West Sussex/Pulborough (pictures)

[Philip Gawith]

This could also be titled "The Sandbelt come to Sussex". In some respects it feels like it belongs more in Melbourne than in England. I certainly don't recall seeing a course in England that has a similar look/feel. Maybe I need to play more downland golf!

I played the course about a month ago after a very dry April so it probably looks a bit dryer than normal.

Overall, a great experience - the club was accommodating and charming (St Enodoc could learn a lesson!) and the course certainly lived up to the hype. I though there were many fine holes and enjoyed the look and feel of the course. Favourites would probably be 3,4,5, 11, 13,14,16 and 17.
Hats off to Sir Guy Campbell and Major CK Hutchinson! I would love to go back in August to see the heather in full bloom.



Approach to 2nd.



Tee shot on 3



No 3 again...



Approach to 3



Approach to 4 from inside of dogleg....



Approach to 4




The beautiful looking short 5th



Followed by the 225 yard downhill short 6th



Another view of the 6th



The short 8th




Looking down from 9th green




A real sandbelt moment - the inside of the dog-leg on 10



The short 12th



Approach to 13



Another shot of 13



Approach to 14



The short 15th



Looking back down the 16th



Tee shot on 17



Attractive cross-bunkering on 17..

[Tim Pitner]

Thanks Philip.  West Sussex is very high on my wish list.  

An aside--thinking of this week's tournament at Wentworth, I wish they played more tournament golf on a real heathland course (just so I could view it).  

[Philip Gawith]

You like 16 Sean because it is Addington-esque! It is funny what draws people to different holes - I like the ones which have heather and bunkers! No 2 has quite a bit of movement in the fairway....

[Tom_Doak]

Philip:

Thanks for those pictures.  You are right it does look a lot like a Melbourne course ... I hadn't been to the Sand Belt yet when I played West Sussex, and I've never been back there.  

My memory of the course was that the bunkers were edged a bit lower and there was more heather on the banks ... I'll have to look back through my old photos tomorrow to see if that was true or not.  The one I remember most vividly was the cross bunker on hole 7, which is about the only hole you didn't photograph.

[Philip Gawith]

Tom - here is the bunker you recall - the blind drive on the 7th.

[Tom_Doak]

That's the one, but I would swear on that one there was nothing but heather between the top lip of the bunker and the horizon.  I'll let you know tomorrow.

[Tony_Muldoon]

Great to see photos of the course on here at last Philip. Excellent.

I know it's just semantics, and many times a course can cross over from one to another, but why Downland and not Heathland? I thought the former was typically flinty land, and the later acidic hence the heather?


Top of my inland wish list.


PS for those interested in the "Heathland Tour"; if the weather allows then we may be playing Walton Heath this coming Friday.  But Richard and I will definitely be at Walton Heath in the PM of the following Monday 4th(?) June when they host the European Qualifying Round of the US Open.  Anyone interested in meeting up please IM me.  It's free, all day (36 holes) and two years ago Michael Campbell went from Walton Heath to finish first at Pinehurst. Well worth attending and hope to meet you there.

[Noel Freeman]

I've had some terrific experiences at West Sussex including meeting Donald Steele practicing his putting.  If you look at the bunkers on 2 and 3 they were redone by The Donald when I was there.. They had no heather on top of them and looked a bit etch and sketch but now look like they have grown in better.

The drive over the heather and bunker on #7 reminded me not of the Sandbelt but of Pine Valley for some reason.

[Philip Gawith]

Tony - it clearly has lots of heather so is obviously a heathland course. I suppose I referred to the downs because the sandy/chalky surface made me think of the downs, and is clearly distinct and different from the other heathland courses i have played. And the club is situated, in its own words, in the "lee of the South Downs".

The drive at 7 has a little bit of the 7th at Sunningdale Old and the 8th at Addington about it, though neither has a similar bunker.

[Mark_Rowlinson]

Great pictures, Philip.  There is a very nice atmosphere at the club.  

[Michael Wharton-Palmer]

Wonderful pictures.
I remember playing there in a county match whilst I was at University in the area, I believe against Hampshire...a great matchplay course, and one of my favourite heathland courses..what a great area for golf...I really must go back sometime on a pilgrimage.

[Tom_Doak]

Checked my old photos this morning and my memory was wrong -- there was no more heather than today, maybe even a bit less, since there is not so much showing up on the fringes of the bunkers.

[Mark_F]

It's amazing to me that the attributes of this course haven't been followed more closely.

Barely over 6200 yards, it's easy to nip around in 2 hours if you so desire, you have some long and strong par fours, a good set of threes, a couple of nice short fours, blind drives, bunkerless holes, greens where it is difficult to discern where the back is, some fine rumpled fairways...

It's reminiscent in style, perhaps, of Woodlands and Commonwealth on the Sandbelt, because of its modest length and charm, but it's a better course than both of those, I think.

[Tommy Williamsen]

I knew I should have played it when I was in England last year.  I guess I'll just have to go back.

[Philip Gawith]

I did not think of the Commonwealth comparison Mark mostly on aesthetic grounds - it was very green when I played it, a far cry from Pulborough after a very dry April. I also recall the soil there being a bit redder than elsewhere on the Sandbelt, whereas at Pulborough it is chalky-white. That said, I agree with you re the style of some of the holes being similar.

Agree with you overall - a great and varied set of short-holes stick in the mind, as do some tough par 4's, such as 4 and 11 and 17.

I think Tom in TCG described it as possibly the most aesthetic of all the heathland courses. I have not played them all so can't comment - but it certainly feels a bit different to them, not least because the downland setting is a different landscape to most of the Surrey/Berkshire courses.

[Kevin Pallier]

Philip

Thanks for the memories - the most striking aspect for me was the great quality and variety of P3's on offer at West Sussex. As a group, they're some of the best going around in England.

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