Aberdovey - 3rd hole - Cader - update with pix

[Thomas Dai]

In doing some research for a trip to Aberdovey I came upon various old threads mentioning the famous par-3 3rd hole.

Here's a pictorial update, with some photos copied from other threads to aid the reader -

First, a photo hanging in the Aberdovey Clubhouse depicting the green as it was in 1890's - fancy playing this with an olde ball, hickory shafts, jacket and tie etc. Testing to say the least.


Second, yee olde photo as taken from Seans 2010 photo-tour -


As this earlier photo shows, the hole used to play over the big dune. Quite some time ago the left side of the dune was removed. Anyone know when?

Third - the hole gets's a nice mention in Patric Dickinson's "A Round of Golf Courses" book with a quoted distance of 165 yds and an amusing sketch, including periscope. Sketch per Seans thread


Fourth - two photographs taken from a 2012 GCA thread by Mark Rowlinson and a 2010 photo-tour by Tony



And now below, the following photos taken from various angles during a recent visit. The hole now plays at 167 from the back 'Darwin' tees.

Below - from behind the back tee (on the right) - flag just visible over the rise. Once-upon-a-time no gap to see the pin though, just a big dune to go over.

From a little closer to the green

Closer still - no bunkers!

From the right side dune

Finally from behind the green


I hadn't played the course/hole before so knowing it's historical reputation I was expecting something, well, exciting and challenging. Regrettably this wasn't the case. With sufficient club, say a mid/long-iron or hybrid, to carry the ridge in front of the green and aimed slightly to the left side, a decent shot just ends up in the middle or middle/rear of the green. No strategy really. No requirement even for a particularly good strike on the ball, not with a modern club anyway. And a pretty straightforward pitch onto the green if you do come up short. Almost boring really, and, well, rather sad in many ways.

Pat raised a nice thread recently about the par-3 Redan at NGLA and how that played once-upon-a-time versus now. Whilst in no way attempting to compare NGLA's Redan with Aberdovey's Cader, I can't help wonder how Cader used to play in times gone by.

The game seems to have lost something somewhere over time. Challenge? Character? Adventure? Over-maintenance?

Irrespective of the diminished Cader however, Aberdovey is a lovely course (place). One I'd happily return to anytime.

atb

[Bill_McBride]

I think the 4th at Deal is another example of the neutering over time of daunting holes.  Today's 4th is a fine test of a short iron to an angled crowned green, but it's no Sandy Parlour, blind over a dune. 

[Brent Hutto]

Thomas,

How did you find the 12th at Aberdovey?

Is what's left of the green still in play? Has the lost section been at all replaced? Or is the hole as it was now doomed?

[Adam Lawrence]

People need to understand how long ago the process of changing these blind par threes started. Most of these holes date from before 1900. I'm pretty sure they came into existence because, as guys were exploring patches of duneland, carrying hickory shafted clubs and gut tie balls, they'd get to the largest dune on the property, and one would say to the others 'I bet I can hit my ball over there and you can't'. There seems to have been a hole of this kind on almost every pre 1900 links.

But once you get into the 20th century, they quickly came to be seen as silly and flukey holes. Colt was scathing about several; Darwin similarly Fowler too. Holes like Cader and the Maiden were changed significantly to improve visibility before 1910 - read Darwin's Golf Courses of the British Isles and you'll see confirmation of this. It's only relatively recently that a proportion of the golf world has come to see such holes as charming and entertaining.

[Thomas Dai]

Adam,

Thanks for this. Enlightening. Do you happen to have any photos of the hole from early 1900's or later? I looked but couldn't see any on the clubhouse wall and the Darwin room was closed.

It would be kinda neat to see a photo history of the hole.

Brent,

I recall that you are heading to N Wales later in the year and yes I do have some photos of the 'as is' 12th. I'll post them hopefully tomorrow.

BTW, drop into nearby Machynlleth GC, next station inland to Aberdovey, if you get the chance - it looks right up Rustic Braid Street - http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,58792.0.html

atb

[Neil White]

Thomas,

It would be interesting to try and find a photo that shows the ground from the 'Cader' to the green - the diagram suggests that it was broken ground as does the first photo you posted.

Maybe the hole would re-discover it's teeth if they made the area between the Cader and the green more 'natural'?

Neil.

[Thomas Dai]

Thomas,
It would be interesting to try and find a photo that shows the ground from the 'Cader' to the green - the diagram suggests that it was broken ground as does the first photo you posted.
Maybe the hole would re-discover it's teeth if they made the area between the Cader and the green more 'natural'?
Neil.

Can anyone post a photo of the sort Neil is suggesting?

It would certainly toughen up the hole if the area between the Cader and the green were more natural/scruffy. Perhaps it is at certain times of the year. A big 'shaggy' bunker in the crater might make things a bit more interesting too or maybe put some sleepers all the way across the the hollow once again as per the Dickinson sketch (not as per the Miss Adair photo). Something more is certainly needed. Lots of options available.

atb

[Tom_Doak]

People need to understand how long ago the process of changing these blind par threes started. Most of these holes date from before 1900. I'm pretty sure they came into existence because, as guys were exploring patches of duneland, carrying hickory shafted clubs and gut tie balls, they'd get to the largest dune on the property, and one would say to the others 'I bet I can hit my ball over there and you can't'. There seems to have been a hole of this kind on almost every pre 1900 links.

But once you get into the 20th century, they quickly came to be seen as silly and flukey holes. Colt was scathing about several; Darwin similarly Fowler too. Holes like Cader and the Maiden were changed significantly to improve visibility before 1910 - read Darwin's Golf Courses of the British Isles and you'll see confirmation of this. It's only relatively recently that a proportion of the golf world has come to see such holes as charming and entertaining.

Adam:

I agree with your first paragraph but not with the second.  Yes, the Maiden was changed early on, but the Cader was still essentially the same hole as in Darwin's day when Dickinson's book came out in the 1950's.  The club didn't modify the dune until after that.

It's a holiday course and a deep blind bunker is not an easy thing for the average visitor to negotiate, but I am shocked that they have dumbed down a famous hole even further.  Darwin is not smiling at this from above.

[Thomas Dai]

It's a holiday course...

Thank you for the details of the timings of modifications to historcal holes like 'Cader'.

I'm not sure I'd go along with this exact phrasing about Aberdovey being a 'holiday course' though. Firstly, it's a private members club, and second, 'holiday course' tends to give the impression of 'resort course', which is not the case. 

Although some of the membership do live away from this small town, the significance and quality of the course is such that quite a few Welsh amateur events, and even some International amateur events, are played at Aberdovey each year so the course rather than being 'resorty' does need a bit of bite to it, which is achieved by the number of the par-4's over 400+ yds, although admittedly the 3rd/'Cader' is not what it could be, and it would be nice to see the hole positioned somewhat lower than stroke index 17 on the men's card.

atb