The Missing Links: 2024

Tuesday, 30 July 2024

Hayling Golf Club, Hayling Island, Hampshire, England

https://www.haylinggolf.co.uk/

White tees 6529 yards, par 71, slope121
Red tees 5813, par 74, slope 130

Founded in 1883 by the Sandeman family of port and sherry fame, Hayling was initially designed by Joe Lloyd who won the 1897 US Open with major inputs over the years from Tom Dunn, JH Taylor, five times Open champion and Tom Simpson. In common with many coastal courses it was taken over by the RAF during the second World War and some of the concrete bunkers and coastal defences can still be seen. Set on a Site of Special Scientific Interest, it lies on the south-west peninsula of Hayling Island, overlooking the Solent and the Isle of Wight. We played on a hot almost windless day with our son-in-law Alex after a very friendly welcome.

The par 3 5th

This is a golf course which starts quietly and then gradually and inexorably reveals itself to be a course which is a test of strategy and which can beat up the unwary player. There are a lot of blind or semi-blind shots to narrow fairways often at an angle to the tee and long carries which makes it a difficult course to play for the first time, especially since the rough and gorse are serious hazards. The first four holes are fairly flat and uninteresting but that changes with the par 3 5th which requires a shot to carry over rough to a narrow green, guarded by a steep faced bunker. The 6th is a par 4 for men and a short par 5 for women with a blind drive and a wide red penalty area short of the green - a proper risk and reward hole. The 8th is a short par 4 with a blind shot over an area of rough to the green which lies in a hollow. Standing on the 9th tee faced with a drive over rough, heather and a sand dune you come to the realisation that there are perhaps too many blind shots and that playing with a member would be helpful!

The course is on an SSSI.
An owl box can be seen behind the 7th green.

The 10th is a delightful short par 4 hole which is unusual as the hole is laid out before the player. It is drivable but that brings the fairway bunker on the left into play. It is followed by a par 3 which heads towards the sea, has lots of rough and a tilted green guarded by five bunkers awaiting a short shot.

The par 3 11th

There are lovely views from the 12th and 13th tees with the 13th finishing in a dell at the furthest point of the course. Fourteen is a dog-leg par 5 from right to left with an inlet of the sea at the corner. Unusually it has a spare green used as a par 3 when other holes are out of commission. The 15th has a long carry from the tee and a heavily bunkered fairway which is very narrow especially nearer the green. Another par 3 with virtually no fairway and an angled green follows. The 17th has a narrow opening through thick gorse for the drive and has trouble on the left in the form of the lake which extends to the art deco clubhouse. The course finishes with a fairly straightforward par 4 although again the drive is at an angle to the fairway.

The view of the clubhouse
from the 17th tee

Worth playing? Yes definitely but if possible play with someone who knows the course

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.