British Courses 24

[Mark_Rowlinson]

Wilmslow

Wilmslow is a couple of miles down the road from where I live.  My sons are members.  I cannot afford to be!  It's an old club, founded in 1889, and it moved to its present site in 1903.  It has had a who's who of architects over the years:  Sandy Herd, James Braid, Tom Simpson, George Duncan, Fred Hawtree, Cotton, Pennink, Lawrie and Dave Thomas.  There have been no drastic rebuilds, just a process of constant evolution.  During the 1980s it hosted a number of events on the European Tour but it would be too short for today's mighty hitters.  It is still much in demand for County events and has been a regular venue for Open Championship qualifying rounds.  Most of the members come from the professional classes and the golf is mostly of the social kind, so it is not set up too savagely.  There's plenty of width in the fairways and for the most part it is not too hemmed in by trees.  It is one of the best conditioned courses in the area and gives remarkably good golf in winter despite our horribly damp climate.  As it stands at the moment the course measures 6607 yards playing to a par of 72.  These photos were taken at various times in the 1990s and early 2000s. There have been a few changes since then, but nothing major. There will be rather too many pictures for a single posting, so this one will come in instalments.  Have patience!


1st, 364 yards par 4.  A strategic hole to start with, with a drive over a river valley (and the 18th green) to a fairway curving sharply to the left.  Good players must draw the ball round the corner (or use a 3 wood) lest they run out of fairway.  It is possible for strong players to drive the green if they know precisely where it is.  I've seen one of my sons do it.


1st.  The view from the ladies' and visitors' tees.  It's more straightforward, but it asks a lot of the ladies to reach the top of the bank.  Daffodil time - late March/early April, I guess.


1st green.  This is taken from the front right.  The straight approach must carry low ground and not be dragged away to the left by the slopes before the green.  I don'e have a photo of #2, a 438 par 4 with a big dog-leg to the left past bunkers and trees and a narrow entrance to the green (quite typical of Wilmslow greens).


3rd, 494 yards par 5.  If there is a criticism of Wilmslow it is that its par 5s are short, but for me this is a good tactical hole.  Three bunkers on the right threaten the drive - aim away and you make the hole far longer.  Good players can drive clear of them.  Bunkers in mid fairway govern my second shot but are irrelevant to long hitters.  Nevertheless the green is well defended, with a narrow entrance through bunkers, and its slopes, while in no way severe, can deceive.  


4th, 392 yards par 4.  Don't criticise his swing!  He was aged 14 then.  He's very much better now.  It's not a difficult drive, with plenty of room, but everyone's instinct is to go down the right of the fairway, which is fine if you hit the ball 300 yards.  If not, you may perish in either of two fairway bunkers or else be cut out by the trees on the right, with no shot to the green.


4th.  The wisdom of keeping central or left if you are not an enormous hitter is apparent here.  Goodness knows where this shot finished!  The 5th is parallel, a 362-yard par 4, one of the easiest holes on the course.


6th, 198 yards par 3.  This shares a double green with the 3rd (which you can see running up its avenue of trees).  Again the entrance is narrow with a bunker front right behind which are some mischievous pin positions and another on the left, which you can see here.


6th, showing the long bunker running down the left of the green.


7th, 491 yards par 5.  This is another short par 5, eminently reachable by the better player for it usually plays with the wind (unlike the 3rd which is usually into it).  These cross bunkers are 106 and 68 yards short of the green and all too often catch my second shot.  

More to follow....

[Mark_Rowlinson]

Wilmslow continued


8th, 437 yards par 4.  More cross bunkers here, three beauties crossing on the diagonal about 100 yards out.  Again they are no threat to the better player, but for lesser mortals they can be.  The drive is interesting, with a need for a touch of draw to find the middle of an angled fairway - not too much, though, or you finish up OOB on a road.


8th - the approach is slightly downhill to a long green also sloping downhill and quite difficult to club correctly.


8th green again, showing the slight fall of the putting surface towards the rear.


9th, 146 yards par 3.  This view has changed with the removal of invasive rhododendrons and remaking of the paths for the comfort of weary legs.  A clever little hole with a stream to be crossed, four bunkers, quite a slope on the green, and difficult rescue work necessary if the putting surface is missed.


9th from ladies' tee, taken during the Wilmslow Junior Open which always seems to attract a huge entry and some good players.


9th green.  Taken some years ago - the old wooden bridges have been replaced with brick-faced barrel-shaped affairs almost in the ANGC style!  


10th, 367 yards par 4.  A very inviting drive down a broad fairway and over a ridge.  But the green is off to the right, cleverly cut off from the very right of the fairway by tall trees, while the further left you drive the more difficult is the approach angle to a narrow green set up behind bunkers on a slight rise.


10th green with my son Edward (by this time about 17) showing how to play the hole.  His drive has covered about 320 yards.  Other son, Giles has a birdie putt in the offing, too.


11th, 327 yards par 4.  The green can be driven but there are bunkers and a depression 50 yards short of the green just where the fairway narrows.  Giles here has pushed his drive right (there being no marks for ending up in the long grass or trees on the left) but still has no more than a lob-wedge to the green.


11th.  Giles is already stone dead and Edward has a pitch of about 50 yards to set up a birdie, too.

Enough of the family album....

[Mark_Rowlinson]

Wilmslow concluded


I don't have a decent picture of the 12th, 411 yards, par 4.  It's a pity, because it is a handsome hole with an expansive fairway curving right, past or over a bunker on the optimum line at 201 yards. In fact my sons are now more concerned about carrying to a central bunker at 300 yards.  The rest of us must hit stout seconds to clear two bunkers 50 yards in front of the green.  


13th, 503 yards par 5.  This used to be a 400+yard par 4 to a down sloping green but a new green site was found (late 80s, I think) to create a par 5 thus giving an overall par of 72.  The drive is made over a series of ponds out of a chute of trees.  If you can clear a ridge (probably no more than 200 yards out) you can get a lot of run on the ball putting this green in reach of even my second shot (occasionally!).  


14th, 180 yards par 3.  It all looks so benign in this photo but it is a very unforgiving hole, played across a deep river valley and up a steep slope on the far bank to a green which rises significantly at the front and continues to rise all the way to the back.  There are bunkers on either hand, but there are simply too many trees and shade and dampness can put this green out of action for some of the winter.  Some thinning out has been done, especially on the right, but the chances of finding your ball if you spray it left or right are slim.  It's also a fiendish hole for the ladies, who play it at about 160 yards from a tee some way below the men's.  Most of them simply cannot make the carry and end up having to play their second shot from the bottom of the valley (needing considerable height on the shot) or, worse, from the steep bank on the far side where it is an achievement simply to maintain balance let alone execute a deft recovery shot.  


14th green, showing the problems caused by the proximity of the trees and you can perhaps just make out the chasm across which the tee shot is played.

Sadly, I have no picture of the 15th, a 423-yard par 4 of some difficulty, everything depending on the precise angle of the drive.


16th, 400 yards par 4.  One of my favourite holes and one with endless strategic options.  The fairway turns right down this avenue of trees at the length of a decent drive.  Some take an iron for position, others go with woods of all kinds.  There's plenty of room, except that there isn't for you can find yourself cut out by trees much further on if you overdo things on either side.  Then you might have to fly the tall trees or play a low runner under the branches.


16th green, which is long (39 yards) and narrow.  


17th, 169 yards, par 3.  A fun hole recrossing the river valley we encountered on the 14th.  You simply have to make the carry and, as the green is only 24 yards deep, you have to be precise with length as well as direction.


17th green, looking back towards the tee.  Land short and you don't bounce onto this green.


18th, 509 yards par 5.  The drive is made along high ground.  Over the last 150 yards or so the fairway curves left and plunges downhill.  It needs a well-positioned drive to open up the possibility of reaching the green in two because of the angles of the fairway in its later stages, a wooded hill on the left and a rough-clad hill on the right.


18th green, taken during the Wilmslow Junior Open, showing the new AGNC-style bridges and the proximity of the stream to the putting surface - alway on the mind of the big hitter trying to get on in two.

[Bob_Huntley]

Mark,

Wasn't there an RAF Station thereabouts back in the forties and fifties?

[Mark_Rowlinson]

No, not on this site.  There was one at Handforth, a couple of miles north of Wilmslow, otherwise there was one at Stretton just outside Warrington and the big USAF base at Burton Wood which was the gateway to Europe during the 40s and 50s.  Ringway (now Manchester Airport) was used for training spies for parachute jumps (and a lot more) and there were big Avro factories with airfields at Chadderton and Woodford.  I have a feeling there was also a little RAF base also at Byley or Cranage outside Holmes Chapel.  Goodness knows, I'll be into military history next!