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Royal St George's Golf Club

Coordinates: 51°16′26″N 1°22′01″E / 51.274°N 1.367°E / 51.274; 1.367
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Royal St George's Golf Club
Clubhouse in 2007
Club information
Royal St George's Golf Club is located in Kent
Royal St George's Golf Club
Map showing the location of Royal St George's Golf Club in Sandwich, Kent, England
LocationSandwich, Kent, England
Established1887
Typeprivate
Total holes18
Events hostedThe Open Championship (15 times)
Websiteroyalstgeorges.com
Designed byLaidlaw Purves
Par70
Length7,204 yards (6,587 m)[1]
The starters hut at the 1st hole

The Royal St George's Golf Club located in Sandwich, Kent, England, is a golf club in the United Kingdom and one of the courses on The Open Championship rotation and is the only Open rota golf course to be located in South East England. It has hosted 15 Open championships, the first in 1894 when it became the first club outside Scotland to host the championship. Past champions include Collin Morikawa, Darren Clarke, Ben Curtis, Greg Norman, Sandy Lyle, Bill Rogers, Bobby Locke, Reg Whitcombe, Henry Cotton, Walter Hagen (on two occasions), Harry Vardon (on two occasions), Jack White and John Henry Taylor. It has also hosted The Amateur Championship on 14 occasions.

The club was founded by the surgeon Laidlaw Purves in 1887 in a setting of wild duneland. Many holes feature blind or partially blind shots, although the unfairness element has been reduced somewhat, after several 20th century modifications. The course also possesses the deepest bunker in championship golf, located on its fourth hole.[2]

The club's Challenge Cup dates from 1888 and is one of the oldest amateur events in golf. It has been contested annually over 36 holes except during the war years. A 19-year-old Jack Nicklaus won the tournament in 1959 shortly before going on to win the first of his two U.S. Amateur titles.[3]

Author Ian Fleming used the Royal St George's course under the name "Royal St. Marks" in his 1959 novel Goldfinger. When he died, Fleming was the Captain-elect of the club.

Environmental awareness

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Royal St George's is situated on the same stretch of coastline as Royal Cinque Ports Club and neighbouring Prince's Golf Club, both former Open Championship venues.

The course has been involved in a research informed study undertaken by Dr Graham Earl since 2011, on behalf of Natural England and Canterbury Christ Church University.

The intensive study undertaken between 2011 – 2015 at Sandwich Bay, incorporated all three links golf courses located at Sandwich Bay, including Royal Cinque Ports golf club and Princes golf club. These courses were involved in an Eco-hydrological study, focusing upon the chemical composition of the groundwater, historical analysis of vegetation composition and management trials looking at site-specific management regimes which encourage native sward development.

Management trials indicated that burning as a management regime promoted an increase in native swards. A combination of the research informed outcomes and enthusiasm for the study by Head Greenkeeper Paul Larsen, has helped to revert in a positive way the SSSI status at Royal St Georges golf club, in an unprecedented three-year period.

This burning management regime provides a fast quick burn, therefore not affecting the rooting zone, (in particular the rare orchids which reside predominantly at Sandwich Bay), but does remove the thatch layer removing generalist competitive plant/grass species. The burning treatment, which can be viewed between October and February, was undertaken to reduce the sward thatch and encourage native grey dune plant species and has been very successful. The site now hosts one of the largest abundance of orchids in a single site, managed for amenity.

The Open Championship

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Royal St George's has hosted The Open Championship on 15 occasions since 1894.

Year Winner Score Winners
share (£)
R1 R2 R3 R4 Total
1894 England J.H. Taylor 1st 84 80 81 81 326 30
1899 Jersey Harry Vardon 3rd 76 76 81 77 310 30
1904 Scotland Jack White 80 75 72 69 296 50
1911 Jersey Harry Vardon 5th 74 74 75 80 303 PO 50
1922 United States Walter Hagen 1st 76 73 79 72 300 75
1928 United States Walter Hagen 3rd 75 73 72 72 292 100
1934 England Henry Cotton 1st 67 65 72 79 283 100
1938 England Reg Whitcombe 71 71 75 78 295 100
1949 South Africa Bobby Locke 1st 69 76 68 70 283 (−5) 300
1981 United States Bill Rogers 72 66 67 71 276 (−4) 25,000
1985 Scotland Sandy Lyle 68 71 73 70 282 (+2) 65,000
1993 Australia Greg Norman 2nd 66 68 69 64 267 (−13) 100,000
2003 United States Ben Curtis 72 72 70 69 283 (−1) 700,000
2011 Northern Ireland Darren Clarke 68 68 69 70 275 (−5) 900,000
2021 United States Collin Morikawa 67 64 68 66 265 (−15) $2,070,000
  • Note: For multiple winners of The Open Championship, superscript ordinal identifies which in their respective careers.

Scorecard

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Royal St. George's Golf Club[1]
Tee Rating/Slope 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Out 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 In Total
Championship 442 426 239 496 416 176 573 457 410 3635 412 242 379 457 545 493 161 424 456 3569 7204
Par 4 4 3 4 4 3 5 4 4 35 4 3 4 4 5 4 3 4 4 35 70
Medal 411 385 195 415 416 152 490 419 373 3256 371 215 361 442 533 436 161 418 437 3374 6630
Weekday 399 350 180 412 406 142 464 395 366 3114 351 202 340 420 507 435 150 392 429 3226 6340
SI 10 6 16 2 8 18 14 4 12 9 7 15 3 13 1 17 5 11

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b "Scorecard". Royal St. George's Golf Club. Retrieved 16 June 2012.
  2. ^ The World Atlas of Golf, second, revised edition, by Herbert Warren Wind, Charles Price, and Peter Thomson, London 1988, Mitchell Beazley publishers.
  3. ^ "Royal St George's Golf Club, Sandwich, Facts and Figures, Golf Today, 2011".
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51°16′26″N 1°22′01″E / 51.274°N 1.367°E / 51.274; 1.367