Prince’s

Prince’s at Sandwich has an illustrious history as an Open championship links course with American Gene Sarazen winning here in 1932 and the princely sum of £100.

Sir Harry Mallaby-Deeley. Click to enlarge.

Prince’s Golf Club came into being in 1891 on Mitcham Common, south London. Harry Mallaby-Deeley who lived in Mitcham Court acquired the Club for £8,000 and it became both famous and exclusive.

Mallaby-Deeley, the wealthy entrepreneur that he was, realised that there was also the need for a different type of golf club than the established Royal St George’s and Royal Cinque Ports along Sandwich Bay that opened its membership to ladies and families.

Advert for the Haskell ball

He obtained a long lease on suitable links land and a friend Percy Lucas led the construction of a lengthy modern course built to accommodate the new ‘Haskell’ rubber cored ball that went further than the ‘gutty’ and using the new ‘strategic’ course design, that while offering a stern challenge to the scratch player provided escape routes for the rabbit.

It was completed in 1906 and at the same time the Guilford Hotel opened on the sea shore.

When the MItcham lease expired in 1924 the now knighted Sir Harry Mallaby-Deeley presented the south London course to the conservators of the common for use of the public.

This course continues to this day while the Prince’s name was transferred to the Sandwich club, which blossomed with the membership “not short of a sovereign or two”.

Prince’s was an Open qualifier when the Open Championship was played at its neighbour in 1922 as well as hosting the Ladies Open won by Joyce Wethered that year.

Prince’s was very much part of the ‘Golden Era of Golf’ of the upper middle classes of the 1920s and 30s.

Laddie Lucas

Laddie Lucas, son of Percy, a fighter pilot in the RAF during the second world war and later a Conservative MP and successful businessman, was a fine golfer, (considered as the finest left-handed amateur player in the world at that time) was heavily involved at Prince’s and donated a hickory shafted spoon (3-wood) as the prize for a junior competition held every spring at Prince’s, Justin Rose winning it in 1990.

Sir Harry died in 1937 and as soon as the second world war was declared the military requisitioned the course and the club house and used it for training practice, destroying the course by the end of the war.

Aynsley Bridgland

Luckily Sir Aynsley Bridglands acquired the land from Deal to the mouth of the Stour which contained Royal Cinque Ports, Prince’s and the white elephant of the Guilford Hotel.

He employed Sir Guy Campbell and John Morrison to restore and redesign Prince’s which was reopened in 1952 as 27 holes using many of the original green sites.

Lorne holding the GSGB Founder’s Cup.

This benefactor also founded the Golf Society of Great Britain that supports junior golf and to this day organises two day events for the mostly older members at courses many of which are in FineGolf’s 200 finest running courses in GB&I. I have the honour of having won the enormous GSGB ‘Founders’ cup in 2024.

Pat Ward-Thomas writing in Country Life at the time of the Schweppes Professional Close Championship in 1965 wrote “Prince’s is sterner stuff than either of its neighbours Deal or St George’s, being immensely long and making huge demands on judgement of distance, without trees or vast dunes. The greens are so huge that an error in clubbing may well mean three putts.”

Prince’s has hosted the Curtis Cup, The PGA Championship and was a Final Open Qualifyer in 2011.

The Clubhouse

The Bridgland family sold the club to the McGuirks in 1977 who have invested in a new clubhouse opened by Peter Aliss in 1985 subsequently extended in 2003 and a new Dormy House and restaurant has been refurbished where the old clubhouse used to be.

The McGuirks though running the Club commercially and attracting a wider section of the golfing public than its two neighbours, continue Prince’s traditions and for example support the playing of hickories at Prince’s. Ali, wife of CEO Rob, plays with them regularly.

There is a relaxed and unstuffy atmosphere throughout the Club and visiting golfers are welcomed seven days a week.

The course has been improved under the design direction of Mackenzie Ebert with each of the three nine holes starting and finishing at the clubhouse.

The sandscrape to the right of the Dunes 6th hole

They have used their, sometimes thought contraversial, ‘sandscrapes’ extensively where a golfer’s club can be grounded. As these have matured they provide interesting hazards that have fitted naturally into the dunes scape and speeded up the pace of the game, allowing balls to be found more quickly than in the previously used thick rough.

Par three Himalayas 5th hole

Most of the 27 holes are running in parralel to the shore though the new 5th Himalayas 135 yard par three is pointed out to sea and uses extensive sandscrape between tee and green.

The Club has been rewarded for its overall upgrading by The R&A with the hosting of the Walker Cup in 2030.

5th green on Dunes

The three lots of nine holes are called ‘Shore’ ‘Dunes’ and ‘Himalayas’. They are all on classic flat linksland with the Shore and Dunes giving a similar design feel with predominantly whispy fescue/bent rough, though there are areas of broad leafed, thick, rye/yorkshire fog for losing your ball.

The low dunes of ‘Shore’ and ‘Dunes’ give undulating fairways, subtle green complexes, mostly raised or tucked into the side of dunes, while the Himalayas has a slightly different feel with some trees, flatter fairways and a more direct approach to greens.

The 7th long par three on Himalayas

The 7th, 190 yard, Himalayas par three into the prevailing wind is particularly good to a raised green without any need for bunkers.

The Himalayas 3rd and 8th share one of the few championship double greens outside of St Andrews.

Aerial of the Dunes 1st hole and iconic green.

I would regard Dunes as the finest nine starting with a dogleg long par four with a humpback long green where a four into the south westerly prevailing wind is prized.

To stay on the raised second par three green downwind is not easy but the run-offs across Prince’s have been re-turfed with high quality fescue turf so the bump-and run shot can be executed with confidence across the ground that has a consistency of bounce.

The Lodge, Dormy House accommodation with Pegwell Bay behind.

Indeed when I was there some five or six years ago there was a distinct change in grass type from aprons to green with the greens dominated by the weed annual meadow grass (Poa annua) to such an extent that I put back my review timing preferring to give the course time to improve its agronomy.

Playing recently it is good to report that there is now quite a lot of fescue among the browntop bent and Poa on the greens, and though still with considerable seeding in the spring they are running smoother and play much firmer all year round.

The practice facilities are good and with interesting putting greens both at the clubhouse and The Lodge dormy house accommodation.

Reviewed by Lorne Smith 2025.

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