Cooden Beach

The 18-hole layout at Cooden Beach Golf Club is a Herbert Fowler design that first opened for play on 14 June 1912, described at the time by James Braid as “a good sporting course”. Nowadays, it extends to 6,518 yards from the back tees, playing to a par of 72, out in 36 then back in 36.

The low-lying property remains adequately drained via a network of ditches and a few of these watercourses and interconnected ponds come into play during the round. Fairways and greens are lightly bunkered but the wind blowing in from Beachy Head often plays a big part in defending par here.

It’s a relatively flat coastal site so the course is an easy walk, though the climb up the 9th hole takes golfers to the highest point of the course where they can take in the stunning views along the adjacent beach on the other side of the railway line.

Feature holes include the 367-yard 4th (where a small pond sits in front of the green), the 532-yard 8th (with another couple of water hazards defining the risk-reward strategy), and the 395-yard 11th, with a narrow, right doglegging fairway bounded by trees to the left and out of bounds on the right.

The club hosted the English Women’s Amateur in 1924, when Joyce Wethered won her fifth successive national title after an 8&7 victory against her opponent in the final, Dolly Fowler, the niece of the architect.