The Addington
These pictures were taken a few years ago not long before Christmas. The skides were with 400 ASA film, so please be lenient. They are not worthy of blowing up further.
Today's course is all that's left of 36 original holes. I think the second course disappeared during the Second World War. The course was laid out in 1914 and then lay dormant until 1919. It was designed, as you all know, by JF Abercomby, and it must represent Aber's mature thoughts on golf design, for he lived at the club for many years, tinkering with it to get it just right. I like the description in the course planner guide: 'Its outstanding appeal apart from the surroundings, which especially in spring and autumn really are lovely - is one possessed in the highest degree by St Andrews, namely, that before almost every shot you are required to stop and think to yourself "Now, just a minute. What exactly is it I am trying to do?" On so many courses in these days it is merely a question of "What club is it?"'
It must be the nearest heathland course to central London (Coombe Hill might be its rival in this respect) and it enjoys a wonderfully rolling site of which Aber made imaginative use. The length is 6242 yards with a Bogey of 71. However, three of what would normally be par 4s are rated Bogey 5, so strict par would be 68. I know which figure I should prefer to work to. Sadly, I don't have a picture of the 3rd which is a corker of a par 3.
1st, 166 yards par 3. Probably the least interesting hole on the course, but par 3s do not make easy starters.
6th, 387 yards par 4. A somewhat quaint hole with a bridge across this gully even though normal play should never go near it. There's a bunker in the gully, too!
7th, 150 yards par 3. Rather a testing little hole with this bunker just short of the putting surface and another set into the mound on the right. The punchbowl surrounds rarely seem to deflect the over-long shot back onto the putting surface.
9th, 358 yards par 4. A hole of two ravines and two bridges, of which this is the first. You drive onto this hump-backed island fairway which runs out 236 yards fom the tee, where the second gully interrupts matters. There is also a bunker on the left shortly before the gully which catches a good many tee shots. From there it is 150 yards to the green over the second ravine. Not an easy shot!
12th, 472 yards bogey 5 (par 4). On first playing this hole you may be lucky, in which case you love it, or you may be extremely unlucky, in which case you will loathe it. The fairway is an extraordinary series of mounds and incursions of heather as it tumbles in steps down from about 230 yards. There is also a pit with a bush in it some 60 yards short of the green, No bunkers - it certainly doesn't need them!
13th, 225 yards par 3. reckoned by Henry Longhurst to be the best par 3 in the world after the 5th at Pine Valley. This photo is not from the back tee, which is a little to the left of here, but the task is much the same - clear an awful lot of hostile low ground off the tee. The green is raised up on higher ground, angled from right to left (more than this picture shows), with one bunker front right and two down the hill to the left.
13th, again. This is the longest green on the course and long putts can be frightening to a golfer of my ineptitude, with the distinct possibility of putting off the green and into trouble.
14th, 362 yards par 4. Not a very clear photo. The 14th descends quite vigorously giving good views over London in decent weather. The carry from the back tee over the heather is about 170 yards and there is the probability that the sloping fairway will magnify any directional error and send the ball scuttling off into the woods.
15th, 432 yards bogey 5 (par 4). A bit of a slog so late in the round, climbing back inexorably up the hill (and you know you're just about to descend again). It's a tough hole to play, too, with the fairway eaten into by rough and a big bunker 95 yards from the green and two wing bunkers either side of the narrow entrance.
16th, 496 yards par 5. Yes, it's short for a par 5 and it descends steeply but it's a long carry from the tee, the faiway bends left significantly, there's a mound about 115 yards short of the green which throws the ball off to the right and there's a gully crossing in front of the green, continuing down the right hand side of the putting surface.
16th green with 17th in background (185 yards par 3). The 17th is a fine hole with a gully to be carried. However, it is deceptive for that bunker on the far side of the gully is 56 yards from the centre of the green. There are, in fact, two more down the left side and the green is angled markedly to the right and protected on that side by a little mound.
18th, 430 yards par 4. A strenuous finish for a middle-handicapper with the fairway climbing enough to put it at the very limit of accessibility. There is a telling bunker 230 yards out from the tee and four bunkers on the run in from 95 yards (all but one well short of the putting surface and clearly designed for yesteryear's equipment or a weakling such as I am).