Only 13 miles south of London center, Addington Golf Club is truly
golf’s secret garden—a hidden world of delights where there are often more
peacocks on the course than golfers.
The Addington was laid out in 1914, but with the coming of
the World War I the course remained pristine and virtually unplayed for five
years. During that time it was the private golf preserve of its founder, creator
and long-time major-domo, J.F. Abercromby, and the handful of men who backed him
in building the course.
The originality of Addington is a testament to the design
skills of Abercromby, always referred to as “Aber.” When a visitor once had the
audacity to ask where he could find the suggestion box, Aber famously replied:
“I am the suggestion box.”
Lunchtime conversation at the club is often punctuated by the
piercing cries of the peacocks that parade around the putting green and picnic
tables, displaying their iridescent plumage against the backdrop of
rhododendrons.
The clubhouse was originally used to house soldiers during
World War I. The main army barraks were at the nearby Crystal Palace, the great exhibition hall of glass built by
Queen Victoria
that was destroyed by fire in 1936. The original clubhouse burned down in 1952,
taking with it all the club’s records, which explains why all the wooden plaques
listing the club champions begin in 1952.
Like many great courses, Addington has the advantage of an
ideal site, which was selected by Aber. The course is laid out on the high
ground of a natural forest of silver birch, English oak, beech and cedar, sweet
chestnut and orange-tinged mountain ash. The soil is acidic and gravelly,
perfect for growing the fast-running turf and heather that is framed by the
woods. Indeed, Addington’s forest preserve can be traced all the way back to the
13th century, when King John granted the estate to the Aguillon family.
Aber liked short holes, and there are six par 3s, beginning
with the uphill opening hole. The heart of the course begins on the 6th, with a
downhill drive over one of the many ravines bristling with lush ferns and
bracken. Near the green there is a yawning pit on the right side traversed by
one of the wooden bridges that enhance the sense of an excursion through the
English forest.
The 8th presents a blind, uphill drive, with a monument to
the Archbishops of Canterbury to the left of the fairway. In days past, the
Archbishops would spend the night at the nearby Addington Palace after stopping to change horses en route from
Canterbury to London.
The 13th, probably the most famous hole, is a 225-yard par 3
over a vale of tears to a green ringed by birch, mountain ash and clusters of
rhododendron. The 17th, the
last of the par 3s, is a 185-yard shot over another ravine crossed by a long
trestle bridge.
In 1933 Aber laid out a second course at Addington. By all
accounts, the new course was every bit as good and perhaps even better than the
original. Bernard Darwin described the 8th hole as “embodying the spirit of
modern architecture.” Sadly, the new course was taken over for a housing estate
after the World War II.
Fortunately, old Aber’s original secret garden endures, as
enchanting and alluring to golfers today as ever.
