Hartlepool
Hartlepool is an industrial town with a maritime history on the coast of north-east England. You'd be hard pressed to find the golf course, hidden away as it is behind a vast railway embankment with access through a single-carriageway tunnel found at the end of a little street in the middle of a housing estate. Once you come through the tunnel your heart leaps as you spy sand dunes - lots of them! I'm lucky enough to be writing the club's centenary book and you couldn't find a friendlier bunch of club members, officials or professional staff. The course was laid out in 1907. James Braid made considerable amendments in 1929, J.D. Harris made further amendments in 1961 and there have been other changes brought about by the sale of land and the acquisition of other plots since then.
The railway embankment provides the course with its own microclimate and rare and interesting flora and fauna flourish on what is a Site of Special Scientific Interest. It means that the club has to adhere to strict rules on chemicals and course maintenance and these also prevent the club building new tees amidst the dunes. So it's all pretty natural and when I visited last week (end of October) the course was in lovely condition for so late in the season. The inland holes are meadowland but the dunes holes (the majority of them) are links or links-like. I hope to get some better pictures next year in stronger sun, but these might just whet the appetite. Total length 6172 yards, par 70.
1st, 246 yards par 4. A hole apparently on the flat in front of the clubhouse. But the bunkers on the right are serious and....
1st ...this stream cuts in from the left along the direct line to the green.
1st. Greenkeepers busy keeping the course in good shape.
6th, 332 yards par 4. The 5th was the first of the seaside holes, a par 3 played across a deep gully adjacent to the beach. The 6th then tees off on the edge of the gully, blind over a marker post down into a dell where the narrow fairway finishes as the hole climbs abruptly to a well-bunkered hilltop green.
8th, 454 yards par 4. A great driving hole from an elevated tee over as much hostile territory as you dare to a fairway angled away to the right.
10th, 358 yards par 4. The early part of the hole is nothing, simply making progress along flattish ground. But then the fairway rises up through a gap in the dunes before falling steeply to the green. This is the view from the gap in the dunes. Most golfers will be playing blind through the gap.
11th, 215 yards par 3. A terrific short hole played from a tee beside the 10th green you can see in the distance behind the flag. The shot must carry another gully with trouble in the dunes on the seaward side and a deep bunker on the right front of the green. The green is a little higher than the tee and nothing falling short will roll onto the putting surface.
13th, 310 yards par 4. The 12th was the second of consecutive par 3s, a lovely downhill hole to a heavily contoured green. Then comes this teasing short par 4, with a drive to a very sloping fairway and a gully and path to be crossed before finding this punchbowl green, again heavily contoured.
14th, 419 yards par 4. There's a big carry over rough ground to a raised fairway, rolling along the dunes. There are no bunkers. A lovely upland hole.
14th - with its nicely, but not excessively, rolling fairway.
View from the clubhouse over the 18th green, through a gap in the dunes, to the sea. A lovely spot!