My journey around the great English courses continued today at West Hill. This heathland layout does not get as much attention as neighboring Woking or the other big guns around London. Yet I was pleasantly surprised at how good the course is.
Like many of the courses I have seen in England, West Hill gets off to a slow start. The first two holes are fine starters, but they are both midrange par fours of no great merit. The 3rd is a great long par four. The player drives over a berm off the tee, and then faces a wonderful long approach over a small stream to green that rolls gently from right to left. It would be a thrill to hit a bouncing three-wood or long iron into this green during the summer months. The green, like many at West Hill, is completely lay-of-the-land. Yet the 4th and 5th revert to the mundane nature of the first two. By the time I reached the 6th tee, I was not yet thrilled with the course.
The course really picks up as the player climbs over the rise in the 6th fairway. The second shot here begins a run of great shots that does not stop until the 14th tee. The 7th, 9th and 13th are all great par threes, each one better than the next. The 8th and 10th feature grand bunkering. The 11th and 12th are two quirky par fours. I loved the blind second at the 11th and the wild two-tiered green at the drivable 12th.
The 14th Hole was not exciting as those that came before, although it is a good par in its own right. However, the golf picks back up again at the 15th. This is many favorite long par three of the trip. It plays across a gentle, heather-laden valley, which the architects, Cuthbert Butchart and Willie Park, used beautifully. A string of diagonal bunkers are cut beautifully into the hillside short of the green, and set up for a left-to-right shot off the tee. The green itself is filled with humps and bumps and is the most wild on the course. A golfer will work hard for a three here.
The great golf continues at the 16th. After a downhill tee shot that stays short of a stream, the golfer faces another beautifully approach. Again, he faces a string of diagonal bunkers that set up for a fade, with another wild green at hole's end. This hole is featured, I believe, in Wethered and Simpson's "The Architectural Side of Golf." As I recall, the hole today appears just as it did in the book's drawing almost a century ago.
The course slips a bit at the 17th, which is another good but not great par five. Why do the great courses here fall short in terms of par five quality? The great courses stateside feature much great interest on the three-shotters. Nevertheless, West Hill finishes strong with an uphill 440-yarder. The golfer must endeavor to place his tee shot near the troublesome left side. This location will give him a view and proper angle into the home green. The green itself is another wild one that sets directly in front of the clubhouse. A fitting end, and my favorite finisher of the trip.
West Hill is a superb layout. I sense that it is a notch below Huntercombe or Swinley Forest of the heathland courses I have seen. However, a notch below in this case is still phenomenal.
What are thoughts here on West Hill? Does anybody have any good information on Cuthbert Butchart or the evolution of West Hill?