Aberdovey and Felixstowe Ferry
Why on earth should I group together these two courses which are about as geographically separated as it is possible to be on mainland Britain? The common link is Bernard Darwin, who learned to play at Felixstowe in 1884 and enjoyed holiday golf at Aberdovey on the first course there, laid out by his uncle, Colonel Ruck.
Aberdovey is a magical course, not enormously long at 6445 yards with a par of 71, yet with seven par 4s over 400 yards it is plenty strong enough. It is situated overlooking the Dovey Estuary and the Irish Sea on the west coast of the Welsh county of Gwynedd. After Colonel Ruck, James Braid, Herbert Fowler and Harry Colt all played a part in the evolution of the design. I believe Howard Swann had a hand in more recent modifications. The layout is essentiall out-and-back with only two holes (the short 5th and 9th) running at right angles to the normal orientation. The course lies on the landward side of some big dunes which have not really been exploited apart from one or two elevated teeing grounds.
2nd, 332 yards par 4. Not long, but the drive is exacting with the dunes down the left.
3rd, 173 yards par 3. A famous hole, Cader, which was once played blind over the dunes with the aid of a periscope. You can see rather more nowadays, but it is still a delicious hole with the green is a saucer beyond a rim, two bunkers gathering up anything in the lest bit short.
4th, 401 yards par 4. Played from a tee on the dunes with all the trouble in the dunes on the left.
13th, 530 yards par 5. The course back towards the clubhouse with the short 12th, followed by this longest hole running in the lee of the dunes. The course is at its widest here, having 4 parallel fairways.
16th, 288 yards par 4. One of the great really short par 4s, or an infuriating one if you get a bad bounce. The sensible play is a mid-iron to the right of the fairway and a running approach in to the green, the land gathering the ball from right to left.
16th. WShatever strategy you adopt for this hole you are always conscious of the railway close at hand on the left.
Felixstowe Ferry (founded in 1880) is a little older than Aberdovey (1892). It is on the east coast of East Anglia not far from the major seaports of Felixstowe and Harwich, and the River Deben which the course adjoins is a favourite with keen yachtsmen. Tom Dunn laid out the original course but little of it survived the Second World War, this being a heavily armed part of the coast, always liable to invasion. The threat of invasion in earlier, Napoleonic times is commemmorated in the Martello Towers which were built for coastal defence and remain standing to this day within parts of the course. Henry Cotton designed today's course shortly after the war. It has always been a congested site and it has a short hole (the 144-yard 12th) which crosses a public road. The road winds through the course to cottages by the 15th green and the sea wall is a popular place for family walks, so the club has had to institute major modifications in order to safeguard itself from crippling legal claims should a member of the public be hit. Sadly, I foresee many another British club having to follow suit. I don't know to what extent the holes I have photographed have been altered, or what changes have been made to the card. These are the principal links holes. Over the road the course is more meadowland in nature, several holes seriously threatened by streams and lakes. As I knew it the course was 6308 yards with a par of 72.
13th, 356 yards par 4. The 13th and 17th greens rub shoulders beside this Martello Tower.
13th from behind showing the downhill approach - no place for a high-flying wedge!
14th, 320 yards par 4. The stretch from 13 to 15 is nicest because it is closest to the sea. There is no great length on this hole which accounts for the number of bunkers.
15th, 404 yards par 4. It is a hole which reminds Donald Steel of Deal, and you can see why. You can also see why pedestrians are in some danger when golfers of my ineptitude are around.
15th, looking back, showing the wide skies so typical of East Anglia. This was a bright but bitterly cold day in March 1994.
16th, 220 yards par 3. A brute with a vast bunker on the low ground short of the green and a significant rise to the putting surface.
17th, 446 yards par 4. A tough hole with a difficult approach shot to a raised green very exposed to the wind.
17th. The famous M.R. James ghost story, 'Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad' was set on the links at Felixstowe. One of the greatest of all ghost strories.