With the invaluable help of Neil Hardman, who regular readers of this column will recall was a member of the golf club in the 40’s and 50’s I have been attempting to map out the course as it was then, using features still visible on the ground and on various aerial photographs available on line. I have further been attempting to reconcile that course with the plan and yardages supplied by that pillar of the forum RSS, and the somewhat different set of yardages and presented by the equally respected Councillor Jon.
I have made a couple field trips (and am planning a further one in the spring) and spent many an hour with my electronic colouring pencils, measuring tools and calculator, and can now present my interim report.
The course described by Neil is shown (to the best of my ability) in yellow on the plan. For the most part it corresponds very well with the yardages given by the good councillor. Where there are variations I have given a possible explanation and indicated alternative hole routing in red.
The Dear Dear, West, View and Panorama holes of RSS’s course do not seem to fit into the course that Neil played, however there is strong evidence of these holes still to be seen. I have marked these holes in blue.
I have also slightly colour-enhanced any feature that I believe may be related to the golf course
As a note, the yardages given RSS are
1. Crest - 268 yards
2. Hope - 300 yards
3. Gulley - 192 yards
4. Dear Dear - 152 yards
5. West - 273 yards
6. View - 316 yards
7. Panorama - 148 yards
8. Wood - 384 yards
9. Wall - 318 yards
10. Home - 231 yards
And the 11 hole Jon Goldfinch Course:
1 290
2 110
3 282
4 191
5 500
6 180
7 420
8 310
9 314
10 284
11 102
The measured yardages I quote are taken directly from the aerial photograph using the scale shown, and are thus planar rather than ground measurements, and thus will not take into account increased ground distance due to slopes, hills and valleys. This is unlikely to be a major source of difference though.
Hole 1. The Crest (RSS 268 yds JG 290 yds) Par 4
Nature has drawn a veil over the 1st hole, which, alas I could not penetrate. However there is a consensus that it ran west from the clubhouse in approximately the area indicated by the yellow lozenge.
Hole2. (JG 110 yds) Par 3
This hole is missing from RSS’s course, but is clearly visible, both on the ground and on the aerial view. Its length as calculated from the aerial view is a pleasing 110.6 yds
Hole 3. Hope (RSS 300yds, JG 282yds) Par 4
Tee and green are clearly visible. Calculated distance 287yds
Hole 4. Gulley (RSS 192 Yds, JG 191 Yds) Par 3
The green is not clear from the aerial view, but is very obvious on the ground. From the tee by the wall by the 3rd hole, which Neil Hardman recalls as being the only one in play at the time, the calculated length is 176 yards, noticeably shorter than expected, so here I am going to play my first Joker, and hypothesise that the tee of the West Hole was perhaps used as a back tee for this hole on occasions, something that had fallen out of use when Neil was a member. This would give a calculated length of 192 yards.
Now come two holes on RSS’s course that seem to have been merged into one longer hole.
Hole 5(a) Dear Dear (RSS 152 Yds) Par 3
The green, out of use in the 40’s, is clearly visible on the aerial view, and I calculate the hole to be 153 yards long.
Hole 5(b) West (RSS 273 Yds) Par 4
Now here I find myself at variance with RSS’s plan. I cannot see how you can get a hole of 273 yards into the line he has drawn. However, there is on the ground what appears to be the degraded remains of a tee to the north of the Hope hole (which I have already brought into action as my joker at the Gulley hole), and this is conveniently 273 yards from the remains of 5th green in the “complex”.
To return to the long 5th (or is it so long?)
Hole 5 (JG 500 Yds) Par 5
This is where the calculations go awry, as it only measures in at 440 yards, woefully short of the 500 yards as promised, even taking into account that it is played over a valley which may have increased the length of the hole if measured along the ground. Here I am tempted to play my second joker. Some of the land over the wall behind the 5th tee was once part of the course, land that was requisitioned during WW2 to be returned to agricultural production. On the ground, and just visible in the aerial view, are a number of what may have been tees, perhaps constructed as part of the Braid extension. I am going to go out on a limb and say that perhaps there was a back tee for the 5th there. This theory runs into a few problems – finding a tee at the appropriate distance that does not leave the player with an overly difficult carry across the gully – so I am going to leave the question open.
Next the holes in play when Neil was a member diverge somewhat from those given by RSS. Let’s deal with the former first.
Hole 6 (JG 180 Yds) Par 3
From the regular tee as shown I measure this hole as 167 yards – coming up a little short. Well, I’m going for the joker again and suggesting that perhaps the left-hand side of the 3rd tee could have been used as a back tee, which measures in at 182 yards.
Hole 7 (JG 420 Yds) Par 4
I am not precisely sure of the location of the 7th green. Examination of the Google aerial view shows a promising looking rectangle close to the wall, and this is what I have chosen. I did not closely examine this area when on my field trip – I will have to return.
The hole measures in at around 365 yards, again much shorter than the yardage suggested by the good councillor. However, over the fence in the far field, lost to wartime agriculture are the clear remains of another green. I measure 410 yards from the 7th tee to this green.
Now to return to RSS’s routing.
View (RSS 316 Yds) Par 4.
I guess that this hole had the same green as the 7th. Finding an appropriate tee was difficult, and I only examined this part of the course from the road, so my suggested routing is rather a stab in the dark
Panorama (RSS 148 Yds) Par 3
RSS’s plan puts the tee for this hole to the right of the fairway of the View hole. This may well be correct, but If I have placed View’s green correctly, this would seem to necessitate playing directly over that green to get to the far field. Not impossible, but I suggest that the tee might have been further to the left. Again, this was not an area I examined in great detail on the ground so I have absolutely no evidence either way.
And all back together again
Hole 8. Wood (RSS 384 JG 314) Par 4
We are on much more solid ground here. The tee complex and the green of this hole are very well defined. In fact the tees in the far field area are probably the best preserved on the course. Neil’s hole, played from the near side of the wall measures in at around 312 yards, and RSS’s hole, measured from one of the tees in the far field is a respectable 385 yards, corresponding very happily with JG’s and RSS’s yardages.
Hole 9. Wall (RSS 318 JG 314)
Well, what is 4 yards between friends? Again, very well defined tee and green complexes and a measured length of 313 yards.
Hole 10. Home (RSS 231 JG 284) Par 4
The tees for this hole are well defined, just over the wall from the track down from the fly tip lay-by. By extending a line of 284 yards I hit upon what looks like a very likely feature at the bottom of the lawns of the old Golf House. As for the RSS hole some 50 yards shorter, my best guess is that there is a previous set of tees lost somewhere in the undergrowth.
Hole 11. Home Again? (JG 102) Par 3
We end as we begin – with a hole whose features are lost from view, so I have marked the approximate area that Neil indicated.
Edited by user 04 February 2011 22:40:58(UTC)
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