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Mark_Rowlinson

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British Courses 48
« on: November 18, 2004, 02:28:18 PM »
Royal Ashdown Forest

I thought to include Royal Ashdown at this point as there is a contemporaneous GCA thread on bunkerless courses.  Also, these pictures were taken in winter, mid January, when there was a sharp frost, yet the real greens were in play.  They were rather bumpy where footprints had been made and the immediate vicinity of the cup was sometimes somewhat unpredictable, but it was a glorious day on which to enjoy this delightful corner of Sussex.  Smoke from log fires hung in the air and I can almost sense their seductive aroma as I type this.  

The course was laid out in 1889, mostly, it seems, under the inspired guidance of Archdeacon Scott.  There have been changes over the years, including new holes created when the present clubhouse was erected in 1895.  I think the last significant changes took place in 1920, so they have had time to grow in!  The course measures 6477 yards with a par of 72, but this is one of those places (rather like The Addington) on which yardages are fairly irrelevant.  What is more important is to make correct judgement of the effects of the hills, especially in summer when the quick-draining fairway turf can be lightning fast and the running approach shot is the order of the day.  As I said, there are no sandbunkers, but there are many elaborate mounds, craters and gullies defending the greens, some of which are minuscule.


1st, 332 yards par 4.  The 1st and 18th cross each other in the bottom of a valley.  The fairway is generously wide but the pitch is tricky, up to a ledge green with OOB just through the back.


3rd, 334 yards par 4.  There is a huge difference in the play of the hole depending on whether you are playing from the white tee (a left-hand dog-leg) or the yellow (a right-hand dog-leg).  Either way the pitch is made over a gully and heather to a green in a corner.


4th, 356 yards par 4.  Again quite a short par 4, but the fairway climbs as it curves to the right and there is an interruption short of the green.


5th, 512 yards par 5.  If it has been relatively plain sailing so far this is where the action moves up a gear.  The drive is downhill to an ever narrowing fairway crossed on the diagonal by a ditch and track.  It affects some 100 yards of fairway, very much a threat to my second shot and, I shouldn't doubt, now in range of today's long drivers.  The landing zone on the far side for my regulation second shot is only about 60 yards long for the fairway fizzles out in a stream and rough ground 50 yards short of the green.


5th.  As you can see this is not a hazard you want to find yourself in.


6th, 128 yards par 3.  This is one of the most famous short holes in England, one I rank alongside the 5th at Mildenhall, not only for its mischief but also for the fact that it's impossible to show how treacherous it is in a photograph.  This is a view from behind the green looking back towards the tee.  The tee shot must clear a stream which then continues down the left side of the green.  There are mounds and depressions off to the right from which pitching requires strong nerves and a quiet conscience.  


6th, again from behind but this time showing the dry moat running down the right of the green.  The putting surface is narrow but almost 40 yards deep.  


6th - what an impossible target the green is if you miss to either side!

More to follow:
« Last Edit: November 18, 2004, 02:52:06 PM by Mark_Rowlinson »

Mark_Rowlinson

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Re:British Courses 48
« Reply #1 on: November 18, 2004, 02:49:59 PM »
Royal Ashdown Forest continued


7th, 372 yards par 4.  Now we climb onto the high part of the course (my favourite part) in quite testing style.  The drive is largely guesswork, steeply uphill to a fairway curving all the time to the right.  There is a stream if you push your tee shot and worse beyond it.  The climb and curve continue all the way to a band of heather some 50 yards short of the putting surface, which is only 22 yards deep.  


8th, 501 yards par 5.  A wicked hole, continuing the climb with two incursions of heather interrupting the fairway.  The green is very narrow with a sort of lip surrounding it beyond which are some very nasty lies in the sort of higgledy-piggledy humps and bumps that accompanied several greens at Painswick.


10th, 485 yards par 5.  Rather a plain hole, climbing endlessly, curving all the time to the left.  The approach is hard to judge, the green raised up beyond the lower fairway and the putting surface is only 18 yards deep.


11th, 249 yards par 3.  What a place to drive!


11th.  There's plenty of fairway to accept the running approach shot, but the green is only 23 yards deep and there is trouble in abundance through the back.


12th, 568 yards par 5.  Another grand driving hole with a substantial carry over heather to a leaning fiarway.


13th, 367 yards par 4.  Having descended over the 11th and 12th you climb again - quite seriously - on the 13th and there's a big intrusion into the fairway about 250 yards out from the tee.  Another shallow green.


15th, 312 yards par 4.  A super little hole with a big carry over rough ground and a ditch to an island of fairway from which the pitch is made over all sorts of mounds and craters to this beautifully located green.


16th, 407 yards.  Rather a tedious hole for a shorter hitter like me with another uphill grind along the fairway and no chance of reaching the green in two partly because of the hill but also because of the mounds interrupting the fairway over the last 25 yards leading up to the putting green.

Sorry to have to return to Mystic but I haven't sorted Photobucket sizing yet!  Additionally, this is 400 ASA film so it would be very grainy any larger.
« Last Edit: November 18, 2004, 02:54:08 PM by Mark_Rowlinson »

Marc Haring

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Re:British Courses 48
« Reply #2 on: November 18, 2004, 03:12:28 PM »
Mark.

Superb pictures. I have posted three of my own of RAF on the 'courses without bunkers' thread.

Mark, after you upload photo's to photobucket, go to the album section and click edit above the thumbnail. This gives you the option of reducing the size to 75, 50 or 25% of the original. I find 50% is quite good. That's what I have done on my own pictures of RAF in the said thread.

Evan_Green

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Re:British Courses 48
« Reply #3 on: November 18, 2004, 03:36:23 PM »
It is a superb course- that view on #11 is really neat- one of my fondest memories of playing golf in England. I would love to see more new courses (or at least holes) without bunkers. Without bunkers the architect really must take advantage of the natural terrain and features to make the hole great.

John Goodman

Re:British Courses 48
« Reply #4 on: November 18, 2004, 03:50:10 PM »
I agree with that.  There are a number of holes on RAF that would hardly benefit - at least in terms of challenge and interest - from having bunkers, like 5, 6, 8, 17 and  (especially I think) 12.  The last of these got into my head immediately from the tee, in that it was apparent that I was going to have to take a full poke at it to clear the heather, and that a draw was likely to be in trouble left given the cant of the fairway.  This caused me to block it, and once I got it out of trouble the next shot posed the same dilemma.  A great hole in my view, likewise 17.