Blackheath, 400 years on.

[Tony_Muldoon]

http://www.royalblackheath.com/index.php?section=&content_id=140

   
From the website
 
"Match on the Heath
Sunday 6th July 2008.

The Royal Blackheath Golf Club (RBGC) is pleased to announce plans to re-enact a golf competition the on Blackheath, on a golf course as near as possible to the original 5 holes where Blackheath golfers devised their first, somewhat primitive, course in the very early 1600s.
Lewisham and Greenwich Councils have agreed to close the Heath on Sunday 6th July 2008 from 8am through to 5pm.
The course itself, although only 5 holes, is long and it is anticipated that it will take 90 minutes to complete. RBGC course management team will be working hard from May onwards in conjunction with the ground staff from the Heath to prepare a well structured and defined course.
The course will be played with Hickory Clubs, the original wooden shafted clubs from the early years of golf. Players will wear a specially designed red  "Match On the Heath" golf shirt.
Those members who are playing in the Match on the Heath should email the club professional Matthew Johns to confirm the shirt size required.
Celebrity guests and sponsors will play between 9.30 am and 11.am and the remainder of the time will be tee times allocated to members.
As well as the match, FREE coaching will be offered for juniors, whether they have played golf before or are complete beginners. Royal Blackheath Golf Club would like as many young golfers and would be golfers to enjoy the day. Contact the club professional Matthew Johns to book a tee time for your child or children.
The 6th of July will be an historic and memorable day for all at Royal Blackheath Golf Club. To have the opportunity to walk in the footsteps of the people who have shaped, not only the Club, but golf itself is an opportunity not to be missed.
The public are invited to enjoy this spectacular event on the Heath, which will attract TV coverage and produce some wonderful golfing moments on this historic occasion. Commemorative merchandise will be available on the day read more.
Shepherd Neame, ’s Oldest Brewer, brewing since 1698, will be setting up a refreshment tent on the Heath.
This should be a great occasion and a special start to the Royal Black Heath 2008 Celebration Programme.
In addition to the golf, Blackheath Football Club will be staging a special rugby match to commemorate their 150th birthday. For more information about the rugby club click here
Blackheath and Bromley Harriers, who are the oldest athletics club in the world, will also be represented. To view the web site click here."




I think the dog and I may pay a visit.

[Tom_Doak]

Tony:  I wish I was around for that one.  I've always wondered about that course after reading B. Darwin's description of it.

[David_Elvins]

That looks really coo, Tony.

How long was the original 5 hole course in existence for?

[Tony_Muldoon]

There's a very busy road running through it and I'm amazed they've been able to shut it.  When the club was playing there it was the main route fro Londn to Kent.

I did walk round it last summer before I'd seen the above map (in first post) and I don't think it  bears much resemblance to how it was when golf was played. I have old photo's showing gorse and deep craters.  Today it has been mown as grass in a public park for over a century.  There were no obvious green sites or hazards apart from the roads.   

I'll try and get there and report back.

[Tom_Doak]

Tony:

What is that enormous park/estate just to the north of the golf course?

[Tony_Muldoon]

Tom

The enclosed area is Greenwich Park laid out by Le Notre most famous for his work at Versailles.  The buildings to the left are a part of the Greenwich Observatory and from there you get a fine view down over the Naval College  and what was once Greenwich Palace where James the 1(V1) stayed when he first played golf there.

This is one of the most spectacular, yet undervisited, tourist bits of London.

[Andrew Mitchell]

Tony

I've only been to Blackheath once.  When I got there I had to run for 26 miles (& 385 yards) just to get back to Central London