My mother-in-law is fabulous!
Thanks to her visiting this weekend, I was, for the first time in a very long while, able to get out on a weekend afternoon for a twilight game. By 3.30pm, I'd narrowed the choice down to the local Oak Park (£25), North Hants (£40), or Huntercombe (£37). I chose Huntercombe. By 4.30pm I was in the car park at Huntercombe and by 4.45pm, was picking the ball out of the cup on the 1st, having succumbed to what must be the customary 3-putt for first time visitors.
Like many on here, I'd been aware of Huntercombe's existence for a very long time and can recall several journeys down to Reading during my days with Hawtree in the early 90's and sneaking a quick peak to the right, as I sped past the course. Not since then have I had occasion to visit, but it has long been on my radar and being as it lies less than 30 miles and 50 minutes from my front door...and it was a lovely day, it seemed an opportunity too good to pass up.
Some have commented on here that this is a course that all golf course architects should visit before plying their trade and having now seen it, wholeheartedly endorse that opinion. It was a truly wonderful golfing experience and is the kind of course that I could happily play on a regular basis for the rest of my days. Messrs Gawith and Payne of this parish are very fortunate indeed.
There are not many courses that hold my attention for every shot of 18 holes, but Huntercombe did that admirably. Unaccompanied as I was, I was grateful for the little course planner that forewarned me of some of the hidden hazards. It kept me out of a lot of mischief.
From the air or on plan, Huntercombe does not have the grandeur of its esteemed heathland neighbours in the South, but it packs a great deal into its modest acreage and the sheer intricacy of the design, with its plethora of humps, moguls, hollows and ridges
is a masterclass in the art of creative golf architecture. The greens are quite something to behold. For me, the 3rd takes the prize for the best green. I don't want to admit how close I came to putting out-of-bounds!
Of the courses i've seen, i'd say Huntercombe reminds me most of Berkhamsted, with a splash of Addington and Tadmarton Heath thrown in. I've not played Royal Ashdown Forest, but I expect that would be similar too. I never felt too constrained by the trees, but understand and agree that it would be for the best if plenty of the clag between the specimen trees were cleared out. There was just so much to take in that it is going to take a few visits to get a handle on just what this course has to offer. Highlights for me were the 2nd, with its brilliant use of sloping terrain and a simply stunning view across the Vale, the 3rd and 4th for their wacky greens, the 7th for its intricate mounding and the 16th, which I felt was a great design for a very short par 5. I tanked a drive way down the middle with a touch of fade, only to find my ball in an impossible position in the deep crater mid fairway. Playing out backwards, I then had an all-or-nothing carry to the green over the deep pit, which I made and completed in par. 17 is also a great little hole and a startling contrast to what has gone before.
More than the course, the whole club seemed to have just the right atmosphere and would I am sure have been a lovely place to linger, had I not been so keen to get in as much golf as I could before the sun set. As it was, I went around the first 5 again in the dusky sunlight and will long remember the feeling of great contentment as I walked down the 2nd fairway and was suddenly, after hours in the woodland, greeted with that fabulous view to the far horizon. Even Didcot Power Station looked lovely in that light.
Huntercombe deserves to be recognized far better than it is. It is much more than a museum piece of how golf architecture was once planned, it is a guide to how we should all be thinking about courses in the future. It has a deep quality that has endured for more than a century, yet there are courses being built today whose appeal wanes before one has even finished playing. Maybe not in the top echelon, but one of England's very finest courses nevertheless and a required visit for anybody with an interest in golf design.