MY DREAM 18 IN ENGLAND
We asked Martin Ebert – the R&A’S preferred architect, who works on almost all The Open venues – to build a fantasy course of holes in England. This is his fascinating and eclectic selection… and what a course it would be!
What a challenging exercise this was… so many tough decisions about which holes to include and the difficulty of leaving some great ones out. I have ended up with five par 3s and five par 5s, which may be my favourite arrangement for a course. The par 3s form a great set and the par 5s are all fun to play. The holes are 10 links, six heathland, one moorland and one parkland, making for an attractively varied layout. Beautiful green surfaces and green surround shapes have been key to the selection of many of the holes...
1 Notts, 14th 403 yards, par 4
An inviting downhill tee shot and a heathland left to right dogleg to start the round.
2 Hillside, 11th 509 yards, par 5 The downhill theme continues with this exhilarating par 5 between the dunes. 3 Ganton, 3rd 349 yards, par 4
Every course should have a short par 4 and this one has great bunkering and a huge and beautifully contoured green surface.
4 Royal St George’s, 4th 496 yards, par 4
Possibly the most famous fairway bunker in golf has to be negotiated from the tee on Sandwich’s 4th. The green is simply crazy with its huge slope at the front.
5 Royal Worlington & Newmarket, 5th 155 yards, par 3
No need for bunkers to make the 5th great. The flat surface of the green, described as a “vaulting horse” by Donald Steel, is only eight yards wide and falls off to Mug’s Hole on the left and a steep bank to the right.
6 Sunningdale (New), 6th 485 yards, par 5
Harry Colt and John Morrison returned to Sunningdale to create a fantastic swinging leftto-right dogleg to a two-level green.
7 Royal Lytham & St Annes, 17th 467 yards, par 4
The only two words that ought to describe this testing right-to-left dogleg two-shot hole are ‘Bobby’ and ‘Jones’!
8 Royal West Norfolk, 8th 494 yards, par 5
Two leaps required over the sea marsh at Brancaster. What a sight with the tide up.
9 Burnham & Berrow, 9th 182 yards, par 3
Dr Alister Mackenzie is often given the credit for this fantastic par 3 but the committee records show the Secretary at the time was asked to improve it; the results of that work are a great hole and a quite brilliant green.
10 Aldeburgh, 11th 467 yards, par 4
A seriously testing par 4 with old-fashioned cross bunkers to carry to a very attractively shaped green.
11 Royal Liverpool, 11th 194 yards, par 3
The ‘Alps’ is all that needs to be said.
12 Woking, 12th 416 yards, par 4
Woking enjoys one of the best collection of green surfaces anywhere thanks to the input all those decades ago of Stuart Paton and John Low, who took St Andrews’ Old course as their inspiration. The 12th green is among the best of of a wonderful collection.
13 Yelverton, 16th 421 yards, par 4
This moorland is a mixture of the most natural of landscapes combined with man-made mine workings which make incredibly dramatic features around the greens, as featured at the downhill 16th.
14 The Berkshire (Red), 10th 186 yards, par 3
This stunning short hole across the chasm is the heathland version of the famous ‘Calamity’ at Royal Portrush.
15 Prince’s (Dunes), 6th 506 yards, par 5
Prince’s has some superb greens and surrounds and the par-5 6th on the Dunes is one of the best, with the steep bank to the left being its defining feature.
16 Royal Cinque Ports, 16th 549 yards, par 5
I have often said that the 16th has the best green in the world. Tremendous contouring including some forbidden hollows provide much feature and fun.
17 Littlestone, 17th 182 yards, par 3
The elevated tee position makes this great short hole even more challenging when the prevailing wind blows hard against you.
18 Rye, 18th 436 yards, par 4
So much President’s Putter drama on this bunkerless hole past the clubhouse. A pure tee shot has to be struck to avoid the hollow on the right and the green is so testing with its slight slope away from the golfer.