Ganton Golf Club

Some courses you would want to have perpetual playing membership, some clubs you would want to be a member even if you weren’t a golfer but there aren’t many which fulfil both criteria.  Ganton is one such; a very club-able place with a tremendous golf course attached.

With the influence of Vardon and Ray it could hardly go wrong.  Two heroes, two sons of the bailiwick of Jersey, a classicist and a swashbuckler, this place has everything except the one thing I am looking for.

It is often quoted as an inland links course owing to it having been a North Sea inlet many moons ago.  Yet not even the Emperor Severus would have planted his eagle, or scored one, on a seaside links course here.  Yes, the soil is free draining and is perfect for golf but I think it undersells itself as an inland links.  It is better than that.  Gary Player says it is the only inland course on which you could play The Open.  It has hosted The Ryder Cup and many tournaments.  It is a great golfing course but I am inclined to remove it from my Links list.

The gorse is fairly new, 1930s, but the bunkers are special; deep, echoey and beautifully maintained.  They could have been the set for the recent film ‘1917’ whose endless trenches were nothing compared to Ganton.  Proper penalty bunkers that dock you a shot but not cost you a round.

Everything was in an immaculate condition, a pleasure to play, and my enjoyment was doubled when they donated my green fee to Alzheimer’s Society.  Many thanks.