The Missing Links: September 2020

Wednesday, 23 September 2020

Royal St George's Golf Club, Sandwich, Kent, England

www.royalstgeorges.com

Medal tees par 70, SSS 72, 6630 yards
Pinto (forward) tees ladies par 74, SSS 75, 5801 yards

Our first true links course since the Coronavirus lockdown! Founded in 1887 by Dr William Purves, Royal St George's was intended to be a rival to St Andrews and held the first Open Championship outside Scotland in 1894 and in some ways time seems to have stood still since then at the club. It is held in high regard in golfing circles with the battle for the Claret Jug having been held here on fourteen occasions with the 15th due to be held in 2021.

We played the course on a windy day with the occasional shower of rain. The course was very quiet, presumably because there are no overseas visitors. This is a tough course with long carries even from the standard tees and especially for ladies from the forward tees and has many blind or partially blind

The bunkerless 3rd hole

shots. We were told that the club only has four lady members and this is obvious in the layout of the course - the line to the fairway from one forward tee is blocked by a bench! The male oriented nature of the course is highlighted in the stroke saver where the name of the 6th hole, the Maiden, is attributed to the shape of the two dunes behind the green. Perhaps this should be updated.

The course starts with two fairly gentle par 4s, although the carry from the first tee is quite long. The third is a par 3 which s reputedly one of the most difficult par 3s on the Open rota despite the absence of bunkers. The green is typical of most with many slopes and runoff areas. At the fourth there is a much photographed large bunker which looms in front of the golfer from all but the forward tees. A successful drive leads to a fairway with big slopes and a green which is very tricky with slopes and ridges punishing the slightly errant shot. A climb up to the fifth tee is rewarded by a lovely view across Sandwich and Pegwell Bay to the white cliffs at Ramsgate. The fifth and the eighth fairways both have rough in the middle which are a challenge to carry with a strong wind against.

The second nine is considered tougher, probably because the many of the holes face the prevailing

The par 3 6th - 'The Maiden'

wind. There are five par 5s for ladies in this nine. The 11th is an attractive and inviting par 3 although bunkers lie on either side to gather any shot slightly off line. A slight dogleg from left to right, the 12th is the shortest par 4 on the course and has a green heavily guarded by bunkers in front. With out of bounds along the right the par 5 14th is famous for Dustin Johnson's inexplicable slice out of bounds in the final round of the 2011 Open which cleared the way for Darren Clarke's victory. Seven bunkers surround the par 3 16th where Thomas Bjorn took three strokes to get out of one of them thereby losing the 2003 Open to Ben Curtis. The course finishes with two long classic links holes into the prevailing wind.

The 11th hole has views across the bay to Ramsgate

Befitting an Open venue this is a difficult links course but it lacks the 'wow' factor of the Ailsa at Turnberry and the cleverness of Royal Birkdale.

Worth playing? Yes as an Open venue but bring your 'A game' and plenty of golf balls.

The Links Project

There are 246 true links golf courses in the world and this blog is a record of our attempt to play all of them. My husband Ron and I are keen golfers and I came up with the idea of this project after he gave me the book by George Peper and Malcolm Campbell 'True Links' which lists them all.

The commonest question we are asked about our project is 'How do you define a true links course?' This will be debated by aficionados for long after we have (hopefully) completed our quest and there will never be a correct answer. The strict definition is from the British Golf Museum:

1. The course must be beside a river estuary

2. It must offer partial or occasional views of the sea

3. It must have few trees

4. It must have numerous bunkers

5. It must have nines that run out and back, the front heading to a far point and the back returning to the clubhouse

Peper and Campbell defined their list as follows:

Terrain - how close is the course to the sea? Do the fairways run fast and hard? Do the greens favour a run-on approach? How open is the site? How natural? Is there a freedom from trees? Is the invasion of gorse and brush controlled? How light is the environmental footprint on the land?

Turf - is there a sand base? What grasses are dominant on the fairways and greens? Is the rough managed ( creating biodiversity for flora and fauna)? How well does the course drain?

Weather - how exposed is the site to the elements? What are the typical wind conditions? Does the course play hard and fast all year round? Must temporary greens and tees be used in winter? Is the course susceptible to winter closure?

Peper and Campbell included courses which supplied the correct answers to most of these questions. But however defined, to me the poem by Sir John Betjeman encapsulates the feeling of links golf.