Golf Course Architecture: Issue 57 - July 2019

74 CANTERBURY have come as quite a shock to the great architect; it still does to the first-time visitor today. The course begins in slightly unprepossessing fashion, with an uphill drive to the dogleg first. The climb does, though, bring golfers to the higher ground, and the second, a classic Colt par three across a valley, lets you know that you are in for a wild ride. The third hole, a par four with a blind drive over a crest, is fine, but the fourth is the first hard evidence that substantial work is needed if the course is to live up to its potential. The green has been moved to the right from Colt’s original location; unfortunately, several unattractive trees have been allowed to grow on that side of the approach, blocking out the view of the green from much of the fairway. Obviously, they need to go, but that won’t entirely solve the hole’s issues; the green itself has shrunk quite dramatically from its original size, and generally the entire green complex is unsatisfactory. Edwards has built some – rather attractive – new bunkers on the par- three fifth. These are welcome, as they brighten up a hole played over some less interesting ground, but I cannot help but feel that they would have been a long way down the priority list had it been my golf course! The sixth is a beautiful dogleg right par four, with a wonderful bunker (possibly an original?) at front left, but even here we see evidence of inappropriate vegetation – a small stand of weeping willows, God help us, sit behind the green. That concludes the opening run of which Colt was so proud. Seven, eight and nine, two fives with a three in the middle, occupy less interesting ground. It is notable that Colt chose to use up this ground with two three-shotters – he did the same, for example, at Southfield in Oxford, around the same time. The uphill ninth does have a very good, very steep green. The tenth is a long, straight par four over a ditch, while the eleventh brings us back to the great ground with a bang. A brutally tough uphill par three, it currently plays deep into the trees, though I am quite sure it was much more open when originally built. The green is not original. Colt built a punchbowl, which, in its forgiving nature is highly appropriate for such a hard hole, but it has been Golf course architect James Edwards’ proposed changes for the dogleg par-four sixth at Canterbury