If you ever wondered why there’s no outstanding golf on the West coast of Scotland North of Ayr, you probably put it down to lack of really suitable land and a small populations. Well the south coast of England boast some decent sized cities and some good Heath and Moorland, but heading west after Rye there are no really outstanding courses which is even more surprising. I’ve yet to play Broadstone and Parkstone but I get the feeling they fall just short of the standard set by the top London Heathland courses. Very good maybe, but not all world. Next are a few which may only be natural Doak 4/5’s, but offer wild natural terrain and stunning views to make for outstanding Holiday Golf.
East Devon GC is in “Hardy County” near Exeter and dates from 1902. For some reason I always thought it was designed by Braid (perhaps because the club call the 18th after him?) but Cornish and Whitten say J Hamilton Strutt, which suggests a remodelling at some later point (although he often worked with Braid). Certainly the greens are consistent with what I expect of a Briand with many featuring strong tilts and couple of wilder ones including a par 3 in the mix. The Peugeot Guide gives it a 16 which I feel is a little generous, but then I’ve only played it once on a benign day. I imagine it’s a very windswept place.
These photos’s have been on file for a couple of years, taken on an overcast day and are not in order so I’ll resist trying a full tour. The course was recovering from winter and hence the bare look. However I’ll check Lorne has this down as a fine turf course and I enjoyed the challenging elevation changes and Heather high above the sea.
Oddly neither the Scoresaver nor the website offers a routing. The course meanders out to the cliffs and builds nicely as it does so. The course rewards an accurate second shot and those greens demand respect.
http://www.edgc.co.uk/edgcitem.php?category=14&ID=74&gettitle=Course&itemTITLE=Score Card&parent=14&stylesheet=style
Typical green looks benign. It’s not, featuring a vicious L-R slope
Then oddly after the first goes out the course returns straight back to the clubhouse!
This is one of the quartered greens I’ve wondered if that are attributable to Braid?
The course is very up and down but it does mean that you get tantalising hints at what’s to come. Yes it’s a fair test of stamina.
While I feel the terrain is probably too up and down to have readily produced a better course, the pictures reveal a lack of tlc to bunkers etc. This course could be a lot better and I really fear for its future based on the comments quoted below and the following. The 12ht hole is called Hawtree and as you can see it features a green which though interesting in itself bears no relation to the other 17. This is great at places like Dooks where they did all the greens but here two words come to mind, sore & thumb. I’m not sure when this work was done but it was more than 5 years ago and it fails to fill me with confidence that the Club know what to do with their fine course.
Wow factor at 16 “The best view in golf.” P Alliss
I’ve only ever seen this step feature in front of the green once before, in a photo tour by Phillip Gawith of Yelverton which is not that far from here. Thank you Philip.
One reason for posting these now is an Article in the just received Issue 7 of Golf Quarterly
www.golfquarterly.co.uk where the editor reveals the above hole is about to have its fairway shifted 25 metres to the left, necessitating a new 13th and remodelling 14 and 17th. Also turning it from an R-L to a straight or even L-R hole. This is to accommodate walkers as the cliffs have been eroding. However it quotes a load of tosh form the current Chairman about “Strikelines” and the totally meaningless “the redesign...was guided by the ethos of Herbert Fowler, Harry Colt and James Braid, three famous architects who were associated with East Devon in its early years..” Once again a Club is diluting what makes their course special for want of a Masterplan.
17 stands out for fun, the fairway runs out at 270 which due to the downhill nature of the hole even I can reach, leaving 180 to the green.
However don’t my carping put you off. If you’re in the area do play it.
A most enjoyable day’s golf.
