Golf & Race Tracks

[Simon Barrington]

2 more here from Jonathan Davison on X:


"2 courses within races tracks. Wien golf club, Austria and Racing Club Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic"


https://x.com/CreateGolf/status/1862408965008572513

[Thomas Dai]

There was once a horse race track at Kington. Located around the present 2nd and 16th holes.
As an aside terrain not used much for crop growing or settlements were occasionally used for activities that folks wanted to be less well known …. eg, what appear to be bunkers on the 16th fairway at Kington were apparently cockfighting pits and then there’s the Mass Hole at Waterville in Ireland.
For another golf course which used to have a horse racing track through it there’s Whittington Heath, where part of the clubhouse was once the race course grandstand.
Atb

[Niall C]

Don't know if it has been mentioned yet but a large part of the Penrith course in Cumbria was on a race-course and from memory the first clubhouse was underneath the grandstand.


Niall

[Mark Pearce]

There was once a horse race track at Kington. Located around the present 2nd and 16th holes.
As an aside terrain not used much for crop growing or settlements were occasionally used for activities that folks wanted to be less well known …. eg, what appear to be bunkers on the 16th fairway at Kington were apparently cockfighting pits and then there’s the Mass Hole at Waterville in Ireland.
For another golf course which used to have a horse racing track through it there’s Whittington Heath, where part of the clubhouse was once the race course grandstand.
Atb

That'll be the old clubhouse.  HS2 has brought them a brand spanking new clubhouse.

[Sven Nilsen]

More for the list or to look into -


Ascot Municipal GC - Los Angeles - 18 holes in the infield of the Ascot Speedway.
Tampa Bay Hotel GC - a small practice course existed within the racetrack while the new 18 hole course was being laid out.
American Jockey Club at Arlington Park
Lincolnshire CC aka Lincoln Oaks GC - built in connection with Lincoln Fields racetrack.
Kansas City Jockey Club aka Elmridge CC
St. Louis Jockey Club
New York Jockey Club - at the site of the Morris Park racecourse, which hosted both the Preakness and the Belmont
Allegheny CC in Pittsburgh started from a group that played out of the Homewood racetrack.
Vancouver GC (WA) - plans for a course to be laid out on the site of an old racetrack, no evidence course ever built.


The course in the infield of the Harlem racetrack in Chicago was also the location for Newspaper GC and Tecumseh GC.


In addition, there were a great number of golf and automobile clubs, many of which might have had some kind of racetrack.

[Greg Hohman]

Formerly had track: Coronado, Coronado CA. See Reply 685 on the Ed Oden routings thread.

[Matt Schoolfield]

Fairgrounds Golf Course (9 hole, par3), Santa Rosa, CA.

[Colin Sheehan]

Simon,
Thanks for the two European recommendations. I added both. Wien looks interesting. (I enjoyed episode one of the Braid podcast.)


Matt,
Thanks for the Fairgrounds recommendation. Is that the 9th hole that could be a par-three over the water and a long walk back to a four-par the next?


Here's the updated slideshow.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/DJkdmLw9espnXKTq6

[Simon Barrington]

Simon,
Thanks for the two European recommendations. I added both. Wien looks interesting. (I enjoyed episode one of the Braid podcast.)

Colin, Thank you re. The podcast, both Episode 2 (with much more GCA content) and Episode 3 with Historian Philip Truett re. Braid at Walton Heath are both out now, good for quiet listening over the Holiday period.

Wishing you, and all on here, a very Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, fun family-time over the Holidays, and a Prosperous and GCA-filled 2025!

[Matt Schoolfield]

Matt,
Thanks for the Fairgrounds recommendation. Is that the 9th hole that could be a par-three over the water and a long walk back to a four-par the next?

Technically there are two par four holes, but longer hitters can probably reach the green on both when the wind is right. The ninth hole is split, where the short version is a flip over the water, and the long version is a long par three, but they give you some fairway to work if you can't hit it that far.

The course is surprisingly fun, especially when the wind is up, but the long ninth really feels like it was tacked on specifically to up the course rating, and I'd much rather play the flip shot from the short tees, but I always end up playing the back so I can post. The third is especially challenging, as it mimics Augusta's Golden Bell. The first hole is also fantastic as the bunker right trades of with bringing the OB left into play.

[Colin Sheehan]

Merry Christmas, everyone.
 
Yesterday I was running errands and I had the Freewheelin' Dylan album playing...it was a very long time since I listened to it straight through; I was caught-up in all the movie promotion. I've been a fan since eighth grade in the late 80s when I internalized his first five albums (along with the original Greatest Hits) which were among the first 10 cds I ever owned. Anyway, I forgot about the lyrics from the song Bob Dylan's Blues. It made me smile in light of the recent discussion.


Lord, I ain't goin' down to no race track
See no sports car run
I don't have no sports car
And I don't even care to have one
I can walk anytime around the block

[Micah Woods]

Royal Bangkok Sports Club is a conspicuous one. Lanna Golf Club in Chiang Mai is another in Thailand.

India has Ft. William in Kolkata, Mysore Race Club, and the Madras Gymkhana Club. Air Force GC in New Delhi is at the Delhi Race Club.

There is also Penang Turf Club in Malaysia.

[Colin Sheehan]

Micah,
Thank you for those. They are great. Madras has some economy of space to get 18 holes in 80 acres.

[JC Urbina]

Colin,


I have enjoyed all of the contributions to your slide show, If I knew how to post aerials I would include Pasatiempo and the back nine Steeple Chase course that ran parallel to Hole # 13 rounded up above the 13 green and then headed back down # 14 fairway where it crossed over the 16th fairway with a bank turn that is still cut into the 16th  fairway.

[MKrohn]

Was a race meeting in Gilgandra, NSW, Australia yesterday, you could see some of the tees and flags as the horses went by. Appears no golfers on race day


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssZWyuF81IU

[Simon Barrington]

Simon,
Thanks for the two European recommendations. I added both. Wien looks interesting. (I enjoyed episode one of the Braid podcast.)

Colin, Thank you re. The podcast, both Episode 2 (with much more GCA content) and Episode 3 with Historian Philip Truett re. Braid at Walton Heath are both out now, good for quiet listening over the Holiday period.

Wishing you, and all on here, a very Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, fun family-time over the Holidays, and a Prosperous and GCA-filled 2025!

Colin

I think may have been mentioned already but The Country Club at Brookline's original 6-Hole layout in 1892 crossed the race track twice (4th & 6th Holes)
The 9-hole layout in 1893 crossed it only once (4th) as they moved the "home" green when adding 3 more holes.
(Ref:Fifty Years of American Golf - H.B. Martin - 1936)

[Colin Sheehan]

Thank you for mentioning Gilgandra. Interesting little nine holer with limited irrigation and maintenance.


Simon,
Do you have any illustrations of those earlier routings?

[Simon Barrington]

Simon,
Do you have any illustrations of those earlier routings?

I do, sent you a Personal Message on here
Cheers

[Tom_Doak]

Colin:


One that hasn't been mentioned [because I'm probably the only one here who has seen it] is Golf Park at Ngong Racecourse, outside Nairobi.  It's the only public course in the city, and all nine holes are inside the track IIRC.

[Colin Sheehan]

Thanks, Tom.


I just added two images of it. One from 2001 when it was under construction and the other of the most recent image.

[Colin Sheehan]

https://photos.app.goo.gl/DJkdmLw9espnXKTq6

The updated slideshow and it's list in order below. Thank you to everyone who shared a location. Some appear with more than one image. I tried my best to organize into a few categories. There's a few I list entirely inside that may have a shot over the track but it's hard to tell. Please correct me if there are any mistakes.
 
Jim, would love to add Pasatiempo.

In and Out (playing over track at least once):
Musselburgh Old, Scotland
Great Yarmouth & Caister, England
Northumberland, England
Ludlow, England
Gowran Park, Ireland
Wien, Germany
Madras, Indian
Royal Bangkok, Thailand
Links (Newmarket), England

In and Out (without playing over the track)
Fakenham, England
Southwell, England,
Kelso, Scotland
Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Indiana
Mysore, India
Royal Calcutta, India
Lanna, Thailand
Hipodrom Holoubek, Czechoslovakia

Entirely Inside:
Penang Turf (in and out prior to 2005)
Paris CC, France
Leopardstown, Ireland
Royal Durban, South Africa
Doncaster Town Moor, England
Sandown, England
Aintree, England  (multiple tracks and pitch-and-putt crosses one)
Warwick, England
Royal Golf Anfa, Morocco
Gilgandra, Australia
Ngong Race Course & Golf Park, Kenya
Fairgrounds, California
Delhi Race Club, India

Adjacent to Track:
Jockey Club, Argentina
Tauranga Golf Club, New Zealand
Royal Ascot, England (once within until 2005)
Strathclyde Park, Scotland
East Brighton, England
Epsom Down, England
Bath, England
Ellerstina Polo Club, Argentina
Morfontaine, France
Lingfield Park, England (plays along two sides of track extension)
Uttoxeter, England
Chester, England

Once a Track:
The Bridge, New York
Ohoopee Match Club, Georgia (track roughed in but never completed)
Longleaf, North Carolina
Somerset Hills, New Jersey
Glen Riddle, Maryland
Rose City, Oregon
Diablo CC, California
The Country Club, Massachusetts
Torrey Pines, California

Formerly a Track Not Included in Slideshow:
Pasatiempo, California
Jeffersonville, Pennsylvania 
Royal Liverpool, England 
Eagle's Nest, Indiana 
Idle Hour, Georgia
Washington Park, Illinois  (golf NLE)
Harlem Jockey Club, Illinois  (NLE)
Speedway Park Golf Club, Illinois (NLE)
Torquay Golf Club, England (original location NLE?)
Kebo Valley, Maine
Vesper, Massachusetts?
Santa Anita, California
Kington, England
Whittington Heath, England
Penrith, England

Yas Links and a few others had a little too much separation to be included. Morfontaine was close to not including but I love that place so much and the track was interesting.