Sunningdale Old (pictures)

[Philip Gawith]

I thought these pictures might present a nice "compare and contrast" with the Huntercombe pictures, given the two courses were built by the same man at the same time.

Sunningdale is much more clearly a heathland course, with lots of heather; and has lots of bunkers - perhaps no surprise given that the soil is sandy, unlike at Huntercombe.

But there are also similarities - some of the greens meld into the fairway in a way similar to Huntercombe; and there are also various examples of mounding (eg at the 1st hole, and the 5th).

I am sure many GCAers are familiar with this course, but maybe they will open eyes of some others!



The mounding on the right-side of the first fairway, a shortish par 5. Not really in play for longer hitters who can carry it fairly comfortably.



The 2nd green from behind - the slope of the approach, and the green itself, make distance difficult to judge.



The driveable short par four 3rd hole



Same hole looking back from the green.




The elevated par three, fourth



The famous fifth hole - the only water on the course, with the short sixth visible in the far distance.



Looking back from left of the fifth green - note the prominent mound.



The short par four 6th - the drive is a lay-up since you can't really carry the bank of heather.




The rather forbidding blind drive on the par four 7th



But once you are over the brow you get this view - one of the finest on the course.




Note the new tee for the 10th hole, behind the 9th green. A rather unattractive affair - caddie did not seem to think it would last.




The famous view from 10th tee - this shot shows how the tee on the right introduces a challenging angle into the tee shot.




The view from behind the difficult short 11th hole - does not do justice to what a challenging approach this is.



Approach shot to the 12th with the fabulous necklace of bunkers strung out diagonally across the fairway. Probably my favourite hole on the course.



Looking back down the 12th from the green.




View from the middle of the 16th fairway; difficult to judge the distance to this elevated green.




Approach to 17 with clubhouse in the background. 16, 17 and 18 all have bunkers set back maybe 80 or so yards from the green, which help create uncertainty re distance.




Cross bunkers short of 17 green





And again short of 18

[Jonathan Davison]

Great photos, it is a course I would really love to see. What looks worrying to me is the lack of heather, for a heathland type golf course. I had the pleasure of visiting Hankley Common and Walton Heath last year, and it is amazing to see the difference. Walton Heath had a huge tree clearance programme which has changed the look of the golf course, bring the more heathland flavour back. I think Sunningdale would benefit the same just looking at the photos, I would be interested in hearing some other thoughts?

[T_MacWood]

Great pictures...thanks for sharing them.

[Troy Alderson]

Philip,

I think I just wet myself. : )

Thank you for posting the pictures on Sunningdale.  I visited Pine Valley in 1995 and I see the similarities.  I have always been a fan of the heathland golf courses over there.  I believe that many golf courses in the US want that look but are not willing to go through the process.

I would love to maintain a golf course like that some day.

Troy

[Keith Durrant]

Philip,

Looks like it was one of those beautiful English summer days where you must have been pinching yourself that you werent dreaming?

Looking at the appearance of some of the bunkering, it seems a little sterile and lacking in bite?

Keith

[Alex_Wyatt]

Funny Keith, I had the same response. Love both of these courses, but perhaps when that super at Atlantic gets done over there he can rough up the Sunningdale bunkers a bit!

[Jeff Goldman]

What remains of Willie Park and what was put in by Colt (and what remains of that too)?  At Olympia Fields, Park put in a lot of bunkers 10-20 yards short of greens, and a few even farther from the greens.  There seems to be some of that at Sunningdale.  Is it Park's doing?

Jeff Goldman

[Mark_Rowlinson]

Just keep posting pictures of this quality - it doesn't matter where you go, even St Juthwara's at Cleethorpes - you clearly have the ability to capture the essence of a course.  Wonderful stuff!

[James Edwards]

Here, Here Mark

Philip, you are fast becoming competition for Mr Turner!  

[Troy Alderson]

Philip,

Are you posting these pictures to rub it in?

Troy

[Eric_Dorsey]

bravo!  fabulous pics of a great course.  If I ever get to merry ol' England, Sunningdale will be first on my list.  

[David_Tepper]

Philip -

Great pix, although I was hoping to see one of the refreshment house at Sunningdale (after the 9th hole?), which is famous for its sausage rolls!

Be sure to bring your camera to Dornoch and Brora next May. I don't recall that there have been any Brora pix posted here in many years. If you can take any near the quality of these pix, they would be very well received indeed.

DT
 

[Philip Gawith]

Keith - I have always been lucky with the weather at Sunningdale. I was also lucky at Ferndown and Queenwood - I will post some pictures from these courses in due course, but some good weather sure helps!

You are probably right about the bunkers, on reflection, though I confess that I was not thinking along those lines myself when playing the course.

Thanks Mark - high praise. I am just very excited at finally working out how to post pictures - I have been snapping away merrily for quite a while, but not doing much about sharing them, so it is nice to change that.

David - you are right, that is an omission not to have taken a picture of the famous half-way house. Inside, it is full of pictures of the many celebrities from all walks of life who have refreshed themselves there.

I do actually have a few pictures of Brora which I will post, though the weather was perhaps not quite as exemplary as at Sunningdale.

[Tony_Muldoon]

Philip great pictures
“I’ve got a little list,
 Sunningdale must not be missed…”
(With apologies to WS Gilbert and everyone reading!)

Earlier in the year Sean Arble mentioned Sunningdale Rules in matchplay. He suggested that when one player gets two holes behind he automatically gets a shot on the next hole and this helps keep the game alive.  I’ve played several games like this since and greatly enjoyed them.

However last Saturday I played a friendly round with someone new and asked if he new of “Sunningdale Rules”?  He said he’d played there many times and always for £50 a hole, I passed on this and afterwards in the bar he explained the game he’d always played there.  In Sam Torrance’s autobiography he talks about his happy time at Sunningdale as an assistant pro, as it was a wealthy club where they loved to gamble with him on a game.  My opponent said the game he had always played was £50 a hole and as soon as someone went two down, a new game starts on the same basis and runs alongside the other one (a press?). Hence you could be down in a couple of games and up in a couple more, its complexity favouring those familiar with the arrangement. He’s a very good player and said things usually even themselves out, he’d never seen more than £250 change hands.  However my maths tells me playing this on a day where you lost 18 straight holes would cost you £2700!!!  Check which ‘rules’ they are playing at Sunningdale.

[Sean_A]

Tony

The chap I played with spoke of these automatic presses as well.  I have played this game before, but not for £50 a pop.  Anytime a pencil is needed for a friendly I am not interested.

Sunningdale Rules are beginning to spread around my club.  It seems loads of people would rather a competitive friendly game rather than a run of the table.

Philip

Great pics.  I too echo Ian's thoughts.  The course looks much tidier than I can recall.  I don't like the cross cut fairways at all.  

Ciao

Sean

[Philip Gawith]

Some more eye candy!

A great view from the clubhouse window - putting green in the foreground, with 18th behind it and 17th in the background. 1st tee is on the right, with players standing on it, and OB running down the right. On the far left of the picture, the top bit of fairway is the first on the New course, with the 18th on the New barely visible below it.



Two backward looking views up the 10th hole, which give an indication of how elevated the tee is.






And a shot which gives a better idea of the difficult short second shot to the 11th. The tee-shot ought to be a relatively simple lay-up, but the problems start with the second shot, which may be only 60-100 yards. You can play it in the air, or on the ground - but if you are not precise, you are normally looking at a double-bogey, and the hole is not a lot more than 300 yards (if you have not played it - you can't feasibly drive it because of tall trees running along the right side of the green, preventing you coming in from the right).This is a fantastic little hole.

[Chris Kane]

Philip, make sure you bring the camera to Commonwealth next week!

Wonderful photos - can't wait to see the course next year.

[T_MacWood]

There is an interesting comment about Sunningdale by Darwin in The Golf Courses of the British Isles. He said WPII was an architect of "very pronounced characteristics", but that Sunningdale was not as characteristic of his work as Huntercombe or Burhill. Unfortunately he didn't really elaborate on what made it different.

[Ian Andrew]

I had posted earlier about I thought things were rougher. I was wrong. I went through my old photos from 1992 and I was suprised how much the course looked exactly the same(just greener). The right bunker on the 7th was the only one that looked different. It was flashed up and had a more grand sweep in it's lines.

[RT]

Philip,

You should have mentioned that pesky drainage ditch hard right of the nuanced 11th green, to compound the situation with that half wedge in your hand on a tight, slightly downhill lie.

This hole was profiled in original The World Atlas of Golf.  What dreams are made of.

[Philip Gawith]

You are right Russell! One test of good golf holes is surely the extent to which they get into your head - you know you are going to have to play a certain shot, you practice lots, but when you have to do it and.....well, it is all terribly difficult.

I think this is probably one of the reasons why I find Dornoch such a good course - the approach to the seemingly innocent 1st, the tee shot on the 2nd, 6th, 11th - I could go on!

[ForkaB]

This hole was profiled in original The World Atlas of Golf.  What dreams are made of.

RT

Vis a vis "dreams" are you talking about the hole or the accompanying picture of Donna Caponi Young?

RG

[henrye]

David & Philip:

You can actually see the half way house in your picture of the 10th.  It's visible in the distance behind the green.  

These photos are excellent!

[RT]

Rihc,

I thought you'd go for the bait, checkered head scarf and all..

RT

[Marc Haring]

I havn't played Sunningdale for a few years now, at least not the Old. What a course and great pictures Philip.

My favourite gambling story from Sunningdale was about the amazing Arthur Lees, their long standing pro of which I am sure there are a myriad of tales.

Arthur came into the clubhouse having just finished a big money challenge match against an unknown player who stated he played off nine and wanted to take on Arthur with his full handicap allowance. The members asked how he got on to which Arthur replied “Nine bloody handicap, that bxxxxxd shot level par gross!” The members said “Not to worry Arthur, there’s always next time”. To which Arthur replied, “I’m not worried, I beat him two and one”