The Berkshire (Red) - one pic per hole

[Scott Warren]

The Berkshire gets overlooked a bit when the London heathland is discussed. Its geographical location might have a bit to do that: bordering Sunningdale, Wentworth and Swinley Forest in Ascot, Berkshire.

The club has two courses: Red and Blue - so named because the land was previously used for military manoeuvres by the British Army, with their training carried out between two rival groups named the Red Army and Blue Army.

The Red is the higher rated of the courses and if looking for differentiation between the two courses, I'd say the Red is more of a second shot course, with wider corridors that require more considered tee shot placement, while the Blue is a tighter driving course.

The Red also has the uncommon configuration of six holes of each par, making for a huge variety, though having said that most of the six "par fives" are reachable in two for a lot of golfers, but who cares what they call them, they are brilliant holes. The fives may be on the easy side, but the one-shotters make up for that. Anyone who plays those six in less than 20 shots is a real golfer.

The heather at The Berkshire is the most militant I have encountered and when combined with the tussocked rough that meanders through the seas of heather, makes for an easy lost ball.

By and large, the bunkering is masterful. No surprise: Fowler is the man responsible. But what would appear to be very new bunkers sully a few holes, standing out for their immense ugliness. The club has contracted Tim Lobb to work on the bunkering scheme, so hopefully these are the bunkers that will find themselves changed and not the brilliant heather-clad hazards that are a feature of most holes - both for their placement and beautiful shape.

The terrain is also wonderful for golf, never ceasing to flow, but rarely so steep that it becomes a challenge to walk.

The par, as you'd expect with six of each, is always changing, which makes for great variety. Only once do you play consecutive holes of the same par. The order is: 5 3 5 4 3 4 3 4 5 3 4 4 5 4 5 3 5 3.

1st - 517yds
What a view to welcome you as you start the round. Just screams "let's play golf!"


2nd - 147yds
Beautiful uphill par three over a cavern bunker with a tightly-mown slope behind the green should that front trap convince you to take too much club.


3rd - 480yds
There is benefit to taking on the challenge of the angled drive to get within striking distance of the green, guarded by bunkers short on both sides, the LHS about 30 yards short and the RHS tight against the green.


4th - 395yds
Climbing gently uphill, a tough shot to the green for a short iron, and the bunker short and left is further short than it might seem, playing with your distance perception.


5th - 178yds
The green is almost totally blind from the tee. Mercifully, so is this bunker, but that only makes it all the more jarring when you see it, sitting among the heather-lipped bunkers, their faces rolling over gently. Please Tim, fix it!


6th - 360yds
Less than 300yds as the crow flies, doglegging right, and offering the best angle on the approach from the left or centre, so challenging the RHS on the drive can leave a tough approach if you don't mint it off the tee (and that's after you call in the search and rescue team to help you find it in the heather!)


7th - 195yds
Massive rolling green that is far too easy to three putt. On slightly bland land, the green is a cool feature.


8th - 428yds
Tee shot doglegs right, rewarding a cut that hugs the corner, before this appealing approach.


9th - 488yds
Flattish green, but this scallop short is something to consider on the approach.


10th - 188yds
What a great hole, a steep slope cutting diagonally across the front of the green to kick anything short to the right and away from the putting surface. Simply a case of executing the shot. Or else.


11th - 350yds
Another short par four, the green surface blind and sloping quite a lot towards the tee. Like many at The Berkshire, the v iew from the slightly elevated tee is just beautiful.


12th - 328yds
Steeply uphill with the green set in behind trees to the left, the sensible play is a drive to the RHS near a lone fairway bunker, before a wedge up the hill to the green, protected short left by a deep trap.


13th - 486yds
The second half of the journey rolls down a cascading hill to a green at the foot of a gentle left-to-right slope. A drilled drive can catch the slope of the fairway and roll to within mid-iron range.


14th - 434yds
One of the lesser holes, for mine, but made more interesting by a creeek crossing the fairway around 260 from the tee.


15th - 477yds
A creek snakes dow n the right of the drive, before the hole climbs up a centle hill that also slopes right-to-left. The green is bunkered short right, meaking the ideal approach one that accounts for and perhaps utilises the land to find the green.


16th - 221yds
Up there with the best heathland par threes I have played. A brilliant false-fronted green, that bunker short appearing to be too short to be in play, but in reality just in that "oh crap, I didn't quite catch that" zone, and the shot from within it is one of those bunker shots you rightly fear.


17th - 532yds
Doglegs right after the drive, before heading through a slight valley.


18th - 175yds
Uphill for the last hole. Fierce bunkers short on both sides and a sloping green that kaes some taming.

[Anthony Gray]

  The 10th looks like that famous par 3 at Portrush. I think Calamity the 14th.

  Anthony

 

[Adrian_Stiff]

Nice pics. 17 reminded me a bit of 17 at Spyglass. It looks a great course, as you say who cares about pars and lengths.

[Michael Taylor]

We got recip rights there, and I was always keen on seeing some pics of the course. Thanks mate.

Some of the approach shots do look really nice. Also, hole 16 seems to remind me of 17 SF. Does it look similar to you? Also does the course play F&F?

[Tom_Doak]

A fun course to play, all the 3's and 5's give you an opportunity to go low.

However, I can't see those pictures and not comment about all the mowing patterns in the fairways and approaches.  Are they trying to go American?

[Scott Warren]

Michael: Funny you say that. It was mentioned within our group about 16 looking a bit like Swinley 17. It doesn't have Swinley's puplit green, but the similarity is there, I guess. As with most of the heathland in summer, it was quite F&F.

Tom: Yep. Ain't it purdy?! Strangely, some fairways were mown just plain half-and-half other than from about 60 yards and in, where they were mown in those patterns, and some were all fancy tee-to-green.

[Mark Pearce]

Talking to Robin after the round it occurred to me that this is a course where par matters.  Of course, as we discussed, most of the par 5s are short par 5s and you could easily make the Red a very tough par 68.  I'm not sure, though, that it would be the same course.  Indeed, I wonder if some of them would be seen as too tough as par 4s whilst they're great par 4.5 par 5s?  Anyway, it's always a pleasure to play there.  The Red is a great course and, of course, the second best on the property.....

[James Boon]

Scott,

Thanks for posting your photos. I'll add a few of mine later.

I'm looking forward to your photos of the blue!

Tom: Yep. Ain't it purdy?! Strangely, some fairways were mown just plain half-and-half other than from about 60 yards and in, where they were mown in those patterns, and some were all fancy tee-to-green.

I checked my photos and it seemed to be that on Red it was the diagonal pattern all the way and on Blue it was diagonal on approach and half and half on the fairway.

Talking to Robin after the round it occurred to me that this is a course where par matters.  Of course, as we discussed, most of the par 5s are short par 5s and you could easily make the Red a very tough par 68.  I'm not sure, though, that it would be the same course.  Indeed, I wonder if some of them would be seen as too tough as par 4s whilst they're great par 4.5 par 5s?  Anyway, it's always a pleasure to play there.  The Red is a great course and, of course, the second best on the property.....

Mark,

I tend to be of the thinking that par is only a number, but I can certainly see what you are saying about the par really mattering on the Red. It seemed that we were always playing 460odd yard par 5s which made it great fun, but if they were all par 4s it would have been a real tough test and totally different in feel. And it certainly was apleasure to play The Berkshire, thank you for sorting it out!

Cheers,

James

[Robin Doodson]

Scott,

course is looking great. i'll be there to play the red and the blue in 2 weeks time with my uncle and john odell, the superintendent from Royal Sydney. it really is such a classy club with such a relaxed manner. great to see the members heading out with their dogs in tow. pure class.

Robin

[Kevin Pallier]

Nice pics Scott - looks like a balmy summers day in England ?

The Berkshire x2 is a lovely day out and I look forward to your pics of The Blue course

[John Mayhugh]

A shame you have so few choices of places to play in the London area that you have to resort to slumming it at The Berkshire. 

Is September ever going to get here?

[Peter Pallotta]

It's interesting - I never read people suggesting that these kinds of English courses are in need of tree removal (i.e. that they would be BETTER  for it) - and just from pictures I think I can see why there are no such calls...but I can't explain WHY that's the case.

Peter

[Sean_A]

It would seem Fowler was willing and capable to design any andall  sorts of courses.  His diversity of styles is remarkable.  My bet is if 99 out of 100 on this board were told Colt designed this course they would buy it.  Scott, as always, thanks for the tour.

Times are hard when a thread like this has less than half the hits as a beard puller thread. 

Ciao

[Scott Warren]

A shame you have so few choices of places to play in the London area that you have to resort to slumming it at The Berkshire. 

Is September ever going to get here?

You are in for an absolute treat.

It's true what you're getting at - there is just an embarrassment of riches on the heathland. As I said in my Hankley thread, the proof of how great the heathland is is shown by the quality of the courses that get very little discussion, rather than the all-out awesomeness off the top guns.

Talking to Robin after the round it occurred to me that this is a course where par matters.  Of course, as we discussed, most of the par 5s are short par 5s and you could easily make the Red a very tough par 68.  I'm not sure, though, that it would be the same course.  Indeed, I wonder if some of them would be seen as too tough as par 4s whilst they're great par 4.5 par 5s?  Anyway, it's always a pleasure to play there.  The Red is a great course and, of course, the second best on the property.....

That's a pretty good point. Of course the best thing to do, IMO, would be to remove ther par designation from every hole and simply give the course total par/rating and let every golfer in his own head decide how many shots each hole should take him.

It's interesting - I never read people suggesting that these kinds of English courses are in need of tree removal (i.e. that they would be BETTER  for it) - and just from pictures I think I can see why there are no such calls...but I can't explain WHY that's the case.

Peter

I don't really know, other than to say that I can't think of any corridors that felt too narrow. If you look at old pics of The Berkshire it was far more open, but who knows if the corridors were made excessively wide knowing there would be tree growth that would narrow them a bit?

Walton Heath has recently removed thousands of trees, largely to help regenerate the heather.

It would seem Fowler was willing and capable to design any andall  sorts of courses.  His diversity of styles is remarkable.

Mark Pearce did predict you would post something like that, but you are on the money as usual. I'm really glad I got to see Walton Heath Old a second time right before tackling The Berkshire, because it made me all the more aware how much they vary, but the brilliant bunkering is probably the common DNA - the rolled heather faces that are common to the two.

I'd really like to see Beau Desert now (and thanks to James Boon I've even learnt how to pronounce it!).

[James Boon]

It's interesting - I never read people suggesting that these kinds of English courses are in need of tree removal (i.e. that they would be BETTER  for it) - and just from pictures I think I can see why there are no such calls...but I can't explain WHY that's the case.

Peter

Peter,

You've onbiously never played with Sean "14th club in my bag would be a chainsaw if I could" Arble 

Cheers,

James

[Sean_A]

It's interesting - I never read people suggesting that these kinds of English courses are in need of tree removal (i.e. that they would be BETTER  for it) - and just from pictures I think I can see why there are no such calls...but I can't explain WHY that's the case.

Peter

Peter,

You've onbiously never played with Sean "14th club in my bag would be a chainsaw if I could" Arble 

Cheers,

James

Boony

Yes, the older I get the less tolerant I am of trees - not only on courses.  So many rubbish trees are planted for reasons nobody knows.  However, near The Smoke it is harder to be aggresive with tree clearance because of the many motorways which drone in the distance.  View blocking trees are usually the lesser evil to white noise.

Ciao

[Mark Chaplin]

Berkshire Red and St Georges Hll are good examples of courses where the trees line holes but do not affect the playing lines adversely.
Heaths do gain trees becase of golf as the natural predators - grazing animals - to you young trees on the heath are reduced by golf. The removal at Walton Heath has really opened up the heath.

Swinley is different as the course was carved out of the forest.