No Bunkers, but a lot of Heather
Eddie and I had the good fortune to be invited to play at Royal Ashdown Forest earlier this month at a golf day organised by The Lord’s Taverners Charity. The course is located in East Sussex situated amongst rolling hills, forests and heather and a had A.A.Milne as one of the previous members. The original course was designed by W.R Lee around 1888, before being updated several times in the next 20-30 years. The course is currently rated 46/100 of the best courses in England. There are two courses at Royal Ashdown, the West Course and the Old Course which is the one we played. As this was a charity golf day it was a shotgun start so we experienced the holes slightly differently starting on the 16th, and from the yellow tees.
The Course
The course is a par 72 6562 yards off the whites, and 6196 yellows and 5565 off the reds. Describing the course, as posted on the clubs website Bernard Darwin wrote in 1934, ““two salient facts come to mind. It is not quite like any other of my acquaintance, and secondly, I never knew anyone who played on it and was not fond of it.” I can relate to this as I have not played a similar course in England, although have played courses where heather is in abundance and I can also say I am very fond of Royal Ashdown. Driving to the course you get a flavour of what to expect with large forests in very undulating countryside and eventually driving down a winding road to the clubhouse which is a sprawling building that looks to have several additions on the original structure.
Front 9: 3106 Yards Par 36
The first is relatively short par 4 playing across the 18th fairway to an inviting sloping green sat in front of a cottage. Quite a gentle start leads into the second where you are greeted with a blind tee shot over the hill and your first look at some of the heather to come, and a raised green protected with a stream in front of the green. Holes 3 and 4 are both quite short par 4’s leading to the first par 5, the 5th down a hill with tricky heather down the left and another stream in front of the green. The 6th is a brilliant short par 3 on an island green where accuracy is needed with danger surrounding the entire green. The 7th was on a temporary green during our visit but looks like it would be a great challenge playing to a dogleg left with extreme rough, heather and water to the right but a great tee shot challenging you how far you dare go up the hill. Hole 8 was challenging with a marker post that looks like you want to go straight for it, but once you are up there you realise actually you need to play short of it and the marker post is surrounded by heather. The 9th is another great par 3 where the bush that sits in front of the green is deceptively difficult. Don’t be short.
Back 9: 3456 Yards Par 36
The 10th hole, “Ginger Beer” is a par 5 under 500 yards but there is a long carry over heather heading towards a narrowing gap, again filled with heather. The shot to the green is blind, there is however a marker behind the green to give you a direction to aim for, however this is located at the left side of the green, so keep that in mind. When we played the flag was on the far right of the green which was a little frustrating. Hole 11 is another great par 3, and a long one at 243 yards. It plays from an elevated tee down to the green which is surrounded by heather. The 12th is the longest par 5 on the course and there is a large area of heather that splits the fairway about 280 yards down and is the first of a few holes on the back 9 that are protected by heather sections. The 14th is the last par 3 and its another gem. Its 192 yards to the green and anything short of that will be lost to the heather, or if you are lucky enough to find it you will have a very tricky shot to get out. 15 is another par 4 protected by a large heather section right in front of the green which makes judging your second shot very tricky. 16 has a similar but less extreme heather protector in front of the green and leads over to the 17th where you play over another large section of heather before going down to a green tucked in a corner surrounded by trees. The last hole plays across the 1st from an elevated tee over a gully back up to the green. It is a great finish and there is a generous fairway allowing you to go for it, although there is danger to the left with rough.
Summary
Royal Ashdown Forest G.C. is one of my favourite courses I have played in England. It has everything, other than bunkers, but thats not necessarily a bad thing! I prefer courses which are not long for the sake of it, I think the surroundings around Ashdown are enough to make the course a great challenge. It’s also worth saying that the par 3’s are exceptional. They are difficult, varied and really make you think about how to approach them.
Ordinary Tips for Ordinary Golfers
- This may be stating the obvious but avoid the heather. Getting a clean shot out of the heather is hard and quite often your ball may be suspended. Last word on heather, its also very difficult to locate your ball.
- The markers on 8 and 10 are deceiving. On 8 be short of the marker and on 10 go right of the marker.
- We played off the yellow tees as we played on a golf day, however the white tees is where you want to play adding more challenge.
- The course website has a hole by hole guide, this is well worth looking at before you play.
- The clubhouse (old course) has great history, its worth taking the time to look around. Also read this https://x.com/Ordinary_Golf/status/1792261058981191920
Course Details
Location: Chapel Lane, Forest Row, East Sussex, RH18 5LR
Par: 72
Yards: 6562 (white) 6196 (yellow) 5565 (Red)
Price: Summer £140 Winter £75
Rating: 4/5
Eddie May