Prince's Golf Club is a links

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...

course located in

Sandwich A sandwich is a Dish (food), dish typically consisting variously of meat, cheese, sauces, and vegetables used as a filling between slices of bread, or placed atop a slice of bread; or, more generally, any dish in which bread serves as a ''co ...

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

in southeast

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. Prince's is immediately adjacent to the more famous

Royal St George's The Royal St George's Golf Club is a golf club located in Sandwich, Kent, England. It is one of the courses on The Open Championship rota, and the only one in South East England. It has hosted 15 Open championships, the first in 1894 when it b ...

golf club, and both clubs lie on the same stretch of coastline as nearby

Royal Cinque Ports Royal Cinque Ports Golf Club is an 18-hole links golf course, in the town of Deal in Kent, in southeastern England. The course is often known simply as Deal. Founded in 1892, its name derives from Deal's membership of an ancient group of trad ...

Golf Club. Prince's hosted the

1932 Open Championship The 1932 Open Championship was the 67th Open Championship, held 8–10 June at Prince's Golf Club in Sandwich, England. Gene Sarazen won his only Open title, five strokes ahead of runner-up Macdonald Smith. Sarazen led wire-to-wire to secur ...

History

Prince's was financed by Sir Harry Mallaby-Deeley, built and designed by Charles Hutchings, the 1902 Amateur Champion on land donated by the Earl of Guilford. It was completed late in 1906 as an 18-hole course, and was the first course designed to counter the significantly longer

Haskell Haskell () is a general-purpose, statically typed, purely functional programming language with type inference and lazy evaluation. Designed for teaching, research, and industrial applications, Haskell pioneered several programming language ...

ball. Club captain A.J. Balfour, a former

British Prime Minister The prime minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government of the United Kingdom. The prime minister advises the sovereign on the exercise of much of the royal prerogative, chairs the Cabinet, and selects its ministers. Modern pri ...

, drove the first ball in the Founder's Vase in June 1907. The present-day 27-hole layout is the result of a 1950 re-design following war-time damage to the original course.

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

was very hard on Prince's, but Australian entrepreneur Sir Aynsley Bridgland intervened, engaging Sir Guy Campbell and

John Morrison John (or Jack) Morrison or Morison may refer to: In politics * John Morison (Banffshire MP) (c. 1757–1835), British MP for Banffshire * John Morrison (blacksmith) (1726–1816), farmer, blacksmith and politician in Nova Scotia * John Morison ( ...

to re-design and restore the course. The new layout incorporated 14 of the original greens (but with most played from different directions to the original course), and eliminated any blind tee or approach shots. The re-design always envisaged a centrally located clubhouse, and this was finally opened in 1985 by

Peter Alliss Peter Alliss (28 February 1931 – 5 December 2020) was an English professional golfer, television presenter, commentator, author and golf course designer. Following the death of Henry Longhurst in 1978, he was regarded by many as the "Voice o ...

, allowing the 27 holes to be played in three loops of nine holes, known as “Shore”, “Dunes” and “Himalayas”, each starting and finishing beside the new clubhouse. The original clubhouse still stands at the entrance to the course and adjacent to the 14th tee of Royal St. George's. It no longer serves as the clubhouse but instead has been completely renovated, called the Lodge, it opened in May 2012, with two adjoining buildings, which house 38 bedrooms and a brasserie. Prince's hosted the 1932 Open Championship, which was won by the American

Gene Sarazen Gene Sarazen (; born Eugenio Saraceni, February 27, 1902 – May 13, 1999) was an American professional golfer, one of the world's top players in the 1920s and 1930s, and the winner of seven major championships. He is one of six players (alon ...

. Sarazen debuted his newly invented sand iron at the Championship, and his original club was on display at Prince's for many years, until insurance costs became prohibitively expensive. The greenside bunker beside the 9th green on the Himalayas course, a bunker he played from on his way to victory, was unveiled as the Sarazen Bunker in his honour by

Pádraig Harrington Pádraig Peter Harrington (born 31 August 1971) is an Irish professional golfer who plays on the European Tour, PGA Tour and the PGA Tour Champions. He has won three men's major golf championships, major championships: The Open Championship in 2 ...

in June 2011. Prince's is the only club to host The Open just once. The club remains an Open Championship Local Final Qualifying course, and hosted qualifying in

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

when The Open returned to Royal St. George's. Prince's professional golfer Francis McGuirk finished tied second to claim one of the three available spaces. Prince's has also hosted other senior and minor professional tournaments, and a number of tournaments for amateurs, including the 1956

Curtis Cup The Curtis Cup is the best known team trophy for women amateur golfers, awarded in the biennial Curtis Cup Match. It is co-organised by the United States Golf Association and The R&A and is contested by teams representing the United States and " ...

, the 2006

Amateur Championship The Amateur Championship (sometimes referred to as the British Amateur or British Amateur Championship outside the UK) is a golf tournament which has been held annually in the United Kingdom since 1885 except during the two World Wars, and in 19 ...

(co-hosted with

), the 2006 Ladies' British Open Amateur Stroke Play Championship, the 2008 Senior Open Amateur Championship (co-hosted with

Golf Club) and the 2013 Amateur Championship (co-hosted with Royal Cinque Ports Golf Club). The club is scheduled to host the 2030

Walker Cup The Walker Cup is a golf trophy contested in odd-numbered years by leading male amateur golfers in two teams: United States, and Great Britain and Ireland featuring players from the United Kingdom and Ireland. The official name is the Walker Cup ...

. The WWII ace, Member of Parliament and 1949

captain

Laddie Lucas Percy Belgrave Lucas, (2 September 1915 – 20 March 1998), commonly known as Laddie Lucas, was a Royal Air Force officer, left-handed golfer, author and Member of Parliament (MP). Early life and family Lucas was born on 2 September 1915 in th ...

was born in the old clubhouse at Prince's, his father being the first club secretary. During WWII, Lucas used his knowledge of the course to make an emergency landing after his

Spitfire The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft that was used by the Royal Air Force and other Allied countries before, during, and after World War II. It was the only British fighter produced continuously throughout the ...

was crippled over northern

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. Today, a commemorative plaque by the 4th tee on the Himalayas course marks the spot where he landed. In memory of Lucas, Prince's hosts an annual golf tournament, the Laddie Lucas Spoon, for boys and girls aged 8–13 years.

Phil Mickelson Philip Alfred Mickelson (born June 16, 1970) is an American professional golfer who currently plays in the LIV Golf League. He has won 45 events on the PGA Tour, including six Men's major golf championships, major championships: three Masters ...

and

Gary Player Gary James Player (born 1 November 1935) is a South African retired professional golfer who is widely considered to be one of the greatest golfers of all time. During his career, Player won nine major championships on the regular tour and nine ...

are both honorary life members of Prince's Golf Club. Ladies European Tour player

Helen Wadsworth Helen Wadsworth (born 7 April 1964) is a former Welsh professional golfer on the Ladies European Tour. Career Prior to turning professional, Wadsworth was runner-up in the 1990 Welsh Ladies' Amateur Championship, runner-up to Julie Wade in the ...

is a former member and played at Prince's as a junior. In August 2009 Troon Golf announced an agreement to take over course management at Prince's and the club has undertaken a number of renovations to the course.

Scorecards

Princes Golf Club ScorecardsSource:

The Open Championship

Prince's Golf Club hosted

The Open Championship The Open Championship, often referred to as The Open or the British Open, is the oldest golf tournament in the world, and one of the most prestigious. Founded in 1860, it was originally held annually at Prestwick Golf Club in Scotland. Later th ...

in 1932. *Note: Superscript number besides the player's name is the number of the Open Championship in their respective careers.

References

External links

*
Official siteThe Open Championship 1932
{{coord, 51.2911, 1.3729, display=title Sandwich, Kent Golf clubs and courses in Kent The Open Championship venues Curtis Cup venues Dover District