SEATON CAREW An Alister Mackenzie- designed green at the 17th, called Snag.
well-groomed today, yet once had a high social standing in English golf, attracting the Prince of Wales and Walter Hagen in the 1930s, and before that the legendary triumvirate of Open champions, Braid, Harry Vardon and JH Taylor. An equally impressive claim to fame is a connection with famed architect Dr Alister Mackenzie. In the 1920s he moved part of the course fur- ther towards the coast into the sand dunes that had been formed. The raised two-tiered green at No 17, the signature hole called Snag, is unmistakably a Mackenzie creation, something you would expect at Augusta National, surrounded by five bunkers. This was a fabulous links experience, not as scenically attractive as Goswick, but wild- er and more rugged, and deservedly ranks above it in England’s Top 100. A golfer who grew up in the area was the 2017 SA Open champion Graeme Storm, who memorably beat Rory McIlroy in a playoff at Glendower. A pleasant surprise was discovering a video flyover of each hole on the club’s website and hearing the familiar voice of Peter Alliss describing them in his inimi- table fashion. Watching this later added to my confusion as the routing of the course I had played was different from the one about which Alliss was narrating. My six and seven were his 12th and 13th, and two other holes I had played were not even on the video. I learnt from club manager Roy Leonard that there are 22 holes out there, and five different ways of playing them!
GOLF DIGEST SOUTH AFRICA 115
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2025
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