Royal Cinque Ports Golf Club, Deal, England

www.royalcinqueports.com

White tees 73.9, slope 129, 7010 yards
Red tees 73.3, slope 124, 5660 yards

Initially Cinque Ports golf club, this course lies on the same stretch of coast as Royal St George's and Princes' golf clubs.   The cinque ports are a mediaeval confederation of five English Channel ports to provide ships and men for the king's service.  The title probably dates from the time of Edward the Confessor in the 11th century for defence of the coast and cross channel passage.  In return the inhabitants were give a number of privileges including exemption from tax.  Cinque Ports golf club was opened in 1892 as a nine hole course, much of which would still be recognisable today.  It was designed by the first professional, Henry Hunter,  who was also responsible for its conversion to an eighteen hole course in 1895.  The course received royal patronage just before the coronation of George V but the title of royal was not formally granted until 1949.  Royal Cinque Ports has hosted the Open Championship on two occasions, in 1908 and 1920.

Looking across the first hole to the clubhouse

 This is a lovely proper links course with a friendly         welcome.  We played with our son William and   encountered challenging conditions with  windy weather   and  some heavy wintry showers.  Despite the winter   weather the course was in excellent condition with fast   running crumpled fairways and greens in superb   condition. Its difficulty is increased by the prevailing   wind which blows across the line of play of the course   rather like the Old Course in St Andrews.

Crumpled fairways on the third hole

The first hole is a gentle par 4 heading south with a burn guarding the green.  The course then turns to the north and the next eight holes run along the coast overlooking the English Channel with occasional glimpses of the sea.  We particularly liked the third hole, a par 5 with the second shot through a narrow gap and a green in a hollow.  This was followed by a par 3 with a sloping green and views of Ramsgate in the distance .   Other memorable holes include the 6th with a very undulating fairway and a plateau green and the tenth which was a dogleg from right to left with a large bunker to discourage the player from cutting the corner and steep runoffs round the green.  The 14th hole also had deep swales around the green at the front left and back with a pot bunker guarding the right side making this long par 3 particularly tricky.  The finishing hole is reminiscent of the first, being a gentle par 4 with a burn across the fairway.

The dogleg 10th protected by
 a well positioned bunker

Ramsgate can be seen in the
distance beyond the par 3 4th 

                            

Worth playing?  Definitely.  A proper true links course.