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Kent Golf - A Review Of Some Fantastic Golf Courses in Kent

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With nearly 100 Kent golf courses available to play, the county truly caters for all levels of golfer. Kent golf is synonymous with links golf. A selection of truly memorable but incredibly difficult golf courses in the region have hosted a number of prestigious professional golf tournaments, including the illustrious British Open Championship.

Kent Golf - Royal St.Georges

There are not many more famous or difficult links golf courses in the world than Royal St. Georges, also known as Sandwich. The course has hosted thirteen Open Championships and is scheduled to stage the great event once again in 2011.

The courses on the Open Championship are often extremely challenging, but Royal St. Georges, with the possible exception of Carnoustie in Scotland, is probably the toughest of the all, particularly for the higher handicap golfer. The Links provides a severe test for even the greatest of golfers and the fact that only three Open winners, Bill Rogers in 1981, Greg Norman in 1993 and Ben Curtis in 2003, have managed to be under par after the 72 holes, speaks for itself.

With its undulating fairways, expansive sand dunes, and some hazards not clearly visible from tees, good scoring is incredibly tough. Added to this is the challenge of the 4th hole bunker cut into a huge sand dune which is the UK's tallest and deepest bunker.

Sandwich is a truly unique golf course and is summed up perfectly by golf writer Bernard Darwin: 'this is as nearly my idea of Heaven as is to be attained on any earthly links'.

Kent Golf - Chart Hills

When six times Major winner Nick Faldo set about designing a golf course for the first time, the chances were it was going to be one to remember. That is exactly what he produced with Chart Hills, a course that has been hailed as one of the finest recently-built golf courses in England.

Set on 200 acres of gently undulating hills, Chart Hills was officially opened for play in August 1993 and despite its relative youth in golfing terms; the course has already gained many accolades. Chart Hills has been voted "Best new course in England" by Golf World, "Best inland course in the United Kingdom" by Following the Fairways, is used as a European Tour qualifying school venue and played host to the 1995 Ford Ladies Classic.

Having left the 18th green at Chart Hills, your abiding memories are likely to include bunkers, water and greens. Offering over 130 bunkers, clever and abundant use of water hazards, and greens so fast that in the summer months, it is akin to putting on glass, Faldo has succeeded in creating a real parkland masterpiece. While the course on the whole, will certainly create a positive lasting impression, two of the signature features of the design include the long "Anaconda Bunker" on the 5th hole and the illusive island green on the short 17th hole.

Kent Golf - Princes Golf Club

Originally opened for play in 1907, Prince's Golf Club is a course that is steeped in a wealth of history. The initial lifespan of the course was short, with the military requisitioning it in 1914 for coastal and military training. After the First World War, Prince's had the honour of hosting the British Open Championship, an event won by Gene Sarazan. The present day 27 hole magnificent championship course layout is the result of a 1950 re-design following war-time damage to the original course.

There are three nine-hole layouts at Prince's known as 'Himalayas', "Shore" and "Dunes". The latter two combined is the recognized championship course. Although Prince's is no longer used on the rota for the Open Championship, it remains a final qualifying venue when the Open is staged at neighbouring course Royal St. Georges.

The generously sized greens are a famous feature of Princes, while the rough, which borders the reasonably wide fairways, is generally well trimmed. The ancient dunes are not used as undue hazards but natural ditches and strategically placed bunkers means this course presents a formidable challenge for even the most accomplished golfer.

Kent Golf - Royal Cinque Ports, Deal

Founded in 1892, Royal Cinque Ports, or Deal as it is more commonly known, has had the illustrious honour of hosting the Open twice in its history, in 1909 and 1920.

There aren't too many more challenging links golf courses than Royal Cinque Ports. The landscape is undulating which means there are rare opportunities to hit shots from a flat stance with the exception of the tees. Large sand dunes are in abundance and the south westerly wind makes club and shot selection critical.

On the first and last holes there are water ditches which come into play for the approach shot. As the course runs outward parallel to the pebble beach, this can present quite a problem as the sea wall and beach are integral parts of the course. The rough is covered in coarse marram grass which is especially punitive between May and August.Once the greens have been reached, you will putt on some of the largest, finest and fastest greens in England.

Leading golf course architect Donald Steel sums up the course perfectly "Royal Cinque Ports typifies classic links golf - a glorious sense of freedom and a wonderfully varied assortment of shots where, as Bernard Darwin once so aptly declared, "the fives are likely to be many and the fours few".

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