The clubhouse
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Club information | |
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Location | Sandwich, Kent, England |
Established | 1906 |
Type | private |
Total holes | 27 three loops of nine holes (“Shore”, “Dunes” and “Himalayas”) |
Tournaments hosted | The Open Championship |
Website | princesgolfclub.co.uk |
Designed by | Charles Hutchings; Guy Campbell and John Morrison |
Par | 107 (36 (Shore) 36 (Dunes) 35 (Himalayas)) |
Prince's Golf Club, Sandwich is a links golf course located in Sandwich in Kent in South East England. Prince's is immediately adjacent to the more famous Royal St George's golf club, and both clubs lie on the same stretch of coastline as nearby Royal Cinque Ports Golf Club. It is notable for hosting the 1932 Open Championship.
Prince's was financed by Sir Harry Mallaby-Deeley, Bt and designed by Charles Hutchings, the 1902 Amateur Champion on land donated by the Earl of Guilford. It was completed late in 1906 as an 18-hole course, and was the first course designed to counter the significantly longer Haskell ball. Club captain A.J. Balfour, a former British Prime Minister, drove the first ball in the Founder’s Vase in June 1907.
The present-day 27-hole layout is the result of a 1950 re-design following war-time damage to the original course. World War II was very hard on Prince's, but Australian entrepreneur Sir Aynsley Bridgland intervened, engaging Sir Guy Campbell and John Morrison to re-design and restore the course. The new layout incorporated 17 of the original greens (but with most played from different directions to the original course), and eliminated any blind tee or approach shots. The re-design always envisaged a centrally located clubhouse, and this was finally opened in 1985 by Peter Alliss, allowing the 27 holes to be played in three loops of nine holes, known as “Shore”, “Dunes” and “Himalayas”, each starting and finishing beside the new clubhouse.
The original clubhouse still stands at the entrance to the course and adjacent to the 14th tee of Royal St. George's. It no longer serves as the clubhouse but instead has been completely renovated, called the Lodge, it opened in May 2012, with two adjoining buildings, which house 38 bedrooms, a brasserie and lodge.