Prince’s Golf Club (Dunes & Himalayas)

The Dunes nine delivers one of the most internally routed and subtly complex links experiences in the south of England, its anticlockwise loop threading through duneland terrain that borders Royal St George's to the north. The Himalayas, the most significantly reworked of Prince's three circuits following Martin Ebert's 2017–18 redesign, introduces a different palette entirely: wetland carries, a driveable par-four, a shared double green and the property's longest hole at the par-five sixth, which plays closest of any hole at Prince's to the Kent shoreline.

History of Prince's Golf Club Dunes & Himalayas

The land on which the Dunes and Himalayas loops now sit was part of the original 18-hole layout designed by Charles Hutchings and Percy Lucas, which opened in 1907. The modern Himalayas holes trace directly back to that founding layout: holes 1 to 9 on the current nine correspond to holes 5 to 13 of the post-war Championship Blue course, meaning five of today's Himalayas greens sit on or close to positions used for the 1932 Open Championship.

Military requisition during the Second World War left the course severely damaged, and the 27-hole layout that emerged from Sir Guy Campbell and John Morrison's post-war reconstruction, reopening in April 1952, defined the Dunes and Himalayas routing as it stood for over six decades. The Dunes loop, running anticlockwise through the more enclosed duneland interior of the estate, retained much of that 1950s character through to the modern era.

The more dramatic transformation came in 2017, when Martin Ebert was commissioned to comprehensively rework the Himalayas nine. The redesign merged two existing holes into a new sweeping par-five, inserted the par-three Bloody Point playing towards the sea at the fifth, introduced permanent wetlands around the eighth, and unveiled the Sarazen bunker beside the home green as a named feature — honouring the trap Gene Sarazen played from on his way to winning the 1932 Open. The new holes opened in May 2018.

Course Layout & Playing Experience

The Dunes nine runs as an anticlockwise loop from the central clubhouse, with five holes tracking towards the boundary shared with Royal St George's before turning back. The routing moves through more enclosed duneland than the Shore nine, with subtle mounding, angled fairways and run-offs around the greens, placing a premium on approach accuracy and ground-game management. The first hole begins with a semi-blind tee shot to an angled fairway, setting the tone for a nine that asks questions through topography rather than length.

The Himalayas occupies the western and coastal reaches of the Prince's estate and extends to over 3,600 yards from the back tees at a par of 36. Ebert's redesign fundamentally restructured the loop with a new par-three fifth, named Bloody Point, inserted playing directly towards the English Channel. The eighth was converted into a short, driveable par-four flanked by permanent wetlands. The fourth and eighth holes share a double green, one of the few remaining examples of this traditional design device on the Kent links. The par-five sixth, at 580 yards, the longest hole across all three nines, runs closest to the shoreline and incorporates views across Pegwell Bay. The ninth plays to a semi-blind home fairway, finishing at a green protected on its front-left by the Sarazen bunker, named for the sand trap Gene Sarazen played from during his 1932 Open Championship victory on the site.

Want to know what other travelling golfers really think? Click the Reviews tab to discover the latest ratings and reviews.

The Verdict

The Dunes and Himalayas offer two of the most architecturally differentiated nine-hole loops in English links golf. Where the Dunes rewards patience and ground-game precision through enclosed duneland, the Himalayas presents a more varied and visually dramatic circuit, with wetland carries, a double green and the estate's longest hole anchoring a layout that now stands comparison with any nine at Sandwich Bay. Together, they make a compelling 18-hole combination for travelling golfers seeking something beyond the conventional links experience.