Aldeburgh GC, Suffolk (Photo Tour)

[James Boon]

Though the town of Aldeburgh is on the Suffolk coast, its course is not a links as you would normally expect, but a heathland course. Its positioned just inland from the town, in fact you drive right past it on the way to the town, after driving through a mix of agricultural land and heathland.

The club was founded in 1884, which the clubs website will proudly tell you makes it the second oldest heathland course in England. The original course was laid out by Willie Fernie and John Thomson, with the first 6 holes to the south west of the aforementioned road into town, with a couple playing across it. Also of note from the early days of the club is that women members have always had equal rights at the club.

In 1907 the club lost the use of the 6 holes on the far side of the road, giving an opportunity to redesign and lengthen the course for the new Haskell ball. Willie Park Junior provided the new layout, with JH Taylor providing the bunkering.

A plan of the course without a date, but likely from the time of the Willie Park Jnr layout:


In 1921 Harry Colt and Hugh Alison made the final changes to the layout as it plays today. This mainly consisted of revisions to the final stretch from 14 inwards. You will see from the plan above that in essence they also reversed the nines. Whether it was Colt and Alison that moved what are now the 5th green and 6 tee to the near side of the road isnt clear, but their changes did get rid of the old 9th that played to what is now the putting green, very close to the road, so the instigator for these changes may have been the road becoming busier?

Yardages are from the yellow tees. A couple of significant points from the scorecard. It lists a bogey for each hole as well as a par and there are no par 5s on the course, so its par 68, yet standard scratch of 71 from the yellows, going up to 73 from the blues!

First, the putting green, clubhouse and first tee. The main road into Aldeburgh is just behind the hedge to the left.


Hole 1
394 yards
Par 4
Here is the first tee shot. From the very start the pine and birch backdrop, the gorse, the fine grasses and dry running playing surface are very evident.


Slightly uphill approach to the first.


Hole 2
361 yards
Par 4
Tee shot on the second is blind to a fairway below. Clubhouse in the far left distance.


Having avoided gorse and bunkers on the tee shot, the approach is to a green set into the slope with bunkers short.


Here is a view from towards the next tee, looking back at the second green with the clubhouse in the distance. The approach to the green is from the left.


Hole 3
416 yards
Par 4 (Bogey 5)
Here is the uphill tee shot on the third, with bunkers at the corner of the dog leg to the left. Note the new pine trees to the left to keep people away from the road to the left.


The approach to this long uphill par 4 is blind. Notice the marker post behind the green.


Hole 4
117 yards
Par 3
If Aldeburgh has a famous hole, this may well be it. A short par 3, slightly uphill, but the horseshoe bunker around the front has railway sleepers around its front, while the green beyond is a kidney shape with its back right portion a tricky proposition for the bold approach.


Here is a view back from the left of the green. The extent of the front bunker wrapping around the green is evident here.


Hole 5
434 yards
Par 4
A long par 4 perhaps, but its downhill all the way. Here is the approach.


Hole 6
401 yards
Par 4 (Bogey 5)
Back uphill again and the gorse is still a real threat.


The hole then doglegs around some humps and hollows and a silver birch to a green with a small hollow short. The view from behind the green shows the Alde estuary in the distance.


Hole 7
406 yards
Par 4
A downhill drive again on the seventh makes the rolling nature of the land very obvious. This hole is pretty straight aiming straight at the clubhouse in the distance. A public footpath crosses the hole just short of the green.


Hole 8
161 yards
Par 3
This could be the flattest land on the front nine? Here is the view from just short of the front bunker.  I believe the bank behind used to be covered in gorse, but the club has been working hard to reduce the gorse and manage it in a way that is better from a golfers point of view in aesthetics and playability as well as being ecologically better for the courses wildlife.


The view back over the hole from the ninth tee with the tees off to the left.


Hole 9
373 yards
Par 4
A raised tee shot to a fairway below with the bunkers creating a pinch point at driving distance.


The front nine returns to the clubhouse.


The front nine finishes and you might have noticed a lack of par 5s giving a par of 34, 3,063 yards.

More to follow...

[James Boon]

Hole 10
400 yards
Par 4
The tenth tees off from next to the clubhouse and car park.


The approach is over one of the old cross bunkers accredited to JH Taylor, looking somewhat artificial but in a quaint old fashioned way.


Hole 11
437 yards
Par 4 (Bogey 5)
A long par 4, but it was slightly wind behind the day I played, so with the fairways running firm, the next cross bunkers are well within range. The previous tenth green is just off to the right.


The cross bunkers make the slightly downhill approach blind.


But from closer to the green you can see its a wide approach where you can run the ball in from short left, with a back drop of... gorse.


Hole 12
314 yards
Par 4
A short par 4 now, also wind behind when I played, but the uphill nature of the hole, makes the fairway and area short of the green blind, so a long iron seemed the prudent option. On reaching the fairway and getting closer to the green, the deep railway sleeper faced bunkers will make you glad you laid up short. The green is reasonably large but full of interesting little undulations.


Hole 13
371 yards
Par 4
A downhill drive over the previous green.


The approach is to a green set in the corner of the property.


Hole 14
352 yards
Par 4
This was one of my favourite holes and I'm afraid my photos don't do it justice. Off to the left are a number of large houses, one of which Red House, was the home of Benjamin Britten, the well known classical composer.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Britten
The tee shot is over a hollow and hugs the boundary and its mature trees, with a bunker in the distance set into a ridge.


The approach is to a raised green, perhaps made less photogenic with the practice area in the background?


From behind you can see how the hole has doglegged around the boundary and the mature trees that will stop someone cutting the corner


Hole 15
200 yards
Par 3
A long par 3, with another railway sleepered bunker, this time its off to the right side.



Hole 16
462 yards
Par 4 (Bogey 5)
The longest hole on the course, and yes its a par 4, as you will have noticed that there are no par 5s. This hole was the feature of one of the Churchman cigarette cards with commentary by Darwin, discussed in a recent thread.
http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,57908.0.html
Here is the tee shot which sees a slight dogleg to the left.


And the approach over another cross bunker.


Hole 17
144 yards
Par 3
A shortish par 3, but well bunkered and plenty of undulation on the green.


The view from back right, showing the slope towards the tight front hole location.


Hole 18
420 yards
Par 4
A good solid par 4 to finish


The approach is to a green set away from the clubhouse (off to the right of this view)and not really visible due to the... gorse.


Some interesting bunkers short right


And one last view from behind the green


So the back nine is a par 34, 3,100 yards. That gives a total par 68, 6,163 yards which can be stretched to 6,603 yards from the blue tees with a standard scratch of 73!

So Aldeburgh is certainly no holiday course, but a true championship test, full of old fashioned tradition and charm, but was forward thinking enough to put woman members on an equal footing.

Though the club has done much to control the gorse, there is still plenty of it. The land the course sits on is a large area of maritime heathland that runs along a large stretch of this coast, however, there isn't actually much heather on the gorse beyond a few small patches.

For many reasons therefore the course reminds me of Ganton. That too is often talked about as not heathland, but more links like due to the geological history of the area. Aldeburgh too has that links like quality (maritime heath is I believe the natural succession of dunes becoming populated by heather, gorse, grass, trees etc), plenty of gorse and a good stiff challenge that perhaps arent quite as good as Ganton, but certainly worthy of a spirited younger brother status? Dont miss it, if going out of your way to play East Anglia's other courses at Brancaster, Hunstanton and Worlington!

Cheers,

James

[Mark Saltzman]

That 4th hole is awesome!

What do you make of the fairway bunkering at Aldeburgh?  Looks somewhat uninteresting, but obviously hard to tell from photos alone.  Seems like there are a lot of holes with bunkers set at each side of the fairway and an approach to a green open in front making the line from the tee somewhat irrelevant.

[Thomas Dai]

Terrific James. Somewhere I've heard about but not seen much of. Well done. And what a glorious looking day to play it!
atb

[Mark_Rowlinson]

Thanks! It takes me back to many visits in the 70s-90s. I think visitors will find that the bunkers are far more interesting than first impressions suggest. There are many punitive caverns out there, well constructed to ensure that they gather balls into them from a wide area. It is generally thought to be one of the best winter courses in the country because of its excellent drainage. I doubt if the club possesses anything as vulgar as a Stimp meter, but in dry weather (most of the year) I suspect the fairways are faster than the greens. Peter Alliss wondered if this was the hardest course to play against par in the country.

James's recommendations of companion courses are spot on, but if you want to stay locally then Felixstowe Ferry, Ipswich (Purdis Heath) and Thorpeness are worth a visit. My memory of Rushmere is of an excess of punishing gorse, but that was 40 years ago when I was much longer off the tee but wilder!

[James Boon]

Thanks everyone,

Mark S,
Yes the 4th is a wonderful little hole. A back right flag must be nearly impossible to get close to! As for the fairway bunkering, Mark R is correct in that some are pretty cavernous, but others are also small, interesting shaped and subtle. I imagine I'd need a few more rounds before I could comment fully on their strategic impact, but a lot of the time in my one round I was more concerned with the topography of the fairways than the positioning of bunkers.

Thomas,
We hoped for a quiet weekend winter weekend away and would have been happy with less than friendly weather. Instead there was a mini heat wave, I found myself drastically trying to find somewhere selling suncream the Saturday night before my round and we couldnt move for other people as they all headed for the coast! 

Brian,
It doesnt come through in my photos, but if you check Google maps aerial, you will see some interesting and odd shaped bunkers. And I agree, it would be interesting to know i there used to be more heather in the past, but I dont mind the like of it, hence my comparison with Ganton?

Mark R,
Yes, it played very firm and fast while I was there a couple of weeks ago. I read on the noticeboard that they are having a bit of trouble with Yorkshire Fog grass and some of the conditioning wasnt great, but I got the impression that was because they were working on something rather than from neglect?

As for companion courses, I listed those more because I expected them to attract people and they should add this to the list, but you are correct those you list are certainly closer. If I was there for longer, I'm sure I would have played Thorpeness also. Not withstanding the 2 ball situation at Aldeburgh, the pair would be a real contender for a Buda with a side trip to the Sacred Nine on the way? 

Cheers,

James

[John Mayhugh]

Thanks for the tour.  The opening photo of the first tee, putting green, and clubhouse put an immediate smile on my face. 

Like Mark, I didn't think much of the fairway bunkering from looking through the photos.  Looking at the course on Google Earth, though, shows quite a bit more variety than the camera near ground level picks up.  Much more variety in bunker shapes and positioning seems to be pretty interesting. 

And I noticed just how close the road is to the first tee.

[Tom Kelly]

Another course I'd never heard of that will be added to the list...Thanks for the tour James.
 
At first glance some of the bunkering looked like a similar style to Notts which would make sense given the Willie Park Jr connection though you say JH Taylor was given credit for the bunkering? You can definitely see some of his alpinisation in those quirky cross bunkers on 10. The bunkering on the few JH Taylor courses I've seen has been fairly uninspiring but this looks like it might be abit better. Do we know how much was Taylor and if Willie Park had anything to do with the bunkers? For that matter is the bunker style at Notts credited to Willie Park Jr or Tom Williamson?

I don't want to stray off topic but the mention of Felixstowe Ferry caught my attention as I read somewhere that Tom Simpson was involved there at some point. Do we know if he did any significant work there? Is it worth a trip to play? I could be tempted by a Simpson-Willie Park Jr double bill.

[Mark_Rowlinson]

Felixstowe Ferry was bashed around a great deal during the Second World War - not so much by the Germans as by the home forces trying to defend a potentially vulnerable landing place for invaders. It was not the first time such a threat existed - surviving Martello towers remind us of Napoleon's threat. I think today's course is largely the work of Henry Cotton - do correct me if I'm wrong - and has had a number of different routings in its lifetime. There are, however, some very good links holes up by the Martello towers (one in particular), overlooking the sea wall. Before you play it make sure you read M.R. James 'O, whistle, and I'll come to you, my lad,' preferably alone in a sinister hotel room, on a dark and eerie night. It's one of the great ghost stories. Bernard Darwin played at Felixstowe (a long time ago!).

In one of my (unfinished) trawls of courses no longer extant I seem to recall that there were two different clubs and courses at Felixstowe. Again, I stand to be corrected.

Woodbridge is another Suffolk course worth a look. It was originally laid out by the club professional, David Howie, with nine further holes later added by FW Hawtree. It's heathland in character with plenty of gorse and broom. Like a number of East Anglian courses it is quick draining and good in winter. There used to be a big American airbase right alongside the course and play could be noisy. But the base and closed and now all is peace and quiet. I have very happy memories of occasional rounds here.

[James Boon]

Tom,

Perhaps I should have made a stronger point of this but I was surprised to read that at Aldeburgh Willie Park Jnr did the layout while JH Taylor did the bunkering. It was actually the same at Hollinwell in that WPJ did the original layout and JHT added bunkers within the first year or so. So I'm not actually sure what a WPJ bunker looks like as most at Hollinwell are probably JHT, or Tom Williamson? Or they could be any number of previous green committees, Frank Penninck or Donald Steel, all who have had an input in the bunkering at some point in the past!

Did Willie Park actually add bunkers to many of the courses he is credited with or did JH Taylor follow him around elsewhere???

Mark, I drive past Woodbridge as we went to see Sutton Hoo. Would certainly be interested in a game there. In fact the whole area seems like its plenty of lesser heathland'esque course plus the links on Felixstowe Ferry, meaning it should have more golfing tourist heading that way than it probably does already?

Cheers,

James

[Mark_Rowlinson]

James, I think East Anglia has very few courses for its geographic area, but what it has are seriously good. There are quite a few new courses of which I have no knowledge. From my limited experience I would say that you would not be disappointed in their different ways at King's Lynn (modern), Hunstanton, Royal West Norfolk, Sheringham, Great Yarmouth, Aldeburgh, Thorpeness, Woodbridge, Thetford, Felixstowe Ferry, Ipswich (Purdis Heath), Royal Worlington and Gog Magog. I am told that Eaton is better than Royal Norwich, but who am I to say? I have been told by trustworthy friends that Diss is better than I remember it. If you are a fan of ladies' golf (and at international level in particular) then you have to visit Royal Cromer. It is good golf on the elevated section by the lighthouse, but I have to suggest that the lower level golf is less memorable.

East Anglia has much to commend it from the golfing point of view.

[Tony_Muldoon]

Thanks you James,  looks as good as I'd hoped.   The conditin compared to 4 other top 100 courses I've played recently is remarkable, considering the wet winter we've sufferred.

IN a couple of years ai'll try and suggest a March weekend break here.

[Sean_A]

Boony

Thanks for the tour.  The course looks an awful lot like P&K's front 9!  What were the holes you thought were better than good?

Ciao

[James Boon]

Tony,

Yes its would be a good area for a Spring gathering...

Sean,

I cant comment on the P&K comparison, but as I said it felt very much of Ganton to me.

For me its a pretty solid course, but the holes that stand out are the 4th (stunning to see the railways sleepers around the front of the green to such an extent, and extra pressure with it being such a short hole) and 14th (dogleg around the course boundary with and undulating fairway and approach to a raised green). 2, 11, 12 and 15 not too shabby either.

Cheers,

James

[Terry Lavin]

JB,

Thanks for a very inspiring tour.  The UK has a mighty deep "bench", as I am consistently "wowed" by thread after thread of golf courses that just don't hit the radar here in the States.  And I agree with Saltzman that the 4th is a work of art.

[Sean_A]

Tony,

Yes its would be a good area for a Spring gathering...

Sean,

I cant comment on the P&K comparison, but as I said it felt very much of Ganton to me.

For me its a pretty solid course, but the holes that stand out are the 4th (stunning to see the railways sleepers around the front of the green to such an extent, and extra pressure with it being such a short hole) and 14th (dogleg around the course boundary with and undulating fairway and approach to a raised green). 2, 11, 12 and 15 not too shabby either.

Cheers,

James

Yes, the second caught my eye.  I invariably like bunkers well short of greens.  There looks to be a nicely canted left green as well. 

I can't say the course really grabs me, but everything looks good. 

Ciao