The routing of Brancaster

[Richard Fisher]

The routing of Brancaster

The two excellent phototours from Sean Arble and James Boon of Brancaster both raise the question of the current course routing, and how much has changed over the past 124 years. The RWNGC’s centenary history by John K Coleridge
1892-1992 The Royal West Norfolk Golf Club – A Celebration of a Way of Golf –
Is sufficiently rare not to be held in the Cambridge University Library (one of five copyright libraries here in the UK which are nominally supposed to hold everything published in this country), and so what follows is only provisional, pending a trip back to Brancaster itself later this autumn to consult at origin. To try and explain things I have used some standard secondary sources, plus some old family scorecards dating from when my paternal grandfather (who died in 1945) often used to spend the New Year holiday at Brancaster with some of his sons, staying in the old Dormy House in the village
http://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/image/eaw036774

The current layout (6457 yards, par and SSS 71) dates from the mid-1980s, when the 13th was converted from a par-three of 193 yards, replete as I recall with one or two Rye-style sleepered eyebrows, into the excellent short par four with its exposed green that we play today: the old 13th green was slightly to the left of the current driving line. In addition, and has been widely commented, the angle of the teeshots at both the first and second holes has changed significantly with dune erosion (including the elimination during the 1990s of the old pillbox that used to stand sentinel) moving the tee progressively further right, reducing the perils of the first drive and rendering the big sleepered bunker en route to the second much less prominent.

However, as things stand, it is in fact only the first five holes, the current 8th to current 11th, and the last five that are played moreorless as was the case pre-war: significant coastal flooding in 1939 and wartime damage prompted the major routing shift Sean suspected in his profile, leading (inter alia) to the loss of what Bernard Darwin thought one of the very greatest of short holes (the old 11th). In essence the first five holes were played as now, and the sixth was a par four of 355 yards, played up the current (seventh) fairway to the current (seventh) green from a tee much nearer the fifth green (and so in that context the ‘new’ sixth is indeed a filler hole, albeit an excellent and demanding one). The next four holes were as now, although forming the 7th to 10th rather than 8th to 11th. Three holes seaward of the current 11th then followed, and anybody who has looked out to sea over the boundary fence to the right of the 11th will realise what a mouth-watering prospect that must have been, with a celebrated short hole (as above), a long hole of 410 yards, and then a two-shotter of 335 yards bringing the golfer back to the vicinity of the current 14th tee.
GCA readers with access to Bernard Darwin’s Golf Courses of Great Britain (1910, revised 1925) will realise already that this course differs quite a bit from the early layout Darwin describes, as it does from that pictured in Horace Hutchinson’s British Golf Links (1897). Frank Pennink in his Golfer’s Companion (1962) refers to ‘considerable changes’ being made by C.J.Hutchinson in 1928, and the current 12th with its odd bowl green being, ironically, one of the holes that Hutchinson had then eliminated.

If further enlightenment arrives I will, of course, pass it on. And apologies to all if somewhere in the GCA vaults are other notes and comments describing all of this already.  Nonetheless I hope that the above at least partially explains some of the routing quirks that others have noticed at Brancaster, and the number of seemingly odd or obsolete teeing grounds that are visible around the links. Whatever, it’s still one of the best places in the world for a game of golf.

[Tom_Doak]

Richard:


Unfortunately, I don't have this particular club history book either, so I apologize that I'll have to speculate as you did.


I always knew that the present par-3 6th was a filler hole -- you cross over the fairway to play it backwards to the other holes on the way out!  But I'd imagined it was built to add length, not to replace holes lost to erosion.


Sometime between Darwin's day and the war there must have been some other changes.  I believe Darwin had the 8th and 9th holes correctly labeled, so there must have been another hole in the front side at some point; indeed, C.B. Macdonald referred to the 5th at Brancaster as the model for his "Short" par-3, and today the short hole is the 4th.  I suppose he could have got that wrong, as he was probably only there one time.  I've never looked in Hutchinson's book to see if he has a good picture of the hole Macdonald singled out for praise.

[Richard Fisher]

Dear Tom

Many thanks and agreed. The current 4th was indeed the early 5th (as per Darwin and CBM) and there were clearly four opening holes on the piece of ground where three now exist. The changes you refer to between the links that Darwin and CBM first knew and that described on my pre-war scorecard were, I suspect, mainly those wrought by CJ Hutchinson in 1928 (and mentioned by Frank Pennink). There is no full photograph of the short 5th/4th in Hutchinson's work of 1897, although there are several of the 9th tee, 9th green and its surrounds, as well as one of the 14th green with the green of the short 5th/4th visible in the background (as now). I'll report back further in due course.

[MCirba]

I don't know much about Brancaster, but the timing of this thread coincided with an article Melvyn Morrow recently posted on his Facebook page, so I thought in the interest of completeness I suspect Melvyn won't mind if I  post his comments and article here for your review;

Royal West Norfolk Golf Club has it down that Holcombe Ingleby laid out the course in 1892, yet in The St. Andrews Citizen from Saturday the 23rd January 1892 it states - well read it for yourself ..........................

 PS Seems the course was laid out before the 23/01/1892 meaning the club/course may have been in existence the year before 1891.

[Richard Fisher]

Thanks. One of the (many) remarkable things about Brancaster is how quickly the West Norfolk Golf Club gained traction: in 1897 Horace Hutchinson cites a membership 'already approaching 500', which must have rendered it one of the largest members' golf clubs in England at that time. Given that Docking on the Great Eastern Railway was the nearest station, the best part of five miles away on a branch of a branch, as it were, this suggested (rightly) an attraction well beyond the ordinary.

[Scott Macpherson]

Hi Richard,


I love Brancaster – both the course and club. It's just breathes golf and visiting it is a special experience. I wrote a bit about the club in my book on the royal golf clubs. Here's an extract from an early draft:


     Holcombe Ingelby (a popular mayor and MP for King’s Lynn for many years) put the land in the hands of champion golfer Horace Hutchinson to lay out the course. This was to be one of only three designs Hutchinson would produce, but as Amateur champion in 1886 and 1887, he knew a thing or two about golf courses and was at the height of his powers. He fell in love with the peaceful place and became the club’s first captain, a post he held for eight years from 1892 to 1900. In January 1892 he wrote about the new course in Golf:

[size=0pt]…this of which we speak is a Golf Links in the right royal meaning of the term. It is neither mud-larking nor stone-breaking nor bush-whacking, Golf – Golf as it is to be played at St. Andrews, at Westward Ho! at Sandwich…. The course leads the player over lofty sand-hills. Many of the tees are reared up on eminences which command a most charming view. The German Ocean lies upon the east, and on the west are marshes, which in summer are a carpet of purple flowers, stretching to the wooded rising ground in which the fishing village of Brancaster is situated. From all points of view it is, in fact, perfect natural golfing ground.[/size][1][size=0pt][/size]

Visiting golfers immediately know something is different about this course. The 1st and 18th holes share a fairway and the 2nd and 17th holes cross over each other. This true links, covered with the finest of fescues, is great fun and asks many questions of its players, some that a novice cannot answer, others that require course experience to solve – for example, players need to know where to land the ball on greens that slopes away from the line of play. A strategic 3rd hole is followed by the penal par 3 4th and blind 5th. Railway sleepers line some bunkers, and retain some greens and bridge waterways. Putting greens come in all shapes and sizes and golfers are even rewarded with a punchbowl green, the 12th. The links follows a traditional format of ‘out and back’, but in an interesting twist the last outward holes are so engaging it is understandable why some may be slow to come back. Indeed, when the tide is in, the 8th and 9th holes can be two of the finest heroic holes in the country. Only the smell of fresh whitebait and sandwiches might lure golfers past the 12th green and back to the clubhouse.

There have been few changes to the course in nearly 125 years. The club bought the land freehold in 1927 and changes have been made only really when nature has dictated. Coastal erosion has been an undeniable force and reclaimed the 11th hole at one point, but such is the cost of seaside life. It has some benefits too: the tides seem to be adding sand to the dune behind the 9th green. 
 

   
 [1] H. Hutchinson, Golf, London, 22 January 1892, p. 298.
   

[Richard Fisher]

Thanks Scott. You'll be pleased to know that I possess a copy of your magnum opus!

That 1927 freehold purchase is clearly important, catalysing (I infer) the pre-war changes discussed above.

Holcombe Ingleby is a fascinating figure. Wikipedia tells us that he became Mayor of King's Lynn in 1909, and served again from 1919 to 1922. 'At the December 1910 general election he stood as Conservative candidate for the borough, and defeated the former member, the energetic and independent Thomas Gibson Bowles by a majority of 97. What followed caused some scandal and much amusement. Three humble voters confessedly backed by more powerful people, lodged an election petition against the new member on the ground that he and his agents had been guilty of bribery and corruption... the hearing lasted several days, reports being eagerly read all over the country. Ingleby had undoubtedly been the most lavish of entertainers. At his house, Sedgeford Hall, a few miles away, he had habitually received vast parties of guests, providing them with "pageants and carnivals," not to speak of refreshments, the attendance numbering 7,000 in 1905 and 3,000 in 1909. At that time he was not a Parliamentary candidate, but something of the kind went on after he became one, while presents of game were abundant. In giving evidence, the Liberal agent declared that rabbits had been scattered among the voters; he confessed that he himself had accepted a couple of wild duck. In the end, the Judges decided that the festivals and gifts had not been corruptly provided, and Ingleby was declared duly elected, and held the seat till 1918.'

I wonder how many other prominent clubs were founded by members of parliament, sitting or prospective? Harold Finch-Hatton (Liberal Unionist member for Newark 1895-1898) is famously one of the two founders of Royal St David's. I am sure that there must be several others from the Golden Age, c 1880-1914...