Little Aston Golf Club

Little Aston Golf Club is an 18 hole members golf club located within the Little Aston Park Private Estate in Sutton Coldfield, England which has hosted a variety of leading professional and amateur tournaments including the Schweppes PGA Close Championship and the Brabazon Trophy.

Little Aston Golf Club
Club information
Location in England
Coordinates52°35′44.0″N 1°52′0.7″W
LocationSutton Coldfield,
Birmingham, England
Established1908[1]
TypePrivate
Total holes18
Tournaments hostedEnglish Amateur
Brabazon Trophy
British Ladies Amateur
British Masters
Jacques Léglise Trophy
Schweppes PGA Close Championship
Swallow-Penfold Tournament
Daks Tournament
Boys Amateur Championship
Dunlop Tournament
Websitehttp://www.littleastongolf.co.uk
Designed byHarry Vardon[1]
Par72
Length6813[2]
Course rating74[3]

History

Little Aston Golf Club was founded in 1908 when Harry Vardon was commissioned to covert 136 acres of land into the golf course, the design commissioned by Harry Vardon remains largely unchanged to date.[1] The land had previously formed part of the estate of Little Aston Hall.[3]

Little Aston hosted its first significant tournament when it hosted the English Amateur in 1927[4] and hosted its first professional tournament at the 1951 Dunlop Tournament. Subsequently the club has gone on to host the Schweppes PGA Close Championship the forerunner to the European Tour's flagship event in 1962[5] and the Brabazon Trophy on 3 occasions from 1970 to 1994.[6]

In more recent years the course has been lengthened with addition of several new championship tees to continue to remain a competitive challenge in light of the changes in distances achieved by modern player and equipment.[3]

Course and scorecard

There is a single 18 hole course at Little Aston Golf Course which takes the form of a parkland course, from the championship tees the course measures 6,813 yards.

Tee Rating/Slope 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Out 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 In Total
Par Men's 44543444335 4453454443772
Handicap Men's 1357115941118 31061716281412
Championship 74 3924465143171614233624101933218 44439348518334254941938040035956813
Medal 3924465033171614233623921933189 43239348516132654939838039135156704
Yellow 3924104903141534103463761783055 42636348515630051737537037433656420
Par Women's 45543444336 5453454443874
Handicap Women's 1357915141118 31061716281412
Red 3683924422711373853133421432793 39129643713026247331333932829695762

All distances given in yards[2]

Tournaments hosted

Boys Amateur Championship

Little Aston first hosted the Boys Amateur Championship in 1994 and subsequently hosted the matchplay tournament again in 2008 with the following results:[7]

No. Year Champion Runner-up Score
1 1994 Christopher Smith Chris Rodgers 2 & 1
2 2008 Pedro Figueiredo Fraser McKenna 39th Hole

Brabazon Trophy

Little Aston hosted the Men's Open Amateur Stroke Play Championship for the Brabazon Trophy on 3 occasions between 1970 and 1994 with the following results:[6]

No. Year Champion Score
1 1970 Peter Moody 296
2 1979 D. Long 291
3 1994 Gary Harris 280

British Ladies Amateur Golf Championship

The club hosted the British Ladies Amateur Golf Championship in 1998 with Kim Rostron of England beating Gwladys Nocera of France 4&3 in the final.[8]

British Masters

The club has hosted the British Masters on 5 occasions between 1947 and 1969, for sponsorship reasons the tournament was known as the Dunlop Masters during this period and the results were:

No. Year Champion Score Runner-up Ref
1 1947 Arthur Lees 283 Norman Von Nida [9]
2 1955 Harry Bradshaw 277 Henry Cotton [10]
3 1958 Harry Weetman 276 Bobby Locke [11]
4 1963 Bernard Hunt 282 Ralph Moffitt [12]
5 1969 Cobie Legrange 281 Peter Butler [13]

Daks Tournament

Little Aston hosted the Daks Tournament on the European circuit in 1954 with Peter Alliss winning the event.[14]

Dunlop Tournament

In 1951 Little Aston co-hosted the Dunlop Tournament with Sutton Coldfield Golf Club with Charlie Ward of South Africa winning the event.[15]

English Amateur

The club has hosted the English Amateur on 4 occasions between 1927 and 2010 (co-hosting with Sutton Coldfield Golf Club in 2010), with the following results:[4]

No.YearWinnerRunner-upScore
11927Philip PerkinsJ. B. Beddard2 & 1
21948Alan HelmH. J. Roberts2 & 1
31985Roger WinchesterP. R. Robinson1 hole
42010Tommy FleetwoodWarren Harmston1 hole

Jacques Léglise Trophy

Little Aston hosted the 1994 Jacques Léglise Trophy amateur boys' team golf competition between Great Britain & Ireland and the Continent of Europe, with Great Britain and Ireland winning 12½ – 2½.[16]

Schweppes PGA Close Championship

In 1962 the club hosted the Schweppes PGA Close Championship which is now the European Tour flagship BMW PGA Championship, the winner was Peter Alliss with a score of 287.[5]

Swallow-Penfold Tournament

Little Aston hosted the Swallow-Penfold Tournament in 1966 with Welsh golfer Dave Thomas winning the event.

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gollark: Fine, I'll go make Minoteaur.
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See also

List of golf courses in the United Kingdom

References
  1. "Heritage". Little Aston Golf Club. Retrieved 29 August 2014.
  2. "Scorecard". Little Aston Golf Club. Retrieved 29 August 2014.
  3. "Course Guide". Little Aston Golf Club. Retrieved 29 August 2014.
  4. "Previous Winners – English Amateur". England Golf. Archived from the original on 5 August 2016. Retrieved 29 August 2014.
  5. "BMW PGA Championship European Tour Past Winners and History". Golf Blogger. Retrieved 29 August 2014.
  6. "Previous Winners – Brabazon Trophy". England Golf. Retrieved 29 August 2014.
  7. "Boys Amateur Championship". Golf Today. Retrieved 29 August 2014.
  8. "Kim secures Curtis place with Open win". Lancashire Telegraph. 15 June 1998. Retrieved 30 August 2014.
  9. "Lees and Von Nida tie for "Masters" title". Glasgow Herald. 10 October 1947. p. 2. Retrieved 30 August 2014.
  10. "Bradshaw wins "Masters" golf tournament". Glasgow Herald. 22 September 1955. p. 4. Retrieved 30 August 2014.
  11. Horne, Cyril (22 September 1958). "Masters golfer's visit to Scotland". Glasgow Herald. p. 3. Retrieved 30 August 2014.
  12. "Masters title for B. J. Hunt". Glasgow Herald. 1 July 1963. p. 4. Retrieved 30 August 2014.
  13. Jacobs, Raymond (15 September 1969). "Legrange wins from the front". Glasgow Herald. Retrieved 30 August 2014.
  14. "Daks Tournament". GolfCompendium.com. Retrieved 30 August 2014.
  15. "Ward's 70". Aberdeen Evening Express. 4 April 1951.
  16. "Past Winners – Jacques Léglise Trophy". R&A Championships Limited. Retrieved 30 August 2014.
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