sixcoltclassics

PINE VALLEY

Many rankings place Pine Valley as the world’s best course. It’s certainly one of the hardest and Robert Trent Jones believes that 10 of the 18 holes here are absolute classics. Many designers have added touches, but Colt masterminded the original, blending heroic, penal and strategic styles.

SUNNINGDALE NEW

Colt must have mused many times over the perfect routing for Sunningdale’s second course. He became secretary there in 1901 and left again in 1913, but stayed on the Greens Committee for two years because they didn’t really want him to go. It wasn’t until 1922 that the ‘New’ opened.

SWINLEY FOREST

Colt described Swinley as his ‘least bad course’, but he surely couldn’t have believed his luck when Lord Stanley, the Earl of Derby, popped his head around the Sunningdale secretary’s door and asked him to design a course on a piece of prime estate that had been part of Windsor Great Park.

ST GEORGE’S HILL

Colt’s heathland creation brilliance is again evident at the scenic and charming St George’s Hill. The way every hole, across three loops of nine, has a character all of its own is a total delight. Play here and you can see how natural terrain can be gently moulded into a heathland gem.

LE TOUQUET (LA MER)

Pick up Sunningdale or St George’s Hill and plonk it down in the middle of Holland and you have De Pan. It flies slightly under the radar in that few seem to know about it, but this is a brilliant heathland design that starts well and then, from the 6th, becomes outstanding.

RYE

Could this be the greatest debut design in history? Colt was only 25 when he laid out the routing here and, although war time bombs changed parts of it, the essence still exists. Supremely tough for the low handicapper and in true Colt style, there are always safer options.