Prince’s Golf Club

Prince’s Golf Club consists of 27 holes – Shore, Dunes, and Himalayas nines. The 18-hole combination of the Shore and Dunes, until recently, was the championship routing.

That is no longer the case as Martin Ebert has weaved his magic once again bringing the Himalayas nine to the quality of the Shore and Dunes, so any combination will satisfy the most avid golfer.

Kent now has three incredibly challenging and diverse championship layouts to challenge any area of England golf.

Prince’s now sits in the same league as Royal St George’s and Royal Cinque Ports.

The club was the idea of Sir Harry Mallaby-Deeley, who wanted to found a new links club that would be equally welcoming to ladies, juniors, and families.

That welcoming tradition is also evident in today’s owners. The club was opened as an 18-hole course in 1906, the first course constructed for the new Haskell ball, and was just under 7,000 yards.

Having adequate finances, unlike many clubs across Britain, the course and especially the greens were maintained during the Great War, so the club was able to quickly reopen before almost being destroyed during WWII when it served as a rifle range. As another patron, Lord Brabazon, colorfully put it, “(It was)… like throwing darts at a Rembrandt.”

The course was revitalized and reconstructed in 1950 when Sir Guy Campbell and John Morrison were able to identify and incorporate 17 of the original green complex layouts into the new 27 holes.

While it only played host venue to one Open Championship in 1932, Prince’s Golf Club produced one of the favorite winners of the Claret Jug, Gene Sarazen, in a then-record-low round of 283.

While it was his only Open victory, he won seven majors including the US Open just two weeks after returning from his historic British Open win.

He became only the second man at that time, after Bobby Jones in 1930, to hold both Open trophies in the same year.

It was a memorable Open for several other non-winners. It marked the passing of time as James Braid, then 62 years old, a former 5-time winner failed to qualify and Henry Cotton, a local favorite, menaced by a high fever and the thought that being fortified by champagne was a good idea, started well early in the first round but quickly fell too far back to contend for the prize. He would hoist the Claret Jug two years later at neighboring St George’s.