North Foreland Golf Club (Main)

Golf was first played at Kingsgate around the start of the last century on an area of rough agricultural land known as the “Tower Field.” At a meeting of founder members on 1st of May 1903, “North Foreland and Kingsgate Golf Club” was formed with £450 of capital and 120 members.

It was reported in 1911 that the original course had been extended from nine to thirteen holes but two years later, after the club leased some additional land, Herbert Fowler and Tom Simpson were commissioned to redesign the layout as an 18-hole course.

Shortly after the Great War, Fowler and Simpson made a number of improvements to the course and, such was the scale of the project undertaken, a light railway was built from the seashore to transport thousands of tons of sand for bunker and mounding works.

The architects also designed a new 18-hole short course on fifteen acres of adjacent land and this miniature layout, unique to England at the time, was constructed with full-sized greens and protective bunkers by Messrs. Frank Harris Bros. of Guildford at a cost of £3,000.

James Braid, Harry Vardon, J. H. Taylor and Alex Herd were invited to play an exhibition match over the renovated main course just after the Easter weekend in 1920 to mark the course upgrade. Taylor shot a 75, Braid had a 77 and the other two professionals each scored 80.

During World War II, nine holes were commandeered by the Army and used for military purposes, with the installation of an ack-ack gun placement and an ammunition store. Five years after the war, John Morrison was called in to rebuild the damaged portion of the course.

Nothing much changed for the next half a century, apart from the order that the holes were played in, evidenced by the 455-yard 9th hole which is still called “Home”. Hawtree & Sons then produced a master plan which was implemented at the start of the new millennium.

In more recent times, a three-year bunker renovation programme was initiated in 2019, with in-house green keeping staff modifying the design of the round-edged sand hazards to give them a more natural, rough-edged look.

Today, the Main Course at North Foreland extends to 6,412 yards from the back tees, playing to a par of 71, with broad fairways allowing a degree of latitude with tee shots but strategically placed bunkers lie in wait for errant approach play.

Feature holes include the left doglegging par four 8th (“Long ‘Un”) which has two large bunkers protecting the front right side of the green, and the 427-yard 13th (“Joss”) where two bunkers guard the left side of the fairway at driving distance, impeding progress towards the bunkerless green.