http://www.painswickgolf.com/history.php

Tom

It was the Champion Golfer of 1868.  See the link above.

Mark Rowlinson, Sean Arble, Andy Levett, Tom Doak and others can answer your second question better than I, but I would guess that the answer is "Yes, and no...."

There really isn't another course with which Painswick could be likened, in my experience.  Its extreme quirk remains, somehow, fun.  That it held the interest and affection of a host of GCA visitors for several days suggests that for all its madness there is a quality there which brings satisfaction each time the course is played.  Sean has mentioned one or two courses in the region which have something in common.  I'd probably cite Church Stretton, Windermere and Wrekin as having something similar in the vertiginous nature of some of the golf, Bala and Ffestiniog, too, although these two are much more primitive.  The original 12 holes at Macclesfield have some of the mad mountaineering qualities of the higher bits of Painswick, but the new holes added to bring the course up to 18 holes are rather more sober!  Parts of Halifax, Baildon and other Pennine courses such as Mellor & Townscliffe and Brampton might remind of Painswick, but these are all such distinctive courses that they have abundant unique character of their own.  I seem to remember a great deal of Quirk at Dollar, not far from Gleneagles, but it is a long time since last I was there.

I have surely never seen anything like it.  There may be some other good courses of that length which haven't ever been considered on their merits, but I can't imagine any of them would be as wild in their contours and have so many shared fairways.  In most countries a course like that would be shut down by litigation -- Painswick only works because it has been there so long it's accepted.

Are some of the wilder holes at Dunaverty similar to Painswick?

Nearby Minchinhampton Old is the closest in character that I know of.  It's nowhere near as cramped but  does have the old quarry works on several holes and it's golf on the common.  One great hole, the 16th.

Bath's 17th hole is of the same ilk.

I'm sure there are a few more common land courses that have the hand of Bronze Age man in play.

(Woburn Duchess has an old Danish fortification, a ridge, that comes into play on a few holes.)

Bill -

They played the qualifying for the SF City Championship flight this past weekend at Lincoln and Harding. It was remarkable how few low scores there were at Lincoln, which is amazing considering that none of the par-4's are over 400 yards and half the par-4's are less than 300 yards.    

DT

David,
  Bill is right. Painswick has to be seen to be believed. Other than the finishing hole at Painswick, I would say in general that the tamest hole at Painswick is wilder than anything at Lincoln Park. Painswick is off the charts quirky!
  Imagine playing a tee shot off the foot of Lombard street (below the curves) uphill to the top and just for good measure you have to play your approach up and over an abandoned quarry to a fairly small green that will be blind to you unless you hit a big drive. A rope tow up the first fairway at Painswick wouldn't be a bad idea. By the time you walk up to your ball, I can assure you your heartrate will be around 200 or more. And there are wilder holes than that at  Painswick. Try and make a point of seeing it once in your travels.

I didn't actually play it, but when my wife & I were in Oban a few years ago there was a course up the hill on the way out of town.
This seemed a really quirky course, small area of land, steep gradient, small greens.
Has anyone played it?

Peter Pittock - come on now, TWO blind shots at Painswick?

Let's see:  #1 second shot, #2 second shot (okay, you can see the very top of the flag), #4 ditto (although I did hear my second shot clang off the pin last time!), #5 over the ramparts par 3, #8 pitch onto the green, #10 over the ramparts par 3, #11 tee shot..... how many is that?  I count at least five.  Or three if you aren't buying #2 and #4.  Those are only blind if you can't hit a 270 yard tee shot up that hill!

Bill

Sorry, Peter, seeing a target after missing a tee shot and hitting a recovery up the hill doesn't count as not a blind shot!  And #8 is quintessential blind, the green is in a hollow maybe 6' below fairway level, a never boring pitch and run shot, hit it and hope!

Sounds like Machrie is as quirky as Painswick, hope to see it and Machranahinish one day.

Are there any clues to who extended the course in 1906-07?