I've added some more pictures from my trip to England/Scotland.  The following is a link to photos of Sunningdale (Old):

http://www.golfarch.com/Sunningdale/


Here are a few teasers:


Hole 3




Holes 5 and 6




Hole 12




Hole 13

Carlyle,

In those first two pictures, are the front-and-center paths merely walking trails, or.....I can't bring myself to say it....

Joe

joe - i have played many rounds at sunningdale and i am pretty sure that carts only allowed for people with medical conditions. i can vaguely recall seeing one, but in general it is a carry your own bag/caddy course. indeed, caddies are more a feature there than any other course i have played in england

For those who know the place, in person, how 'purple' is the purple that Carlyle's pics hint at?

A few days ago, I watched part of Shell's Wonderful World of Golf in a match at Sunningdale between Norman and Faldo. I have to admit, I was unimpressed with the course. It just seemed rather bland, with uniteresting greens and unispired bunkers (anyone know if it was played on the new course? The bunkers didn't have nearly the character as seen in the photos above). In particular, the dense trees seemed out of place on the otherwise rolling terrain. I looked at the Shell Golf Web site, and the description of the course sums it up:

"Our destination is the Sunningdale Golf Club not far from London where a head to head match between the number one ranked Greg Norman of Australia and the number two ranked Nick Faldo of England will take place for the championship of the Empire. Once a treeless tract of land, great rows of pine and birch have grown along the fairways and a beautiful spreading twin oak behind the 18th green has become the symbol of the Club."

I don't mind tree-lined fairways (I live in New England, which seems to have cornered the market on heavily wooded courses), but at Sunningdale in 1994, the trees looked like they were encroaching on the line of play.

Andy.

The heather can get very colourful indeed. Actually, the reddy purple colour is from the flowers of erica carnea or bell heather which strictly speaking is not a heather but an erica. It’s all the same sort of thing though. It is usually mixed in with the slightly later flowering common ling heather (calluna vulgaris) which is more of a lilac in colour and also with the pinker cross leaved heath (erica tetralix) in the wetter areas. Either way it can look stunning at certain times.

Here’s an example of it at Berkshire which is only a mile or so away from Sunningdale.




Dan.

You’re right about the trees. They have resulted in quite a one dimensional course. They desperately need some severe thinning but I don’t think the membership would accept it. The place is run by ex walker cuppers who do not appreciate the more subtle aspects of course stategy.

Thanks Marc. Interesting, and quite attractive

I played in September and never really perceived the trees to be in play.

C

A few days ago, I watched part of Shell's Wonderful World of Golf in a match at Sunningdale between Norman and Faldo. I have to admit, I was unimpressed with the course. It just seemed rather bland, with uniteresting greens and unispired bunkers (anyone know if it was played on the new course? The bunkers didn't have nearly the character as seen in the photos above). In particular, the dense trees seemed out of place on the otherwise rolling terrain. I looked at the Shell Golf Web site, and the description of the course sums it up:

"Our destination is the Sunningdale Golf Club not far from London where a head to head match between the number one ranked Greg Norman of Australia and the number two ranked Nick Faldo of England will take place for the championship of the Empire. Once a treeless tract of land, great rows of pine and birch have grown along the fairways and a beautiful spreading twin oak behind the 18th green has become the symbol of the Club."

I don't mind tree-lined fairways (I live in New England, which seems to have cornered the market on heavily wooded courses), but at Sunningdale in 1994, the trees looked like they were encroaching on the line of play.

The Shell's match was played on the new course.

-Ted

Paul

Sunningdale would have about 17 staff on the 36 holes.
You could expect about £45-50K a year plus benefits including a house on the course.

The 4th isn't the best hole on the Old, but it did once have a lumpy green:

Paul, heckuva green (and heckuvan understatement on your part).  The horseshoe effect in the middle looks like the Raynor green shown on here last week at Cascades, though the rest of the green seems to have way more 'lumpy'.
Its a neat effect, pity its not used more often.