3 Jovial Golfers

[Sean_A]

Many here will know of the Churchman cigarette cards featuring Mr Tiger, Mr Everyman and Mr Rabbit.  The 1934 series featured 18 inland and 18 links holes with commentary provided by the Great Bernardo.  First, the inland holes:

1. 6th Gleneagles Kings (5)

2. 8th Moortown (3)

3. 3rd Sacred 9 (4)

4. 4th Ganton (4)

5. 7th Stoke Poges (Stoke Park) (3)

6. 6th Sunningdale Old (4)

7. 4th Woking (4)

8. 8th Addington New

9. 14th Liphook (4)

10. 6th Walton Heath Old

11. 11 Worplesdon (5)

12. 17th Woodhall Spa (4)

13. 15th West Hill (3)

14. 14th Hollinwell (Notts) (3)

15. 12th Sunningdale Old (4)

16. 5th Sacred 9 (3)

17. 17th Walton Heath Old (5)

18. 16th Aldeburgh (4)

Its quite something that two holes should come from a 9 hole course!  Sunningdale too has two representatives.  It seems only proper that Darwin would mention Woking's 4th and a hole from Liphook - he admired both courses very much.  Other than that, of course Addington New no longer exists so #8 is wiped.  Walton Heath's 6th as Darwin knew it is no longer with us so #10 is rubbed out.  Walton Heath's 17th is now the 16th.  The 14th at Liphook is now the 4th.  

If you can replace the doubling up (lets call it Sunny 6 and Sacred 3) and the no longer existing holes, which four holes would you name in their stead?  In trying to stay with what Bernardo would choose, I can't help but think a hole from West Sussex should be included.  Not being terribly familiar with Pulborough I shall refrain from mentioning a hole - though Sheba's Breasts has a certain attraction.  What then of the other three holes - and remember they must be pre 1934 inlanders and most likely of the English variety - Bernardo would not have played a great many other inland courses in GB&I.  

Bernardo was keen on the 3rd and 14th at St Georges Hill, but I must confess that neither strikes me as particularly top notch Colt short holes.  Other inland designs which Bernardo seemed to have time for include Walton Heath New (likely a great candidate for a hole), Swinley Forest, Huntercombe, Royal Ashdown Forest, Berkshire, Sunningdale New, Coombe Hill & West Hill.  

What say you?  

Ciao    

[Mark Pearce]

In the modern era he has travelled better and admires either the 3rd or 4th at Silloth enough for one or other to slot in at 3.

[Mark Chaplin]

Isn't Silloth a links? It may appear in that edition.

[Rich Goodale]

How kind of Bernado to include one Scottish inland hole (6th Kings) in his sacred 18.  Unfortunately, that is not even close to being selectable for the best 18 of the 36 at Gleneagles (Kings and Queens).  Maybe Darwin eagled the hole on his first visit (as did I and I'm sure many other hackers).

Oor Bernado could have done very much better, if he had spent more of his time in Scotland playing golf rather than swapping Kummels with his English chums at the R&A, he might have deigned to play such gems as:

Lanark
Glebervie
Forfar
Boat of Garten
Auchterader
Kingussie
Edzell
Stirling
Barnton
Bruntsfield
Murrayfield
Prestonfield
Bellisle
Duddingston

not to mention some of Scotland's sacred inland 9's:

Killin
Auchterderran
Fort Augustus

As Sir Bob would say, 'tis a pity......

[Colin Macqueen]

Rich,
To be fair to the man he does mention Barnton near Edinburgh and confesses to having played there on a Sunday.  Sacre bleu!! 

He remembers 'twas Sunday because the claim is that the greens are ".. as good and true as any in the world"  but  he cannot vouch for them as, on a Sunday, they are not swept clean of worm casts. Good old John Knox and Scottish Presbyterianism for you!

In his musings penned in "Historic Golf Courses of the British Isles" Darwin describes  the course as "pure park golf" and that it "….make(s) no passionate appeal to the imagination"!. Not overly flattering! The pedigree of club members would seem impeccable though and I suspect (as you allude to) that Bernard would not be averse to mixing with their ilk!

I presume members are not fined these days if they do not don the uniform of old which consisted of a red coat and a black velvet cap. Very dapper I think!

Cheers Colin

[Rich Goodale]

Thanks, Colin.  I was only going by Sean's list, which by re-reading, should be blamed on Churchman rather than Bernardo or Sean.

17 at Barnton is a gem (as is 18--a more refined version of 18 at North Berwick West).

All that being said, Bernie is right that Barnton does not particularly "appeal to the imagination" but then again neither do several courses on his list (e.g, Liphook and West Hill).  In fact the golf courses which "appeal to the imagination" are few and very far between.  My preliminary list?

Cypress Point
Dornoch
Auchterderran
Southerndown
Woods Hole
Painswick
Gulph Mills
Kingston Heath
Elie
Prairie Dunes
St, Jean de Monts
Forfar
Kinghorn
Sawgass CC (E-W)
Harbour Town
Ballyliffin Old
Portsalon

I'm sure there are more.....

Rihc

[Sean_A]

Rihc

It must also be remembered or at least recognized, that then as now, the non-Scottish golfer often does not venture beyond the links of Scotland.  I am sure that is to their (our) own cost, but in life, then and now, we must make choices.  That said, I reckon a handful of courses you mention were either only recently built/significantly redesigned (in relation to 1934).  I know Stirling was seriously re-designed in the 1960s, but I don'tknow why I know that  (memory is a terrible thing to lose).  Bernardo did play Barnton, a course which enjoyed high praise and walked away less than enamoured.  Given this, it is easy to understand why Bernardo didn't dedicate more time for Scottish inland golf. 

I expect you will be even less impressed with links choices  .  West Links, Dornoch and Machrihanish are given the cold shoulder.  I expect Bernardo never saw Mach or Dornoch - not people had.  Hard to understand the omission of North Berwick though.  Perhaps Bernardo believed its most famous hole paled in comparison to that keen version at NGLA?  Who knows. 

Princes has been drastically altered so 7th is outta here.  Rye's 8th is now the 5th.  Brancaster's 7th became the 8th.  Hoylake's Dowie (#7) has been denuded by the OOB being essentially eliminated.  Finally, there is some question concerning Saunton.  The hole depicted on the card is the 16th, not the 17th and to my knowledge, this has always been the case. 

The Links selection

1. 1st Hoylake (4)

2. 3rd Portmarnock (4)

3. 5th Lytham (3)

4. 4th Prestwick (4)

5. 17th (16th!) Saunton East (4)

6. 18th Deal (4)

7. 7 Princes

8. 8th Rye (5th!) (3)

9. 9th Muirfield (5)

10. 16th Aberdovey (4)

11. 7th Hoylake

12. 7th Brancaster (8th!) (5)

13. 14th Portmarnock (4)

14. 14th TOC (5)

15. 15th Sandwich (4)

16. 16th Westward Ho!

17. 17th TOC (4)

18. 4th Carnoustie (4)

Same rules apply.  Doubles and NLEs eliminated.  That leaves 4 replacements.  What say you?

BTW - does anybody have photos of the cards they can post - or at least the text describing the "conversations".

Ciao

[Michael Whitaker]

Sean,

I would add #1 at St. Enodoc to the links list.

[Bill_McBride]

I would add Littlestone's great 16th hole.   And Porthcawl's 2nd. 

[Rich Goodale]

Thanks for that list, Sean.  As you may or may not know, Bernardo never ventured as far north as Dornoch nor as far west as Machrihanish.  I'm surprised he never made it as far east as North Berwick, but not shocked.  English golfers of that ilk and that era just did not get out very much.  Sigh....

[Ally Mcintosh]

I had shots of quite a few of these cards but have no idea where - would love to see them again... I always thought Tom Simpson wrote a few of them but must be wrong, maybe because Darwin took the Tiger / Rabbit thing from him...

I suppose the Widow hole at Hayling would seem like an obvious miss for the links courses... Given he saw Royal Dublin and The Island in Dublin, perhaps the 16th at the former...

[DMoriarty]

Sean, could you clarify where you wrote:

"12. 7th Brancaster (8th!)"

Are you saying that you disagree and it should have been the 8th?  Or are you saying that it was a typo; that they meant the 8th, but wrote 7th?    (I thought that early on the 9th had been the most famous hole at Brancaster.)

Thanks.

[James Boon]

Sean,

My apologies for being pedantic, but a few clarifications or queries regarding the inland list.

Moortown, the 8th then is the 10th now, aka Gibraltar.

Liphook, the 14th then is the 5th now (not the 4th), par 5 across the road from the clubhouse.

Notts, is it the 13th (assuming figure in brackets is the par, 3) OR the 14th (4)? My guess would be its the 13th, long downhill par 3, but this is a bit of an obvious choice and part of me hopes its the 14th.

Regarding the lack of Scottish courses, we probably forget how easy it is to get in a car these days and drive wherever we want, but in the years leading up to 1934 it wouldn't have been too easy to do so in Scotland. That said, the 6th at Gleneagles Kings isnt the best there as Rich says, and I'm surprised Blairgowrie wasn't a possible course to visit?

Cheers,

James

[James Boon]

Sean,

I've found images of some of these, mainly on eBay, but am having trouble with Photobucket so cant post them at the moment.

However I can confirm the following:
- Liphook is the hole that is now the 5th
- Notts is the 14th
- Brancaster is the 7th as was then, now 8th hole, the par 5 with an island fairway between tidal marsh.
- Its actually the 18th at Carnoustie

I will post the images when I can.

Cheers,

James

[Niall C]

Re lack of Scottish courses, I agree with Rich that Darwin wasn't nearly as well travelled in golfing terms as you would think. In his book on courses of GB&I he refers to several courses that he never saw. He at least held his hands up to the offence at a later date and acknowledged that there were many famous courses that he had never seen but in fairness to him his writing was mostly about the game and players rather than courses.

Niall

[Bill_McBride]

Re lack of Scottish courses, I agree with Rich that Darwin wasn't nearly as well travelled in golfing terms as you would think. In his book on courses of GB&I he refers to several courses that he never saw. He at least held his hands up to the offence at a later date and acknowledged that there were many famous courses that he had never seen but in fairness to him his writing was mostly about the game and players rather than courses.

Niall

Well yes, except for Golf Courses of the British Isles!

I love to read his pre-WWI account of courses I've played in the 21st C.  He really got what was of interest in those courses.   It's interesting that the underlying feeling of those courses hasn't changed much. 

[Mark Chaplin]

Bill you are right with the exception of Saunton, Princes and Carnoustie they are all very traditional clubs and including Saunton and Carnoustie the course haven't changed much. Sadly Mr Hitlers ambitions caused much damage to Princes.

[Paul Gray]

Personally I'd lose the current 4th at Liphook as well. I've never quite understood the love for that hole on a golf course which is full of excellent golf.

[Bill_McBride]

Personally I'd lose the current 4th at Liphook as well. I've never quite understood the love for that hole on a golf course which is full of excellent golf.

The 4th I thought was a great hole with that innocent hollow left of the green on that lengthy par 4. 

And don't ask me how I took four from that hollow to lose the hole getting a shot from Chappers!   

[Niall C]

Re lack of Scottish courses, I agree with Rich that Darwin wasn't nearly as well travelled in golfing terms as you would think. In his book on courses of GB&I he refers to several courses that he never saw. He at least held his hands up to the offence at a later date and acknowledged that there were many famous courses that he had never seen but in fairness to him his writing was mostly about the game and players rather than courses.

Niall

Well yes, except for Golf Courses of the British Isles!

I love to read his pre-WWI account of courses I've played in the 21st C.  He really got what was of interest in those courses.   It's interesting that the underlying feeling of those courses hasn't changed much. 

Bill

That was the book I was referring to. The vast body of his work was more about players and the oddities of the game rather than about the courses. Even this particular book from what I remember, and its been a while since I read it, is more a general descriptive travelogue type volume. The only time he really engages in archie type chat is when prompted by Simpson or Ambrose or someoneelse for one of his articles.

Niall

[Keith Durrant]

James is correct that the Liphook hole is the current par 5 5th, the Black Fox. Note that at the time it played as a par 4, before it was later lengthened by moving the tee back across the road.

[James Boon]

Here is the card from the 14th at Notts (Hollinwell):

Front


Back


When I get a chance I will scan these properly and repost.

Darwin's text has a certain charm, but unfortunately doesn't have too much interest from a GCA point of view. Or does it? This card shows a couple of bunkers over the back of the green and a clear route in for the "rabbit" playing down the left. However, those back bunkers are now just rough hollows (not sure about the furthest back one, that may be the bunker on the 8th behind?) and there is now a bunker short left. I've not yet been able to ascertain when this was put in and I doubt it was because of Darwin's writing here, but you never know?

Cheers,

James