[Mark_Rowlinson]

This time we kick off at Porter’s Park in Radlett, Herts. I don’t know it:







Coombe Wood is a diminutive 18-hole course (only just over 5,000 yards from the men’s medal tees). I played there a lot in the 1970s and it was good fun with some really enjoyable holes. It is a near neighbour of Coombe Hill in the suburbs of Kingston upon Thames. There will be more on a later thread, including photos of both courses.





Malden is also in the vicinity but I’ve not played it.











Coombe Hill is a good Abercromby course. There will be more photos on a later thread.



But now we go to Scotland, simply because these are the next photos I downloaded! St Andrews, first:





Next some pictures of Turnberry which are undated, but let us assume ca 1925. The hotel is visible, and the air base, and possibly some fragments of golf course at the south end.





Prestwick in ca 1925 would, only a year before, have hosted its final Open Championship. In some photos another course or courses is/are visible on the landward side of the railway. They must now lie beneath the sprawling Prestwick Airport.







Duddingston in the Lothians, a Willie Park course from 1895. Was it still intact in the mid 1920s?



Longniddry is a lovely Colt course on the banks of the Firth of Forth. I don’t think it claims to be a links, but it is very enjoyable. I haven’t played it since the 1980s.







Most of the City of Perth is visible here, including the King James VI course on its island in the middle of the river:



On the lower right is the opening hole of the Royal Troon Portland Course which may or may not have been reconstructed by MacKenzie after the First World War. If Neil Crafter sees this I’m sure he’ll update us. Beyond is one or more (Lochgreen?) of the Troon municipal courses, on one of which the young Jack Nicklaus qualified for the 1962 Open Championship.



A fragment of North Berwick. The photographer’s brief appears to have been to get the school, not the course!







More from St Andrews:







King’s Links, Aberdeen:





Carnoustie. It’s difficult to pick out much detail.





The next one took me by surprise. It is Southerness. I hadn’t realised a course had existed there before Ross’s lovely links completed just after the Second World War. I presume this is mid 1920s.



Gullane and environs:







More later.

[Niall C]

Mark

This last thread shows what an absolutely fantastic resource this new site is. The first photo of Prestwick actually shows bits of 7 courses if I'm not mistaken;

Prestwick
Prestwick St Cuthberts (?)
Troon
Troon Portland
Troon Lochgreen
Troon Darley
Troon Fullarton

I suspect thats some kind of record but no doubt I'll be corrected if I'm wrong.

Niall

[James Boon]

Mark,

Are you sure the photo of Southerness is from the 1920s? Its tricky from that angle, but the course seems to follow almost exactly the routing of the current course, so I was wondering if its from several decades later showing the Mackenzie Ross course?

Cheers,

James

ps Please keep these coming, whenever they are from!

[Mark_Rowlinson]

James, I am not sure of the date because most of these Scottish pictures are undated. Maybe I am making an incorrect assumption about them all. For instance, the pictures of Turnberry show quite a sophisticated airfield, surely more complex than anything that might have been there in WW1. I am more than happy to eat humble pie!

[Adam Lawrence]

The Aerofilms collection - the digitisation of which is the Britain from Above project - dates back as far as 1919, and includes images up to 2006. So if individual photos are not dated, I think it would be risky to assume a 1920s vintage. I do think they are, generally, starting with the older images, though. Most of the ones of London-area courses I've seen (not on the website) date from the late 30s.

[Mark_Rowlinson]

Here is the link to the flight: http://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/flight/afl2144 I can't see anything in those images which helps to date it. But if one could find other flights with similar flight numbers it might help. I'll have a go.

[Mark_Rowlinson]

AFL2143 is no help. The photos are variously dated in the 1920s!

[James Boon]

Mark,

I've just had a look and if you go to the individual picture of Southerness, its dated 1950. Mystery over 
http://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/image/saw032421?ref=17&flight=91981

Cheers,

James

[Mark_Rowlinson]

Thank you James. Just put me down as a befuddled old buffoon. I gather they'll take me for a walk this afternoon followed by a cup of tea.

[Mark_Rowlinson]

And, importantly, the Turnberry pictures are 1947. Thank you James for showing me where to look - I hadn't bothered to scroll down. However, I've now found some pictures of Turnberry in 1930. It looks remarkably similar to what we have today!

[Niall C]

Mark

Longniddry - currently getting a restoration so it will be interesting to compare these photos to the new look course. And if I'm not mistaken these photos show the hole(s) on the sea side of the main road.

Duddingston - not only was this course going strong in the 1920's its still going strong today with the club kindly having lent me their minute books for the 1920's and 1930's. What they show is MacKenzie reporting in 1923 (from memory) on redesign of existing 18 to accomodate new 18 hole ladies course on park to right of existing course. Club failed to go through with purchase of park so scheme never went ahead and then Braid reported on proposed changes in January 1926 which were largely carried out over the next few years. Incidentally, the course gets a mention in the DSH MacKenzie book with a quote from Donald Steel which refers to the park having been originally laid out by Capability Brown.

Niall

[Mark_Rowlinson]

Longniddry - they're also 1947. You are dealing with a ageing moron.

[Paul_Turner]

Mark

Longniddry - currently getting a restoration so it will be interesting to compare these photos to the new look course. And if I'm not mistaken these photos show the hole(s) on the sea side of the main road.

Niall

I don't think it's going to be a restoration.  It looks to be mainly bunker work and they are turning them into circular pots. 

The scale of the bunkers gave the course  a lot of character (see The Confidential Guide).

[Paul_Turner]

PS Yes you can see the old pure links holes by the sea in this aerial (4 holes).

[Tony_Muldoon]

Interesting looking at the bunkering changes.




Today the bunker behing the 4th (first par 3) seems a lot smaller and less obvious, in fact I had to check a Scoresaver to see it's still there. I suspect it's purpose was to trap slices from 14th tee. Today those slices go in the next three bunkers up.

The 5th scheme has been completely changed and they are positioned more to catch slices . In the fairway there's now two on the right and one on the left, and the only bunker by the green is half way along the RHS.

The 13th now has two fairway bunkers.  14 ND 15 unchanged.


Ran could you please Lock these threads for the winter, there's alot to see in them?

[Tom_Doak]

The above picture of North Berwick was agonizingly close to showing the 16th green and whether it extended over both plateaux.  Of course I am now not sure of the date of the photo, but if it was from back in the 1920's we could more clearly say whether Macdonald's Biarritz idea had anything to do with it or not.

Mark, one NLE course on my list of all time mysteries would be the Waddesdon Manor course in Hertfordshire, of which Tom Simpson featured several drawings in his book.  It's never been clear to me if the course was even completed.

[Bryan Izatt]

Even more agonizingly closer - the edge of the 16th green is on the left edge of the picture.  Picture is from May 1929.  The fairway looks very wide compared to today.  I wonder if the squarish patch in the bottom left corner is the 2nd green or an inland version of the 3rd tee?

[Paul_Turner]

To me, Porter's Park is the biggest surprise of all these aerials just from the unusual bunkering and their scale.

How many pure parkland courses are left in England i.e. like an old open deer park dotted with specimen trees...perhaps Knole Park is the only example left.

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