Heathland Courses

[David_Tepper]

Brian -

I have been a country member at Golspie since 2001 and played at least 25 rounds there since. Thinking about it, the heathland holes at Golspie are really quite distinct.

You first encounter heather as you climb a ridge (going to the 7th green) that sits above the linksland you have been on since the 2nd green. Holes 8, 9, 10, 11 & 12 are pure heath, with heather in play on both sides of the holes and the gorse pretty much out of play. Hole 13 transitions from heathland to parkland.

As Rich G. & Doug W. mentioned earlier, #9 is a wonderful par-4, with swaths of heather 5-10 yards wide up both sides of the fairway.

I am looking forward to being at Golspie some year in late August, when the heather is in bloom.

DT    

[Keith Durrant]

Michael, my picture is from Fontainebleau.

[Michael Wharton-Palmer]

I was back reading and saw Mark's posts...
Fulfurd Heath is certainly not what it's name implies and could not be considered even a partial for the list..no heather and certainly the wrong type of soil..Copt Heath..very slightly partial heathland at best..both are very pleasant parklandcourses though.
At some point I was a member at both of these courses.

[Tony_Muldoon]

Including most of Brian's scotish courses and a few more form Marc (- more d/q's)  suggests about 125 with some offering more of the authentic experience than others. So probably they are slightly rarer than Links courses but there's more of them for me to play than I'd imagined. Thanks everyone.

But then according to the UK Golf Guide there's also

Druid's Heath (Walsall)
Haywards Heath
Heathpark
Hounslow Heath
Knighton Heath
Laffenham Heath
Brampton Heath
Caversham Heath.

[Brian_Ewen]

Craigie Hill in Perth.

If you can look beyond some of the tree planting , Craigie Hills quirky holes were on nice Heathland .

Shame it may close shortly .

This is the 15th .

[Mark_Rowlinson]

Glad it's all boiling up.

Leave you to it, chaps.

All part of the service.

[Mark_Rowlinson]

Well, on maturer reflection, let's refine the list to those about which there is no argument.  Then let us try to construct a B-list of those which nearly pass the criteria.

Then let us try to do the same with links courses.  It does get a bit difficult, doesn't it?

[Brian_Ewen]

Mark
Yes , and thats why I posted the pic. asking whether it was links or Heathland .

The course is Balnagask GC in Aberdeen and I have always considered it linksland .

I think ! .

Brian

[Tony_Muldoon]

Mark I'm turning this one over to you, I was just curious as to how approx how many there are.

Brian has highlighted just one problem- which can also be seen in the beautiful picture Jack Marr loaded of Carne in the Photo's of the Year thread.  In the foreground - heather, but no one would consider it Heathland. Against that ,I'm not sure how much heather is left at Orsett yet it's obviously Heath.

The same problems crop up every time people discuss the number of Links courses.  How many holes need to be 'in the duneland' for it to be a true links course?   To me the way to take this forward is to try and produce a list of say the top three tiers of Heathland courses, and just let the rest go. There's a lot of very good GCA on the heaths and this thread has brought up some others I'd never considered. This sort of thing has been done a number of times here for links.  Are you up for nominating league tables?

[Marc Haring]

Brian.

The person responsible for planting those trees; was he shot?

Tony

There's Flackwell Heath and Royal Blackheath as well. Neither are heathland.

[ForkaB]

How about the Athens CC?  Maybe Bob Crosby will know....

[Mark_Rowlinson]

Going back to Paul's pictures of Woodbridge it is a lovely course.  I believe the original course was laid out by David Howie, the club's first professional.  9 holes were added by FW Hawtree more recently and they make a good course in their own right.  It will have been known to many US airmen as it was right at the end of the runway of RAF Woodbridge and close also to RAF Bentwaters next door.  Both are now closed but I recall the noise of Phantoms taking off and landing at Woodbridge as if it were yesterday.  Bentwaters had a huge contingent of A-10 tank busters.  

That part of East Anglia is well worth exploring for golf.  Aldeburgh is first rate, Felixstowe Ferry is a genuine links and feels as though it had not been altered since Darwin's day (though it was totally rebuilt after the Second World War and altered very recently for safety reasons), Ipswich is a fine 27-hole course (the 9-hole course being pay-and-play) which has been restoring its heathland, Rushmere has a lot of heather and gorse, Thorpeness is heathland in parts, and you can return to civilisation via Royal Worlington and Gog Magog (which I'm sure many of you would like) or you can venture further north via Diss or Thetford to Great Yarmouth (links inside the racecourse), Royal Norwich (good parkland) and Eaton (said to be an excellent parkland course) and thence to Royal Cromer, Sheringham, Royal West Norfolk and Hunstanton.  And think of all those crab suppers....

[T_MacWood]

Colt was involved at Woodbridge as well.

Felixstowe has been altered often: MacKenzie, Simpson and Campbell. In was nine holer in Darwin's day, MacKenzie added a new nine (in the dead 20's). Simpson then made quite a few changes to the course (in the dead 30's). And it was then reconstituted and revised by Guy Campbell after WWII.

[Mark_Rowlinson]

Don't forget Henry Cotton at Felixstowe.  There's quite a detailed history on their website:
http://www.felixstowegolf.co.uk/index.php?member1=&member2=

[Mark_Rowlinson]

Here are the websites of some of the other courses I mentioned:
http://www.aldeburghgolfclub.co.uk/
http://www.ipswichgolfclub.com/
http://www.woodbridgegolfclub.co.uk/
http://www.club-noticeboard.com/rushmere/
http://www.royalnorwichgolf.co.uk/index2.htm
http://www.club-noticeboard.com/thetford/

[Mark_Rowlinson]

A modest site for Diss:
http://www.club-noticeboard.com/diss/index.php

[T_MacWood]

Henry Cotton was Campbell's partner.

[Noel Freeman]

Downland courses - I'm thinking of places such as Dunstable Downs, Worthing, North Foreland, Ogbourne Downs, Goring and Streatley, West Berkshire.

I'm sure this won't be a comprehensive list, but here's a stab at English heathland courses:

The Berkshire (X2)
East Berkshire
Newbury and Crookham (not sure - I haven't been there for MANY years)
Royal Ascot (?)
Swinley Forest
Stoke Poges
Sandiway (though precious little heather survives)
Yelverton
Broadstone
Ferndown
Isle of Purbeck
Knighton Heath
Parkstone
Wareham (?)
South Moor (?)
Orsett
Army (?)
Blackmoor
Liphook
North Hants
Berkhamsted (probably not heath, but plays like one)
Rowany
Charnwood Forest
Woodhall Spa
Thetford
Coxmoor
Notts
Sherwood Forest
Tadmarton Heath
Luffenham Heath
Beau Desert
Penn (haven't been there since I was a boy, so memory may be dangerous)
Whittington Heath (in parts, like the curate's egg)
Aldeburgh
Ipswich (Purdis Heath)
Rushmere
Thorpeness (in parts)
Woodbridge
The Addington
Camberley Heath
Coombe Hill (is there any heather remaining?)
Farnham (part)
Hankley Common
Hindhead (parts)
New Zealand
RAC (X2 but it's over 30 years since last I was there)
Sunningdale (X2)
Sunningdale Ladies
Walton Heath (X2)
Wentworth (X2 - I'm not counting the Edinburgh)
West Hill
Woking
Worplesdon
Crowborough Beacon (bits)
West Sussex
Sutton Coldfield (bits)
Fulford (bits beyond the A64)
Alwoodley
Bingley St Ives (a bit)
Moortown (a little remains)
Sand Moor (does any remain?)


Must go to cook the supper - you wouldn't want my family to starve, would you!

I've played/seen a good part of this list and many I would label as only partly heathland.  Paul Turner and I played both Parkstone and Broadstone and I would say they both had large elements of parkland in spots especially at Parkstone.. The back 9 at Broadstone was much more heathlands like than the front.  Camberley Heath and Worplesdon look like parkland because of heavy losses of heather but still retain heathland characteristics in doses.  Russell Talley and I once marveled at the back of the range at the Berkshire while looking at a cutout of about 4 feet of pure sand in the land.  If that soil doesn't scream out heathland, I don't know what does.  Of all the heathlands I've visited my top 5 for walking in what I would deem true heath are:

Berkshire
West Sussex
Swinley-- 16 holes.. 1 and 18 feel parkish
Walton Heath
New Zealand
Sunningdale

By far I think the Berkshire is not talked about enough or visited.  The Red is so much fun to play as well given its format..

[Mark_Rowlinson]

How the sins of youth are revisited in old age!  Don't you sometimes regret committing things to print?

[Chris_Clouser]

I ran across a book call 50 Miles of Golf Round London by Herbert Jenkins.  It basically lists logistical information about every club and course within 50 miles of London, including what type of course (heathland, parkland, downland).

In the book there are approximately 85 heathland courses listed.  Many of which have been mentioned on this thread.  I'm going to compare it to a couple of books by MarK Rowlinson and see how many of these still exist and produce a comprehensive list, at least as it relates to the London area.