Another trip to Notts GC, to drink from the Holy Well.

[James Boon]

I played Hollinwell again a couple of weeks ago, the second time in two weeks, and it seems to me that even though I’ve always loved the course, it is really pushing to be my favourite… Plenty of history, both with regards to the club and the architecture, the feel of the club is old fashioned enough to give it real character, but without being stuffy, and the course? Well, there is plenty of variety to keep you interested and the challenge, though it is a stiff one, is far from impossible. Also, the course is set within some 600 acres, well more than average for a single golf course, and this means that at times there really is a feel of seclusion and retreat from everyday life rushing bye. And to top it all off, that such a course of this calibre is only half an hours drive from my house, really makes it a winner!

Firstly, let’s just clarify the name thing here. I myself refer to it as both Notts and Hollinwell but which is it? The club is Notts GC but the course is known as Hollinwell. I’m taking this to be similar say to the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers who play their golf at Muirfield, so for the purposes of this post I’m going to refer to it as Hollinwell but I may occasionally refer to it as Notts, much as one would pretty much always refer to it as Muirfield but occasionally slip in a reference to the HCEG to spice things up a bit or to look more sophisticated!

I shall give a brief history of the course here, but some time soon I hope to write a more in depth history of the club for the Tournament Programme of a competition I am helping to organise at Hollinwell later in the year. When I do, I shall add it to this thread.

Notts GC moved to Hollinwell from their previous course at Bulwell Forest just north of Nottingham, in November of 1901. The course was originally laid out by Willie Park Jnr. However only about a year later JH Taylor was consulted with regards to the bunkering of the course, which may well have had something to do with the ever increasing advances in golf ball technology at the time? This course was the one Darwin played in his “The Golf Courses of the British Isles”, but in 1912 Tommy Williamson’s scheme of improvements was adopted, in an attempt to reduce the climbs involved in some of the hillier parts of the course, most notably the addition of the 3 new holes to the west of the entrance driveway and the addition of the new downhill par 3 thirteenth. More recently the club has undergone a major renovation programme, rumoured to be part of an attempt to entice the Walker Cup to the course. This has added length to the course and moved or rebuilt most of the bunkers, helping to tie them back into the surrounding landscape better, while stiffening the challenge for the better player. Other recent works have included large areas of tree and bracken removal in an attempt to return the land to its heathland origins.  

Before I left to play this time, I did a bit of a search on here and other than Ran’s review and a picture essay by the ever reliable Mr Arble, there wasn’t much, and the photos were few and far between, so I decided to take my camera in an attempt to improve on the picture situation. I was though thwarted by the ever changeable weather in this wonderful country, so I’ve had to tweak a few as they were so dark, so apologies if a few look a little odd!

This time around I was lucky enough to be playing with a low single figure handicap member who suggested we play off the blue tees that stretch the course to well over 7,000 yards, so I’ve listed those yardages and the yellows that would be more likely to be played by a visitor.

Hole 1, par 4
Blue 381 yards
Yellow 351 yards
Many see this as a rather bland and disappointing opening hole, however I don’t mind it at all. It’s usually played into the wind which can give it a little extra bite and the fairway bunkers on both sides at approx 240 out mean you often ease your way into the round with a fairway wood from the tee. To be honest, we are going to be challenged enough around Notts that I certainly have no problem with this opening hole! This is the view from the tee, right next to the entrance drive outside the pro shop and clubhouse


The second is played to a green with bunkers left and right. Many people may remember a large number of trees, mainly silver birch as I recall, to the back of the green. Our host for the day informed us that due to the electric cables running over the back of the green, the area beneath the cables had to be kept clear, so the club recently cut back all these trees. This is the view of the approach


Hole 2, par 4
Blue 462 yards
Yellow 413 yards
This is one of the real stand out holes! A long par 4 that doglegs to the left, to a green sitting in the crook of the hill, beneath “Robin Hood’s Seat”. The blue tees used to be with the white and the yellows at around 428 yards here, but the tree clearance behind the first has allowed for a new blue tee which now stretches the hole to 462 yards. This makes for a challenging drive, if you can hug the heather and bunkers with your tee shot, you have a shorter easier line in though it will be slightly blind, where as if you go further away from the bunkers you can get a glimpse of the green but the shot is much longer, and you run the risk of running through the fairway.


This is the view from next to the bunkers, you can just see the little white flag in the distance. Plenty of room to run a ball in from the left, though you need to be brave hitting over the corner of the heather and bracken covered hillside.


From a little further past the bunkers you begin to see how the green nestles in between the hillsides. This is the part known as “Robin Hood’s seat” where the legendary outlaw is said to have sat on look out for the sheriffs men approaching. I always used to think it was the hillside behind the green, with a small rock outcrop, but there is a picture in the clubhouse scrapbook which shows it to be the hillside to the left, which would indeed give a view towards Nottingham


Edit August09: Here is an alternative picture of the approach to the second green. This picture and a few others I'll add, show how the gorse is now dormant while the long grass and heather have become dormant.


Hole 3, par 5
Blue 547 yards
Yellow 482 yards
You now turn back downhill towards the clubhouse to complete the triangle of holes to the west of the entrance drive, added in 1912. The back blue tee is set right up in the hillside and makes quite a difference to the drive. From the yellows I have always been able to get over the ridge about 220 yards out and then get plenty of run that brings the green within range in two easily. From the back tee though this ridge is over 280 yards away, and I could only just get up to the bunker!


The choice, as Ran explains well in his rightup, is that if you lay up it should be short left of the bunkers as if you try and squeeze one in short and right, you then have to pitch, chip or putt through a small hollow and the entrance road is only just behind the green from that narrower angle. If you lay up short left, then it’s an easy pitch over the bunkers up the length of the green. A great setting just in front of the clubhouse


Hole 4, par 4
Blue 454 yards
Yellow 429 yards
This tough par 4 was originally the first hole as Willie Park Jnr. designed the course, and it’s also used as the playoff hole for Open Qualifying here. The water hazard in front of the tee, which is also just off the left of the 18th fairway, was originally a small stream, created to get rid of a very wet area here some years ago. Also the left fairway bunker used to be about 50 yards shorter than its present position but was recently moved.
Edit August09: New picture of tee shot.


Here is the view of the approach. The cross bunker certainly comes into play for anyone who finds the rough and needs to hack out. You can see the 17th fairway running behind the green.


Hole 5, par 3
Blue 189 yards
Yellow 165 yards
A fairly innocent looking par 3, though often played into the wind and surrounded by bunkers it can be tricky to get your par here. When Darwin played the course, this was a short par 4, but he did mention the “pretty background of trees and water” much as it is today.
Edit August09: New picture of this hole added.


Hole 6, par 5
Blue 582 yards
Yellow 516 yards
Quite a difference here between the yellow and the blue tees. From the yellows, you are in front of this pond, and either play left of the bunkers to give yourself a view of what is ahead, or you could try and fly the bunkers. From the blues you are a lot further back, and the setting for the tee is a little beauty. I have to admit that this was another hole where a good drive was just short of the bunkers, which may explain why I was managing a good score, with the trouble out of range!


If you can get it up to the bunkers, you get a good view of the hole


The green slopes back to front and left to right, with bunkers short left and right, as well as a hollow short right.


Hole 7, par 4
Blue 404 yards
Yellow 388 yards
This hole could be considered a bit of breather, but you have to be straight off the tee to really feel it as one, as this is one of the holes where the trees really do encroach. All the tees here are pretty close to each other. There is no room to extend the blues backwards here as through the trees you will be able to see the 15th fairway running behind it. You drive into a small hollow, or just through it where there is a fairway bunker to the left.


The green is protected short left by several bunkers so the best angle for an approach is probably from the right of the fairway, giving you a full view up the green


Hole 8, par 4
Blue 408 yards
Yellow 357 yards
Holy Well
This is probably the hole at Hollinwell that you will have heard of? The drive from the back tees is across a lake, between mature trees and though if you are playing from these back tees this shouldn’t be too much of a challenge, the setting is beautiful. You really need to challenge the trees on the right, or fade the ball from the tee, as this hole doglegs from left to right from here.


From this back tee you meander back through the woods towards the fairway, but you really must stop at this point for a drink. This is the holy well from where the courses name is derived, the Hollinwell, and it is marked by a stone tablet.


You work your way down some narrow stone steps for a drink of cold fresh water. The monks at nearby Newstead Abbey are believed to have used this spring as a water source many years ago, and its also been used by the club in the past to keep slightly stronger drinks cool!
Here is our host, taking a drink from the small metal cup provided


The yellow tee is a little disappointing in comparison to that of the blues or whites, as the lake is not in play and the hole is much shorter and straighter. This is the view looking back from the fairway with back tees and lake to the left, the Hollinwell in the woods in the middle, and yellow tees with 7th green behind, to the right


Hole 9, par 3
Blue 178 yards
Yellow 149 yards
By the tee here is the small refreshments hut with its “Hollinwell Halt” sign, dating back from when the course originally had its own stop along the railways line. At the formation of the course here at Hollinwell, a new station halt was built, a reasonable return fair from Nottingham was agreed and a telephone link from station to clubhouse provided so that member could be informed when their train was approaching.


The green on this par 3 sits in front of a wonderful gorse covered hill and is surrounded by bunkers


So that’s the front nine holes, if you have played off the blue tees then you have just played a challenging, but not impossible, 3,609 yards. If from the yellow then 3,250 yards. Both to a par of 36.

Back nine to follow shortly...

[James Boon]

Hole 10, par 4
Blue 414 yards
Yellow 350 yards
This is another hole where the recent addition of a new tee has lengthened the hole considerably. It plays blind along the boundary of the course, where you aim at a marker cross in the far trees. From the blue tees it’s a driver and there are two deep little bunkers on the left to catch you. From the yellows it tends to play as a fairway wood downwind, perhaps with a bit of cut, as it does dogleg slightly to the right


The green sits against the hillside to the left with bunkers catching anything short and a bit of a drop off back left, so an accurate approach is required


Hole 11, par 4
Blue 360 yards
Yellow 353 yards
Now we come to what I suspect Darwin was referring to when he mentioned the more mountainous country… The 11th green plays uphill through its own little valley, and if you time your visit right, the hillsides will be covered in yellow gorse. Beautiful to look at, less so if you hit one into there!


Edit August09: Or if you time your visit to later in the year, the purple heather is up on the hillsides. You can see the 12th fairway in the very top left of this pciture, up on top of the hill.


Your second shot here seems even more uphill than the drive, though this has always been one of my least favourite holes on the course, so perhaps its not actually that steep. A bunker some 30 odd yards short of the green is well placed to catch anyone not taking enough club up the hill


However, looking back down the hole, you can see how stunning the hole, the land and the course in general, actually are


Hole 12, par 4
Blue 474 yards
Yellow 423 yards
This one can be a real brute, especially into the wind, but its almost an easier hole into the wind than when its behind! This is because the fairway drops down into a hollow about 290 from the back tees or 240 from the yellows and can easily be reached downwind. At the moment there is a narrow strip of fairway in this hollow, but that isn’t always the case. From here you are left with a blind approach to the green, with an uneven lie. If however wind is against, though there is an awful lot of ground to cover and plenty of other trouble to be avoided, the large hollow shouldn’t really come into play, thus making your second shot easier. Rule of thumb seems to be that the further right you aim, the easier the carry to the fairway and the less likely you are to run into the hollow, about on line with the middle telegraph pole does the trick.


Edit August09: This is the view looking back from the fairway, down towards the tees. The Championship tee can be seen in the very centre. To the left is an area of fairway that shorter hitters can play out towards if they cant hit it up here to the top of the hill.


And here is the view of the approach. Usually you wont see it in this much detail as it tends to play blind, but you can see how any approach should come in from the right to use the contours of the land.


This is the view looking back from behind the green. Your approach here can easily be run in from the right side while anything short and left is either in the bunker or well below the green, in more trouble.


Hole 13, par 3
Blue 241 yards
Yellow 179 yards
This is one of my favourite par 3s anywhere. It plays into the prevailing wind and with its yardage this can seem terrifying, but it does play down hill, which certainly helps. There are at least 6 different tees set into the hillside like a series of terraces.  

This is a closer look at the green from just short. You can see that though the ground short all falls towards the green, there is plenty of rough and gorse as well as 6 bunkers surrounding the green.


And looking back up the hill from behind the green


Hole 14, par 4
Blue 403 yards
Yellow 368 yards
This hole seem like a bit of a breather to be honest, but it still requires you to concentrate. This is the view from the tee.


There is a cross bunker to stop you trying to get too close, and the green is raised up, so anything missing the green can leave a tricky chip shot.


Hole 15, par 4
Blue 439 yards
Yellow 421 yards
I think this was one of Darwin’s favourites, though when he visited this played as the 7th. Its another hole at Hollinwell where the tees are all pretty close together, so it plays pretty tough from the yellow tees.


After a good drive down the middle, you are left with this view of the green, sitting in its little natural hollow, surrounded again by gorse. Unless you are a big hitter that has found the downslope at about 270 yards out, you will probably have a fairway wood or long iron in hand, so this calls for some real nerve!


A closer look at the green


And looking back from behind the green, where the level area of fairway followed by the downslope can be seen in the distance


Hole 16, par 4
Blue 353 yards
Yellow 349 yards
As this hole is downhill, and the yardage pretty short, you may think that this hole is a breather as well, but you would be wrong! Your drive here is down hill, so its probably just a fairway wood off the tee as the hole doglegs to the right, with a couple of bunkers on the corner to catch you if you try and get too close to the green.


Its when you get towards the green that you realise that your pitch to the green here is not an easy one and you really see the challenge on this hole. Short of the green is a very deep bunker, running the full width of the green, over the back is more rough and gorse and the left hand tier of the green has a severe back to front slope, so you better hope for an uphill putt!


Edit August09: Here is the view from behind the green, showing the downhill nature of the hole a little clearer


Hole 17, par 5
Blue 501 yards
Yellow 486 yards
The penultimate hole offers a chance for the bigger hitter to hit the green in two, and hopefully smarten up his card a bit, but the drive must be tight to the further away fairway bunkers as seen here. The fairway also slopes from right to left, encouraging a big drawn tee shot for that extra bit of run!


Here is the second shot, with the green in the background in front of the trees. A layup either needs to be well back or quite close to avoid leaving a pitch from a downslope about 80 yards away from the green, and the green itself tilts from back left to front right, encouraging another aggressive drawn approach, though as with the previous hole, a downhill putt can suddenly get a bit scary…


Hole 18, par 4
Blue 457 yards
Yellow 450 yards
I’m sure plenty of players have walked off the 17th happy with their birdie only to follow it with a bogey on 18! The downhill drive, to a narrow fairway, has to avoid bunkers at 240 and 280 odd yards from the tee, and as with the 15th all the tees are close together so it’s a brute of a finish from the yellow tees, but the sight of the welcoming clubhouse in the distance is encouraging!


Bunkers and water in the layup area, 3 greenside bunkers and the entrance drive on the right mean only the most accurate of approach shots will do as your round draws to a close


And looking back up the hole from behind the green, with the same view as you will have from the clubhouse. This always leaves me looking forward to when I will get to play here again?


And also looking across the entrance drive up the 3rd hole


So the back nine was of 3,642 yards from the blues or 3379 yards from the yellows, par 36, totalling a par 72 and a yardage of either 7,251 or 6,629. Despite the yardage off the blue tees it’s very manageable, even to a SSS of 75. Much of the trouble was out of range for me from the back tees, and though on some holes there is huge differences between blue and yellow tees, on the many holes they are pretty close to one another. Still, you should find that you don’t need to just blast away with a driver, as is often the case with courses of this length, as there are 3 or 4 holes where driver can be left in the bag. Though you may need your driver on one of the par 3s!

Please feel free to comment or query accordingly.

Cheers,

James

[James Boon]

And while I think about it, here is a link to a recent thread by Andy Levett looking to see if anyone wants to get together at Hollinwell in October:
http://golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,39661.0.html

Cheers,

James

[Melvyn Morrow]

James

A couple of articles that may be of interest to you re Notts GC


These article came from the Scotsman under Golfing Topics on the 12th February 1901 and followed each other.

Melvyn

[Anthony Gray]

   James,

  Thanks again for a nice photo tour. Your contributions are valued. The joys of gourse in bloom.

  Anthony

[Ash Towe]

James,
Thanks very much for the photo tour.  It brings back many memories of my visit to Hollinwell.  I was young and my late uncle took me to see the John Player Championship.  The event had the largest first prize at the time.  Tony Jacklin was in his prime but the event was won by Christy O'Connor.  Even then I thought it was a great place to play.  There was a feeling of isolation on some of the holes.
A super course.

[Anthony Gray]

  The 11th hole looks like a dream.

  Anthony

[Rob Rigg]

James,

Another brilliant photo tour - thanks so much.

Notts looks like an absolutely majestic course. The "flat" holes seem to really hold the golfers interest (?) and the coloring of the scenery outside the line of play really adds an interest and contrast to the routing. Spectacular.

[Tony_Muldoon]

Another excellent report James thanks for taking the time.  This will have to do until I can get there.

When you do your historical research it would be most interesting to know how it fits in theParks line of Sunningdale, Huntercombe and Notts.   I will try and lok at Darwins first "Golf Courses.." this weekend to see what the early reputation was, but the tournaments it hosted would also give a clue to it's standing.

Look forward to seeing this thread again when you've had a chance to do more research.

[Andrew Mitchell]

Just bumping this after my visit to Notts last week to play in a corporate event.  I'm pleased to report that the course was in superb condition and the recent spell of hot dry weather has certainly added much more of a brown tinge to the fairways in comparison to James's photographs when he was there in May.  Notts was certainly playing fast and firm last week.

Notts certainly doesn't get the publicity it deserves in the UK golf media and I would certainly recommend it should be on the itinerary of anyone planning a visit to the North & Midlands.  To my mind it stands with Ganton and Woodhall Spa in the top echelon of English inland courses.

[James Boon]

I visited Hollinwell again last week, and I thought it worth adding a few new photos. When I played back in May, the gorse was very dominant, while the heather was either pretty new (as they are regenerating a lot of heather areas) or dormant. However, the yellow of May has now been replaced with purple, as the gorse flowers are gone and the heather and long whispy grass with its own brown / purple hint are dominant.

I also played from the yellow tees, were as last time was from the blue Championship tees. It can make quite a difference with the two par 5s on the front nine being within easy reach as you can carry past bunkers and onto downslopes which leave only a mid to long iron in for me. Several other holes are also a lot easier, but as mentioned above, quite a few times all the tees are pretty close together, just to keep you on your toes 

Cheers,

James

[James Boon]

Doing some filing on my laptop, and found the text I did on the history of Notts GC so thought I'd post it here...

Introduction

Notts Golf Club has a long and distinguished history, from its early days at Bulwell Common, now a popular municipal course, to the current course at Hollinwell in the heart of Byron country, within the historic boundaries of Sherwood Forest.

At the height of the industrial revolution the area around the course was surrounded by the coal fields and industry of North Nottingham, it is now a quiet getaway for its members and guests, secluded from the outside World.

Robin Hood used to sit on the rocks above what is now the 2nd green, while the holy well from where the course gets its name, used to be used by the monks of Newstead Abbey but now provides refreshment on the 8th hole, and the heather and gorse create vivid splashes of yellow or purple depending upon the time of year.

Currently ranked by Golf World as the 44th best course in the country, many believe it should be closer to the top of the list and in recent times it has been listed as high as top 25 in GB&I and even top 100 in the World. The club regularly host Open Championship Regional Qualifying and has in the past hosted various professional and amateur events.

Early golf in England

The City of Nottingham has two of the earliest known sites of golf in England. In 1864 John Doleman, a Scotsman from the famous golfing town of Musselburgh moved to the area, and started playing golf on a couple of sites near the River Trent. He soon persuaded a local man to join him but not long after the local authorities informed the men that they should desist from playing this hazardous game near members of the general public, as golf was alien to the English at this time.

They met another Scotsman, John Harris, an architect who had moved to the City, and a club was formally established in 1887 when they were joined by the Right Reverend A Hamilton Baynes who arranged for an inaugural meeting at his house. The Public Parks Committee then agreed that they could use land at the Queen’s Walk Recreation Ground and a 7 hole course was laid out. The golfers promised not to interfere with football or cricket matches that may be taking place, but during the summer they received considerable flack from passing members of the public to whom this was still a strange and unknown game.

However, within a few months the flat course became boring for the golfers so they arranged to move to Bulwell Common. The land here was sandy and gorse covered and considered more appropriate for golf, so another 7 hole course was laid out.

This new course was conveniently near to Bulwell Forest Station on the Great Northern Railway. The station master, Mr Williamson, allowed his house to double as a clubhouse in the early days with players allowed to keep their clubs in a cupboard under the stairs. The station masters wife and daughter would provide tea and refreshments while his young son Tom, would sit under the kitchen table cleaning clubs, unaware of the long association he would eventually have with the club.

In 1894 the course expanded to 18 holes and after a while there were 3 clubs using the course. As well as the large number of golfers using the course, a large number of none golfers were using the common as well, as the suburbs of the city expanded northwards around the area. It was not uncommon for golfers to find a family picnicking on a green at the weekend!

Search for a new home

In 1897 the City Council proposed building a cemetery on the common and though this idea was abandoned this, along with the crowded nature of the course, spurred a few forward thinking members to begin scouting the surrounding countryside for a new site. One member, Mr CR Hemingway, while contracting for a tunnel for the Great Central Railway, noticed the bracken covered slopes at Kirkby Forest. They were uncultivated and had no attraction as agricultural land, but the sandy soil was ideal for golf. The land was part of the estates owned by the Ecclesiastical Commissions close to Newstead Abbey, once the home of Lord Byron, and the “hills of Annesley, bleak and barren”.

Hollinwell

The forward thinking group of members began procedures to see if it was possible to relocate to Kirby Forest. An agreement was reached to lease 217 acres of land from the Ecclesiastical Commissions on the condition that there be no play on Sundays and Willie Park Junior was engaged to inspect the land for its suitability and then to lay out an 18 hole course.

Arrangements were made with the Great Central Railway for there to be a station on the line close to the course and for there to be a convenient service of trains and a fixed reasonable fare between Nottingham Victoria Station and the new station. A telephone line was also to be installed between the signal box and the clubhouse to notify members of approaching trains.

In October of 1900 the proposals were formally bought before the club at a general meeting at The George Hotel, to move the club from Bulwell Common to the new course. Proposals were carried by one vote, which was just as well as work had already begun. A second meeting was held a year later when proposals were finalised, and the members resolved unanimously to move, with the name Hollinwell being formally adopted at a committee meeting in December 1900. The name was taken from the natural spring on the course, the holy well, that used to serve the monks of nearby Newstead Abbey

The new course was eventually opened in November 1901 and the original expenditure on the course was about £4,850.

Alterations & Expansion

When the course was originally laid out the Guttie ball was in common use, however only a couple of years later the Haskell rubber cored ball which could be hit much further was far more popular.

Willie Park Juniors course was in the region of 5,500 yards and was soon considered too short. Therefore, in October 1902 JH Taylor in conjunction with the clubs professional Tom Williamson, made recommendations for improvements, however this is with no disrespect to the design of Willie Park Junior.

Subsequently considerable alterations and improvements were made from time to time on the advice and under the direction of Tom Williamson, who as was normal at the time, was also the head greenkeeper, and by 1906 the course was 6,000 yards long and to a bogey of 81.

In autumn of 1910 an adjacent parcel of land was leased by one of the clubs members who wished to erect a number bungalows on the land, much to the consternation of the club. In the end, only one bungalow was built and the club acquired this and the rest of the land for themselves. They then leased further land beyond this in an attempt to prohibit development near to the course.

This further land allowed for expansion of the course and in November 1911 Tom Williamson formulated a plan for 3 new holes to be constructed to the far side of the access driveway. These were I play by December of 1912, having utilised turf from the now redundant 15 and 16th holes on top of the hill.

Later Years

In June of 1924 the club purchased the land from the Ecclesiastical Commission thus allowing play on Sundays for the first time at their new home.

Though the course drains well, the land in front of the 4th tee and to the left of the 18th was often waterlogged. A water diviner was brought in 1931 and indicated an underground stream. A bore hole was created, which in later years became the pond that is there today.

In July 1966 the golf course architect Frank Pennick inspected the course and made recommendations. 2 years later his recommendations for the 3rd and 18th were carried out, and though more major alterations to 10, 11 and 12 were not carried out some changes were made to the 10th hole and the 11th green while a bulldozer was available. 9 years later Pennick made further recommendations that were carried out on the 12th.

In July 1963 recommendations were put forward to build 2 new holes from the 7th, to allow for a short loop of nine holes to be played back to the clubhouse. 3 years later 8a and 9a came into play.

In 1982 sprinklers were installed to all greens and tees.

In March of 1987 Donald Steel surveyed the courses bunkers and made recommendations which were carried out. The suggestions book from the time illustrates that these adjustments were not popular with the members.

In 1983 the club purchased land from the National Coal Board to extend the practice ground to the south of the first hole.

Hollinwell Halt, situated by the 9th tee, was built in 1981 to give a half way house facility and as a monument to the original railway station, though it is not in the same location. Originally the railway station was called Hollinwell Golf Station though it carried the name boards of Hollinwell and Annesley.

Enemies of the course

As with many other courses set in heathland, rabbits and fire through the dry grass have always been a hindrance, but one of the biggest threats has been subsidence. As the area is full of coal mines, there has been a history of subsidence under the course and clubhouse for which the national Coal Board were often need to provide adequate compensation.

Another threat came from the air! In January 1954 a Lancaster bomber belonging to Rolls Royce, crashed near the 14th hole. Lady golfers on the course at the time helped the slightly injured pilot and 3 technicians from the plane. As a thank you Royal Royce provided the club with a trophy which the ladies now play for.

Tom Williamson & Brian Waites

Tom Williamson’s career as greenkeeper, professional and club maker of Notts GC spanned more than half a century from 1896 until his death in 1950. By serving for 54 years as the clubs professional, the club believe to have set a world record for a club professional in full time service.

His first introduction to golf was as a boy when he came across the previously mentioned Mr Doleman and Mr Harris playing golf across the common before a course had been set out. He saw Mr Harris hit a ball and so ran after it and returned it to him, only to be reprimanded, and made to replace the ball exactly were he had collected it from. He would later sit under the kitchen table cleaning their clubs, as mentioned earlier.

Though he had an early introduction to golf, he wanted to work on the railways, though when he failed his eye test, and instead headed for North Berwick to learn club making at Hutchinson’s shop, which later went on to become Ben Sayers. During the first world war, he combined his work as the clubs professional, with working in a munitions factory.

He played in his first open championship in 1897 at Hoylake and went on to set another world record by playing in every open for fifty years, between 1897 and 1947, finishing 4th at Prestwick in 1914.

He was an early advocate of plasticine models of new greens, and claimed to have worked on all but one of the courses within a fifty mile radius of Nottingham! Nearby Wollaton Park, Beeston Fields, Longcliffe, Rushcliffe and Worksop are all courses designed by him, while he carried out remodelling work at Hollinwell and Sherwood Forest.

Brian Waites was appointed as the clubs professional in 1969, and set the course record for the time of 68 during the 1970 John Player Classic held at the club. He managed to combine a successful career as a club professional with that of a tournament professional, winning twice on the European Tour and representing Europe in the 1983 Ryder Cup at PGA National in Florida.

References
Berners Price, Mike (2006) The Centurions of Golf, Radial Sports Publishing
Collins, Valerie (1989) 100 Years at Notts Golf Club, Brooklyn Press
Cornish, Geoffrey & Whitten, Ronald (1981) The Architects of Golf, Harper Collins
Darwin, Bernard (1910) The Golf Courses of the British Isles
Stephen, Walter (2005) Willie Park Junior: The Man who took Golf to the World, Luath Press

Tournament history

Professional Tournaments in Bold.

1906 News of the World Matchplay Championship
1935 English Amateur Championship
1957 Dunlop Masters
1959 Brabazon Trophy
1964 English Amateur Championship
1970 John Player Classic, largest value of prize money at the time, anywhere in the world!
1975 Brabazon Trophy, won by Sandy Lyle, beating Nick Faldo
1978 Ladies British Open
1982 The Haig Tournament Players Championship, won by Nick Faldo
1983 Brabazon Trophy
1987 British Youths Championship
2004 English Amateur Championship, won by James Heath
2007 Jaques Leglise Trophy, match between GB&I Boys and European Boys teams.
2008 English County Finals

2012 Boys Amateur Championship

Darwin’s Hollinwell

Bernard Darwin was a great golf writer and also the grandson of the naturalist Charles Darwin. In his seminal book The Golf Courses of the British Isles, written in the early part of the Twentieth Century, he visited Hollinwell while it was still a young course. He loved the promise of the course but felt some work was still needed. The improvements which have since taken place have certainly fulfilled the promise that Darwin bestowed upon the course.
   
…we next took the train to Nottingham, and thence some miles out to Hollinwell, passing on the way Bulwell Forest, formally the home of the Notts Golf Club, but now converted into a very popular municipal course. Though Hollinwell is some miles out of Nottingham, the factory chimneys are not so far away, but that the ball, which starts its career on the first tee a snowy white soon passes through a series of varying greys till it is coal black(1), unless its complexion is renewed by a sponge. The southern caddie’s simple and natural method of cleaning a ball is not to be recommended.

Hollinwell is a wonderfully sandy course, and when there is a strong wind one may see great clouds of sand blowing down the course after the most approved seaside fashion. The course is rather curiously shaped, since nearly all the holes lie in a long, wide valley. Sometimes we play down the valley, and sometimes we play across it, tacking this way and that, so that we are never monotonously either with or against the wind. Sometimes also we scale the side of the valley and play along the top of the slope, and herein lies a certain weakness of the course, for these upland holes are not quite worthy of the rest. They are of the downland order, with blind shots, big perplexing slopes, and greens cut out of the side of hills. Luckily there are but few of them, for they are poor golf, whereas most of the holes in the valley are very good indeed.

I never saw a course that began with fairer promise, for the first hole looks and is delightful – a good long hole of well over 400 yards in length(2). To the right stretches a line of bracken, while on the left is a small clump of firs, just near enough to the line to induce a slice into the ferns. This first hole is so good that the other holes have a high standard to live up to, and in one important respect they do not quite succeed. That wilderness of bracken to the right holds out a promise which is not quite fulfilled, because that which Hollinwell lacks is rough ground severe enough to punish the erratic driver. I have no doubt that I was lucky, but I remember several of the most prefect lies for a brassey which were meted out to me, when in common justice I should have been plying my niblick. The rough’s bark is much worse than its bite, and one may often hit very crooked and not be one penny the worse. More bunkers – many more bunkers – at the sides of the course, and perhaps not quite so many in the middle would be no bad prescription for Hollinwell.

If, however, the course has some faults, it also has many merits, and the most attractive, because the most characteristic holes, are those in which the peculiar character of the ground comes into play. Thus at both the seventh(3) and the ninth(4) we play across the breadth of the valley into little gullies that run some way in between the spurs of the hill. If we are perfectly straight, the gully receives us with open arms, but to be at all seriously crooked is to be perched on a hillside among thick grass and red sandstone. These are both holes of fine length, and though with hitting an arrow-like straightness we may hope for fours, we need not make undue lamentations over fives. The eleventh again is a charming hole(5), where the way to the hole follows the contour of a subsidiary valley that wanders away from the main valley on some little expedition of its own; nor, to retrace our steps, must the second be left out, with its pretty background of trees and water.

After the eleventh the golf degenerates for a while, when we leave the lowlands for the highlands; but just as we are feeling a little sad, comes a marked improvement at the fifteenth(6), and we end with two really good holes, one short and one long. To justify its existence as a seventeenth hole(7), a short hole must needs be a very good short hole, and this is an excellent one, save that the inordinately long approach with the wooden putter should be prevented by a bunker on the left. The eighteenth, except that it is a good deal longer, is almost the converse of the first, and the clump of firs that made us slice at the first tee will certainly trap us if we pull our second shot(8).

Notes
1.Though Hollinwell now feels like its surrounded by green and pleasant countryside, in Darwin’s time, the are just north of Nottingham leading up from Mansfield, to Worksop and beyond into Yorkshire, was full of coal mines and their associated industry.
2. This is now the 4th hole.
3. This is now the 15th hole.
4. This hole no longer exists. It played from approximately the current 9th tee alongside the current 14th fairway and approached the current 13th green from the rear.
5. This is now approximately the 10th hole.
6. This is now approximately the 16th hole.
7. The current 17th par 5, was in Darwin’s time a par 4 followed by a par 3.
8. Though the old 18th followed the same lines as the current one, it was a par 5 of 555 yards long. The remains of the old tees for this hole can be seen to the right of the current 17th green.


Hope some of that was of interest.

Cheers,

James