HAVING grown up living in and playing my amateur golf in Kent, I quickly became aware that although it wasn’t an area blessed with a glut of great courses, it had one of the best in the country in Royal St George’s. Along with adjoining Prince’s, and Royal Cinque Ports just a short distance south, these are three courses to rival any others in such close proximity in the UK. And Prince’s and Cinque Ports are two of the courses most often overlooked when I ask anyone to name the 14 to have hosted the Open!

Having played for Kent at Cinque Ports in County Week in 1971 and been beaten in the final of the Kent County Amateur at Prince’s by the then Linda Denison-Pender in 1973, I was well aware of the challenges they presented. 

However I was unaware the toughest test on that stretch of the Kent coast was yet to come. My first visit to St George’s was as a caddy for my boyfriend while he was playing in a men’s county match in the early 70s. 

I recall it being a windy day with blustery showers, and can still remember thinking when we reached the par-5 14th that it was the most difficult driving hole I’d ever seen.

I didn’t realise at the time it was the most famous hole on the course – and it is still the cause of many a ruined card, even in Opens.

The wind was blowing strongly from left to right, and with out of bounds all along the right, it was super-intimidating. 

A stream runs across the fairway at about 300 yards. Originally known as the River Hole the name was changed to the Suez Canal as so many disasters had occurred.

First impressions are often the most vivid, and this is true of my first visit over 40 years ago. 

It is a stern challenge, whether trying to win an Open, or just getting round without running out of balls. 

It’s right at the top of my list of the most difficult courses I’ve ever played. 

Like all Open courses the weather plays an enormous part in how difficult it plays. 

But with several blind tee shots, out of bounds in close proximity to several greens, over 100 bunkers, some of which are cavernous, a number of greens with severe drop-offs and greens of a great variety of shapes, sizes and undulations, not to mention the rough, and at 70, the lowest par of any of the modern Open Championship courses, it’s easy to see why only on four occasions out of the 14 times that the Open has been played at Royal St.Georges has the winning score been better than par.