Here are the details for the GSGB meetings in 2012 and great reading they make too ! Overviews are as provided by the club web sites.

 

May 16-17         Littlestone / Chart Hills

Littlestone ( www.littlestonegolfclub.org.uk )

Littlestone is a unique and atmospheric Championship Links Course laid out on the natural undulating links land between the famous Romney Marsh and the English Channel in the South East corner of Kent. The coastline enjoys a unique microclimate that makes it one of the driest places in Britain.

The Course is recognised as being one of the top 100 courses in England, indeed a very recent report by the R & A Agronomist states that the greens are 'magnificent and they are some of the best examples of firm, true and well paced putting greens in the UK'.

Littlestone has hosted many major championships and has a long and distinguished history. The Club is justifiably proud of again being chosen as a Final Qualifying venue for the 2011 Open Championship.

Chart Hills (www.charthills.co.uk )

With outstanding facilities on all fronts, Chart Hills Golf Club is the perfect venue for all occasions.

Hailed as one of the finest recently-built golf courses in England, Chart Hills is the British architectural debut of six times Major winner, Nick Faldo. Set on 200 acres of gently undulating Kentish hills, Chart Hills was officially opened for play in August 1993 and despite its relative youth in golfing terms has earned something of a reputation when it comes to hosting championship golf.

The club is recognised by the professional golfing world as one of the best venues in the country, being a European Tour qualifying school venue and previously hosting the Ladies European tour Event, The Ladies English Open (LEO). 

The fantastic 18-hole golf course, recently recognised as one of the top courses in Europe by the prestigious Peugeot Golf Guide 2008-2009, and you have the recipe for success and a quality golfing experience on and off the course.

The course ranked in the top 20 in Europe in the Peugeot Guide with a rating of 18 out of 20, the second highest in the guide and is once again listed in the Top 100 Golf Course in Great Britain and Ireland for 2009.

Having left the 18th green at Chart Hills, your abiding memories are likely to include bunkers, water and greens. Offering over 130 bunkers, clever and abundant use of water hazards, and greens so fast that in the summer months, it is akin to putting on glass, Faldo has succeeded in creating a real parkland masterpiece. While the course on the whole, will certainly create a positive lasting impression, two of the signature features of the design include the long "Anaconda Bunker" on the 5th hole and the illusive island green on the short 17th hole.

Hornsea ( www.hornseagolfclub.co.uk )

Established in 1898 and set in secluded parkland, the picturesque course at Hornsea Golf Club in the East Riding of Yorkshire offers you a genuinely warm welcome. Enjoy a challenging round of golf on a course that offers mature fairways with superb greens and then make full use of our excellent facilities.

The original design of the current course, which opened in 1908, was by Alex (Sandy) Herd, Open Champion 1902. In 1912, Dr. Alistair Mackenzie, the renowned golf architect from Leeds, who designed, among others, Alwoodley, Royal Melbourne, Cyprus Point, Pebble Beach and most famously the Augusta National was brought in.  He made numerous recommendations for the Hornsea golf course, particularly in relation to the greens. His approach was that greens should be visible to the approaching golfer and have undulating surfaces towards the back.

In 1925 James Braid, 5 times winner of the Open was asked to the course and he proposed various alterations relating to bunkering on the course. The course is kept in a very good condition throughout the year and is rarely on temporary greens.

Ganton ( www.gantongolfclub.com )

Ganton, ranked in the top 30 of Europe’s Championship courses, has hosted many national and international tournaments and is a perfect place to play golf.
Nestling in the Vale of Pickering, east of York and a few miles from the coastal resort of Scarborough, a day at Ganton is a day to remember. 

The terrain is sandy and gently undulating – a blend of links and heathland.  The fairways are firm and fast. The bunkers are cunningly placed and sometimes cavernous - and the greens are perfection, in summer and winter alike. 

The architecture of the course is a tribute to some the most famous names in golf. Vardon, Ray, Braid, Taylor, Colt and MacKenzie have all contributed to make Ganton the unique challenge it is today.  

Their efforts have been rewarded many-fold, with the Club playing host to the Ryder Cup, the Walker Cup, the Curtis Cup, the Amateur Championship and numerous other national and international events. 

Sir Michael Bonnallack, Amateur Champion and Captain of the R&A, summed up Ganton well. “The journey from tee to green on every hole is one of the most enjoyable golfing examinations that a player is ever likely to experience”. 

Whether for a relaxing game with friends or for a larger group of visitors, Ganton knows how to look after its guests.

As one arrives along the lane to the Clubhouse there is a feeling of peace which is only broken by glimpses of the bunkers - real bunkers, which as Patric Dickinson described in his classic book 'A Round of Golf Courses' seem to say "Good Morning, we hope to be introduced."

The fairways are predominantly bents and fescues, that provide a firm base for all well executed shots. It was said 'the lies at Ganton provide the perfect place to practice one's brassie shots'; not that today's players carry, let alone need a brassie. However, the modern player will find that Ganton puts a premium on accuracy rather than length.

Nicklaus Course ( www.cardenpark.co.uk/golf )

The Nicklaus Course was designed by Jack Nicklaus and his son Steve, it is a rewarding challenge, with several ‘double option’ holes such as 7th and 15th which offer a choice of fairways from which to approach the green. The Nicklaus course offers a scenic yet strategic test of golf where position more than length is crucial. As Jack said, "it certainly is a thinking man’s golf course”. 

Cheshire Course ( www.cardenpark.co.uk/golf )

The Cheshire Course is reminiscent of the finest British heathland courses; set to the rear of the Carden Park Estate it offers stunning panoramic views across the Cheshire countryside to the mountains of Wales.  A wealth of natural hazards make this a highly technical course and will test your skills throughout. Building to a dramatic and scenic finish, with tough 16th and 17th holes followed by the 18th tee atop sandstone cliffs overlooking the resort and Welsh hills. It certainly ensures a round of golf to remember.

Aug. 21-22         St Mellion / China Fleet

St Mellion (  www.st-mellion.co.uk )

Jack Nicklaus builds gorgeous golf courses. They are built for his game - long, fortified greens that require a soaring faded approach shot. St Mellion, the UK's first Nicklaus creation opened in 1988 and gorgeous it certainly is. Sure, St Mellion is tough but don't let that put you off. From the opening tee shot the course pitches you headlong in to an almost hallucinogenic trip of crazy pea-green cambers, star light sand, lemon gorse, slate streams and dark brooding woods.

A lot of the Nicklaus hallmarks are here, the Golden Bear loves a raised teeing ground and although the first tee shot is a semi-blind most of the rest set you up very nicely indeed.

Conditioning is excellent with evenly-coloured, smooth greens stimping at around 9.5. As your round unfolds it dawns on you that St Mellion somehow blends American target golf with rolling Cornish scenery. The picture perfect short par-4 5th hole is a great example. More great examples of this Americo-celtic fusion adorn the back 9, most stunningly on the opening trio (see St Mellion's Amen Corner) which combine water with a classic Cornish backdrop. After this the pace doesn't slacken a touch after the epic, forested downhill par-5 12th the course continues flowing to the finish until you reach the par-4 18th which is a worthy climax to a pulsating round.

Content from Today's Golfer

China Fleet (www.china-fleet.co.uk )

China Fleet's 18-hole championship golf course is set among some of Cornwall's most breathtaking countryside.

It was designed by Martin Hawtree of Hawtree and Sons, Oxford – the only golf course designing family in the world continuing through their third generation. Martin's grandfather designed part of the Royal Liverpool course at Hoylake which opened in 1896.

With the classic design of ten par 4s, four par 5s and four par 3s, the course can be a real challenge but one that any avid golfer will enjoy.

Sept. 24-25        Little Aston / Moor Hall

Little Aston (  www.littleastongolf.co.uk )

Little Aston is one of England's best loved inland courses and for many years has enjoyed an enviable pedigree in the Top 100 courses in Great Britain and Ireland as surveyed by Golf World, being ranked 55th in 2008. The Club, which has celebrated its Centenary in 2008, is one of the pre-eminent golfing establishments in the Midlands where Members and Vistors are able to enjoy an experience that few, if any, of the Midland's other golf clubs can match.

Golfers will find a top quality Championship Course which has hosted many prestigious national and international tournaments for both Amateur and Professional players. The course is renowned for the quality of its fairways and greens and, when their round is over, golfers can relax over a drink or meal in a Clubhouse steeped in history and tradition.

Little Aston is predominently a Parkland course set in the mature former estate of Little Aston Hall and has a beauty all of its own. In recent years the course has been lengthened and certain holes have been modified partly to offset the march of modern technology. An array of new tees has boosted the yardage and in a number of cases the angles into the greens have altered too, adding more strategy to an already strategic test. From the men's back tees the course now measures 6,813 yards with a challenging par of 72 and Standard Scratch of 74.