Tuco
I like all of the par 4s without exception though several are not in anyway exceptional. The par 3s are all flawed however. #8 should be a cracker (and nearly is), but the bunker scheme is too tight. #14 is okay, but I don't tend to be a big fan of long par 3s. #4 is the best of the lot and would be better if the rough to the rear left was hacked down. The penalty for hitting the green and being fed into junk is too harsh - more is the pity.
John
I don't think Deal has the best holes because the 4th at Sandwich is the best of all of them. For me, the changing wind direction is a huge plus at Sandwich. I like the massive amount of space and yet the holes all link together in a sensible routing. I also think the par 3s at Sandwich while not a great set (with the 3rd not impressing me at all) is better than Deal's. Finally, I think Sandwich is more playable. There is more space to play the game whereas Deal feels a bit too tight when the wind blows. Its nothing that a bit of rough hacking can't cure.
Next up - PRINCES SHORE & DUNES: The 2017-18 Winter Tour Rambles OnLet me get this off my chest immediately. I despise the three nine hole loop system. There is always a combo which either most want to play or is considered the best. It is clear Princes markets the Shore/Dunes combo as the championship course so why not call it the 18 holer with the Himalayas designated as the 9 holer? Phew!
With the fortunes of Sandwich going from strength to strength over the past 100 plus years and Deal being a club much in prominence as well, it should be remembered there was a time when Princes was perhaps considered the premier club among the three. After WWI, Princes came into its own due to its connection with the London set. The membership roll counted many very prominent families of great influence which included the Astors, Slazengers, Playfairs, Wighams and du Mauriers. The great and good of the Services, London clubs and Parliamentarians were also well represented at Princes. It should be no surprise then that the 1922 Ladies Open was chosen to be played at Princes. The storied Joyce Wethered (later Lady Heachcote-Amory) won the first of four Ladies Opens that year with a devestating 9 & 7 victory over Cecil Leitch. The quality of Wethered's play was widely recognized. The Scottish Professional, Willie Wilson, commented "Why mon, she could hit the ball 240 yards on the fly while standing barefoot on a cake of ice." Bobby Jones said he doubted if there had been a better golfer, man or woman. In the Associated Press's 50 year poll in 1950, Wethered ranked 7th among all golfers! The six golfers listed higher were Jones, Hogan, Hagen, Snead, Nelson and Sarazen!
It is easy to see why Bobby Jones and Walter Hagen admired her swing!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivo0n49U3aIThe club owes an immense debt of gratitute to Sir Aynsley Bridgland, who in 1950 engaged Sir Guy Campbell and John Morrison (courses completed in 1956) to breath life back in Princes after the destruction by WWII training exercises. To those with some knowledge of British golf architecture, this combination of architects may sound highly unusual. However, the arrangement is even more strange as apparently Campbell and Morrison worked individually on the project rather than as a team. Sadly, I do not know which architect designed which holes. Be that as it may, the club would never regain its pre-war prominence which likely reached a peak when the club hosted the 1932 Open won by Gene Sarazen. At the time, the winning score of 283 (-13), leading wire to wire was an Open record. Despite wartime damage, 14 of the original Percy Lucas(?) green sites (consulting architects included H Fowler, M Fergusson and C Hutchinson) were incorporated into a new layout of 27 holes, yet no hole of complete orginal stock survives. We now have a course which is very good indeed, even if not quite of the character which once existed at Princes.
www.theopen.com/sitecore/content/Home/Heritage/OpenVenues/Princes/1932The Shore/Dunes combo is chocker block with fine holes and I dare say the Dunes 9 stands up very well with the front nine of Sandwich and the back nine of Deal. Hole after hole is full of interest and fun. Many of the green sites are wonderful and the putting surfaces have enough interest to keep golfers engaged. However, I will say that like Deal, the rough is harsh when playing in a cross wind (like Birkdale, Princes is in the main a crosswind design) and perhaps some concessions in the way of wider fairways should be made for the handicap golfer. Princes can sometimes be found in more primitive condition than either Sandwich or Deal, but not to the point where it is a detriment to one’s enjoyment. Many believe a singular drawback to the design is many of the drives look similar as they progress between low lying dunes. I am not of that opinion and think the low-lying nature of the terrain still provides for each hole to play differently. That said, Princes would benefit from more holes like #s 1, 5, 6 Dunes and 6 Shore, where the dune ridge is used in a more oblique manner. Of course, a design of this ilk would probably require the use of the Himalaya 9 which would mean only 18 holes would be possible on the property. Finally, I have heard some grumbling about the bunkering, but for the most part their placement is very considered. There are some centre-line bunkers both in driving zones and the approach landing zones which are particularly interesting.
PRINCES SHOREThe course starts off in a difficult way with a straight par 4. Things ease off for a shortish three-shotter before turning about face for the medium length short 3rd.
Not unlike 1 & 2, the 4th pushes back into the wind toward St Georges. In a way Shores 5 is typical and atypical of Princes. The typical aspect is the player must decide how much of the mini-cape to chew off. The course is littered with this particular decision as many holes move a penny left or a penny right. The atypical aspect is the hole heads over flattish terrain. Still, the effect of a low-lying depression down the entire right side is what makes this hole. Just left of the green (which I believe was the original 18th green) are the new Lodges built on the site of the old clubhouse.
The good golf continues on #6. The fairway snakes along a dune ridge with bunkers pinching on the right. The green is perched on the ridge and reminds me a lot of Cruden Bay's 6th where it is often wise to flank the green right then play up to the ridge. Princes would benefit greatly with more holes such as this which attack the dune lines. The main feature of the Princes skyline was the Richborough Power Station; it was torn down a few years ago.
The approach can plague one with thoughts of how far left can I go and still be safe?
A look at the green from the right.
Heading in the same direction as 6, the 7th is decent length three-shotter with a semi-plateau green.
Turning once gain, we come to the final par 3 on the Shores. The front of the green looks to have been recently re-designed to great effect. The new left bunker is well placed to grab shots floating on the wind. The 9th is a unique hole in my experience. The double ridge fairway can funnel a well placed drive an immense distance. I wouldn't be surprised if flat bellies playing forward tees couldn't reach this green and perhaps the back tees should be eliminated in favour of this sort of set-up.
PRINCES DUNESThe Dunes is easily the best nine on the property. The opener is a brutal two-shotter of some 439 yards. Once again the golfer is asked to choose a line off the tee with extreme caution, aggression and everything inbetween being on offer. I don't recall the bunkers in the face of the ridge; perhaps they are new. In truth, the sand doesn't change the strategy though the three bunkers do offer a different look to most of the course. No matter which line off the tee is chosen, all must cope with the centre-line bunker some 30 or so yards short of the green. I am trying to think of a more severe green for such a long approach and can't come up with an example to beat this. There can't be more than 20 feet between steep drop-offs right and left. In truth, this green is likely too severe, but what a wonderful hole regardless. In the first photo below we can still see the derelict clubhouse prior to the construction of the Lodges.
Like Princes itself, the par 3s are likely undervalued. I think they are the best of the Kent links. Richborough before and after photos.
Perhaps the clutch of vegetation acts a visual block, but if this isn't the case, the hole would be more attractive with a bit of gardening behind the green.
The third is a fine par 5 with fairly new centre-line bunkers and oob down the right. The slightly raised green is a perfect example of the sublime simplicity which abounds at Princes.
Next comes a par 4 which has been radically re-worked in recent years. The fairway is unusually generous for Princes, but the hole progressively narrows to a tough green set on a mini mesa.
The 5th is slightly unusual at Princes because one doesn't go in search of the fairway. Rather, the drive calls for a whack up the middle of a fairway which reassuringly cozies up to the tee...even if the large sleepered bunker on the left causes a second take. The approach to the diagonal plateau green is one of Princes' best.
The 6th wriggles right around a dune ridge and features a handful of well placed bunkers. The fairway narrows and turns into an elephant's graveyard near the bi-level green.
Princes is slowly "improving" the look of their bunkers. I do like many of the newer style which have gone more for the dinasaur print look, but I do lament the loss of the rough and ready look. The bunker short and right of the green was a prime example.
The 7th chugs along without making much of an impact except for the new huge bunker set into the right dune ridge.
The outstanding short hole on the course is #8. From the photo it is evident that getting close to this hole location is near on impossible.
A look at the green from the right side.
Unfortunately, the side ends with a rather mundane par 4 that lacks the critical joy factor of its neighbouring 9th. But not lets stop this from admiring what I think is a lovely course. Despite Princes getting a load spot on with a largely functional approach to the design, keeping the rough too long and/or fairways too narrow is an issue not to be ignored. Many will rightly say that Princes simply doesn't have the character of terrain which produces the heroic holes of Sandwich and the quirk of Deal. This viewpoint is obviously correct, but not of great importance for all three are expressly divergent and strike me as very comfortable in their own skin. One thing is for certain, the first time visitor to the Kent coast should not forego a game at any of the three links for each is excellent. I leave with you the Finegan's final thoughts on Princes. "There is a purity, an integrity, and challenge to this collection of links holes that I think you will find genuinely satisfying. The Pleasurable excitement is of a subtler, cumulative nature." 1* 2018
Ciao