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.
| Club information | |
|---|---|
  Location in England  Location in Staffordshire | |
| Coordinates | 52°35′44.0″N 1°52′0.7″W |
| Location | Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham, England |
| Established | 1908[1] |
| Type | Private |
| Total holes | 18 |
| Events hosted | English 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 |
| Website | http://www.littleastongolf.co.uk |
| Designed by | Harry Vardon[1] |
| Par | 72 |
| Length | 6813[2] |
| Course rating | 74[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]
Former players
Nick Littlehales (1978-1983)
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 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 35 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 37 | 72 |
| SI | Men's | 13 | 5 | 7 | 1 | 15 | 9 | 4 | 11 | 18 | 3 | 10 | 6 | 17 | 16 | 2 | 8 | 14 | 12 | |||
| Championship | 74 | 392 | 446 | 514 | 317 | 161 | 423 | 362 | 410 | 193 | 3218 | 444 | 393 | 485 | 183 | 342 | 549 | 419 | 380 | 400 | 3595 | 6813 |
| Medal | 392 | 446 | 503 | 317 | 161 | 423 | 362 | 392 | 193 | 3189 | 432 | 393 | 485 | 161 | 326 | 549 | 398 | 380 | 391 | 3515 | 6704 | |
| Yellow | 392 | 410 | 490 | 314 | 153 | 410 | 346 | 376 | 178 | 3055 | 426 | 363 | 485 | 156 | 300 | 517 | 375 | 370 | 374 | 3365 | 6420 | |
| Par | Women's | 4 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 36 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 38 | 74 |
| SI | Women's | 13 | 5 | 7 | 9 | 15 | 1 | 4 | 11 | 18 | 3 | 10 | 6 | 17 | 16 | 2 | 8 | 14 | 12 | |||
| Red | 368 | 392 | 442 | 271 | 137 | 385 | 313 | 342 | 143 | 2793 | 391 | 296 | 437 | 130 | 262 | 473 | 313 | 339 | 328 | 2969 | 5762 |
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 | .svg.png.webp){kind=small} Norman Von Nida |
[9] |
| 2 | 1955 |  Harry Bradshaw |
277 | Henry Cotton |
[10] |
| 3 | 1958 | Harry Weetman |
276 | .svg.png.webp){kind=small} 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. | Year | Winner | Runner-up | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1927 | Philip Perkins | J. B. Beddard | 2 & 1 |
| 2 | 1948 | Alan Helm | H. J. Roberts | 2 & 1 |
| 3 | 1985 | Roger Winchester | P. R. Robinson | 1 hole |
| 4 | 2010 | Tommy Fleetwood | Warren Harmston | 1 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.
References
- "Heritage". Little Aston Golf Club. Retrieved 29 August 2014.
- "Scorecard". Little Aston Golf Club. Retrieved 29 August 2014.
- "Course Guide". Little Aston Golf Club. Retrieved 29 August 2014.
- "Previous Winners – English Amateur". England Golf. Archived from the original on 5 August 2016. Retrieved 29 August 2014.
- "BMW PGA Championship European Tour Past Winners and History". Golf Blogger. Retrieved 29 August 2014.
- "Previous Winners – Brabazon Trophy". England Golf. Retrieved 29 August 2014.
- "Boys Amateur Championship". Golf Today. Retrieved 29 August 2014.
- "Kim secures Curtis place with Open win". Lancashire Telegraph. 15 June 1998. Retrieved 30 August 2014.
- "Lees and Von Nida tie for "Masters" title". Glasgow Herald. 10 October 1947. p. 2. Retrieved 30 August 2014.
- "Bradshaw wins "Masters" golf tournament". Glasgow Herald. 22 September 1955. p. 4. Retrieved 30 August 2014.
- Horne, Cyril (22 September 1958). "Masters golfer's visit to Scotland". Glasgow Herald. p. 3. Retrieved 30 August 2014.
- "Masters title for B. J. Hunt". Glasgow Herald. 1 July 1963. p. 4. Retrieved 30 August 2014.
- Jacobs, Raymond (15 September 1969). "Legrange wins from the front". Glasgow Herald. Retrieved 30 August 2014.
- "Daks Tournament". GolfCompendium.com. Retrieved 30 August 2014.
- "Ward's 70". Aberdeen Evening Express. 4 April 1951.
- "Past Winners – Jacques Léglise Trophy". R&A Championships Limited. Retrieved 30 August 2014.