Sandwich, England, United Kingdom
Ian Fleming, creator of James bond was a member here and you would be advised to bring something of Bonds daring for the course and his upper class elegance for the clubhouse. Known as Sandwich locally, this classic links course has been home to 14 Open Championships. Take a jacket and tie along, as tradition dictates that you won’t get the excellent famed lunch without being correctly dressed. The course is virtually treeless and presents a rolling links field with deep bunkers and the inevitable influence of its main obstacle – the wind. The course is routed in such a way that wind influences shots from a new direction on each hole – demanding caution and alertness for each shot. Bunkering is spectacular at Royal St George’s, some are the largest sandpits you will find anywhere, and they come into play for long- and standard strikers of the ball.
The 18th is one of the toughest finishing holes in golf. Generally played into the teeth of the prevailing wind, a large mound on the fairway at driver length tends to kick balls into the rough on either side. Hold the fairway and you have a long iron into a green guarded by a deep bunker, front and right of your target. A ridge on the green will help anything on its left into a small bunker or Duncan’s Hollow”, named for George Duncan who lost the 1922 Open after ending in this depression. Although it is a private course, provision is made for visitors on most days – plan ahead and book in advance to play one of the world’s finest courses around.
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