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Thomas Dai

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Kingsdown GC, near Bath, UK
« on: January 15, 2017, 12:56:27 PM »
A recent discussion about sunken greens concentrated on the 11th at Minch' Old and a few others.

As a youngster I recall playing at Kingsdown GC, high on the hill west of Bath, and am convinced that there used to be a similar sunken green around the 7th-8th-9th holes. Looking at the Kingsdown website and at satmaps I can't spot this feature. I wonder if it's been filled-in and the green re-done or maybe it's my memory!

I also recall, and this still seems to be there, a wonderful short humpy bumpy evil greened par-3, the 4th hole.

I think the course was a bit quirky in places, old quarry workings, stone walls etc, but it was quite a while ago and the memory may not be as it once was.

Anyone know much about Kingsdown these days?

The clubs website - http://www.kingsdowngolfclub.co.uk

Atb

Adrian_Stiff

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Re: Kingsdown GC, near Bath, UK New
« Reply #1 on: January 15, 2017, 01:49:49 PM »
Thomas - Not a lot has changed at Kingsdown. I have consulted there in the past and did produce a new 3 hole plan to remove 13 and 14 and also the 8th, but I did it more on a captains whim, 12 & 14 are close together, 13 is on a slope and the 8th being blind if you go for the green is a bit dangerous.


The 17th was reversed in the late seventies and is now a pretty drop hole, it used to be a 100 yarder straight up the hill and I think they still use that in the winter. 18th got extended with the tee back 40 yards and the green moved out of the sunken hollow beyond some 30 yards. Hawtrees did this from memory and whilst the sunken green is lost the hole is better now I think and their work fits nicely with the others.


The first three holes are all par 4s, the third is long and tough. The 4th has a green that Mr Doak would be proud of, it has some huge contours, the club did talk to me about smoothing it out. The green is sunken as is the 8th and the 9th which is a really good pit and probably the one you remember.


Kingsdown is a course Sean would enjoy, it is only a mile or so from Cumberwell. It has a fair bit of quirk, there are some nice features at 7 and 10. 12 is a cute hole. Nice turf always in good nick too.
« Last Edit: January 16, 2017, 01:46:16 PM by Adrian_Stiff »
A combination of whats good for golf and good for turf.
The Players Club, Cumberwell Park, The Kendleshire, Oake Manor, Dainton Park, Forest Hills, Erlestoke, St Cleres.
www.theplayersgolfclub.com

Richard Fisher

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Kingsdown GC, near Bath, UK
« Reply #2 on: January 15, 2017, 04:01:13 PM »
Kingsdown is where (apart from Harlech) I learned to play golf, and I was a member there as a junior and a student for about a decade from 1972-1982. I haven't played there this century, however.

I think that one or two others (including Sean) have commented on aspects of Kingsdown on GCA before, and especially the excellent short fourth. When I first played there c1970 the course was of thirteen holes, with the tee for the splendid ninth hole over the crossing road, making for a really tough par-four of about 425 yards (it is now about 360). Holes beyond the current 2nd hole had been lost to agriculture during WW2, truncating what is actually one of the oldest golf sites in the West of England, dating from 1880 (when the Bath Golf Club first played there, before moving elsewhere), and that pre-war layout involved still further road crossing, notably to what ( think) is now the 8th green.

I have always thought Kingsdown a breezy course of half a dozen moderate holes, half a dozen rather quirky holes, and half a dozen genuinely good holes, played on generally decent turf with some gorgeous views down the valley to Bath. To my mind it is a distinct improvement on the course at Lansdown (next to Bath Racecourse, to the North of the City), if not as good as the Bath Golf Club itself at Sham Castle. It was always a very friendly, unstuffy golf club, and the one blot was some distinctly dodgy tree-planting on essentially upland terrain.

My local Bath golf recommendation remains, however, a game on the 18-hole approach course behind the Royal Crescent, a pitch-and-putt with (in summer) some of the fastest greens and at all times the most spectacular urban backdrop of any golf course in England. Burnham is about 90 minutes away, and Porthcawl perhaps two hours, but in all honesty Bath has enough non-golfing assets to occupy happily most visitors!

Thomas Dai

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Re: Kingsdown GC, near Bath, UK
« Reply #3 on: January 16, 2017, 08:37:15 AM »
Thank you Adrian and Richard for the updates and comments. A return visit seems necessary.


For those uncertain of its location, Kingsdown GC is here -


https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.4020625,-2.2661447,18z/data=!3m1!1e3


Atb

Marc Haring

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Re: Kingsdown GC, near Bath, UK
« Reply #4 on: January 16, 2017, 09:52:36 AM »
I think Kingsdown should be my entry to the courses nearest to me that I haven't actually played. It is literally 5 minutes up my hill from Bathford to get there. I did play a few holes once maybe 25 years ago but that's it. I think the fact that the road just goes straight through the middle of it and the truly awful set of christmas trees that someone felt was essential to plant has seriously put me off a return visit. It also has a few nasty short doglegs where cutting the corner would be golfing suicide so therefore just remain an obligatory iron to the corner and a wedge on. I think if it was devoid of all those trees it could be a fun quirky little course but not now.


They have a youtube video of all the holes here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMAlxWVxhKM
« Last Edit: January 16, 2017, 09:55:04 AM by Marc Haring »