GOLF


Aldeburgh Golf Club Leaving his Mark!


For twenty-two and a half years, Mark Broughton has resided as Course Manager of Suffolk’s Aldeburgh Golf Club. It takes something special, and perhaps someone special, to stay at a club for over two decades, and on the drive towards the Suffolk coastline, it is plain to see the attraction. Blair Ferguson reports


Edwardian clubhouse in full view. During a walk of the eighteen holes with Mark - a well spoken, funny and passionate greenkeeper - the mist soon lifts and everything England's second oldest heathland course has to offer comes into sight. The view of the Alde Estuary and the course characteristics, such as the snaking sleeper faced bunkers come to life on this warm, cloudless morning. With two coffees on the clubhouse terrace overlooking the course, it's time to find out precisely what has kept Mark here for so long and why now is the right time for him to retire.


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“I think what has kept me here is that there has always been another challenge,” Mark begins. “The club has always had the


PC October/November 2020


n arrival at Aldeburgh Golf Club in mid-September, the early morning mist is still hiding much of the gorse lined course, with only the


attitude of wanting to develop and move on, so in twenty-two years we’ve never sat back and gone that’s it, job done, this will do us. There has never been a thought of that, it’s always been what can we do next.” “There have been various course reviews over time, with construction work, lengthening the course and tightening it up in places. So you get the challenges with that and then you have a big event on the horizon and you have a couple of years building up to it. So there’s always something to look forward to.” “This year, in the absence of Covid-19, would have been a fairly quiet year, at least that was the plan,” Marks says, laughing. “I gave a year’s notice so I could have a year where there wasn’t much on, and I could quietly drift off towards retirement. But we got one of the biggest challenges that I’ve ever faced, which is dealing with the Covid- 19 situation. Especially going through


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