REGULAR GOLF
Mixed opinions about tricky fourth at Rye
Every issue of Maritime CEO we ask someone to describe their alltime favourite hole in golf. This issue, Simon de Courcy Hughes from Rodskog Shipbrokers describes his fears on the south coast of England
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have been asked to give an example of the one and only best ever golf hole that I have played. I don’t see the point in telling the readers my best hole as it would be very boring for everyone as I would be taking
you through my best shots, which in any case are few and far between. What I do want to do is tell you about is the famous cricketer, Ted Dexter’s favorite golf hole. I was playing at Sunningdale and arrived at the halfway house, enjoying a sausage roll and a beer with my playing partners, when Ted Dexter arrived with his group. We were on the old course and he was on the new course and the halfway house looks after both courses. I recognised the former England cricket captain and said, “Hi, I have seen you at Rye. Are you a member there as well?” He replied that in fact he was not a member of Rye, my then home course in the south of England.
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However, Dexter said that he played there often (including the President’s Putter – a regular golfing duel between Oxford and Cambridge universities) and his favourite golf hole in the whole world was the fourth at Rye. He continued saying that if he was told he could only play one hole before he died it would be that one. The intimidating fourth at Rye is a 411-yard, par 4 with a very narrow fairway and thick grassy sand dunes sloping on both sides and a small raised green. When the wind blows – which is most of the time – it’s a killer. My reply to the England cricketing legend: “If there was one hole in whole world that I was able to never have to play again it would be the fourth at Rye.” ●
When the wind blows – which is most of the time – it’s a killer
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