New par three opens at restored Addington

The Addington Golf Club in south London, which is in the middle of five-year-plus restoration programme at the hands of design firm Clayton, DeVries & Pont (CDP), has opened a new par-three hole, using an original green site that had been taken out of play at least a century ago and was revealed by tree clearance.

The green, located to the right of the tenth tees, was recreated by Mike DeVries last summer, and was seeded by the end of July. It opened on 14 May in a small ceremony hosted by Addington managing director Ryan Noades. All three CDP partners were there, as was GCA. Ryan Noades’ mother Novello, the current Addington chairman, hit the opening tee shot on the short hole, which measured around 115 yards to the pin in use, playing a beautiful iron about ten feet short of the flag. Sadly, she missed the birdie putt!

DeVries’s new green is extravagantly contoured, with several quite tall plateaux. The opening pin was to the middle left of the green. Novello’s tee shot landed to the left of the pin, very close to the edge of the putting surface, but the slope brought it back. Several shots hit by other players that appeared to be right on the flag also caught the slope and ran down into a hollow.

When the opening party returned to the hole a little later, the flag had been moved to what is, by common consent, the most difficult location, atop a small plateau to the middle right. Touring pro Zane Scotland, an Addington member, hit a splendid wedge right at this flag, but the ball would not stop on the plateau.

The tenth hole has also been altered as part of the work, with a new tee turning the mid-length par four into an excellent 525-yard three-shotter. The new holes will be incorporated into an alternative routing that Ryan Noades hopes will eventually be in play on alternate days, enabling golfers to play both routings regularly.

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