Last week, I had a quick trip to England and was able to slip in a few rounds of golf. Though I still haven’t gotten around to posting anything about the Boomerang trip to Australia earlier this year, I figured in honor of the royal wedding I would talk England first. That and my photos from England are slightly better.
If you’ve read my previous posts about playing in England, it should be obvious that I am fond of the place, and the more golf courses that I see there the more of a fan I become. Golf courses in England are just full of charm.
On the morning that I arrived, I took a drive through the Peak District and its National Park (the first one in England). The area that I drove through was hilly, with great views of pastures, stone fences, and trails.
Sadly, these seem to be one of the national flowers.
If you get far enough out in the countryside, you can still run across some of these.
My route through the Peak District took me to the spa town of Buxton. Some great looking buildings, like the Opera House.
An ancient church
Like many resort towns, be careful where you park.
I wasn’t in town long enough to feel this way, but loved the humor displayed.
Though the city of Buxton is lovely, no visit would be complete without seeing Cavendish. Designed by Alistair MacKenzie and opened in 1925, Cavendish fit the quirk bill nicely. Par 68 and only about 5700 yards. Thanks to a clever routing and some wild land, a true delight to play. As usual, Sean Arble does an outstanding job profiling the course here.
http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,41162.0.htmlI didn’t arrive until around 4:30, so light for some holes was much better than others.
The simple starter’s hut wasn’t in use.
Holes 1-3 play along a fairly steep hillside.
It would be hard for anyone to resist taking a crack at the on the downhill, 280 yard 3rd.
Thanks to the slope of the fairway, it’s very tough to avoid the bunkers to reach the green. If the area around the bunkers was fairway, so much the better.
No shortage of pheasants to keep a single player company, though I did get joined by an aspiring young pro for holes 6-18.
Starting with the 4th, most of the par 3s play downhill as a way to deal with some of the more challenging parts of the property.
From behind the 8th green. Avoiding the bunkers in front could lead to a tough recovery.
The 420 yard dogleg left 10th takes full advantage of a nasty ravine. A very tough par without taking on some risk off the tee, but bogey is quite reasonable if played conservatively.
Thoughts of Kington standing in the fairway near the 13th green.
The lone par 5 on the course is on almost completely flat land. MacKenzie took wonderful advantage of a stone wall along the left side of the hole to create strategic interest. Only 496 yards, more aggressive lines make the green quite reachable (well, not for me). An elevated green complicates the approach.
Steep slope from back to front on the par 3 15th made its 116 yards a bit more demanding. I recommend using the slope behind to help bring the ball back near the hole, but play that shot a bit long and you’re dead.
While it’s 403 yards, the 16th plays downhill (and sidehill) and in my case downwind. It’s possible to putt your approach, but when doing so you must account for a significant knob in front of the left side of the green.
Cavendish’s adventure ends with the wild, rolling terrain of the 18th.
Here’s what can happen with a too short tee shot.
The clubhouse looks almost pink in the setting sun.
Thanks to Sean, I had some idea of what to expect with Cavendish, but as with many other courses, the photos just don’t do it justice. It’s hard to imagine anyone building such a course today, but I came away impressed with what MacKenzie could do with a challenging piece of property in a resort area. I’m sure one goal was to make the course fun, and it was indeed. I liked it so much that I went right back out to squeeze in an “emergency” 9 before dark. This was actually the last course that I played on the trip, but since I was also in Buxton on the first day, I figured I would just lead it off here.