Prince's Golf Club (Shore)

The Shore nine at Prince's represents one of three distinct loops at Sandwich Bay, tracing the coastline south through classic Kent duneland. Redesigned by Mackenzie & Ebert and completed in spring 2020, including a new sea-facing par-three at the fifth, it sits alongside Royal St George's as part of England's most compelling links destination for the travelling golfer.

History of Prince's Golf Club Shore

Prince's Golf Club was established at the turn of the twentieth century when Sir Harry Mallaby-Deeley, backed by Cambridge University colleague Percy Montagu Lucas, secured land at Sandwich Bay donated by the Earl of Guilford. Charles Hutchings, the 1902 Amateur Champion, laid out the original 18-hole course in 1904, with final construction completed in 1906. The club was officially opened in June 1907 when former British Prime Minister A.J. Balfour, as the first Club Captain, drove the opening ball at the inaugural Founder's Gold Vase competition.

The club hosted the 1932 Open Championship, won by American Gene Sarazen, who debuted his newly invented sand iron during the week and went on to become the first golfer to win all four Majors. Prince's was requisitioned by the military during both World Wars and sustained severe damage in the Second World War, after which Sir Aynsley Bridgland financed a reconstruction led by Sir Guy Campbell and John Morrison. Reopening in 1952, the layout was reconfigured as a 27-hole facility, remarkably incorporating 17 of the original greens.

A centrally located clubhouse was opened by Peter Alliss in 1985, allowing all three nine-hole loops to start and finish at the same point. Following Mackenzie & Ebert's successful overhaul of the Himalayas nine in 2018, the Shore and Dunes loops underwent their own reworking, completed in 2020, which introduced re-bunkering, raised tees, expanded sand-scrape areas and the new fifth-hole par-three playing towards the sea.

Course Layout & Playing Experience

The Shore nine extends to over 3,400 yards from the back tees at a par of 36. As its name suggests, the routing follows the shoreline in a clockwise direction south from the clubhouse towards the Lodge before turning back inland.

The design characteristics are those of pure links golf: raised, well-protected greens, rippled fairways shaped by the natural duneland, deep pot bunkers and generous sand scrape areas introduced during the 2020 renovation.

The fifth hole, a new short par-three added by Mackenzie & Ebert, plays at an angle towards the English Channel over an expanse of bare sand, and represents one of the most visually distinctive additions to the layout. The approach into the home ninth runs to a saddled green that completes the loop back to the shared clubhouse.

The Shore's proximity to Royal St George's is tangible: the sixth green on the Shore sits only around 55 metres from the thirteenth green at the neighbouring Open Championship venue, placing golfers in immediate contact with some of the most historically significant links land in England.

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The Verdict

The Shore nine at Prince's is links golf in its most straightforward and honest form: coastal terrain shaped by architects who understood it, updated by Mackenzie & Ebert with new features that complement rather than override the original character.

The Shore nine is the one most directly defined by its position on the shoreline; it rewards accurate approach play and an understanding of ground conditions. Played in combination with the Dunes or the redesigned Himalayas, it anchors one of England's most compelling 27-hole links destinations at Sandwich Bay.