The 5th hole

The 5th in 1920

A dogleg that ran north-east past the trees of Warren Dell, then north past a mound to the green. In the 1921 News of the World final Bert Seymour carried the wood with his drive here, a shot the reporter rated even above an earlier drive by Ted Ray. Darwin, who knew it as the 17th, calls it a fine and spectacular dogleg, with a wood and a deep grassy pit in the way, at the most crucial point of the round. Sporting Life in 1927 picked this out as a hole that would make any imaginary eighteen of the best around London: a straight drive left a mashie to the green, anything short meant taking wood to get round the valley and a deep pit, and Ted Ray dealt with the high trees at the bend by going over the top of them.^1,5,6,10

After 1936

Became the 17th, still 425 yards on the later card.

There today

The tee was at the edge of Hayling Road beside Colnbrook School. The hole ran north-east over the grass past the Warren Dell trees to a green in the open grass west of Prestwick Road.

Look for

The tree clump just east of the Hayling Road play area stands where Warren Dell is marked on the old maps, and is probably the wood the 1921 report mentions.