The Sacred Nine—A Short Story
From Routing the Golf Course (John Wiley & Sons, 2002)
"It seems to me that not many people are building nine-hole golf courses anymore. This is quite a shame when you consider that it often happens that 18-hole layouts get forced into a site where nine wonderful holes would have made for a much better finished course. Might nine holes have been more practical? Oh sure, you can find the occasional newly built nine-hole course, but more often than not, there on the clubhouse wall is proudly hanging the plans for the “rest of the course” — the nine that will be built next year, or maybe the year after that . . . if financing comes through.
Down a narrow country road just outside Cambridge, England, the shady canopy of great trees suddenly opens to a field of golf flanked by a rather small and quiet-looking clubhouse. Here, finally, is the unassuming home of the Royal Worlington and Newmarket Golf Club. Not just nine great golf holes, I would learn, but a story of golfing contradictions and brilliant proof that the so-called standard of 18 holes can be overcome, providing your heart and attitude are in the right place.
“We don’t get too caught up by the fact it’s a nine hole course,” says Miles Elliott, the club’s esteemed captain. The club’s position on the matter is one of curiosity as to why visitors seem so preoccupied with the number of holes. At Worlington, you see, what matters are the aspects of golf that have become less and less dear to the hearts of newer clubs and especially, I am sad to relate, the influential Americans who are busily building the game.
Royal Worlington is a social club. The members relish their traditions and respect what is going on in each of their lives. Golf, albeit important, is merely a vehicle for the more cherished routine of arriving, slipping away from the rest of the world, camaraderie, friendly competition, and, certainly not least, celebrating the moment.
Lest I forget, Worlington is made up of nine fascinating and excellent holes. It is, after all, a golf club. Although not linksland, the inland site is a rare swath of sandy soil that flows through woodlands and opens onto great fields. One should hardly care how many holes there are on the course characterized by Bernard Darwin as “the sacred nine.” That is exactly the point Mr. Elliott was making.
“Our philosophy must just be different,” he relates. “There are rituals here that are cherished by the members and it is these which define our club.” Among the rituals are the Pink Jug, a club drink — and also the club’s icon — that approximates lemonade, but in its own special way. Occasionally, visiting guests are taken aback when told about Worlington’s unbreakable rule that all groups play only as foursomes — that is, match play between two groups of two where one ball is played by each of the groups. The foursome requirement allows Worlington’s nine-hole rounds to be finished in one hour and 20 minutes, or just more than two and a half hours for a twice-around, 18-hole match. Imagine what the feasibility analysis of a modern club would look like if it were to embrace such a format. In essence, Worlington’s nine holes is almost twice as efficient as most eighteens. But I seriously doubt that efficiency is the top priority here.
In a day when most people find it difficult to find time to play 18 holes of golf, it is quite odd that golf course architects, developers, and the financing community find it difficult to escape the temptation to build 18-hole courses almost exclusively. Yes, there are alternatives. And they are more real than we would like to admit."