Queen Victoria bestowed royal patronage in 1893 and “Tunbridge Wells” was dropped from its name in 1901 when the club became known simply as Royal Ashdown Forest. Royal Ashdown Forest Golf Club. A new programme of golf course conditioning has helped this historic, bunkerless golf course, deep in Winnie-the-Pooh country in Sussex, shoot up the Top 100 rankings. This would provide the front nine with its only two shot hole greater than 400 yards and would be an ideal solution to the present problem of sustaining good grass on this green. Course Planner. This course is a real gem and highly recommended to any serious golfer. The green can be missed to the right with a good chance of recovery. Seventh hole, 375 yards; A dogleg right built around an angled patch of broken ground with gorse and a ditch at the inside of the dogleg.

You should not go long over the this green as the green is sharply tilted back to front. But think about it for a moment. The approach shot has to carry the stream with the sleepers. Given there are no bunkers the green complexes are far from dull. Perhaps, just perhaps, these courses might be better off without them. Inside the heather, the fact the course was kept so lean has given me the perfect platform – just the lightest feeding with a low nitrogen fertiliser has made a massive difference to the course’s playing surfaces.”, “We know there is still plenty of work to do here,” adds Darnell. 7th is a 90 degree dog leg to the right. Respond to above review  Royal Ashdown Forest Golf Club is ranked number 67 in the Golf World Top 100 Courses UK & Ireland, and number 29 in the Golf World Top 100 Courses England. Adding to the difficulty of the hole is a spine running through the middle of the green. They created a course that is joyful to walk with an enormous variety in the holes.

Was this review helpful? Since I am not in the camp where I believe every course that Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw design is world-class, there is a good chance I will not change my opinion.

There is a stream and a gully near the front of the green continuing down the left. Founded in 1888, Royal Ashdown Forest Golf Club is a traditional members’ golf club set in the heart of the Ashdown Forest. That led to it being cut down, and us losing some areas.

While ‘Royal’ golf clubs might have the reputation for being exclusionary, Royal Ashdown Forest is anything but. Royal Ashdown Forest Golf Club is beautiful, yes, but beware, for this is also one of the most difficult courses in England, one justified by its world top-100 ranking.

It is a true risk-reward short par 5 with a ditch to avoid for the shorter hitters second shot. The rate some architects pump out courses would be dramatically reduced as they were forced to spend more time on site trying to understand the subtle nuances of the land.

You're viewing this game as guest. About See All. This is a course for the strategist, not the bomber.“. Copyright 2020. It’s quite breath-taking that this course has been in existence since the 1800’s.

Forgot account? The greens have to be shaped to make them smooth enough to be puttable while trying to stay true to the natural contours of the land. This long par 3 plays downhill between heather and requires good judgment as to where to land the ball both on the right and short of the green to hold the green.

Though mostly a glorious whispering sea of oak and birch, vast areas of it had been cleared to feed the furnaces of the burgeoning iron and steel industry, exposing muscular heathland below. It plays as a dogleg right. Miss this green and saving a bogey might be at risk. The walk through the Royal Ashdown Forest is simply inspiring, and the occasional long walks from green to tee (unusual for a course this old), only serve to enhance the fairy-tale feel at Royal Ashdown Forest Golf Club. Yet on most days this is a golf course that one will appreciate for the balance it offers in terms of the variety of the holes on offer and the natural defenses of the land, tall grasses, heather, and gorse.

It might be the most natural inland course one will find due to the original charter of the Royal Forest prohibiting any substantial moving of land in that area. See other reviews from Josh P. This is a real treat of a course. Four is another short par 4 slight dogleg right.

Other than the wooden planks propping up a stream bank in front of the second green, the entire course is natural. We are not entirely sure who designed it, but we know that the club’s founder, Archdeacon Scott, was involved. Was this review helpful? The West Course is located in the same grounds as Royal Ashdown Forest Golf Club, but offers a very different golfing experience Remarkably, the golfer may well play several rounds here before he becomes aware of this fact. I have not played another eighteen-hole golf course that has zero bunkers.

Several areas of the course have been ‘scraped’ – removing surface to expose heather seed banks. 01176085) at Media House, Peterborough Business Park, Peterborough, PE2 6EA. Would new courses built today be better if similar restrictions were in place?

In his book, Golf Courses of the British Isles, Bernard Darwin wrote: “It is only at the end of a round that we realise with pleasurable shock that there is not a single hideous rampart or so much as a pot bunker”. My playing partner was as shocked as he was excited that I had unfurled a drive which was threatening the cup on Royal Ashdown Forest's 249-yard, par-three 11th hole. .nivo-controlNav-Wrapper {

the greens in 2016, as part of a process to improve course presentation. Moreover, my comment about Royal Ashdown Forest Old being the best course I have played without a single bunker is not meant to be tongue-in-cheek or in the style of Gary Player: “the finest course of its kind.” Royal Ashdown Forest Old is an excellent golf course where one feels the joy of playing golf. 14 is a lovely par 3 with a green surrounded by heather-covered humps and hollows and 15 is a great par 5 requiring a blind approach over the heather to a shallow green.

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Founded in 1888, Royal Ashdown Forest Golf Club is a traditional members’ golf club set in the heart of the Ashdown Forest.