve things. I didn't take a shot of the wonderful greesite on the par 5 2cnd because the grenkeepers were punching that green. It seemed an unusal time for such a program and upon inquiry found that they have instituted an aggrresive program of deep core twice a year and small tyne once a month. After lunch and a beverage in the modest clubhouse, I was rather shocked by the lack of memorabilia; not even a portrait of the Aber! The Secretary informed me that a fire in the 50's destroyed the original clubhouse and everything in it. He verified my suspicion that the course was far less treed originally. Many of the pines were grown to supply wood during WW II. The beech are native and he certainly didn't have any affection for those "damned rhodadendrums" sprouting up everywhere. TEP, I'm sure it didn't take long for the turf to rebound; although smoking on the course was banned, a small fire had already been started by the 18th tee.

[Paul_Turner]

Can't see much evidence of tree removal other than the Lime on 10th.  I was hoping that the tree removal would be less subtle.  The club has to cut back the bracken (ferns) otherwise the heather will disappear.

Addington is all the more amazing because it's in the shit hole burough of Croydon: featured at #15 in my favourite- quintessentially British-book of the year "Crap Towns - The 50 Worst Places To Live In The UK"

Apparently Croydon gifted two phrases to British slang lexicon:

"Croydon-facelift"...Hair that is scraped back so tight into a pony tail that it pulls back the wearer's cheek bones.

"Pram-face" Young celebrity who looks like she ought to be pushing a pram around Croydon. e.g. Baby Spice.

[NAF]

I played the Addington in these conditions around Labor Day with Laun Middleton who used to frequent this site.  The course looked the same as in these pix.

Pete, did I miss it or did you have a picture of #8 with the monument marker.. It is such a tough drive and one where the fairway sort of works against you if you over cook it.  Much has been written of 7-13 at the Addington but I think #16 especially under firm and fast conditions is an all world par 5.  I had a great round going until #16.. I only hit 3 wood off the tee and was left with a 3 iron to try and cut into that green.. From the pix you can of course make out how bad it is to miss on the right.  If you go too long the ravine on the far right wraps around and is essentially OB.  To miss left (which I did with double cross) is death as well.. So you have to hit the green with a second shot.. The fun part is, laying up leaves a surgical pitch from a hanging lie unless you go way back.. It is the perfect temptation hole..

I also like #17 a great deal, all of the par 3s at the Addington are terrific.. There is not a robotic shot among them, a legacy of Abercromby's brilliance.

[Mark_Rowlinson]

Great photos, bringing back happy memories.  The fairway over the road may be a remnant of the second course, added (according to Peter Allen) after the First World War and Allen also mentions that this new course was said to be even better by those who knew it.  It is now a housing estate, although three woods (Foxes, Wychwood and Kennel) survive.  My old (1970s) London street map marks an Addington Park Golf Course abutting The Addington to the south and lying on either side of Shirley Church Road which is the road running from North-West to South-East through the aerial.  It doesn't seem to exist any more.  There is another course, Addington Palace (1923), adjoining The Addington to the south west, and Shirley Park (1914) almost adjoining it to the North-West.  Perhaps a local resident could a] see if the fairway over the road still exists and b] nip into the local library to find out which course it was formerly a part of.

I think that, in addition to the architecture (which Aber tinkered with much through the years, living as he did on the property), many GCAers would simply love the atmosphere - very laid back.  

[TEPaul]

"TEP, I'm sure it didn't take long for the turf to rebound; although smoking on the course was banned, a small fire had already been started by the 18th tee."

Smoking banned on the course? Uh-oh that puts a lot of pressure on me. It's impossible for me to play a round of golf without smoking so I just have to be very careful both wtih my cig and getting caught. But don't worry I know how to do it really well. Best to smoke only when there's a few knots of wind and I basically apply the method learned in boot camp in the Marine Corps of keeping a lookout and when I'm done with the cigarette I give it the complete USMC "field-stripe" job which includes sprinkling what's left of the tobacco, wading the remaining paper into a little teeny-weeny ball and putting it in my pocket and finally eating the filter!   That way as the Marines taught me---the enemy will never know you were there! I'm not sure what I'd do despite my training if I got caught anyway by someone like the President of Addington. I guess one option, which the Marines also taught me, would be to kill the guy!

[Michael Dugger]

Outstanding images!!

I just love the 12th!  I remember that hole from the first time I saw a picture of it in The Links.

[Paul_Turner]

It's funny, lots of people instinctively think that Addington has 5 par 3s.  But it has 6!  I think everyone tends to forget the 1st.

[Mark_Rowlinson]

Paul, You are quite right - I should have spotted that.  There are, on the card, three bogey fives, the 437-yard 4th, 472-yard 12th and 432-yard 15th, making bogey 71 for the course, but par is 68.  I know which target I should prefer to aim at!  Mark.

[Pete Lavallee]

TEP;

Maybe you should switch to Lucky Strikes! Or better yet, the British have a deliciously mild non-filter called Park Drive; the name alone reeks class.

Paul;

I must have had my left hand in my pocket when I counted the par 3's; there are indeed 6! Mark is right the card shows  4,12 and 15 as par 5 for stableford competions from the medal tees, but these days under fast conditions they are all easily reachable with 2 shots.

[TEPaul]

PeteL:

If I ever get to Addington I promise I'll try not to smoke on the course if it's as dry as those photos. I've been around a long time, smoking most of the way and I have yet to burn down a golf hole!   PVGC went non-smoking on the course about ten years ago during a severe drought and playing there puts either a severe withdrawal strain on me or makes me revert to my most sneaky clever military mode. Frankly, it's not fire they're worried about--they just don't want to see butts lying around the course and on that I couldn't agree more and I told them that would never happen with me--that I'm an old USMC field stripper from way back. To that they told me they don't want any flashing or unnecessary nakedness on the course either so what are you gonna do? It's sort of a no win situation. A great friend of mine one time told the president point blank that they're the only club he'd ever heard of where you can smoke inside but not outside. That didn't go over very well either apparently! Park Drive, huh? That's the sophisticated cigarette to smoke in England, is it? It sounds too sophisticated for me. Names like that'd confuse me--I wouldn't know whether to pound the gas, slam on the brake or just keep it in neutral.

[Gerry B]

And we can go to Fairfield Hall in Croydon (a famous South London concert hall-where many legends have performed over the years)after the round of golf, some egg and cress sandwiches and a pint or two.  

re: smoking - also banned at Pine Valley - keep a patch in your bag if nic fits kick in after Hells Half Acre.

re: famous members -Winston Churchill was a member of Walton Heath -therefore  you know they allowed smoking there(lol)

[Laun]

The fairway colour is pretty normal for Addington in Summer. The course sits on top of a pimple of gravel and is (for the most part) well drained. Until a couple of years ago, there was no irrigation on the greens and aproaches - in those days if you hit a shot that landed on the green it would bounce almost like it landed on concrete   and disappear 30yds into the trees. The tree removal seems to have stalled for now but several tees have been rebuilt over the Winter (including the 13th).

Noel - I still lurk around here from time to time!

[Paul_Turner]

I've seen Tom Paul sneaking a ciggie at Pine Valley! Looking very furtive and holding it in the London spiv style

One futher note on The Top 50 Crap Towns in the UK.  Guess what?  St Andrews makes it, because of all the snotty upper class students.  And here I was voting for the town in that old Survivor thread... what a mistake!

Amazing that Addington didn't even have green irrigation!

 

[Marc Haring]

I had an interview at The Addington some time back in the middle of the last millennia. If my memory serves, a woman who owned the place conducted it. She was the archetypal matron who had total knowledge on all subjects especially greenkeeping and she delighted in giving me the benefit of her wisdom on the horror of irrigation systems. She was quite adamant automatic irrigation would spell the end of her golf course, golf in general and I think civilisation as we know it.
She had a point, as the course was in excellent condition but perhaps like Rye, more a winter course than a summer one.

I got offered the job but ended up going to Stoke Park instead; another course located adjacent to one of the 50 most crap UK towns. The course backed onto one of the rougher districts of sunny Slough and became a favourite dog fowling destination amongst the local populace when not engaged in race wars. One of the delights of playing the 5th at Stoke (pre 10 foot metal wall with spikes on) was that offline shots that strayed close to said dog walkers, could receive a penalty not normally associated with the R&A rule book, such as facial rearrangement or a good mauling from Tyson the Pitbull.  

[Mark_Rowlinson]

I remember hearing Eton College described as 'a comprehensive school in Slough.'