South of London

[Alex_Wyatt]

Hankley. Harry Colt remodel of James Braid. Extremely under the radar. Can any of our UK friends comment? Have an opportunity to play there soon

[Brent Hutto]

Alex,

I'm going to be spending two nights near Hankley Common when I arrive in England (and then two more nights before departure) for my trip to the Amateur Championship in late June. I'm playing at Walton Heath one of those days but the idea had occurred that checking out Hankley might be a fun "obscure course" experience if I get a chance.

I have no idea about seasonal foliage in England so I wonder if there's any chance of their heather showing its lovely purple colors that early in the year. In Scotland, I have the impression heather blooms more in August than June or July. At any rate, from what's been written in previous thread Hankley should have some perfectly spectacular hard-core heathlands vistas during the heather season.

As for actual architecture, my impression is that the front nine may have some Braid in evidence but the back nine is pretty much Colt.

[Brent Hutto]

If you have a choice of venues then I wouldn't choose Hankley.

Especially in the sense that Hankley might be a bit redundant given that Tony M and I are playing the courses at Walton Heath. The two clubs have similar ground to work with and both have undertaken to eliminate the threat to the heather posed by tree proliferation. I'd expect Walton Heath to be the clearly superior course in terms of the architecture of the golf holes per se.

At any rate, I can hardly wait and if Walton Heath actually has some bloom on the heather by then it will make for a glorious day indeed. BTW, isn't England having a late and/or dry Spring so far? As it turns out we're having much the same here in the Southeast USA.

[Ed Tilley]

Large parts of the South of England are about to have a domestic hosepipe ban. We've had two dry winters and conditions should be nice and firm for you.

[Tom Huckaby]

Concur re Walton Heath - and Brent, make sure you spend some time in the cluhbouse... they have a GREAT bar, but more importantly some of the coolest pics you'll ever see, from the 1981 Ryder Cup held there.

But you can't respond to that, as it's not about architecture.  So just politely nod.

 

Question re London environs:  I have no clue if this is north, south, east, west... but when I was there several years ago, I played a course called North Hants GC.  I remember it being pretty darn fun.. sorta heathery (but not close to Walton Heath), some rocky parts, great greens, very welcoming club.  Any comments on North Hants?

TH

[Tom Huckaby]

Sean:

I was there very shortly after Rose's heroics at Birkdale... his pictures were all over the place... "home of Justin Rose" banners were everywhere.  I thought it was pretty cool.

So should our state here in the USA correctly be known as New Hants?

 

[Richard Pennell]

Alex - I've played Hankley Common a couple of times and its one of my favourites round here. Some really good holes, a welcoming feel to the whole place, and very well conditioned with firm playing surfaces and plenty of fescue in the sward. The heathland that it sits in is as good as anywhere I've been, with the possible exception of Swinley Forest, and it will be beautiful that time of year. The Common itself is huge and so you get the feeling you're in the middle of nowhere. I haven't been, but the course nearby at Hindhead sounds really nice too - you could play both if you had the time.

Cheers
Richard

[Tom Huckaby]

Huckleberry

I'm not sure I would screw around with the name of that place.  Remember, this is the state that proudly displays "Give me liberty or give me death" (or some such rubbish - I think) on their plates.  

Ciao

Sean

VERY good point, and sage counsel.

 

[Richard Pennell]

Oops, forgot to put this in:

http://www.hankley.co.uk/pages/visitorhome.html

[Mark_Rowlinson]

Richard's account of Hankley gives a very good impression - it is spacious and there are very few trees.  It's a good club course whereas Walton Heath has a championship pedigree.  hankley is one of several hundred English courses that could easily be ranked between 75th and 150th in the country if the rankings were done by GCA nuts. That said, I think Hankley has been ranked in the Top 100 in the British Isles by Golf World.  

I, too, like North Hants - there's a lot of fun.  They've built a new 3rd hole (I think it is) since I was there, brought about by encroaching housing beyond the boundaries.  It's a good course in that it builds to a great finishing stretch, although its 18th is not as good as Hankley's excellent 18th.  

You should also consider Liphook (which I would prefer to Hindhead) as a partner for Hankley, and it's not a silly drive to West Sussex or Royal Asgdown if you want superb partners for Hankley.