Prince’s Golf Club (Himalayas)

The Earl of Guildford donated the land for Prince’s to Sir Harry Mallaby-Deeley, who enlisted his friend Percy Montagu Lucas, honorary secretary at Cromer Golf Club, and 1902 Amateur Champion Charles Hutchings to set out the 18-hole course in 1904.

Lucas consulted three others during the construction of the links: Cecil Hutchinson and Mure Fergusson, both Scottish International players and Herbert Fowler, architect of the two excellent golfing layouts at Walton Heath.

The course was officially opened on 8th June 1907 by A. J. Balfour, the first Captain of the new club (who had been Prime Minister from 1902 to 1905) and he played the first shot in the inaugural Founder’s Gold Vase competition.

It wasn’t long before news of the new course spread throughout London, in the City and Parliament, and it was soon attracting societies such as the Bar Association, the Old Etonians’ Club and the Oxford and Cambridge University teams.

Unfortunately, the links was closed for the duration of World War I because it was used by a detachment of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders as a coastal defence area and training ground.

It didn’t take long for the links to recover after the Great War and the Ladies’ Open was held at Prince’s in 1922, followed a decade later by the Open, which Gene Sarazen won by the impressive margin of five strokes, having led after each of the four rounds.

The course was used by the military again during World War II and it took until the late 1940s before Sir Aynsley Bridgland financed the restoration of the property, commissioning Sir Guy Campbell and John Morrison to redesign the layout.

When the links was finally re-opened in April of 1952, it was brought back into use as a 27-hole facility, featuring an 18-hole Championship Blue course and a Red 9-hole layout, with most of the original greens incorporated into the new design.

The modern day Himalayas holes 1 to 9 equate to holes 5 to 13 on the Blue. Compared to the course used for the Open in 1932, five of those original holes (7 to 11) played to greens on or close to today’s 1st, 8th, 3rd, 4th and 9th on the Himalayas.

Despite the high ranking of the Shore & Dunes, the Himalayas is a favourite circuit for many members because they can play a swift round on the shortest of the three nines, even though this loop contains the longest par five on the property at the 580-yard 6th, the hole lying closest to the coastline.

In a nod to old-fashioned course design, the 4th and 8th holes also share a double green. The final tee shot at the 9th is played towards a semi-blind fairway which leads to a home green that’s protected to the front left hand side by the famous Sarazen bunker.

In the summer of 2017, Prince’s announced the redevelopment of the Himalayas nine by architect Martin Ebert. The works included combining the current 2nd and 3rd holes to make a long par five, with a new 2nd tee located to the right of the existing 1st first fairway. A short par three 5th hole was then inserted, playing towards the sea after the existing 5th (new 4th) hole. The current 8th hole has become a short, drivable par four with permanent wetlands laid out on either side of the fairway. The the new holes opened in May 2018.