Craig
Thanks, yes no chance of a restoration there! I wonder what some of this ground looked like untouched? There appeared to be quite a few contours on the original plan for the area which is now the car park (old 4,5,6).
Interestingly, I don't think that Colt had the choice of going beyond the dune line where the 6th,7th and 8th are currently (and 13,14 on the inward 9). The sea was MUCH closer, and that area, along with the Jubilee 9 was used by sunbathers...
From the club history:
"If today one stands on the eighth tee of the old course and surveys the Jubilee course and the distanr sandhills, it is difficult to believe that at the turn of the century the greater part of the area was under the sea; and even harder to believe that as recently as the mid-sixties the sand hills did not exist, and from time to time the tide borke through the bank on which the fifth tee of the Jubilee is situated and flooded the left hand side of the eighth fairway.
The process of land recovery took place over many years, as the coastal current changed and the sea retreated gradually towards the harbour mouth. By the mid-sixties there was a large enough area of dry land to encourage the thought that one day it would be suitable for golf if the occasional flooding by the sea could be prevented...Thus the matter rested for the following 5 years and all the while the sea currents were diverted further from Rye as a result of the new sea wall at Pett level and by 1970 a line of sandhills has sprung up, giving a complete protection from the sea and floodings."
What a fast change in the terrain!
Good to see the old 9th green, in the photo, I never took a look at it when I was there.