What's all this nonsense about Swinley Forest being overrated, eh
Overrated by whom? Ran,me, GCAers in general??
Certainly not by the magazines which have it behind a whole slew of English inland courses that aren't as good and 6,7 ,11 and 14 are all excellent holes, all superb par 4s that are nothing like eachother.
Rant over.
Similarly to the 10th, if the 14th green was pushed back, it looks to be early-pre WW2. Because the hole looks right in circa 1947. The mounding behind both 10 and 14th greens looks to be pure old school work too.
Yes that back 15th tee was added fairly recently (last 10-15 years) to make it
493 yards according to my StrokeSaver from the back (blue) tees and a par 5, so now that tee seems to have been abandoned?
The original/1947 back tee looks to be in the same cutting as that (abandoned?) back tee but not quite as far back: about level with the front edge of the 11th green. It would have been about 460 yards if measured along its center line (slight dog-leg) a bit more than as the crow/ball flies.
There's no way that the 15th was ever 400 yards from the back tee!
I think it was a big mistake for Swinley to cave in and open the door to StrokeSaver.