[Philip Gawith]

Yelverton is a Herbert Fowler designed course (1904) nextdoor to Dartmoor in Devon. I am no expert on his work so will leave it to others to judge. Mark Rowlinson has written that it is one of his "less constructed' courses, though he adds that "man-made obstacles from earlier generations are utilised tellingly. The Devonport Leat of the 1790s forms a mostly waterless ditch crossing several fairways, and 19th-century tin workings have left many mischievous mounds and depressions around greens."

The course plays like a links and has quite a lot of width. Although there is a lot of gorse, the animals keep it in good trim so you can walk amongst it and find balls which is very handy.



The 207 yard par three opener, from about 50 yards out.



Mounding at the back of the 2nd (I think)




More of the mounding...




The 282 yard driveable short 3rd, but blind off the tee..



Looking back up the par 5 fifth hole, with the clever diagonal feature.



The 142 yard short sixth....



Dartmoor ponies intrude on the drive of the downhill right to left par 5 eighth hole. The leat crosse the fairway at about 280 yards.



The approach to the short 289 yard ninth, with the leat again in play.



The leat crosses the 420 yard 10th twice - a more natural version of the Barry Burn/hole 17!



The par 5 481 yard eleventh - "all in front of you", and reachable in two with two big hits.



The short 12th - a tough tee shot with land sloping right to left, and four bunkers and mounding protecting the left of the green.



A closer look at the twelfth green



Greenside at the tough 13th. You have to carry the ball the best part of 180 - 220 yards to carry this gulley.



Another look at the thirteenth...



View from behind the green at the short fourteenth. Although 347 yards, it is quite sharply downhill and probably driveable for a long-hitter with local knowledge, though the green is not in sight from the tee.



Approach to the fifteenth...



Approach to sixteen...



The entrance to the sixteenth green...




The leat causing problems again, this time at the 188 yard short seventeenth.

[ward peyronnin]

Philip,

I particularly like the features which are twisted and gnarly but not particularly heroic and i assume mostly created by hand during some bygone era. I don't see how one could create feature like those around twelve with a machine.

You don't say; was the course fun to play?

Ward

[Mark_Rowlinson]

Philip,  I'm thrilled to see these pictures.  This is what GCA is all about - enthusiasts sharing pictures of golf courses with other enthusiasts, assisted by an educated commentary.  Yelverton is not a great course, but it is an interesting course, unique in my experience, and well worth the attention of interested scholars.  That said, if I had to recommend a whistle-stop tour of the West Country for a visitor Yelverton would be on the margins.  But for someone who has the time to devote to it, it's a wonderful use of an unusual piece of land.  As I seem to find myself saying, I don't see much similarity between any Fowler courses, other than to use the natural resources imaginatively.  I want a CD of all your wonderful pictures!

[Philip Gawith]

Ward - it was certainly fun to play. I too like the gnarly mounds. Not, as Mark says, a great course - but certainly visually distinctive, with some challenging and interesting holes. Additionally, Dartmoor is a striking part of the country, so that is a recommendation. Finally, I am a sucker for relatively natural courses that have animals on them - so Yelverton gets filed alongside Brora, Pennard and Westward Ho! - though it is true those are better courses. It certainly has a place on a relaxed West Country schedule.

Mark - delighted you like the pictures (and pleased I could draw on your Globetrotters book which is very useful and interesting). It is fun to post pictures on a course which some have heard of, but few have seen. I will gladly try and get my act together and send you the pictures sometime.

[Mark_Rowlinson]

Philip, Your pictures say it all, but your qualified enthusiasm in words speaks volumes.  What you are communicating here is an infectious appreciation, not for a great course, but for one of character and quality.  There are so many B-list courses of at this level which are worthy of our attention.  
More, please!
Mark

[Tony_Muldoon]

Thnks Philip, Dartmoor is a favourite part of the workd in our family and I had made a note to see this course one day, and thiese are the first photo's.

Walton Heath Old, Berkshire Blue and now this one all start with a par 3 (Abercromby also seemed to like this.)


Am I understanding the picutre correctly, just before the 14th green theres a step down?  Must make the ground game harder to judge on a down hiller - surely a unique feature?

I also think the "narsty gnarly" bits on the left approach to 16 must be more threatening than any bunker.

[David_Elvins]

You have done it again Phillip.  Really interesting photos. Love the look of the 'burns' and the bunker on 13.  

Thanks.

[Andrew Mitchell]

Another set of great pictures Phillip. I wish I were as expert as you with a camera.

You've been out and about a bit recently - Dornoch/Brora, Muirfield and now Yelverton that I can recall seeing your photos of.  Any more gems for us to feast our eyes on in the near future?

[Philip Gawith]

Tony - you are right re the 14th green. Yes, unique in my experience - and certainly a factor in running the ball in, though maybe not as much as you think.

Thanks Andrew - I also posted some pics on West Sussex which is a fun course with a very distinctive "sandbelt" look. I made my debut at The Addington a few months back and will probably post a few on that - not quite as original as Yelverton!

Incidentally, I did not mention it but Yelverton has a very strong and varied set of par threes - all included in the pictures here.

[Philip Gawith]

You are right Sean - Huntercombe hollows would lend some variety to some of the fairways which could do with some unobtrusive hazards.

Re Huntercombe - I promise I will try to find some dates when you/Tony et al can turn up collectively.

[Andrew Mitchell]

Philip
Tony mentioned to me a while ago about a possible get together at Huntercombe. I'd be interested in that so please keep me in the loop.

[Marc Haring]

Thought I’d resurrect this thread because the course manager at Yelverton is getting a bit of grief at the moment from his members over the speed of his greens, which are around the 9-foot range but also his bunkers. Apparently his greens chairman is pushing for revetted faces!! Not exactly what Fowler would have wanted I feel.

I haven’t played Yelverton for many a year but remember it as a great example of simple uncomplicated golf, which I should imagine, has remained relatively unchanged for 100 odd years.

Any experts like to comment?

[Philip Gawith]

I am certainly not an expert, but I agree with you Marc re the revetted bunkers.

I think you memory serves you well and the course would lose its charms if some heavy-handed effort to stress its links features was embarked upon.

Does the chairman feel 9-foot greens are too slow or too fast? Forgive my ignorance but I am not sure what you would consider standard for an inland UK course. I suspect he thinks they are too fast, but I am not sure! My recollection is that they were quite fast, but true,

[Adrian_Stiff]

I think 9 is about right. Nice pics Philip. I am suprised more do not speak well of Yelverton.

[Tim Gavrich]

It looks very rugged; it's picture series like this that make my mouth water at the prospect of going to England (and hopefully Scotland) this coming summer.

One question: why the fencing around each green?  It kind of spoils some of the pictures to me.  I'd be a little leery hitting to those greens due to the fencing.

[Philip Gawith]

Tim the fencing is there to keep the animals off the greens. You find the same at other rustic courses like Brora. Can't remember if Pennard has them.....

[Bill_McBride]

Pennard had them when I was there in summer 2005, but I think they may be gone.  Sean?

I love the "flat on the ground" look of the greens at Yelverton.  Sometimes it gets boring when each green is elevated just so.  This is a very natural look.

Those heaving "gnarly" mounds/knobs are wild.  I saw some on a Tom Fazio course at Barton Creek earlier this year, and they looked very manufactured and out of place.  Here they look like some giant escaped from below the earth and are very appropriate if startling.

Thanks for the photo essay, Philip.  As Mark R says, this is the very essence and value of GCA.com.  I know there are a lot of US guys thinking to themselves, if this is a third tier course in the UK, I gotta get over there!  And so you do!  

[David Stamm]

   I know there are a lot of US guys thinking to themselves, if this is a third tier course in the UK, I gotta get over there!  And so you do!  

Bill, you must be clairvoyant! This was exactly what I was thinking. Philip, thank you very much for posting these. When I see a course like this, it makes me think how wonderful this would be to play in the late afternoon after dinner and taking my time and enjoying it for what it is, an interesting looking course. And you are right, Bill. Damn, I've got to get over there!

[JohnV]

Do they still give free relief from urine burns on the putting greens?

I was there in 1988 and I remember that being on the score card.

[Tim Gavrich]

Thank you Philip; it seems a necessary obstruction, in that case.

[Philip Gawith]

I don't remember the urine burns reference John! Perhaps thats why the fences are there!

It is always great to see the feedback that pictures of these out of the way courses triggers. It is easy to forget when you play a fair bit on these older courses just how strange they look to golfers not just in the US, but just about anywhere outside the British Isles - even of worldly GCA pedigree! - who are more used to more manicured courses (which have their own appeal, of course).

Next target is Crowborough Beacon - coming up sometime in October.

[Kalen Braley]

if your ball struck one of the posts or wires on the approach or a chip, I would imagine its a "do-over" like courses here in the states with power lines??

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