The Dyke Golf Club was formed in 1906, but the layout was destroyed by practicing tanks and was rebuilt after the war by Fred G. Hawtree and his son Fred W. Frank Pennink described it as “undoubtedly the best of the courses in the Brighton orbit”.
Overall rating
The Dyke Golf Club was formed in 1906, but the layout was destroyed by practicing tanks and was rebuilt after the war by Fred G. Hawtree and his son Fred W. Frank Pennink described it as “undoubtedly the best of the courses in the Brighton orbit”.
The Dyke
The following edited extract is from the John F. Moreton and Iain Cumming book James Braid and his Four Hundred Golf Courses:
“The Dyke was designed by Taylor, but as Nisbet, 1910, says was ‘rather on the short side.’ Nisbet, 1911, unexpectedly states that the course has only ‘fourteen holes, temporary.’ Nisbet, 1913, clarifies the situation, now saying that the course ‘has been laid out on lines suggested by James Braid,’ and that it is eighteen again.
This must mean some restructuring took place, perhaps a major rethink, definitely lengthening the course. Taylor’s course must have been short indeed, no doubt caused partly by the ubiquitous gorse and the difficulty in removing it.
In 1932, it was ‘completely redesigned’ by J.H. Turner. Whether this was really so, is uncertain. What is certain is that after World War II it became a Brighton Corporation club, and Fred Hawtree Jr. reinstated the course, with some redesign, forsaking the land north of the road. It is now a private club again.”
