John Jacob "Frank" Pennink was a successful English Amateur Champion golfer in his own right and later in life became a golf course architect. He designed the Callow Hill course and was responsible for an impressive portfolio of distinctive courses across Europe such as Palmares and Vilamoura Old Course in Portugal, Golf de Nantes in France and Noordvijk in the Netherlands. In the UK, he designed 17 courses, six of which were by Royal decree including Lytham St. Annes and notable others such as Saunton, Woburn, Gullane II and North Berwick.
The 139 acres of Redditch Golf Club were originally made up of three farms; Lower Grinsty, Sycamore and Marlpit, together with Downsell Wood. Hence the layout is a part-parkland front nine and a part-woodland back nine. The greens are an outstanding feature, maintaining Pennink’s two-level design point, and were all re-laid to USGA championship standards in 1996 under the guidance of the Sports Turf Research Institute (STRI).
For a better look at each hole please feel free to take a look at our course fly-over videos above.
The Course Rating tables and Slope Database