Royal St. George's

After a year’s postponement, the best golfers in the world will descend on Royal St. George’s Golf Club in the southeastern corner of England this July. On a cold, windy day in the middle of February 2016, I was pretty much the only one there.

I was sitting in the back of the classroom at the London School of Economics a few weeks earlier, my mind wandering as usual to topics other than the lecture I was attending. I had been in the country for a few months but hadn’t yet played golf. Being the golf course architecture nerd that I am and being in a country with so much great—and accessible—architecture, it was about time that I started to visit some of these places about which I’d heard and seen so many pictures.

The course which I most wanted to see was Royal St. George’s. I’d heard about its blind shots and extreme hazards. I liked that fact that it was the least favorite Open venue of many of the pros. And I knew that it was near Prince’s and Royal Cinque Ports, which would create a nice 3-day vacation, just an hour-and-a-half train ride from London. So I wrote an email to the club secretary asking to play. I came to learn that for most UK clubs, this isn’t necessary; almost all private clubs are what we in the US would call ‘semi-private,’ meaning that the public can play them, subject to restrictions on date and time. Because I wanted to come in mid-February, it wasn’t too difficult to book a day’s golf either here or at its neighbors, so my plans came together very quickly.

Royal St. George’s was several firsts for me. My first time playing in England. My first time playing a true links course. My first time playing in 40-degree (and not celsius) temperatures. But it couldn’t have been more perfect. I had the bright idea to wear my thermal running tights under my clothes. These kept me warm running in 25 degree temperatures in New York. They worked perfectly. In my second round, I encountered an older man walking his dog on the course and he told me that it was too cold to play (which is a strong statement for an Englishman—they’re pretty tough about golf), but I proudly showed him my running tights and said that I was perfectly warm and having a blast. I hadn’t liked playing in cold weather before discovering golf in running tights but ever since I’ve loved it.

But I also discovered what I had come for, which was a course that I would later describe to people as a ‘moving’ experience. It starts with probably the best site for a golf course that I’ve ever seen—several hundred acres of sand dunes, with the ground itself ranging from the largest dunes to a flat plain with some of the finest small contours that you’ll ever see. To be honest, it’d be pretty hard to build a not-great course on this site. But Royal St. George’s takes advantage of the site with many holes that fit their specific sites perfectly, with some appropriately unusual results. My understanding is that the course had a lot more blindness in the past and it definitely wasn’t as quirky as it could have been. But you’ll see that in addition to the big, dramatic holes, the holes on the more subtle terrain take as good of advantage of this as anything you could want.

This was also when I decided that I was going to start photographing the courses that I played. Unfortunately I hadn’t figured out my method of what I wanted to photograph yet so the ratio of general scenery to specific shots and features is way too high. My method has become to photograph every main shot on a hole and then any additional interesting features. I got many of these, but not as many as I’d like and while my memory of most of the holes is pretty good, I wouldn’t be able to provide photographic evidence for everything that I’d like to discuss. So I’ll focus here on what I have pictures to discuss. You can go to the course’s excellent hole-by-hole section of its website for the rest.


I don’t have pictures from the straightaway, mid-length par 4 first hole but the front of the green is well-defended by bunkers and you need to have hit a good drive to hit and hold it. Although it’s a bit of a walk back to the tees, the second is an outstanding mid-length par 4. The hole doglegs left and there’s a small dune ridge and two bunkers up the left side. The bunkers are only about a 200 yard carry from the daily tees (to which they limit visitors) but the further left that you go, the longer the carry over the dunes. It’s a great driving hole. While the angle to the green isn’t so important, it’s elevated and on the small side, so it’s important that you got a good drive off.

Walking to the first tee on a cold February morning. The thatched roofs are distinctive of southeastern England and their Germanic cousins in the Netherlands and northern Germany.

An excellent diagonal drive on the dogleg left second. The bunkers aren't a hard carry but it's better if you can carry the dunes to their left to set up a shorter approach to the elevated green.

Looking back from the green we can see that the dunes continue up the left side of the hole and will catch those who try to cut off too much and fail. The fairway is perfect links.

The long par 3 third is a newer hole, which they built in the late 70s in an effort to get the Open Championship back. It replaced the famous blind Sahara hole. I’m certain that I would have preferred the old version. To me, there are only two negative things about Royal St. George’s: the third green and the eighth green. Both were (and look like they were) constructed in the late 70s, two-tiered and framed by mounding. I’m not sure that the mounding around the greens is the result of shaping but the two green sites looked unnatural to me because the flat tiers of their surfaces resembled nothing in their surroundings. If these two greens were reworked to blend in better with their surroundings, I’d probably consider Royal St. George’s a perfect 10.

It was tough to take a good picture with an iPhone facing the low winter sun, but you can see the two-tier green, which I thought looked too modern and didn't blend in with its surroundings. It doesn't look bad here, but it's surrounded by dunes into which I thought it didn't blend well. That's tougher to see here.

One hole that blends in perfectly with its surroundings and which I’d consider a perfect 10 is the famous long par 4 fourth hole. It starts with a blind drive over the famous bunker, although the version that I saw wasn’t as fearsome as the older picture—the wooden bulkheads had been replaced by grass edging.

The drive over the famous bunker on the fourth. The bunker itself isn't a long carry but you do want to go over it and you need some distance to carry the dune beyond it.

The bunker appeared to have been recently reconstructed (hence the sign) and was much less fearsome than the earlier, bulkheaded version.

But bunker aside, this is both among the most strategic holes and those taking best advantage of its natural contours. You want to drive it over or just left of the highest dune, which requires a carry about about 230 to reach the fairway on the other side. There’s room left but the further left you go, the more that the ground slopes away toward a depression and a bunker.

You’ll also want to be up the right side for the sake of the angle into the green. The further right you are, the flatter the approach into the green. If you’re in the left side of the fairway, you have to play across dunes that will direct your ball away from the green if you hit them. The green itself is the wildest on the property, with a huge false front and just a small area up top on which to put the pin. Many would decry this as ‘unfair’ for such a difficult hole but hey, this is links golf and unfairness and quirk are part of it. It would be an inappropriate course for this incredible site that didn’t have such a wild hole.

The approach from the right edge of the fairway. The further right you are, the better the angle is because of the dunes short and left of the green. I think that the club could widen the fairway a bit on the right so that there is more of it in the optimal position.

Approaching the green. If you try to bring a runner in from the left side, these dunes can kick the ball away from the green to the right.

The green is way 'too severe' for such a long and difficult hole.

Often holes look more difficult than they are but from the fifth tee, we can see that the plateau part of the fourth green isn't much bigger than appeared from the fairway.

Five is another memorable hole but for something for which I unfortunately didn’t get a picture: its blind second shot. The drive is out to an open plain but there are several bunkers up the left. From the fairway, the hole turns left and plays directly over the massive dunes. It’s a good blind shot because the rest of the hole on the other side is fairly simple—flat and without bunkers. I’m a fan of blind shots generally but it’s important that you don’t pile up difficulties on top of the blindness. There’s not much that I hate in golf more than a blind water hazard directly in the line of play.

Driving into a magnificent dunesscape on the fifth. The hole turns left and the approach is blind over the dunes in the distance.

I thought that the par 3s were a weak spot of Royal St. George’s (and also of its neighbor Royal Cinque Ports), but the sixth is a good one. The green is nicely framed by the dunes from the fifth hole approach and is largely surrounded by four bunkers. The safe play here is to the front-left but at ~160 yards, it shouldn’t be too hard unless the wind is blowing.

Approaching the green on the 'Maidan' par 3 sixth.

The blind drive on the par 5 seventh also adheres nicely to the principle that a blind shot should be to a receptive area. That was the case on this dogleg left although looking at it on Google Earth, it looks like there are some fairway bunkers on the right that I don’t believe were there when I played. We can see that there are several bunkers on the flat approach, but there’s enough space between them to feel comfortable.

This hole was the site of one of my more memorable links golf moments. In my second round, after two or three shots, I had about 140 to the green into a cold, stiff wind. I took a five-iron—about 3 or 4 clubs more than I usually would for this distance—hit it a little fat, saw the ball ascended toward the heavens, and come down about 50 yards short of the green. Fortunately there was no one there with which to share one of my more embarrassing golf moments.

Unfortunately I didn't get a picture from the tee, but this is the landing area. The drive comes in over the dune ridge in the right side of the frame. The fifth green is in the flat land straight ahead and we've been playing over this dune ridge and back for holes 5-7.

We continue over relatively flat ground to the green although there are several bunkers to catch inaccurate shots.

With three, eight is the other hole that bothered me a bit. After a bit of a walkback to the tee, you play to a fairway that narrows sharply at bunkers about 240 out then runs downhill and ends at broken ground at about 290. You play across the broken ground to a green which is in another bumpy dunes setting but is itself blandly two-tiered. It’s a good (and tough) hole from a playing standpoint because the green narrows the deeper you go and there’s a simple bailout short for those who don’t take on the pin. But for a course that’s on this good of land and is this excellent, such misfitting details stand out and are disappointing.

This was the other green that I didn't like because I feel that it, especially the back part, doesn't blend in with the undulating surroundings. But most people won't even notice, let alone let this bother them and if this is my biggest criticism of the course, it must be a pretty great course.

Looking back across the eighth green to the fairway. Maybe I'm being too critical because the flat green tiers do blend in with the ground short of the green.

As was the fourth to the third, the ninth is a very not-disappointing follow-up to the eighth. It is a bit of an awkward hole though; you drive into something of a half-pipe fairway with a bunker right at ~220 and two that interrupt the fairway at ~280. The awkwardness here is that it’s hard to get a good angle into the green. This would be from the right side of the fairway, but the slope makes it impossible to keep the ball here.

The drive on nine. The best angle to the green would actually be from over the first bunker, but that's the rough. The best line is at the middle of the two bunkers in the distance.

Although the right side of the hole plays into the deepest aspect of the green, the bigger problem with coming in from the left is that there’s a high ridge at the front left of the green that deflects everything to the right. You have to be extremely careful with your approach to this green, landing something high and soft or coming in with a slight draw. If you have an awkward approach, it’s best to play just short of the green as something aggressive can kick well off to the right. But it’s also important to stop the ball from running if you’re playing short from the left side of the green because there are bunkers short right of the green. It’s a bit of a puzzling hole to play but the amazing green and the interesting conservative play make it, I think, a great one.

From just short of the wild ninth green. The difficulty here is that an approach from the fairway comes in over the shoulder on the left, requiring a high degree of precision to hold the ball on the green.

The medium length par 4 tenth is a bit of a rarity for a links course in that it plays straight uphill. The approach is to a skyline green, of which I unfortunately didn’t get a good picture. The key here, as is usually true of uphill holes, is to hit the ball solidly because it can be a long slog if you don’t.

Directly into the sun again on the uphill par 4 tenth.

The long par 3 eleventh is apparently also a newer green but I liked this one much more than three and eight. While it’s also two-tiered, the tier is steeper and I thought more in scale with the surrounding contours. Also, the flat tier planes fit in much better with the surroundings, which are much flatter than those at the third or eighth. I don’t have have a problem with two-tiered greens, but they’re not equally appropriate for all sites and the choice should be dictated by the site.

This hole also plays well, giving you ample opportunity to run the ball onto the green but with plenty of trouble wide if you miss.

The long par 3 eleventh. I thought that this tiered green blended in very well with its flatter surroundings.

I can’t believe that I didn’t get a picture of the drive on the short par 4 twelfth, which was one of the best on the course. The contours on the next two holes are very different from what we’ve encountered so far—they’re a series of low dune ridges that run parallel to the coast. The drive here is diagonal over these ridges from short-left to long-right and has two fairway bunkers on the right. The first of these bunkers is about a 210 yard carry from the medal tees but the main ones are about 240, making this a tough, but outstanding driving hole.

I didn't get a picture from the tee but you can see the diagonal nature of the drive from Google Earth. What you can't see are the dune ridges that run directly down the fairway and parallel to it in the rough.

The dune ridges make this one of my favorite fairways that I’ve seen, with all kinds of odd lies. The green is deep and narrow, with its deepest aspect pointing to the center of the fairway. There is a mess of bunkers short but if you’ve hit a good drive, they shouldn’t be an issue. The green is flatter than most, but this is still a great short par 4.

But you can see the ridges in this incredible fairway from the fairway bunkers.

Here's the view of the green off a good drive.

We also have a diagonal drive over the dune ridges on the long par 4 thirteenth but this time, the run from short-right to long-left. The major issue here is the cluster of bunkers on both sides of the fairway between about 240 and 270. I’m not sure why there are so many bunkers here because the hole would be plenty long and difficult anyway.
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The approach is also a bit unnecessarily difficult, with two bunkers at the front that make it difficult to run the ball on. But all is forgiven by the green, which may be the single best green surface that I’ve ever seen. The reason why this green is so great is that it just sits on the dune ridges that we’ve been following for the last two holes. By this point, they’ve become so shallow that you could put a green directly on them without almost any softening. Sadly, I thought it was more important to take a picture of my ball sitting next to the green side bunker than to take one of the green. Oops.

Approaching some of the many bunkers around the thirteenth fairway.

Unfortunately this is the best shot I've got of what must be one of the world's greatest greens.

Fourteen is a real ball-buster of a par 5 that’s cost a few people the Open Championship, most recently Dustin Johnson, who sent his approach sailing over the out-of-bounds fence onto neighboring Prince’s. There’s a burn along the out-of-bounds on the right and another crossing the fairway at about 315, which create a tendency to bailout left.

But doing so makes the next shot very difficult. This must be one of the world’s great second shots on a par 5. The burn continues to run up the right side all the way to the green and there are two bunkers in the middle of the fairway about 70 yards short of the green. You can bailout left of them, but these creates an awkward angle as the green is completely protected in its front-left by bunkers. From this angle, you’re also playing your approach directly at the burn. As we learned from Dustin Johnson, there’s a world of trouble if you go for the green. The smart thing to do here is just to lay back to 100 yards, where the fairway is about 60 yards wide.

The approach on fourteen is very intimidating with out of bounds on the right and two bunkers right in the middle of the layup zone. Most should just layup short of these but it's a real thrill if you've driven it far enough to go for the green. Just try not to replicate Dustin Johnson's tournament-losing shot.

And this is one of those holes that you can just tell from the aerial is a great one.

The long par 4 fifteenth concludes what might be the hardest three hole stretch that I’ve played. Like thirteen, the drive is just brutal with bunkers up both sides of the fairway between 240 and 280. And even if you hit a long drive in the fairway, the approach is extremely difficult because the entrance to the green is completely blocked by bunkers. The green is narrow and has a pretty good drop-off to the right. Even more than the fourth hole, this one just screams ‘unfair’ to most golfers. But hey, the point is to make the lowest score that you can, not hit the green in two or make par. An intelligent play here if you don’t have a favorable approach would be to layup about 50 yards short of the green up the left side, which leaves a straight-forward pitch on.

The bunker-laden drive on the extremely difficult par 4 fifteenth.

The drive landing zone.

The cruel, all-carry approach over bunkers.

In addition to being all-carry, the green is narrow and runs off both short and right. But hey, par's just a number.

Although it’s a less obvious tournament-ending candidate than the fourteenth, the ~160 yard par 3 sixteenth did just that with Thomas Björn’s chances in 2003. The green is heavily guarded by bunkers in front, but it’s the one down the slope just to its right that ended his chances.

The par 3 sixteenth a.k.a. the Thomas Björn hole.

Seventeen is an elegant long par 4 over rolling ground. The fairway is pretty wide open but the approach to the large, elevated green is a good one, with ample room to run the ball onto the green but a false front for weak shots and bunkers wide for inaccurate ones.

A classical links approach to the seventeenth green with plenty of room to run the ball on but a variety of challenges for misplayed shots.

The eighteenth is an excellent long par 4 finisher, with occasional fairway bunkers up the left side and one through the right around 300 yard out. It’s not the most strategic finishing hole, but the ground slopes gently to the left and if you’re not careful with your drive, you could easily end up in one of the bunkers. And while again I didn’t get a picture, the green is outstanding and a fitting place to finish—although it’s a pretty tame setting with no fans or grandstands.

Unfortunately I didn't get a picture from the tee so Google Earth will have to do. From what I remember, the left side of the fairway slopes away toward the bunkers on the left and a little left-to-right shaping off the tee helps.

The approach to the green looks pretty tame without 25,000 people and grandstands but there's plenty of excitement in the large green.

Royal St. George’s was a pretty great start to what would be two-and-a-half years of golf travels during which I would see almost all of the best courses across southern England and Wales. Although the Old Course at Sunningdale makes it a tough call, it’d not a stretch to say that the first course that I played was the best one. To be fair to other courses, I don’t think that I’ve seen a course with the natural advantages of Royal St. George’s. This land is perfect for golf, with tremendous variety in contours and enough land to easily build another nine holes.

But even though there are to my mind a few missteps, the architecture is so interesting too. The course doesn’t seem to be bound by a sense of what a hole should be. Some of them are extremely hard, probably harder than it’s reasonable to design something to be. Some holes don’t offer you an opportunity to set up a good angle to the green. But the point is to get the lowest score that you can, not to give you an opportunity to make the hole make perfect sense. So sometimes this might mean taking a very conservative approach to the front of or even short of a green that you can easily reach. You can make enough sense of all of these holes to get by, even if once in awhile you think that your great drive should have left you an easier approach.

Like my favorite course Pinehurst no. 2, there’s enough flexibility in each hole that everyone should be able to get around here—even if it’s 40 degrees fahrenheit and the wind is blowing. There are obviously great challenges for those trying to shoot a low score but the bunkers are never so numerous that it becomes difficult for the higher handicap to avoid them. Clearly the course has posed a great challenge to the greatest players in the world and I suspect that it will continue to do so. The proximity to London should guarantee its place in the Open rotation well into the future. While I always look forward to watching the Open because of the courses are great and nothing takes the pros out of their element like links golf, I especially look forward to Opens at Royal St. George’s, with its additional elements of ‘unfairness’ and the requisite complaining.