"Sandy Parlour" Is Back... In Celebration of the 1920 Open at Deal!

[Michael Whitaker]

To mark the 100th anniversary of the 1920 Open Championship at Royal Cinque Ports, this weekend the course has been set out for a member's competition as it was in 1920 (as best as possible).

The 4th will play as it did it 1920 when it was known as 'Sandy Parlour' - teeing off from the winter tee near the sea wall and playing a blind shot over the dune.

The Club's Facebook page offers a drone video showing an overview of the hole: https://www.facebook.com/RCPgolfclub/videos/299045151210975/

Also, the club's website offers the following article from Golf Illustrated in 1923 which features "Sandy Parlour"

Should be a fun event. Wish I was there! 

[Jeff Schley]

Deal is first cabin as far as pure links golf goes. Want to get the report back from Chappers how it all played out, will be hard not to have a great day for the event I'm sure.

[Richard Fisher]

Terrific article from 1923   - NB this is I am pretty sure the US version of Golf Illustrated, judging by the surroundings ads and editorial, and also the references to the British Open and British Amateur
Bernard Darwin famously thought and wrote that the old Sandy Parlour was 'just about the worst short hole in the world', but became club captain, that notwithstanding...

[Neil Regan]

From 1923



I think the Sandy Parlour was the cozy area in front of the tee, before the blind dune.
From the video, it looks like it might be known today as Grassy Parlour.

[MCirba]

Nice Neil. 


It needs a haircut and shave.

[Noel Freeman]

Wow this is wonderful news.  Tis a pity to be trapped on another continent and not be able to see this.


In 2001, Russell Talley and I spent an afternoon searching for the exact old hole.  What makes it difficult is the original hole only lasted until 1936-1937 when JSF Morrison built the current hole and dug into the green site to get the fill for the current hole's perched up/crowned nature.  So the original green is lost to posterity.  A few years after I went out there with Russell Talley, the former club historian David Dobby and I spent an afternoon looking for the lost hole using historical pictures/attributes for an article that was published in Neil Crafter's Golf Architecture #9 about blind golf holes led by the Sandy Parlour.


As Neil Regan alluded to sadly the former sandy area (which is a low part of the course) is now filled with rushes/grassed in for the most part so the hole looks different than it once did.  We also speculate that the ridge which one hit the ball over (from the current winter tee) is a few feet lower than in the early 1900s.. Part of this could of course be erosion but given the war confiscation of the course etc, it also could have been lowered.


Part of the research that Tommy and I did for the Golf Architecture piece can be found here on GCA along with some great old pics of the Sandy Parlour.  One of the coolest things was an old picture of the green with a gentleman that Tommy and I dubbed Old Tom Morris for the doppelgänger figure who is standing looking at the green.  But the green itself was stellar and had an S like contouring that could be used to nuzzle balls close to the pin.  That plus caddies working for a sovereign tip led to apocryphal but rumblings of many holes in one.


Regardless, I can't help but marvel at what James Bledge is doing and cannot wait to return.  The only thing that concerns me somewhat about Deal in its current state is the different bunkering scheme styles that Martin Ebert has put in (holes like 10 (left) and 16 (left bunker).  I think the course would have benefited from keeping the revetted circular style.  If anything Princes restored some areas to look like random sandy areas and that could have worked on the above mentioned Sandy Parlour area for the current 4th.  This is nitpicking but I've long maintained Deal should be back on the rota and is also one of the most underrated golf courses in the World.  Like Sir Peter Allen I would choose it for my last round it I ever had one.


Link to Tommy's stuff on Sandy Parlour- sadly Neil Crafter's Golf Architecture doesn't have an online repository.


https://golfclubatlas.com/emperor-2/

[Tom_Doak]

Very cool idea.


Does anyone know if Prestwick ever does this for their original 12-hole course?  Of course you couldn't have too many people playing it at once, with all of the crossovers, but that would be awesome to play.  My favorite part is that the island in the middle of the Cardinal bunker was one of the original greens!

[MCirba]

Loving this thread.


Great stuff, Noel...thanks for the look back.

[Sean_A]

Wow this is wonderful news.  Tis a pity to be trapped on another continent and not be able to see this.

In 2001, Russell Talley and I spent an afternoon searching for the exact old hole.  What makes it difficult is the original hole only lasted until 1936-1937 when JSF Morrison built the current hole and dug into the green site to get the fill for the current hole's perched up/crowned nature.  So the original green is lost to posterity.  A few years after I went out there with Russell Talley, the former club historian David Dobby and I spent an afternoon looking for the lost hole using historical pictures/attributes for an article that was published in Neil Crafter's Golf Architecture #9 about blind golf holes led by the Sandy Parlour.

As Neil Regan alluded to sadly the former sandy area (which is a low part of the course) is now filled with rushes/grassed in for the most part so the hole looks different than it once did.  We also speculate that the ridge which one hit the ball over (from the current winter tee) is a few feet lower than in the early 1900s.. Part of this could of course be erosion but given the war confiscation of the course etc, it also could have been lowered.

Part of the research that Tommy and I did for the Golf Architecture piece can be found here on GCA along with some great old pics of the Sandy Parlour.  One of the coolest things was an old picture of the green with a gentleman that Tommy and I dubbed Old Tom Morris for the doppelgänger figure who is standing looking at the green.  But the green itself was stellar and had an S like contouring that could be used to nuzzle balls close to the pin.  That plus caddies working for a sovereign tip led to apocryphal but rumblings of many holes in one.

Regardless, I can't help but marvel at what James Bledge is doing and cannot wait to return.  The only thing that concerns me somewhat about Deal in its current state is the different bunkering scheme styles that Martin Ebert has put in (holes like 10 (left) and 16 (left bunker).  I think the course would have benefited from keeping the revetted circular style.  If anything Princes restored some areas to look like random sandy areas and that could have worked on the above mentioned Sandy Parlour area for the current 4th.  This is nitpicking but I've long maintained Deal should be back on the rota and is also one of the most underrated golf courses in the World.  Like Sir Peter Allen I would choose it for my last round it I ever had one.

Link to Tommy's stuff on Sandy Parlour- sadly Neil Crafter's Golf Architecture doesn't have an online repository.

https://golfclubatlas.com/emperor-2/

Do you think the green sloped away from the tee?

Ciao

[Adrian_Stiff]

Very cool idea.


Does anyone know if Prestwick ever does this for their original 12-hole course?  Of course you couldn't have too many people playing it at once, with all of the crossovers, but that would be awesome to play.  My favorite part is that the island in the middle of the Cardinal bunker was one of the original greens!

They certainly used too, but I think it is abandoned at the moment, you can't really play the old 1st anymore.

[David McIntosh]

Very cool idea.

Does anyone know if Prestwick ever does this for their original 12-hole course?  Of course you couldn't have too many people playing it at once, with all of the crossovers, but that would be awesome to play.  My favorite part is that the island in the middle of the Cardinal bunker was one of the original greens!

They certainly used too, but I think it is abandoned at the moment, you can't really play the old 1st anymore.

The old 1st tee was at the cairn to the left of the driveway into the car park and the old 1st green is the present day 16th green (so a hole of around 580 yards). Today you could play towards and over the 14th tee/13th green to the shared 13th/16th fairway but I’m not sure if this was the original route of play back in the 1850s.

[Noel Freeman]

Wow this is wonderful news.  Tis a pity to be trapped on another continent and not be able to see this.

In 2001, Russell Talley and I spent an afternoon searching for the exact old hole.  What makes it difficult is the original hole only lasted until 1936-1937 when JSF Morrison built the current hole and dug into the green site to get the fill for the current hole's perched up/crowned nature.  So the original green is lost to posterity.  A few years after I went out there with Russell Talley, the former club historian David Dobby and I spent an afternoon looking for the lost hole using historical pictures/attributes for an article that was published in Neil Crafter's Golf Architecture #9 about blind golf holes led by the Sandy Parlour.

As Neil Regan alluded to sadly the former sandy area (which is a low part of the course) is now filled with rushes/grassed in for the most part so the hole looks different than it once did.  We also speculate that the ridge which one hit the ball over (from the current winter tee) is a few feet lower than in the early 1900s.. Part of this could of course be erosion but given the war confiscation of the course etc, it also could have been lowered.

Part of the research that Tommy and I did for the Golf Architecture piece can be found here on GCA along with some great old pics of the Sandy Parlour.  One of the coolest things was an old picture of the green with a gentleman that Tommy and I dubbed Old Tom Morris for the doppelgänger figure who is standing looking at the green.  But the green itself was stellar and had an S like contouring that could be used to nuzzle balls close to the pin.  That plus caddies working for a sovereign tip led to apocryphal but rumblings of many holes in one.

Regardless, I can't help but marvel at what James Bledge is doing and cannot wait to return.  The only thing that concerns me somewhat about Deal in its current state is the different bunkering scheme styles that Martin Ebert has put in (holes like 10 (left) and 16 (left bunker).  I think the course would have benefited from keeping the revetted circular style.  If anything Princes restored some areas to look like random sandy areas and that could have worked on the above mentioned Sandy Parlour area for the current 4th.  This is nitpicking but I've long maintained Deal should be back on the rota and is also one of the most underrated golf courses in the World.  Like Sir Peter Allen I would choose it for my last round it I ever had one.

Link to Tommy's stuff on Sandy Parlour- sadly Neil Crafter's Golf Architecture doesn't have an online repository.

https://golfclubatlas.com/emperor-2/

Do you think the green sloped away from the tee?

Ciao

Yes it sloped away.. Look at the pics from the link I posted..

[Tommy Naccarato]

Do you think the green sloped away from the tee?


Ciao

Arbs,
Yes, most definitely!  From the looks of it, the front part of the green actually played in the “slack” (backside) of the dune and depending what portion of the dune you hit it over, the ball was either directed or rejected to or from the hole. 


While these types of holes could be brutally punishing, in my belief, that one par 3 one-shot hole one could get away with the penal intent in a routing.  Especially a routing so attractive as sandy links dunes!

[Sean_A]

Do you think the green sloped away from the tee?


Ciao

Arbs,
Yes, most definitely!  From the looks of it, the front part of the green actually played in the “slack” (backside) of the dune and depending what portion of the dune you hit it over, the ball was either directed or rejected to or from the hole. 

While these types of holes could be brutally punishing, in my belief, that one par 3 one-shot hole one could get away with the penal intent in a routing.  Especially a routing so attractive as sandy links dunes!

I ask because I noticed two bunkers to the rear of the green. That seems a bit harsh.

Ciao