When I posted some aerials about a year back, Tom Doak pointed out the huge differences in appearance of so many British courses when seen from the air. So here is a variety of courses which I hope you will enjoy. As usual I have rotated some pictures to fit the screen better.
To set the sights, this is the outbreak of courses at St Andrews – some of them, anyway. What I think is interesting is that in this image the New and Jubilee Courses (at the top of this picture, nearest the sea) appear to be much greener than the Old Course, or even the lesser courses nearest the road.
This updated image of Royal Liverpool was added to Google Earth shortly before the 2006 Open Championship. It shows the course as rebuilt for that Open although none of the stands or tented village is yet in place, so I presume this was the summer of 2005 if the colour of the course is anything to go by. A little of Hoylake Municipal (a Braid layout) is visible at the bottom – just a tad greener.
In complete contrast, this is Abbeydale, a Herbert Fowler course in the suburbs of Sheffield. You can just catch a little bit of one of Sheffield’s many municipal courses, Beauchief (pronounced Bee-chief), in the top right. Sheffield has no world-renowned courses (although it claims Lindrick) but it does have a number of really good second-level courses such as Abbeydale, Hallamshire and Dore and Totley. I cannot say that I would have guessed this was a Fowler course from the way the course is presented (in this image on this particular day). It just looks too neat and tidy and very well groomed. And what do you think of those bunkers?
This is more like it. The two Fowler (or are they Simpson?) courses at The Berkshire. How intensively the ground is occupied! Yet there is always a feeling of total seclusion on the courses and I don’t remember the proximity of the trees being as intimidating as they appear in this photo. The 1st on the Blue course (directly below the clubhouse) is a tough hole that rarely seems to feature in discussions of The Berkshire.
Another Fowler course, Beau Desert on Cannock Chase in Staffordshire. It’s well liked by GCA regulars, rightly so. No doubt someone who has been there more recently than I will advise on whether this is the current state with regard to tree removal. It looks quite green in this picture, but I remember it as becoming very dry in the summer and it was quite difficult to keep drives in the fairway, but that was back in the 1960s!
This Fowler course is utterly different, Bull Bay, on the north coast of Anglesey in Wales. I’ve posted photographs of it on GCA before which show just how humpy-bumpy it is. My theory is that it may not have had bunkers originally – it probably did not need them, so strongly defensive is the terrain – and this image certainly shows them to be perfunctory at best. I am also pretty convinced that the short hole at the bottom right of the course and the left-hand dog-leg coming back are not originals. They are totally out of character with the rest of the course and simply dull (a criticism that cannot be levelled at the other sixteen holes).
Just to whet the appetite here is a Colt gem up in the north-east of England, Brancepeth Castle. Unfortunately, at this resolution, it doesn’t show the rig-and-furrow fairways or the drama of the ravines which punctuate the course – all most apparent at ground level. So let’s try another:
Even at this size that traditional feature is apparent in this image of the Northumberland Golf Club running the gauntlet of Newcastle racecourse. If you find more than 18 holes, that is correct. The club has different winter and summer courses.
Obviously this merely scratches the surface. I’ll try to keep up a reasonable supply of these things through the coming weeks, perhaps more logically arranged – themed, even!