At the request of some of you, here is a British Isles golf quiz to keep you out of mischief over the holiday season. I'm offering a prize of a copy of the new edition of World Atlas of Golf to the first completely correct list of answers drawn at random on January 1st, so e-mail me with your answers - please don't post them on GCA before I do! It comes in two parts:
Part 1
1. In the field for the 1899 Open Championship there were no fewer than seven players from the island of Jersey: three Vardons (Harry won), Ted Ray, two Gaudins, and whom? This person spoke little or no English, yet became professional at the Manchester Golf Club and later at Stockport. He taught Fred and Adele Astaire to play golf and designed a number of courses in the Manchester/Cheshire area.
2. Most of the courses designed by JF Abercomby were in the London area. One, however, was in the south-west of England. It has recently had a make-over and had its name changed, and the course began with one of the most diabolical short par 4s in my experience, 293 yards with a stream cutting across on the diagonal into which almost all lay-up shots bounced after shooting off at an angle from the hump-back downhill fairway. I imagine this hole has been one of the design changes. What was the name of the course and as what is it now known?
3. Which one-time Irish Open venue has back-to-back par 5s and par 3s, and was described by Tom Watson: ‘The contours on the fairways and greens are what make it a great golf course’?
4. There are five Royal golf clubs in Ireland: Royal County Down, Royal Dublin, Royal Portrush, Royal Tara and which other club?
5. Royal Blackheath is generally accepted to be the oldest golf club in England, ‘probably instituted in 1608’. Which was the next to be established? It still exists, but is described as a club without a course.
6. The 18-hole course at Rye in East Sussex was the first course laid out by Harry Colt. Who designed the club’s 9-hole Jubilee Course?
7. One of the noblest clubhouses in Britain is that at Moor Park near Rickmansworth, north of London. For whom was the house built?
8. An 18-hole course south of Edinburgh, first designed by Willie Park, features no fewer than eight par threes, only one of which is under 200 yards in length. It is quite close to Rosslyn Chapel, scene of the climax of the Da Vinci Code. What is the name of the course?
9. Which Robert Trent Jones course was built on the site of a former rubbish tip?
10. Which 10-hole course overlooks the largest natural lake in Wales?
11. The Lytham and St Anne's Golf Club (as it was then known) moved to its present site in about 1897. Which club now occupies part of its former grounds?
12. Which Irish club was begun in 1886 by Col RA Craig, moved to its present home in 1926 with a layout by Captain Hewson, had a course redesign by James Braid in 1938, and was again redesigned, this time by Patrick Merrigan in the mid 1990s, involving the construction of three new lakes?
13. There are four Royal clubs in East Anglia: Royal West Norfolk, Royal Cromer, Royal Worlington and Newmarket and which other club?
14. The Amateur Championship has once been played outside the United Kingdom. On which course?
15. The A64 Leeds-Scarborough road cuts through a course which hosted many Benson and Hedges European Tour events. What is its name?
16. A course situated on Moncrieffe Island in the River Tay is named after whom?
17. On which famous British links is it possible to hook the ball into a churchyard on the 12th hole?
18. Which famous British links encircles a church?
19. Which course was designed by Rev. FF Tyack, produced Jim Barnes (winner of the US Open, USPGA and Open Championship) and is bordered (on the 4th hole) by the churchyard of St Uny?
20. Queenwood is a recent high-profile course. Queenwood is also the name of a very desirable fully-staffed country house available for rent (by the seriously wealthy) beside the 7th and 8th holes of which Dave Thomas course laid out in a Capability Brown estate?
21. On which Harry Colt course is the approach to the 16th hole made over the historic Wansdyke?
22. On which bunkerless course is one of the principal defensive features the ancient Grim's Dyke?
23. On which course do the 6th and 10th holes play into Caesar's Camp?
24. Until the late 1960s Alwoodley rented the land on which its course was laid out. From which estate was it rented (the family still having playing rights over the course to this day)?
25. Beside which hole at Aldeburgh is The Red House, home of the composer Benjamin Britten and his partner, the tenor Peter Pears?
26. What is the name of the university course at Oxford?
27. On which course is the hole named Snag?
28. Which Scottish course, frequently used for Final Qualifying for the Open Championship, has only one par 5 and two par 3s?
29. Two British mainland clubs feature the word Royal in their titles, but are not strictly Royal Clubs. Which are they?
30. What is unique about the title of Loudoun, at Galston, 5 miles east of Kilmarnock?
31. Which Open Championship course is commemorated on another Open Championship course?
32. Which is the most northerly course in Wales?
33. Which course on the British mainland is nearest to France?
34. Which is England's most southerly course?
35. Which is the most north-westerly course on mainland Britain?
36. On the par-3 7th at which East Anglian course did Harry Vardon score his only hole-in-one?
37. The Derby horse race is nowadays run at Epsom. Which golf course stands on part of the original Derby track?
38. Which Yorkshire golf club sold its Alister MacKenzie course for housing development, moving into the country to a course designed Robert Trent Jones?
39. This club's first professional was JS Cooper, whose son, Harry Lighthorse Cooper became an American professional. Its most famous hole is named Cader. Which club is it?
40. On which course do you drive out of Wales on the 4th to putt out in England, returning to Wales on the 7th tee?
41. Which is the only course known to have been designed by Arthur Croome?
42. Which famous author was Captain of Crowborough Golf Club in 1910?
43. Which famous author owned Isle of Purbeck Golf Club for many years?
44. Which golf links was founded by members of the Sandeman port-wine family?
45. Which is the highest golf course in the British Isles?
46. John Keble's hymn 'Blest are the pure in heart' ends with a verse which happens to mention a well-known Berkshire course, 'Give us a pure and lowly heart, A ...... meet for thee.' Which course?
47. The home of which golfing institution is Pilmour House?
48. Which golf club is located on Meols Drive?
49. Which course has a hole named Luckyslap?
50. On which British links is the raised 17th green built on the site of a former German military bunker?