The second half of The Sunningdale Story by Guy Bennett and edited by John Churchill is now posted. The spotlight turns to the New Course, once unattractively known as Abyssinia, and it commences ~3/4 the way down page 2 after The Luftwaffe Alterations section.
Most second courses are markedly inferior to the first because any original architect worth his salt picked and used the best land for the original course. That doesn’t hold true here because the club didn’t own the New’s huge tract of land when Park laid out the Old. Opened in 1922, the New began as a pure Colt design and it came
after he had made his voyage to America and left his everlasting imprint on Pine Valley. Surely, the tumbling topography, heath vegetation and sandy conditions at Sunningdale reminded him in some ways of the sand barrens in New Jersey? He routed a roller-coaster ride up and down the hills, creating a worthy sibling to the already world famous Old. Colt’s 4th, 5th and 12th holes represent heath golf at its finest. So ends the story, right? Wrong! It is only getting started.
Apparently, members complained of hilliness and lengthy walks from greens to tees. The new layout didn’t absorb as much of the play during the Roaring 20’s as the club had hoped/needed. More land was acquired and Tom Simpson’s services were utilized in the early 1930s. He created a clockwise loop of holes over less severe ground, starting at hole 6.
Simpson’s loop lasted most of that decade but something was missing and the firm of Colt & Morrison was called in. As reported by Mr. Churchill,
‘Colt and Morrison, in changing the loop from clockwise to anticlockwise, were clearly determined to “de-Simpsonise” the New Course, a phrase coined by John Morrison to also describe changes at Rye (Colt & Co, Hawtree 1991).’ Today’s sixth through ninth are the result and play to Colt’s original tenth green is now at a 45 degree angle from Colt’s original, elevated tee to the left. Apart from some tweaks here and there like the re-positioning of the Home green, the New Course today is as Morrison left it ~75 years ago.
Well, well, WELL! That creates much to discuss. The burning questions that spring to mind include:
1) Why were the Colt holes abandoned in the first place? Mr. Bennett took the initiative and paced off the green to tee distances on the beloved Old and measured it against Colt’s New as well as Simpson’s version. The differences were a scant 100 yards among the three courses! Adding to the puzzle is the FACT that I can’t believe that Colt, the master router, would have built a course too hilly to walk. I don’t believe it.
Also, look at the photos presented by Mr. Bennett and Mr. Churchill: the compelling 7th, the great 8th green complex, the uphill ninth where the climb is broken by a handsome diagonal string of bunkers – what’s not to like?!
2) What do you make of Simpson’s holes? He is a favorite writer, thinker, and architect but … I am not sure his work ties in well with Colt’s. His 18th green located on a knoll over dense vegetation looks his typical ‘less is more ‘ and intrigues but is rather one dimensional, requiring a lay-up virtually all the time. What do you think?
3) What do you make of Morrison’s counterclockwise loop? The club must have felt he nailed it based on the superlative 6th, one of, if not the best inland par 5s in the UK. An epic for sure, made all the better with the recent clearing of undergrowth and the return of the landscape to its natural heath state.
4) Last and certainly not least, what do you make of the fact that some of the land containing Colt’s missing holes was cleared ~two winters ago? How exciting is that? Fingers are crossed for further developments.
Of course, you can’t have two great courses exist side by side without a debate over the merits of each relative to the other. Here is what I wrote in the Sunningdale New profile a few years ago:
Certainly, The Old Course has several holes (namely the third, eleventh, and twelfth) that made major impacts on subsequent golf course architects. Built at the turn of the century, Willie Park Junior’s ability to have the man-made hazards appear natural was revolutionary at the time and set a new design standard for inland courses. In fact, it is fair to conclude that the Old Course has had more impact on golf course architecture than the New. In addition, given Jones’s perfect round there in 1926 and by virtue that it continues to host the preponderance of televised events, the Old is historically more important than the New. However, that is not the same as saying the Old is a better course. While both the one and three shot holes on the New are superior, no sane man will ever dispute that the twelve two shot holes on the Old are among the game’s best. The debate has no end in sight and will rage on for years to come! By the Morrissett Match-Play method, the New is ahead until the last three holes where The Old storms home, barely breaking the tape first.
For an institution that embraces the best old fashioned virtues of the game, Sunningdale is a remarkably dynamic club, as highlighted throughout The Sunningdale Story. The present is exciting as well, with the right people in place and very fine work continuing, especially on The New where some of Colt’s sweeping scale has been restored over the past decade.
For over a century, Sunningdale has been a great story and it continues today. We are most fortunate that John Churchill decided to share this opulently illustrated treatise with us and again we warmly thank him. Mr. Bennett and Mr. Churchill conclude their work with an appreciation of some of the men and women that made Sunningdale special, like Jack White (Sunningdale’s first professional and Open winner) and Jimmie Sheridan (the beloved caddie master for five (!) decades). A fitting conclusion to The Sunningdale Story.
Speaking of finishes, there can be no better way to conclude GolfClubAtlas.com’s In My Opinion section for 2013 than with The Sunningdale Story.
Best,