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| Prince's |
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| Sarazen in 1932 |
Prince's Golf Club
Prince's Golf Club, located just a couple of miles further along the coast from Deal, was founded at the beginning of the last century by Sir Harry Mallaby - Dealy. A regular golfing visitor to East Kent , he decided to establish a new links at Sandwich that would, in particular, welcome lady, junior and family golfers. With his Cambridge University friend Percy Montague Lucas he put up most of the capital for the enterprise, the land being donated by the Earl of Guilford. Charles Hutchings, the 1902 Amateur Champion, was engaged as architect and he and Percy laid out the course in 1904. It was completed late in 1906, P M Lucas became the club's first secretary and A.J. Balfour (Prime minister 1902-05) drove the first ball as club captain in the Founder's Vase in the following June.
Two World Wars of coastal defence, military training areas with barbed wire entanglements and anti-aircraft batteries all but obliterated the golf course but restoration took place amazingly quickly each time. As early as 1922 the Club was able to host the British Ladies Open, which was won by the great Joyce Wethered. The Club thrived during the 30's and 40's. The Prince of Wales became Club President in 1930, and two years later the Club staged the Open Championship which was won by Gene Sarazen. The Championship was rated a great success, but before it could stage the event again, the country was once more at war.
In 1950 Sir Guy Campbell and John Morrison were engaged to redesign and restore the course. Despite the devastating wartime damage it was found possible to incorporate 17 of the original greens into a new layout of 27 holes plus two practice holes. The 1954 Dunlop Masters, won by Bobby Locke, was the first major event to be staged over the new layout whose modern redesign eliminated any blind tee or approach shots. There are fewer infamous pot-bunkers than many other links courses, but that is more than made up for by the number of plateaued greens, ridges, humps and hollows and as always, the constantly changing wind in off the English Channel.
The Open Championship returned to Royal St Georges in 1981 and Prince's was chosen for final qualifying, as it was in 1985, 1993 and 2003.
The 1950 redesign always envisaged a new, centrally located, clubhouse and this was finally opened by Peter Alliss during the 1985 Open. With the construction of just one new green this enabled the 27 holes to be played in three loops of 9 holes, known as the "Shore", "Dunes" and "Himalayas" courses, each starting and finishing beside the clubhouse. Competitions and championships can be played over any of the three combinations. The 2003 Final Qualifying was played over the "Shore / Dunes" combination which measured 7145 yards without the addition of any new tees.
Only 14 courses have ever had the honour of staging an Open Championship. Three of the five "Grand Slam Winners" have walked Prince's fairways and all those who wish to follow in their footsteps will be assured of a warm welcome at one of Britain 's finest links.
The
Himalayas/Shore is a 6510 yards par 71 course.
The Dunes/Himalayas is a 6506 yards par 71 course.
The Shore/Dunes is a 6690 yards par 72 course.
Information:
Green fees - Winter Day ticket: £40 midweek and £50 at weekends. Summer day ticket: £60 midweek and £80 at weekends.
Visitor policy - Visitors are welcome.
Address
Prince's Golf Club
Sandwich Bay
Sandwich
Kent CT13 9QB
Tel. - 01304 626909