The article is 560 words in length and shows the design logic that was used for LGC.
 
Arthur Croome was asked in 1922 to design the course, as he had considerable experience playing in the Oxford and Cambridge University matches. He was one of the great sportsmen of the day and was President of the Oxford and Cambridge Golfing Society. He went on to take the Oxford Team to matches in the UK and USA, and helped to arrange the annual competition at Rye. He was a Life Honourary Member at LGC and played off 4 in 1928. This was the only course he designed, but after Liphook he formed a firm with Tom Simpson and others, to design and improve golf courses. He favoured the strategic over the penal, which meant that both the Tiger and the Rabbit had an equal chance of getting from Tee to Green in the necessary strokes. Taking the 9th as an example, the tiger would try and put his drive on the right-hand side of the fairway, near the road. They would then try to put the 2nd shot on the Green, missing the hump (or Simpson’s Folly). The Rabbit would try to put his drive in the centre of the Fairway, the 2nd on the right of the ridges and straths, and his third on the Green again to try and miss the hump. A Penal Design would favour fairway bunkers to catch the shorter drive but letting the longer drive go clear. One could look at the 5th in the same way with the Tiger going for the Green in 2, with the Rabbit lucky to get there in 3. The R&A were very impressed with LGC, and in 1925 asked the Club to be a test-bed for the upkeep of inland courses laid out on heathland. Tom Simpson, who had a 4 handicap, lived in Bramshott and was a member of LGC. He originally was a member of Woking and used his experience there to develop his skills as a course designer of the strategic school. When Arthur Croome died in 1930, Tom took over as Manager of the Green, and carried on the good works of Arthur. He had co-authored a classic book entitled, “The Architectural Side of Golf” with N H Wethered (father of Roger and Joyce). One of his improvements to Liphook was Simpson’s Folly on the 9th and he was also responsible for alterations to bunkers and slopes of Greens and their approaches. He did not always see eye to eye with Committee at the time and resigned, only to return in 1933. In that year, he told the BBC, “All good courses laid out in recent years owes their success to the fact that the architect sought inspiration from the old classic courses, in particular St Andrews. The further back into the past we seek out inspiration, the more successful the course” Liphook is truly fortunate that very distinguished golf architects wre involved in its design and development. In those days, Arthur Croome and Tom Simpson headed the change from Penal to Strategic golf course designs, and they were deemed to be revolutionary by some of the club members. Penal type courses tended to favour the Tigers, with long lengths and big carries over the heather and other hazards. Strategic courses makes the golfer have to think much more over the placement of a shot and all golfers have a fairer chance.

File: Drawer 1, Pocket 14, T043
 






/-- Liphook Archive Information --/
#Medium:Document#
#Location:Liphook Golf Club#
#Date Of Event:1920's#
#Date Item Created:14/08/06#
#Author:Tony Rudgard#
#Copyright:LGC#