Hankley Common - Purple, purple, purple!

[Philip Gawith]

Hankley Common may not be the greatest heathland course, but there is surely no other which can match its heather. Even on a bleak August day it was spectacular.

Hankley dates back to about 1896. James Braid got his hands on it about twenty years later, and then Harry Colt made some improvements and three holes bear his imprint - 10,11 and 12.

The course does not have enough top notch holes to make the top rank, but I think it is still well worth the visit. There is a strong set of short holes, especially the 7th, the heather is without match, and it is also the most open of the heathland courses I have played (not open as in wide off the tee, but open as in a great sense of space). Additionally it is very quiet.

I suspect GCA stalwarts might have a word or two to say about the set-up. Some of the fairways are more narrowly set up than needs to be the case, and also too damp. Although the course is old fashioned in the sense that most holes allow you to run the ball into the green, "firm and fast" is not a concept with which the greens committee is familiar.

The vintage of the course is partly evident from the relatively high number of blind tee shots. And part of its quality resides in the excellent terrain - the mix of blind shots, doglegs, gentle cambers reminded me of Royal Melbourne.

For a South African, it was disappointing not to see any old pictures of Bobby Locke who used to use Hankley to practice for the Open on account of its links-style greens.

I have been a bit indulgent with the photos on account of being completely dazzled by the heather, and never previously having seen Hankley on GCA.

First nine:



Looking back at the first - the first of many blind drives on the course.



2nd - first of a strong set of short holes



Approach to the short third - a driveable two-shotter for long hitters, with clever bunkers.



The hills behind the 3rd give you a sense of the space you feel on the course



Another driveable two-shotter with old-style bunker across the front of the green



5th



More glorious scenery



6th - tee shot on the strong uphill three-shotter



Looking back down the 6th



Greenside bunkering on the 6th



The 180 yard 7th - the stand-out hole on the course



More of 7



Looking back at 7



Tee shot on par 5 8th



Approach to the short two-shotter 9th



Looking back at 9 - a shortish downhill right to left, with blind tee shirt.

[Bill_McBride]

That heather is beautiful but deadly!

Thanks for the photos, Philip.  Hankley Common looks worth a visit if the heather is blooming.  Is it in the immediate London area?  I love the gorse in bloom, but the heather may be even more lovely.

[Andy Levett]

Great pix. I always used to think heather was the ultimate vegetative hazard because you could always find your ball but never hit it far - but looking at roid-heather I wonder if you can find it and hit it at all.
Is there a definite attibution for 7? Just from pix it looks similar to Gibraltar at Moortown.

[Philip Gawith]

Obviously posting lots of pics is bad karma as i have been timed out four times. So I am now going the express route for second nine with explanation up front!

10-12 are the Colt holes - the greens are much larger and the fairway, especially on 12, much broader (with no semi-rough).

13 is straight par 5; 14 is back into the trees two-shotter, with pronounced fairway dip; 15 is another blind tee shot short par four; 16 starts a strong finish - uphill par three.

Two strong two-shotters to finish: 17 bends left, and 18 bends right -and requires a long 2nd that has to carry all the way to get over a grassy hollow.

[Philip Gawith]

Those previous were 10 -13

These are 14-18

[Philip Gawith]

Bill - Hankley is about an hour south-west of London in South-West of Surrey, not that far from Pulborough in West Sussex. You are dead right about that heather - just brutal to get out of.

Andy - not sure about antecdents of 7th. There is a centenary history of the club where maybe all is revealed!

[Mike_Cirba]

That heather is unspeakably beautiful.

Thanks for sharing, Philip.

[Tony_Muldoon]

Purple reign, purple reign...  could Hankley be the Prince of all the Heather courses? (sorry ).


Wonderful pictures Philip and thanks for taking the time to post.   The wet weather this year seems to have produced an fantastic crop of flowers on the heath.   No course I've seen has it in such great expanses.    Lets hope Leeds being a little further North looks this good in September.


It's odd that there's no Birch to be seen, without livestock to control them they must be culling self sown trees to keep that open heathland look - it's up there with Walton Heath in that respect.


Richard and I had Hankley on our list and you went without asking us...I'm jealous.

[Philip Gawith]

Tony - silver birch is one of the main trees there. Must just be a quirk of the photos. You can see one or two in some of the photos.

Re the heather - I am no expert but there seemed to be more than one strain? Clumps of it were a lot brighter - and dryer - almost like dried flowers, than the rest. Or maybe that is just the later stage of development when the heather has flowered? Showing my ignorance here!

BTW - I saw Mr Purple Reign performing in London last week and pretty magnificent he was too!

[Mark_Rowlinson]

It's all part of a big conservation area where tree removal was carried out on a large scale to maintain the heath - so many of them are vanishing. It could be that they are restricted in what they can do with drainage because of the conservation requirements. I haven't been there for quite some years, but I don't remember its being wet.  I'd have said it was firm and fast, so maybe things have changed. The 18th's a good hole.

[Philip Gawith]

Sean - what features made you think it was modern?

To my mind, the numerous blind shots and the relatively subtle greens were sure signs that it was not a modern course. Likewise the high number of short two-shotters - seven of them under 400 yards, and three under 350 yards. And the lack of punitive carries to built up greens.

Other thoughts

- it has a good routing with a lot of directional change, lot of doglegs running both directions.

The white tees are 6,400 but they have recently added a purple set which add a lot of length to some holes, and 300 yards in total.

- i liked the revetted bunkers, quite distinctive on inland course. Overall they have quite a distinctive style - generally large with flat bases, but some of the greenside ones are quite steep.

- i did not capture the narrowness of some of the earlier holes, which i thought was a bit of a fault of the setup.

- i think the course in certain parts, especially early, is too wet and hence the firm and fast potential (with open entrances to greens) is not realised.

You are right re the balance of stronger holes being on the second nine. The 18th is a particularly strong finish requiring two strong shots - and there is very little room for an imperfect second given the hole in front of the green.

I liked the feel of the course a lot but I think if you were greenkeeper you would have a few improvemetns to suggest!

[Andrew Mitchell]

Philip

Great photos yet again.  You and Sean do us proud with highlighting the less well known UK courses.

Heather in bloom is a fantastic sight and Hankley has it in abundence. When I was last at Alwoodley (2005) they were encouraging regeneration of the heather so hopefully we will be able to enjoy   the purple heather next month.  The Yorkshire moors in my area are just coming into bloom now.

[Ally Mcintosh]

i should be playing hankley common in two weeks time... i hope the heather is still in bloom as in the above pictures... looks gorgeous...

[Brent Hutto]

Heather in bloom is a fantastic sight and Hankley has it in abundence. When I was last at Alwoodley (2005) they were encouraging regeneration of the heather so hopefully we will be able to enjoy   the purple heather next month.  The Yorkshire moors in my area are just coming into bloom now.

Here's a spot not too far from Andrew, if I understand my English geography...



There seems to be a bandwidth restriction so I've temporarily stolen the image and put it on my web server. The original URL is as follows:
http://i1.trekearth.com/photos/21554/roseberry-moors28.jpg

[Andrew Mitchell]

Brent
I'm afraid I've just got a box with a red cross in it at the moment.  Are you seeing something different?

[Jason McNamara]

Bill - Hankley is about an hour south-west of London in South-West of Surrey, not that far from Pulborough in West Sussex.

It's also rather close to North Hants and (esp.) Hindhead, both of which have been on the list lately.

Thanks as always Philip for the great pics.

[Andrew Mitchell]

Brent

Roseberry is part of the North York Moors, probably about 50 miles from Leeds.


I live near the above expanse of moorland known as Rombalds Moor which stretches from Baildon and Bingley over to Ilkley, and which begat the Yorkshire anthem "On Ilkley Moor bah t'at" !!

Philip - sorry for the thread diversion, just to get it back on to a heathery trend, here's one for the Buda participants to look forward to

[Philip Gawith]

That is the nicest picture I have seen of Alwoodley Andrew - normally it looks pretty gloomy by comparison. I hope we are lucky enough to see it in such good form.

What is the series of pictures from which you have drawn that picture - looks quite interesting.

[Brent Hutto]

Andrew,

Now we're talking! That photo is a great find. Like Philip my mental images of Alwoodley, formed from the photos I've seen, is of interesting golf in a rather drab setting. I would hope there are more where that one came from.

[EDIT] A quick Google locates this link http://www.hiddenlinksgolf.com/coursepage4.php?crs_id=2

[Mark Pearce]

It's funny how impressions form.  I've played Alwoodley once before on a beautiful summer's day.  My image is of a bright, inviting place.  I can't wait 'til BUDA.  Ganton and Alwoodley for three days, with a digestif at Moortown.  Fantastic.

[Tommy_Naccarato]

That heather looks like it's been imported from a Charlotte Bronte novel....As Tom Doak once said (in jest) Heather is overrated!

This entire thread is proof we have so much left to cover in this world of golf, here, on Golf Club Atlas.

[Andrew Mitchell]

Philip
Brent beat me to it!

More pictures from the same website to further whet Buda appetites!










The area of rough (just off the photo) to the right of the bunker fronting the approach to the 17th green still gives me nightmares.  Playing in a qualifying round I hooked my approach into that rough and never saw it again leading to a triple bogey.  I subsequently found out that just a bogey at 17 would have seen me qualify for the final at Sunningdale, somewhere I've never played but always wanted to  I've a few demons to exorcise at Buda!

[Evan Fleisher]

Great photos...and that #7 hole is most certainly a standout.

Thanks for sharing!

[Brent Hutto]

The area of rough (just off the photo) to the right of the bunker fronting the approach to the 17th green still gives me nightmares.  Playing in a qualifying round I hooked my approach into that rough and never saw it again leading to a triple bogey.  I subsequently found out that just a bogey at 17 would have seen me qualify for the final at Sunningdale, somewhere I've never played but always wanted to  I've a few demons to exorcise at Buda!

Goodness, another lefty! Fortunately, your description won't give me nightmares as I couldn't hook the ball for a thousands bucks with two mulligans. Then again, I can hit some nice pulled shots on occasion...

[Ally Mcintosh]

i have a few extra sunset photos of hankley should anyone be interested?... could just do with someone letting me know how to post them...

thoroughly enjoyed the course... the holes at the back of the common that were more open were the pick... the 7th and 11th were two outstanding par-3's...

...conditioning not so good so not playing that firm... but all in all one of the better heathland courses