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 this 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.