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Daniel Frickelton’s guide to the finest golf courses in Sussex. This month Singing Hills Golf Course

It would be great fun to run a competition for the best rhyming slang name for Singing Hills Golf Club. Those of us who have played this course would have a few suggestions of our own. For instance, ‘Stinging Hills’ would best describe the course on which I sacrificed three golf balls to the hazard gods last autumn and posted what can only be described as an unimpressive score.

“The South Downs form a spectacular backdrop to the gently undulating fairways, lakes and copious wildlife; but Singing Hills is far more than mere eye candy”

‘Whingeing Hills’, on the other hand, would be the course where the ‘golf goddess’ failed at three attempts to put a tee shot on the green at the short par three second hole of the Lake Course. This is the loved and loathed ‘Island Green’, certainly not the infamous 17th at Sawgrass, but presenting the same sort of psychological test on a smaller scale. If you know how far you hit your shortest irons it should be a simple matter to select the right one, take a normal swing and putt out for a birdie or a par, right? However, the hundreds of balls winking at you from the bottom of the surrounding waters are silent witnesses to the fact that this hole is far from simple. It is a mind game.

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Daniel Frickelton’s guide to the finest golf courses in Sussex. This month Rustington Golf Centre

The summer golfing season has been unusual for a variety of reasons, not least among them that we have not had to interrupt a round of golf due to wet or extreme weather even once all season, amazing when you consider the tiny number of sunshine days we have enjoyed between May and September in our grassy isles. So unaccustomed was I to even thinking about such trivia as weather conditions that I nearly forgot to bring my club cover along to Rustington, and when the Sussex winter weather finally defeated my protective charm and began to unload its pent up fury on me as I practised my putting, I struggled to remember how to attach the damned thing…so many snaps! I made a dash for the shelter of the pagoda adjacent to the first tee where my playing partners, the Golf Goddess and BB (a.k.a. Big Boy, Boyd Brain, and Bunker Bait) were huddled against the storm.

The nice people at Rustington G C had prepared us for possible delays because we were teeing off on the heels of a morning Texas Scramble tournament. Golfus interruptus is an insidious malignancy, resembling Coitus interruptus in significant ways, but far more damaging to your golf score. The scramblers ahead played at their own snail’s pace and we scrambled…to stay warm and loose. Course Marshall Pete did his admirable best to ride herd on his sluggish dogies*. By the time we had reached the tenth, we had left the scramblers behind, the sun was shining wanly but warmly, and life was good. The boys at Rustington have a great attitude about golf: they want us to have more of it, and they want us to enjoy it. It therefore came as no surprise when Pete assured us that they were currently working on new scramble rules for future tournaments.

It’s amazing how many decent golfers love a testing 9-hole course, and Rustington G C is a sparkling example of the type. Tight lies, tantalising pin positions and a full array of hazards on this pretty 2774 yd course (5548 yds for eighteen off the yellows) guarantee a truly enjoyable round of golf whatever your skill level. Better golfers will benefit from playing this visually pleasing and technically challenging parkland course. Every hole offers its unique problems and pleasures. For example, take a driver off the 480 yd first, but not if you are a congenital slicer: this will put you out of bounds on the right, and you will now struggle to make par on this otherwise generous par 5 hole. Far better to do as one of the boys in the Rustington pro shop does to guarantee a par on the first hole: he whacks three seven irons from tee to green and two-putts for his five. That’s using your head rather than more southerly body regions to make golf decisions. If you managed to hit a truly great drive, your next decision will be whether to lay up in front of the small lake guarding the green or to try and put it up there in two. Decisions, decisions… Everyone has a favourite hole at Rustington. This is one of ours, but find your own and tell us about it.

Considering the ferocity of the cloudburst which preceded our round, the course was playing magnificently. Most other golf courses are using temporary tees and greens at this time of year, and some are so covered in fallen leaves that it can prove well nigh impossible to find your ball even when you think you know exactly where it ended up. It can be difficult for addicts to cultivate their habit, and there are too many excuses for staying on the sofa during the winter months. Sound familiar? Rustington will make you smile, addicts. Their greens conform to the high standards of the USGA, and as we discovered on this wet November day, even large amounts of water drain quickly away from greens and fairways. This is quite simply one of the best courses to play in the winter time. But don’t take my word for it: go and see for yourself… and don’t forget to check out the pro shop while you’re there. Speaking of which…

If Carlsberg did pro shops, they would probably all be like Rustington G C. Manager James Latter and his capable, friendly crew must have the best selection of golf gear, clothing and accessories on the south coast. I recently bit the bullet and decided to retire my old driver. James quickly ascertained that I would benefit from a model with slightly more loft, provided me with several suitable options and with all the free range balls I needed to get familiar with each on Rustington’s covered, flood-lit, all swinging, all glancing state-of-the-art multi-bay driving range. No pressure, just friendly expertise and a fair trade in price for my traitorous old driver. Ka-ching went James’ till, and down went my scores the next couple of times I went out with my new stick. But then James’ surname, Latter, means “laughter” in Danish (you probably thought I was just another Bunker Brain), and by the look of it at Rustington G C he surely has plenty to be laughing about. Get on out there and find out why.

Dogie = Western American and Canadian word meaning “motherless calf”.

Daniel Frickelton’s guide to the finest golf courses in Sussex. This month Wellshurst Golf & Country Club

It is difficult to say exactly why our round at this beautiful Sussex golf course was right up there among the three best golfing experiences we have had all summer. Maybe it was the view from the first tee on thisgorgeous late autumn day with the gobsmacking colours of the trees reminding me of all my favourite comfort foods: a huge oak dressed in Rogan Josh, others dripping with honey, caramel and banoffi toffee. It might also have been the improbably glorious weather with which we were blessed. Old Mother Nature can be a harsh mother indeed, but on this October day she gently wrapped us in her warm, reassuring coat of many colours and promised us that everything would be just fine.

Hard to pin it down, but it could also have been the hearty, friendly greetings from passing golf addicts and club staff at Wellshurst. Or maybe it was the “waggle factor”, the incomparable view of GG, the Golf Goddess, as she settles into her first drive demonstrating the benefits of her well fitting golf trousers. My heart soared like an eagle… Then again, it could have been the fact that we both played unusually well. In fact, I finished fully six strokes below my handicap and went home with my head full of fantasies about winning the championship on the GT circuit. That would be the Geriatric Tour, if it existed.

“Maybe it was the “waggle factor”, the incomparable view of the Golf Goddess, as she settles into her first drive, demonstrating the benefits of her well fitting golf trousers”

At 5,618 yards off the yellow tees, Wellshurst is not the longest course we have played this year. Good bunkering and an interesting layout nevertheless combine to provide a fair and exacting test of golf skills for players of all skill levels. Golf professionals/instructors would find this course ideal for tuition. Many fairways are forgiving enough to accommodate driver shots of less than pinpoint accuracy, while others will grind a thumb into your eye for taking the wrong club out of the bag. The 334 yd par 4 fifteenth comes to mind. This sharply rightdoglegging hole wraps itself cutely around a Conservation Zone of smartly dressed (see above) deciduous trees. This means tall, and this spells trouble. It’s so simple, really: all you have to do is pop one straight out to the corner with a mid to longish iron, and then look tothe right for the pin. I left myself 10 or 15 yds short of the corner, which left me with no view of the green at all. I could waste a shot laying up to the corner or hazard a six iron over the trees towards the invisible green. Given the magical feeling about this day, I chose the latter, and the fact that my ball plopped obediently onto the green speaks volumes about the kind of day we had at Wellshurst. A Magical Mystery Tour.

Afraid of water? Your pro would march you straight down to the 422 yd par 5 sixteenth. No, I didn’t get the par wrong: it really is “only” five on this lovely hole. What the yardage marker doesn’t tell you is that your tee shot has got to carry the invisible canal dissecting the fairway if you want a view of the green for your second shot. Now, I have no idea what your views are concerning the relative merits of V-grooves vs. Cgrooves, nor do I have a clue which type my Mizunos carry, but I can assure you that Wellshurst clearly prefers the V-type for their canals. My canal was dry on this occasion. In any case, your pro would probably bypass all this nastiness and let you drop a couple of balls just short of the small lake guarding the green on this meltingly pretty signature hole.

That way, when you have predictably knocked your first attempt straight into the lake, spontaneously shouting “Oh no!” as your brain and eye track the ball’s fateful course, the pro can give you a real life lesson in the relationship between mind and body in golf in your pursuit of golf perfection. When your second attempt lands fifteen feet from the pin with a satisfying plop you will be giving the finger to the unseen boys on the neighbouring hole who burst into uncontrollable laughter when they heard your shout. More importantly, you will be smiling, feeling a tiny bit more perfect, and you will be enjoying golf.

Forget the tired old balls on the driving range; overlook the lack of a compressed air shoe cleaner. These will all materialise in time. Meanwhile, addicts, get yourselves out to Wellshurst GC and give your habit some serious food. Despite the fact that they are currently getting into winter mode, the course is playing very well and the greens running straight and true. See you there real soon.

Wellshurst Golf & Country Club

Wellshurst Golf & Country Club, North Street, Hellingly, East Sussex, BN27 4EE.
Tel (Pro Shop) 01435 813456
www.wellshurst.com

Daniel Frickelton’s guide to the finest golf courses in Sussex. This month Rookwood Golf Course

We have played this course in all sorts of weather, mostly bad, and all through the winter months. In fact, it is hard to think of a course we have had to cancel as often due to inclement weather. Luck of the draw, I suppose. It was therefore especially satisfying to play this interesting and challenging course in glorious late summer Sussex sunshine for a change.

We have all struggled to put positive spin on this “mother of all British summers”. “Rain’s good for the grass”, say the green thumbed brigade. “Think of the reduced incidence of skin cancer over the next 25 years due to less UV rays this summer,” say the freckletons and semitranslucent among us. Golf addicts have their own rationale for this wet, wetter, wettest summer: the greens and fairways of Sussex are looking like Catherine Zeta Jones after a five star Brazilian. Nowhere is this truer than at Rookwood right now.

Nestling between the A24 and Horsham West in signature Sussex countryside, Rookwood has always been a delight to the senses, even when reduced to muddy slurry in winter. But on this particular day it was a source of inspiration to the ‘Golf Goddess’ (GG), my playing partner. On the outward nine the GG shook off weeks of disappointing play, out driving yours truly on a couple of holes and successfully negotiating her approach shot over the water hazard, guarding the third green on her first attempt, without losing a single ball. This third (304 yard par 4) is a beautiful hole, and one of our favourites. Bloke addicts will want to smack a four or five iron out there, depending on whether you had full English or a Continental breakfast. This will leave you with a nine iron or a wedge (see above) over water to the green. I cleverly managed to snap hook my tee shot into the hedge row left, so even though the GG chose to sacrifice a shot laying up in front of the pond, she nevertheless managed to win this one. That’s when I began to notice the worrisome, sharp pain in my back…

Brilliantly located between the seventh and tenth tee boxes is a tea shop featuring cold and hot drinks and the incomparable aroma of bacon frying. The only downside to enjoying a buttie and a hot cuppa before commencing the tenth is that this tends to create an audience on the seventh and a queue on the tenth. However, after demonstrating two sublime, fairway-splitting drives to the gob-stuffing buttie boys, ever hopeful of a bit of gratuitous comedy off the seventh tee, we finished the hole in style and were relieved to find the toilets at the 105 yard eighth. Unfortunately, something mysterious must have happened in those toilets as we subsequently shanked three balls between us into the trees after using them. GA advice: just avoid the toilets, ok?

Rookwood is blessed with a full array of hazards to confound selfabusing golf addicts. Water tantalisingly awaits you already on the second and third holes. Less obviously, but no less menacingly, lurk watery graves for wayward balls at the start of the fourth and conclusion of the twelfth. If your drives often go as far laterally as forward, leave the big dog in the bag off the fourth (509 yard par 5) and opt for something you can (usually) hit straight. No fun, you say? Allright, then…they are selling some very inexpensive golf balls in Tesco these days, and they float at least as well as any premium ball.

There is no way you will leave your driver in the bag when facing the outstretched arms of the twelfth hole (542 yard par 5). We managed to place well struck drives just on the corner of the right-bending fairway. As we neared our golf balls, passing three punters in “search mode” in the tall grass (a too familiar sight), maintaining a respectful and dignified silence of course, Old Gnarly loomed into view…

Old Gnarly was probably overlooked by Harald Bluetooth and his fellow Vikings when they were sniffing out oak trees from which to build their longboats. Which means Old Gnarly is quite venerable. And very tall. And wide. There are several holes at Rookwood featuring prominent, in-your-face oaks. You will need to think clearly, in a testosterone free zone, if you want to save your score. Water, trees, sand… Rookwood has it all.

The facilities at Rookwood are wonderful. The first time we went there we thought we had fallen out of a helicopter in southern France; lush green picnic areas adjacent to water features, cheeky swans waddling up to get any available freebies and a stylish converted barn to cater for any events one might wish to hold. Although there is no driving range at Rookwood, there is a lush par 3 course on which to hone your skills, and the practice putting green is challenging, a true reflection of what lies ahead.

Rookwood Golf Course

Robin Hood Lane, Warnham, Horsham, West Sussex, RH12 3RR.
Tel:
(booking) 01403 252123
(enquiries) 01403 250168
www.rookwoodgolfcourse.co.uk
18 holes, 6261 yards total