British Heathland courses - litterature

[Philip Spogard]

I am very interested in the British heathland courses near London, and would be very interest in any advice/recommendations on litterature dealing with the subject.

Especially books/articles identifying or dealing with some of their historical design features (mounds, greens, bunkershaping, etc.), routings, etc.

[Tony_Muldoon]

Philip, it's time for me to either

A) eat a little humble pie on here.
Or
B) show my wisdom by revising an earlier opinion.

A good introduction to this subject is The Centurions of golf published about a year ago. Author Mike Berners Price, publishers www.radialsportspublishing.com.  It covers mot of the courses you see raved about on here, has photo's and 2-3 pages about the history and the architectural development of each course.  In the past I said it was too much like a series of Magazine articles but hey what could he do with 250 pages and approx 100 courses.  Yes there are inaccuracies (e.g. little Mackenzie survives at Sutton Coldfield) but it's a good introduction to heathlands and he also covers the second wave of Links courses.


There’s an article by someone called Paul Turner in vol 3 of Golf Architecture - must be worth a look.

After that it’s the standard tours round CB&I.  Most of the courses are in England so try Finegan’s All courses great & small..

For the kind of detail you're after you should check Frank Ponts website for photo's,  the clubs websites, club histories (most are Archtecture light)  or past threads on here.
If you’re headed this way please get in touch.

[Brad Tufts]

I obtained a copy of the Centurions of Golf...and in my initial perusal, I thought they were way too focused on the founding members, financiers, and prominent members.  I haven't given it a real good look, but what I saw didn't have too much to do with architecture...

[Mark Bourgeois]

I don't know of a book exclusively focused on the London heath, but have found you access the issues you're interested in via more-general books.  Which makes sense given that the London courses don't own a patent on the features you describe.

Some possibilities:
The Architectural Side of Golf, by Wethered and Simpson
Heather and Heaven, by Phil Pilley
Golf Courses of the British Isles, by Darwin

Mark

[BCrosby]

Mark -

I've never heard of Heather and Heaven, by Phil Pilley.

Please tell us more. Worth buying?

[Mark Bourgeois]

Bob,

It's the club history of Walton Heath.  It won the USGA book award a few years ago -- not bad for the genre, eh?

I really enjoyed it.

Mark

[David Stamm]

Philip, Jim Finegan's book, All Courses Great and Small, is a real treat to read about his experiences there. While there are no photo's, I seem to remember that the descriptions were very entertaining.

[Philip Spogard]

Thank you all very much. I will meet up with several of the clubs to hear more about their history and search for photos.

Tony:
I am based in London as well so maybe we could get in touch?

Cheers,
Philip.

[Tony_Muldoon]

Check your IM Philip we will meet up.

The Sunningdale si the best of the course histories I have, but I don't have the Walton Heath one.

[RT]

Walton Heath book, Heather & Heaven, worth having in your library for sure.

[TEPaul]

For any of you looking carefully at the old contemporaneous literature regarding the heathland courses I wish you would keep a close eye out for any mention of the fact that it was INLAND! I may be wrong but I'm beginning to believe that fact may've been what got the attention of architects elsewhere----eg it was INLAND and it was the first example of really good man-made inland architecture, probably in the world.

And the fact it first happened there in the heathlands may've had a lot more to do with the heathlands unique soil structure (it was the most similar to the linksland soil structure and makeup) then we now realize. Basically I don't think the kind of soil makeup the heathlands has had ever been previously discovered anywhere in the world INLAND.

[Brad Tufts]

Wasn't there an announcement by somebody that a Heathland book was in the works?

Certainly a gap in scholarship of sorts...

[Philip Spogard]

Does anyone know where it is possible to get (high) quality, historical aerial photos of the Surrey heathland area (ideally something like Google Earth). From around 1900 to 1960.

It would be very interesting to compare those pictures with pictures available now (bunker shapes, numbers, tree covering, etc.)

If anyone has anything like this, please contact me.

[RT]

Philip,

try this URL for starters  http://www.ukaerialphotos.com/

RT

[TEPaul]

Philip:

Basically aerial photographs of golf courses did not begin to happen until around the early 1920s or the late teens at the earliest. The reasons are both airplanes and cameras hadn't quite gotten there yet.  

[Philip Spogard]

"Basically aerial photographs of golf courses did not begin to happen until around the early 1920s or the late teens at the earliest. The reasons are both airplanes and cameras hadn't quite gotten there yet."

Yes I know. Was not to sure about the time for the first aerial shots  

[Brian Phillips]

The chapter about the heathlands in The Architects of Golf by Whitten and Cornish is one of the best for the history of the region and the development of architecture from the 'Dark Ages' to the 'Golden Age'.

[Mark_Rowlinson]

I started a thread some months ago in which I listed all the Surrey clubs, and another in which I listed all the Berkshire clubs.  It gave co-ordinates for Google Earth and webs ites.  If you are skilled at searching GCA you should find it.  Otherwise, send me an E-mail and I'll e-mail it to you as an attachment.

[Philip Spogard]

Are anyone familiar with any 'new' heathland courses in the UK. I am thinking Queenwood, without it being a classic heathland course.

Courses build within the last 20 years which are severely inspired by the look of the classic courses.

[Jason McNamara]

Philip -

You'll find a fairly comprehensive list of courses in this thread from a while back. Queenwood doesn't seem to meet the standard, based upon some of the observations of those much more in the know than I.

http://tinyurl.com/2p8jg2


Edit:  Whoops, only one 'l' in Philip.  Sorry!