Royal Guernsey GC – North Coast of Guernsey CI

[Melvyn Morrow]

Well if Old Tom Morris made it to Guernsey in 1894 when he was in his mid-70’s one wonders what excuse modern golfers have of avoiding this course noting all the comfortable modes of modern transport the 21st Century has to offer.

The Aerial View

                                            



                 Old Tom Morris (photo courtesy of West Herts GC)

                 

Royal Guernsey Golf Club (Centenary)



The Clubhouse (from 1892-1939)



The Course of 1896-1914 being credited to Old Toms was 5,100 yards long



The Course of 1920-1928. Due to the war years the course was used for military purposes. After the Great War houses started to appear at the entrance  to the Fort Le Marchant peninsula, and in particular in the vicinity to the 5th Green. The resulted was to abandon the last four Holes, but retaining the first three, as shown on the following course map for 1920-28.



The Course of 1929-1940. With the popularity of golf on the increase the course utilised the full use of The Common allowing great space for each Holes, so the course was completely redesigned in 1928 and re-opened in 1929. At this time The Royal Guernsey GC amalgamated  with the Doyal Club ( which had been formed in 1909). This redesign created 4 new Holes and used the land between Amarreurs and L’Ancresse Roads making the course 5,852 yards long.



The Course Size & Length



The 17th Green



The Course of 1949 to 1990. With the German occupation of the Island in the 1940’s the course  was decimated. The Royal Guernsey Golf Club could not afford to rebuild its Club House and the course , so The States of Guernsey paid for the redesign and building of the golf course leaving the Club to pursue the construction of the Club House.  Mackenzie Ross was commissioned to design the course which was partly opened in 1948 but for light traffic being full operational by 1949. As the course again became popular the numbers required the second holes to be abandon while making changes to the 18th and also a redesign of the 17th which brought into play again Spion Kop. The current course is 6,215 yards long

The Course of 1949-1990



Scorecard



Photos







This completes my little history tour of The Royal Guernsey Golf Club, trust that you found it informative and interesting.

Melvyn

[Dónal Ó Ceallaigh]

Melvyn,

Thank you for the background info on this course.

IMO there's something very appealing about playing a lesser known course like this one. You go there without high expectations, or any idea how good it is as it's probably not in any rankings. There may be some poor holes, several mediocre and a few good ones if you're lucky, but there will always be something that is surprising and unusual, something you just didn't expect. Add in the wonderful scenery, fresh air and good weather; what more would you want? That is the real reason why I'd rather not choose my courses by looking up the latest rankings list.

It appears that Mackenzie Ross was the architect of choice when courses needed to be re-constructed after the war.

[Rory Connaughton]

Thanks Melvyn.  Very appealing!

[Greg Krueger]

Thanks Melvyn, that is good stuff!!

[Bob_Huntley]

Melvyn,

Thank you for the sketches and photographs.

I was lucky to get a lift with a friend and flying straight through to the island without the hassle at Heathrow. I must say that I loved the place, it might not score high on Doak Scale but it is a delight to play. The fortification is one of several Martello towers on the course and there is no relief if they interfere with your shot.

Wikipedia has a pretty comprehensive of the Martello history.

Bob

[Keith Durrant]

They used to let cattle graze in the rough, which kept it at managable levels. However, it did lead to some interesting lies amongst the cow-pats...and indeed the golfer felt some trepidation in approaching and hitting a ball that lay close to a staring cow...
The cows clearly do not eat the gorse as that is impenetrable and not a little painful to hit out of!

Another unique feature is that there are several ancient monuments (4500 BC), e.g. stone "dolmen" that lie on L'Ancresse Common, one of which lies close to the 17th green, and also one which sits in the middle of the fairway in the picture above, 13th?

[Mark Hissey]

I used to go there when I was a kid and not interested in golf. A very interesting place. There used to be a huge Nazi watch tower on the point there. Is it still there?