Golf Course Architecture: Issue 57 - July 2019

75 rebuilt, presumably for drainage. But the slope of the site is such that there should be no difficulty getting water out of a punchbowl – there is plenty of elevation for a big network of drains to carry away moisture. And the trees desperately need cutting back, partly to make the hole a little less terrifying, but primarily for turf quality reasons – I do not envy the course manager trying to keep good grass on a green with so little exposure to the sun. Hole twelve is the best on the course, and frankly almost made me fall over with surprise when I saw it. The hole plays up a valley, with a ditch all the way up the favoured left side. But it is the terrain that astonishes: in the drive zone, the fairway pitches steeply from high right to low left, but on the approach to the green the cant is reversed and it is the left side that is high up. The green sits in the steep upslope, and slopes – steeply. Although only 365 yards from the back tee, it is an epic par four, one of the very finest I have seen in this country. Again, it is crying out for tree clearing. In truth by now we have seen the best of Canterbury, but the fall off in quality is not extreme. The fifteenth and sixteenth are two excellent par fours, the first a dogleg right (with two totally inappropriate and ugly later-added bunkers on the left side of the fairway – why do people insist on bunkering the outside of doglegs?), while the latter has a lovely greensite tucked in to the left of the corridor. Seventeen is a classic example of Colt’s genius – a tough and beautiful par three built on ground that really gave him nothing. Excavations to the left of the putting surface gave him the fill to build up the green, and also created an exciting vista at the front of the home tee. And the home hole itself is a shortish par five, which I suspect did not benefit from the creation of a driving range on its right. I’d be amazed if the bunker pattern is original, and it could do with some rethinking. So that is Colt’s Canterbury. It was truly the most pleasant surprise I have had on a British golf course in a long time. Let us not get carried away; the course is showing nowhere near its potential at the moment. I have read that the site was originally heath, and I would be fascinated to see the results of a trial reintroduction of heather. But general manager Hyder, who helped the club purchase its site a few years ago, has a goal to get it where it should be in time for its centenary in eight years, and, with the help of architect Edwards, will, I hope, get it there. GCA The second hole is a classic Colt par three that plays across a valley Photos: Andy Hiseman