Peel

Sandy Herd laid out the original 12-hole course at Peel Golf Club in 1895 but a decision was taken just before The Great War to extend the layout to eighteen holes. There’s uncertainty as to whether Herd or James Braid undertook this work.

We do know that Braid was at Ramsey in September 1929 as that club has paperwork to support his visit and the presumption is that he was also at Peel to recommend improvements for the Manx Championship the following year.

The book Divine Fury of James Braid: Professional Golf Standard Bearer by George E. Payne lists Peel as one of eleven courses “where others have attributed some element of design to Braid.” The author then states: “it seems there are no reports of Braid ever playing on the Club’s course and neither is there any evidence of Braid having done any design work there.”

Holes of note include the par four 4th (with its large, rectangular-shaped green positioned behind a little ditch), the par three 9th (played slightly downhill to a Biarritz-style green), and the par four 11th, which skirts the edge of an escarpment on its way to a wonderfully contoured green.