I have it scanned, if someone wants it please pm me without driving me crazy! As to Deal, many here know my thoughts. I've been fortunate enough to see a lot of GB&I courses and I joined it for a reason which was I found not one that was a greater mix of fun and challenge. Also, don't forget Deal has one of the best if not the best playing pros around--Andrew Reynolds who is a rarity, a man who has been at Deal I think north of 30 years and has played in Senior British Opens and done well.
I certainly think if the tiny town of Sandwich can hold the Open, Deal can. Dont forget Walmer is close to Deal and has 6k people and Deal itself is 30k people. You could bus people in from Dover if need be too.
There were many reasons for Sandy Parlour being abandoned, Tommy Naccarato and I wrote a piece for Neil Crafter's Golf Architecture Magazine Volume 9 about it.
Here is some text on the old Sandy Parlour from the piece Tommy and I wrote.. I've actually spent a lot of time around the area trying to figure out where everything is.. It is not easy as the fill JSF Morrison used to build the current hole was taken from the old greensite and surrounding area.
In Search of Sandy Parlour
Words: Noel Freeman
Illustrations: Thomas Naccarato, David Dobby
Photographs: Russell Talley
Research: David Dobby, Tom MacWood
Blindness is certainly a subject in golf that one can go blind arguing about-Max Behr
In golf as in life, there are feelings of pleasurable uncertainty at times. A sense of mystery, love of the inexplicable and wonder grip the player. Heroic and strategic golf holes can evoke great joy out of golfers, but for sheer drama and illumination the blind golf shot—more specifically the blind par three-- is unsurpassed. Yet in the modern game the blind par three is a veritable dinosaur. In our prevailing and increasingly Americanized pop culture, where instant gratification rules, golfers now require immediate feedback and visibility in shot making. Any obstructed view or shot is an endangered species and clubs will spend whatever it takes to remove them. It is all about fairness now in the modern game. Yet, fairness looms too large in modern golf architecture; its zealots apply it until the game grows stale, shabby, old and just plain boring. What have we lost? The heroic or “sportsman’s” carry—a shot involving an inherent leap of faith and a dash of luck.
The blind par three still exists in several places. The Dell Hole at Lahinch and Prestwick’s Himalayas being the most famous of those remaining. Sadly, these holes once had two famous cousins in England—the Maiden (#6) at Sandwich and the ‘Sandy Parlour’ at Royal Cinque Ports (Deal).
“There stands the ‘Maiden’ steep, sandy and terrible, with her face scarred and seamed with black timbers, but alas! We no longer have to drive over her crown: we hardly do more than skirt the fringe of her garment.” Bernard Darwin
Eloquently described by Darwin and sounds fun to play, does it not? Unfortunately, the Maiden is no more as changes throughout the 20th century now make the green directly visible from the green. The Maiden is but a footnote, a sandhill standing sentinel and regal but no longer challenged nor threatened.
A few miles south of Sandwich, is the crumpled landscape of Deal where the ‘Sandy Parlour’ offered the most sporting of blind par 3s. Originally conceived in 1892, the ‘Sandy Parlour’ was possibly a design of Tom Dunn or Ramsey Hunter but constructed by Harry Hunter--Deal’s first greenskeeper and professional. It is likely the final design of the original 4th is his. At birth, ‘Sandy Parlour’ was full of richness and wonder in playing. It contained all the challenge a golfer could ask for within its 150 yards. With the lapping waves of the English Channel behind the golfer, the beachside tee was open to the wind at all quarters (usually the summer southwesterly--a hurting slice wind). In front of the golfer lied a supreme challenge. One hundred yards ahead was the spine of a tall sand dune with a marker post acting as a beacon to aim at. In between tee and marker post was the ‘Sandy Parlour’ a mottled wasteland of sand, scrub and dune grasses. It was a tremendous hazard for golfers at that time playing a guttie with any hope of recovery unlikely. Yet, that was only half the battle. If a ball could carry the sand dune, it was no guarantee of reaching Providence. A shot had to pitch at just the right area on the backside of the dune in order to catch a left to right kick onto a fall-away green. Wayward pitches would find two bunkers flanking right and one left. A non-bunkered ball could be even worse finding broken ground lies with little hope of recovery. The preferred shot required a member to learn a high dropper and after repeated attempts, the golfer would learn the charms and whims of the approach.
What the Golfing world thought of the ‘Sandy Parlour’
Horace Hutchinson
The fourth hole of 158 yards is known as Sandy Parlour, and is a reproduction on a smaller scale of the celebrated Maiden at Sandwich. It is a very pretty hole, and, except against a strong wind, a cleek shot should land you on the green; but a provoking pot to the left catches many an apparently well-hit ball, so the hole must be played with care and precision if it is to be achieved in three. (1897 British Golf Links)
Bernard Darwin-
The fourth hole, ‘The Sandy Parlour,’ has for some years a great name, but like some other blind holes has come to live on its reputation. The shot is a blind one over a big sandy bluff.
The once famous short holes are meeting with the same fate all over the country. The ‘Maiden,” long since shorn of much of its glory, is undergoing another metamorphosis, and it is even rumoured that some day it will be a blind hole no longer. The ‘Sandy Parlour’ has even been threatened, and indeed it may be laid down that if the golfers of a dozen years ago praised a hole as being ‘sporting’ that hole will be the first marked down for the reformer’s attack. It is all very splendid no doubt, but is it is also just a little bit sad. (1910)
Whither the ‘Sandy Parlour’
Bernard Darwin’s quote about the ‘Sandy Parlour’ was prescient indeed. By 1937, the ‘Sandy Parlour’ no longer existed--dying a death at age 46. A post mortem examination reveals no direct reason for the culling of the hole. Several factors, however, are evident.
• An excessive number of holes-in-one. Caddies trying to earn the traditional sovereign tip for an ace would often move shots near the hole into the cup. Deal members grew tired of the practice.
• Safety concerns. While bells and even periscopes were used in the early 20th century to protect golfers from errant shots on blind holes it is likely clubs would look at removing blind shots in order for personal safety and protection of members/guests.
• Back to back blind shots. The 3rd hole at Deal features a blind approach over Lang’s Neck to a punchbowl green. Combined with the shot over the ‘Sandy Parlour’ at the 4th, members may have tired of duplicate blind approaches.
• Criticism from well-known architects and fairness minded professionals. Herbert Fowler in previewing the 1909 Open had this to say about the hole.
“The Fourth Hole is called the ‘Sandy Parlour’. It is an absolutely blind hole over a very large sand bunker and a ridge of sand covered with rough, benty grass. The green is a good one, but value of the hole is quite spoilt owing to its being blind. May 29, 1909 Country Life
One may speculate to Fowler’s quote motivation—he may have been looking for redesign work, as this was common in the era so his comment could be genuine critique or an invitation to offer his design services. Regardless, it marks the beginning of a reformation movement toward fairness and visibility.
Changes to the ‘Sandy Parlour’
In 1926, Harry Colt’s assistant, J.S.F. Morrison began the first changes to ‘Sandy Parlour’. Morrison reformed the hole by shaving the right side of the dune enough to give the golfer a visible view of the flagstick. The effect of this was simple—the emasculation of the sporty nature of the hole. Visibility removed the fear of the unknown for the golfer and it was just a matter of time until the final solution of obsolescence. Morrison returned in 1937 in order to prepare the course for the 1938 Open Championship. In doing so, Morrison relocated the green adjacent to the ‘Sandy Parlour’ (on the other side of the dune) making it entirely visible from the tee.
The current green complex is brilliant, a domed, bunker-less affair which is shy of 3,000 square feet. It is wider than it is deep and despite only being 150 yards will only accept a superior shot owing to its crowned nature. Being predominantly downwind, the shot value is moderately difficult despite wedge or 9-iron in hand.