Additions to Britain from above (now with links)

[Mark_Rowlinson]

I have been alerted to additional historic golf aerials on the Britain from above website, including aerials of land drainage taking place on Sunningdale in 1934.

Bootle
http://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/asearch?filter=new&page=2

Willesley Park
http://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/asearch?filter=new&page=4

Woodcote Park (Royal Automobile Club)
http://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/asearch?filter=new&page=6

Hesketh Park Hydro and Municipal Links
http://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/asearch?filter=new&page=6

Hampton Court Park
http://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/asearch?filter=new&page=9

Kingston Hill Golf Course, Stafford
http://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/asearch?filter=new&page=20

Clacton on Sea
http://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/asearch?filter=new&page=23
http://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/asearch?filter=new&page=24

Roehampton
http://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/asearch?filter=new&page=24

Land Drainage on Sunningdale Golf Club 1934
http://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/asearch?filter=new&page=36

Mirrlees
http://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/asearch?filter=new&page=36
http://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/asearch?filter=new&page=37

Twickenham Bridge (course visible in background)
http://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/asearch?filter=new&page=42

Penhill Park, Sidcup (fragments of course visible)
http://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/asearch?filter=new&page=43
http://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/asearch?filter=new&page=85

Barnehurst
http://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/asearch?filter=new&page=44

Upminster
http://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/asearch?filter=new&page=47

Benfield Valley
http://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/asearch?filter=new&page=48

Waterhall
http://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/asearch?filter=new&page=48

Denham
http://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/asearch?filter=new&page=51

Little Aston Hall (part of golf course visible in background of 3rd picture)
http://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/asearch?filter=new&page=57

Northenden
http://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/asearch?filter=new&page=59

London Country Club, Hendon 1923
http://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/asearch?search=EPW009684

Chertsey (Laleham)
http://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/asearch?filter=new&page=77

Woodbridge (Bromeswell Heath)
http://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/asearch?filter=new&page=80

Frinton
http://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/asearch?filter=new&page=80

Devil's Dyke Hotel
http://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/asearch?filter=new&page=80

Hillingdon
http://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/asearch?filter=new&page=82

Sandy Lodge
http://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/asearch?filter=new&page=85

Hanger Hill (vestiges)
http://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/asearch?filter=new&page=85

Ealing?
http://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/asearch?filter=new&page=86

Lothianburn (what is that extraordinary gorilla-like creature in the middle of the course?)
http://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/asearch?filter=new&page=91

Barassie
http://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/asearch?filter=new&page=92

Glasgow Killermont
http://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/asearch?filter=new&page=93

[Mark_Rowlinson]

Deleted

[Paul_Turner]

Mark

Fantastic.  For Sunningdale, the drainage is going in for the four "new" Simpson holes which were built in 1934 but didn't last very long.  Most of the drainage is in the general area of today's 7th and 8th holes on the New.  

Some great shots of the 13th New and the 15th going up the hole with its center line bunker.

[Mark_Rowlinson]

Hope the links improve the service. I've added a few I'd missed first time round.

[BCrosby]

Mark

Fantastic.  For Sunningdale, the drainage is going in for the four "new" Simpson holes which were built in 1934 but didn't last very long.  Most of the drainage is in the general area of today's 7th and 8th holes on the New.  

Some great shots of the 13th New and the 15th going up the hole with its center line bunker.

Paul -

Could you point us to an account of the Simpson holes? Why their short life?  I've heard bits and pieces about them over the years but have never gotten the full picture.

Bob

[Ally Mcintosh]

Mark

Fantastic.  For Sunningdale, the drainage is going in for the four "new" Simpson holes which were built in 1934 but didn't last very long.  Most of the drainage is in the general area of today's 7th and 8th holes on the New.  

Some great shots of the 13th New and the 15th going up the hole with its center line bunker.

Paul -

Could you point us to an account of the Simpson holes? Why their short life?  I've heard bits and pieces about them over the years but have never gotten the full picture.

Bob

Bob, this one has always fascinated me also... I've asked the question before (but can't locate the thread) but did find the below thread which seems to have a lot of answers:

http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,33878.0.html

[BCrosby]

Thanks Ally. I was thinking of that thread from years ago. Tony found some remarkable items, but they raise more questions than they answer. It's hard to believe that the record of changes to the course in the 1930's is so sparse.

Is there a highly ranked course anywhere more in need of a good architectural history?

Bob

[Sean_A]

Thanks Mark.  The Little Aston pic is interesting mainly because of the lack of trees.  The closest fairway shows the earthworks/bunker (long bunker) complex of the 15th nearest the Hall. 



Just further back and left is the 5th green. 


On the far side and a bit right is the 4th green - look left and you will see the huge fairway bunker. 


Heading right off the 5th green is the 6th fairway. 

On the far left is the 3rd green. 

Just buried behind the trees to the right is the 15th green. 


One gets a good sense of just how much the bunkering has been altered.   

[Adam Lawrence]

Thanks Ally. I was thinking of that thread from years ago. Tony found some remarkable items, but they raise more questions than they answer. It's hard to believe that the record of changes to the course in the 1930's is so sparse.

Is there a highly ranked course anywhere more in need of a good architectural history?

Bob

There is a pretty good history of the changes in the book 'The Sunningdale Story'. This was originally written by former secretary Guy Bennett in the sixties, and recently updated by John Churchill, a long-standing club member, in e-book format. You can buy it from Amazon for a few pounds. See http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Sunningdale-Story-ebook/dp/B0084NPYBA

I also did a piece on the Colt lost holes in GCA a year or two back.

[Tony_Muldoon]

Thanks Mark, always fun

The pictures do seem to show that a lot of courses have lost bunkers.  IN the Upminster one I believe the hole in the foreground is the 14th which is showing  8 no in 1932. Today it has but two.


I did profile Frinton on here a few years ago and speculated that much interest had been lost over the years.  It had more bunkers and from what I can tell, some fairways played much closer to the drainage channels.  They could learn a lot from the photo.



Wasn’t the Hendon Country Club a lost MacKenzie?
http://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/image/epw009684?search=EPW009684&ref=0

[Mark_Rowlinson]

Tony, Yes the Hendon/London Country Club is a lost MacKenzie. There are more photos of it (posted some time ago) elsewhere on the Britain from above site. Neil Crafter is your expert on that lost club and course and has posted a lot of information about it on GCA.

[Mark_Rowlinson]

Kingston Hill (Stafford) is probably now in the nle category. If it is where I think it is the area has been built over.

[Mark_Rowlinson]

Which I would have known if I had consulted this first: http://www.golfsmissinglinks.co.uk/index.php/england/central-west/staffordshire/645-stafs-kingston-hill-golf-club-stafford