I've been fortunate in my travels to visit many great clubs. But it wouldn't be unreasonable to suggest that, as certain cultures have evolved, there is on occasion an inverse relationship between the greatness of the golf and the warmth of the welcome. Not so at Ganton Golf Club, which may be the finest inland course I've seen. Certainly I've never been treated better.
From Scarborough on the Yorkshire coast (over which we can quickly draw a veil), the drive to Ganton is not encouraging. But after turning down a narrow lane, we encounter something else entirely. We pass an avenue of tall pines we will later meet on sixteen and the vicious bunkers that guard seventeen, and then we arrive at the clubhouse. It's a low-standing pebble-dash affair, somewhat ramshackle; the locker room clearly has not been renovated in recent memory. The first impression is one of a modesty only the greats could affect—indeed, nearly every major British event except the Open has been held here.
Ganton's terrain undulates gently on firm, springy heathland turf. There are no serious climbs, except, perhaps, those in and out of the bunkers, several of which have their own staircases. These are the protectors of par at Ganton, deep and penal in character, to be sure, but not so in their placement, as this is very much a strategic test of golf. A perfectly pleasant afternoon may be spent in steering well clear of them, but to score we must carry them, skirt them and positively flirt with them, and there is the thrill of real sport to be had in doing so.
After the round we head back to the clubhouse exhilarated, exuberant, exasperated, or more probably some cocktail of the three. The beer, as expected in Yorkshire, is excellent, and although the Ganton cake is properly taken with port and Stilton, it also works admirably with tea. I have not met all of the members—only a few, in fact—but they seemed to be genuinely interested in what I thought of their course and took pride in another stranger converted. I asked the club steward, as tactfully as I could, where this spirit of goodwill came from at a club that could just as easily take one's greens fee without so much as a nod of acknowledgment. 'This is a golf club,' he replied. 'There's nothing here but golf.' Amen.
For more on Ganton Golf Club, visit gantongolfclub.com.
