Delamere Forest course tour

[Mark_Rowlinson]

Delamere Forest is another club celebrating its centenary this year. Although the club was founded in 1910, the course and clubhouse were not opened until 1911. The opening match on 29th April featured James Braid, Sandy Herd, Ted Ray and James Arundel, the club’s first professional. Ray’s winning score in the morning was 77, confirming the difficulty of the new course. The Times, Liverpool Courier and Chester Currant each carried extensive reviews of the course and the play. Fowler’s bunkers came in for much comment and Fowler was present at the opening, in the company of the Oxford University Captain Arthur Croome who would later work with Fowler and Simpson. Unfortunately there is no surviving record of what Fowler may have done towards the design. There are no records of payment, nothing in the minutes and no surviving photographs. A past secretary, the formidable Tony Leggard, wrote a description of the course from information given to him by an aged club member who had caddied on the course, and there is in the clubhouse an attempt to lay out the route of the course over today’s course, but I am told that it is not entirely accurate. The newspapers mentioned above all gave slightly different yardages for the holes. And, the aforementioned Leggard, describing the course says that it was laid out by one of the founding members Willie Clegg. Its yardages were roughly:

1.   365
2.   170
3.   395
4.   394
5.   185
6.   375
7.   355
8.   156
9.   327
Out 2722

10.   500
11.   155
12.   310
13.   385
14.   336
15.   280
16.   420
17.   450
18.   317
In 2748
Total 5470 yards

We do know that the Fowler and Simpson company were paid sums in the early 1920s to rebuild the course, which is totally different from the first course. I don’t think Simpson ever claimed to have had a hand in the new course, and the supposition must be that Fowler designed it on his own.

Delamere Forest has always been minimalist in its approach to course management. No watering – it just browns off in a dry summer. The course manager’s annual budget would make most chairmen of the green green with envy, so little is spent in upkeep. Yet it is clear from the photos that it is in impeccable condition. Brilliantly drained, the course is a delight to play in winter and in the summer the greens can be frighteningly quick. Given also that the putting surfaces are generally small in area and tightly guarded, these are seen as the principal line of defence.

The ladies of Delamere have long been highly successful in competition, so it is fitting that on the day I took these pictures a Cheshire Ladies’ competition was in progress.

1.   430 yards par 4



The opening drive sets a stern tone, uphill to a slightly domed fairway which throws any ball hit up the left into the rough.



It is still a good distance to the green, across low ground.



Only a full carry will make it onto the putting surface.



The bunkers are certainly not eye candy, but they are cunningly placed and handsomely presented.



Looking back down the fairway you get a better idea of the climb you have made and the use Fowler made of the undulations for many green sites.

2.   443 yards par 5



This hole was a bogey five (DFGC only abandoned the bogey system in recent times) and retains five as its par rating, but good players think of it as a two shot hole. Again the drive is uphill, but this time the better line is up the left.



This photo may convey something of the left to right lie of the land, and it shows another good use of low ground before the perched green.



Another well-placed bunker, from which escape is far from certain if you are in the wrong bit of it.



From behind the green you can see that the putting surface used to be bigger, but this size is felt appropriate for a par 5.

3.   410 yards par 4



The line is difficult to determine from the tee, but there is a marker post and you are advised not to take driver as there are hidden bunkers.



A little farther on you can just make out the marker post and the bunkers.



The hole only reveals itself gradually.



The green is really quite a small target at this sort of range, almost isolated amidst the rolling ground.



The putting surface has more contour than either of its predecessors, demanding a perfectly weighted approach shot.

4.   212 yards par 3



A tough hole, the green behind an obscuring ridge, with a big left-to right bounce or roll on landing.



It’s not quite so daunting from closer.



Whatever you do, don’t miss on the right because the ball races away down this bank and the chip back is far from easy.



Pin positions at the front or back right are very tricky.

5.   431 yards par 4



Many say this is the toughest starting sequence in Cheshire. Again pressure is put on the tee shot by the need to make distance uphill. The line is very important with advantage given to those who hold the shot left.



Again there is a marker post because the drive should finish out of sight in the valley beyond.



Another hilltop green in prospect.



There is trouble aplenty if you stray from the line.



From behind it all looks so benign but only just off the green to the left is desperately rough country, while if you run off the green at the back you will almost certainly lose your ball.

6.   149 yards par 3



A very short hole, but its putting surface is minuscule, raised up and well-defended.



Chipping is seriously tested if you miss the target.



Especially so if you have to chip over the bunker!

7.   473 yards par 5



A short par five that should be in reach in two shots for the good player.



The rough on the left is to be avoided.



Bunkers on the run in foreshorten the view. The green is farther away than it looks.



Part of the charm of the hole is the fact that it is less dramatic than anything so far, but it is exposed, out on high ground, adding to the difficulty of distance judgement.

8.   421 yards par 5




Two views of this excellent tee shot. It may seem as if there is greater safety in favouring the right of the fairway but those bunkers grasp everything. If you can manage to hold the left side of the fairway you will have a comparatively easier approach shot.



The bunkers on the right of the fairway.



At last we can see the green, on the end of a downslope. It is well-nigh impossible to leave yourself an uphill putt.



It is a narrow green with bunkers in close attendance and ghastly trouble further afield.



Don’t overshoot!

9.   331 yards par 4



The hole only reveals itself as it uncurls.



While the green may be driveable for some the smart play is to find the flattish ground directly in front of the clubhouse from which the pitch is easier to control.



If you were daft enough to try to drive the green you could all too easily perish the wrong side of that tree.




It is a most attractive hole.



Perhaps it is even more beautiful looking back up the fairway.

I’ll not finish this today. The back nine will follow tomorrow.

[Bill_McBride]

Mark, have the nines been reversed at Delamere?  When we played there in 2006, I'm pretty sure we teed off on what we thought was #10 because of a society starting on #1.  #10 and forward looked a lot like what you are saying is the front nine!

Delamere is such a nice heathery course, great elevation changes.  As you'll recall, our only complaint was that the greens appeared to have been flattened over the years in comparison to Fowler's Beau Desert which we played the next day.   Both courses are really good tee to green but the greens at BD have to be regarded more highly than those at DF.  That's not saying there's anything second rate about DF, just a very strong comment about the greens at Beau Desert.

Thanks as always for the great photo tours.  You are always very generous in doing these trips around the great courses of the UK.

I hope we'll see you at the Buda in Wales this fall.   

[Sean_A]

Mark

This is very fine.  I especially like the 8th.

When are we gonna gonna give this gem another go?

Ciao

[David_Tepper]

Mark -

More wonderful pics of a very good looking golf course. Thanks.

Is Delamere Forest as remote as it appears to be? The only man-made structures you can see in these pics are the clubhouse and the electrical towers.

Bill -

I recall reading that some of the contours in the greens at Beau Desert have developed by accident over the years, as the ground has settled due to the abandoned coal mine shafts under the course collapsing from time to time.

Maybe Mark or Sean can confirm if that is true or if it is just folklore.

DT     

[Mike Hendren]

Simply stunning.  Thank you.

Mike

[Emil Weber]

Mark,

Again thank you for a great set of pics. The site looks very interesting and the course equally as good!

[Bill_McBride]

Mark -

More wonderful pics of a very good looking golf course. Thanks.

Is Delamere Forest as remote as it appears to be? The only man-made structures you can see in these pics are the clubhouse and the electrical towers.

Bill -

I recall reading that some of the contours in the greens at Beau Desert have developed by accident over the years, as the ground has settled due to the abandoned coal mine shafts under the course collapsing from time to time.

Maybe Mark or Sean can confirm if that is true or if it is just folklore.

DT     

I heard the same thing but the contouring was too cool to be completely nature-made, if you know what I mean!

[Bill_McBride]

Is Delamere Forest as remote as it appears to be? The only man-made structures you can see in these pics are the clubhouse and the electrical towers.

David, it's not far from civilization at all.  We were headed south from Liverpool/Manchester and turned off an A road west into a dense forest, Delamere Forest I'll bet, and suddenly there was the course.  Both it and Beau Desert have a very remote feeling, both fully devoid of housing.

[Jim Sweeney]

Fabulous. Beautiful clubhouse, too.

[Rob Rigg]

Wow - It is a real pleasure to see great photo threads of the English, and continental european, courses that are relatively unknown for those w/o local knowledge but show such quality and interest.

The heathland/parkland look is so distinct from 99% of the courses you get in the US - almost everything about this course looks either natural or, at a minimum, in balance with the surroundings - and very fun most importantly.

Thanks Mark - Can't wait to see the back nine.

[Mark_Rowlinson]

It's not remote by modern standards, but it was remote, especially during the world wars when few could obtain petrol. There was/is a station nearby but it's on a very rural line connecting Manchester, Knutsford, Northwich and Chester. The membership was drawn from a wide area and committee members were selected by where they lived, so that they might encourage further members from that town or village. 

Bill, There have been attempts to re-route the course in order to provide an 18th green which can be seen from the clubhouse, but so far as I know this is the one and only order of play.

[Mark_Rowlinson]

And the rest of the course:

10. 378 yards par 4




This plays steeply uphill from a tee on the clubhouse terrace. The fairway is a hog’s back and the ball will run away to the left or right.



Martin Brown, the club professional, favours using a hybrid club from the tee and playing for the ball to break to the right on landing, rolling down into a saucer from which it is easiest to control the pitch.



Apparently all the greens on this side of the course slope towards the railway which is down a hill to the left of this green. In the days of steam locomotives sparks from the chimney would frequently set fire to the rough, thereby keeping saplings down. Now, in the diesel era, the green-keeping staff must do this themselves.

11. 500 yards par 5




From a tee up beside the 10th green there is a delightful view of the fairway far below.



The second shot is played blind over the crest in front, but there is a marker post behind the green.



Happily the ball will make good progress towards the green, aided by the downhill run in.



With a big right-to-left slope on the approach many shots come to grief in the trouble to the left of this green.

12. 149 yards par 3




Only a short par three but there is a big left-to-right slope on the putting surface.



On high ground this is a quick green, too.



Do not miss on the left of this green.

13. 311 yards par 4



Members say that this hole gets harder the nearer to the hole you get. There is a significant right-to-left break on the fairway.



The bunkering is not only for the big hitters.



The slope on the fairway and the way the green rises above its surroundings are evident here.



A couple of bunkers at the front of the green are well placed to catch those trying to drive the green.

14. 368 yards par 4



Perhaps my favourite hole on the course, pretty as a picture. The ideal line for the tee shot is down the left.




As the hole unfolds it becomes increasingly attractive.




It looks flat enough, but the green slopes towards the railway. Ellis Jones, former professional here, advised aiming at the silver birch no matter where the hole is cut!

15. 303 yards par 4



The tee shot is blind over the summit of a hill.



Looking back towards the tee from the hill.



By taking advantage of the downslope the tee shot should finish at the bottom of the hill leaving only a short pitch up to the ledge green.




Over the years dampness at the bottom of the hill has given problems and in winter this hole is often played as a stout par three from a tee on top of the hill. It is rather a good hole from there, but it gives two one-shot holes of a similar length in succession.

16. 197 yards par 3



Rather a difficult hole to photograph but, essentially, it is played over a deep gully to a green that is somewhat obscured by the slightly higher ground immediately on the far side of the gully. Depending on the wind and where the pin is placed this hole can play very long indeed.





Once again, missing the green to either side leaves a testing pitch. The green slopes down from back to front.

17. 361 yards par 4



Another drive to a marker post.




And when you get to the top of the hill the view is uplifting. It is hard to attack a pin tucked behind the bunker on the left.



This green, exposed and on high ground, is one of the quickest. As always at DFGC the view back up the fairway is appetising.

18. 481 yards par 5



Another short par five which should be in range of two shots for the good player. The wood on the right is out of bounds, even though it is in the middle of the course. ‘Why is it?’  ‘Because it always has been.’ DFGC likes its traditions!





Do not tangle with the patch of damp rough in the fairway short left of the green. There is more back-to-front slope to the putting surface than appearances suggest.



This hole is really the only one on which trees are part of the normal strategy (unless you are out of position, of course, on other holes). But there is more room on that side than might be imagined from the tee.



Keep your eyes out for natural history. This buzzard was after a sparrow.

[Niall C]

Incredible, people in shorts ! I'm playing my first round for 6 weeks on Sunday and expect I will bearing wearing at least 3 layers of clothing.

Mark- fantastic pics of what looks like a fantastic course. Thanks for posting.


Niall

[Jim Sweeney]

Great pics, looks like a fun day. Agree on the 14th- I immediatley liked it fomr your picture before I read your assessment. Do you feel that 17 and 18 aqr a letdown after the fist 16? Seems like it from the pics. Thanks for the tour.

[Mark_Rowlinson]

Jim, I'm very fond of 17 - it's like 7, up on lovely country, wide open and almost linkslike. 18 is quite unlike any other hole on the course. I've never played the hole well, which might well cloud my judgement, but there is something about it which says, 'How can I get back to the clubhouse in one hole?'  As I said, there have been attempts to re-route the course so that the round might end in front of the clubhouse. The problem has not been solved.  For my taste, the 15th is my least favourite hole, but the whole setting is so lovely, the club so welcoming, the conditions so favourable that it would be hard to bear any grudges against it. It really is one of my favourite courses. The good thing is that there is now a passport scheme between Delamere and my own club, Wilmslow, so I can play it for half price!

That said, the green fee at DFGC is not overpriced; they genuinely welcome visitors and it would be very rare that a visitor were turned away because the course was too busy.  They have a deliberately small membership and the visitor green fees are an important part of the budget.

[Cristian]

NGLC  (of Chesire)?  

Seriously the more open holes make me think of NGLA....

(from pics that is, unfortunately I have not played either)

[Mark_Rowlinson]

Cristian, I am lucky enough to have been to both. I know what you mean - there is certainly a degree of superficial similarity. That said, NGLA is on a much bigger scale all round. The gestures are huge. I didn't play NGLA but I stayed overnight having flown out from the UK that day. Next morning I was up ridiculously early, being still on UK time, and I walked the course and photographed it at dawn. There were probably more green staff out preparing the course than there will have been players playing it! Delamere has five green staff! The NGLA bunkers are huge in comparison, the greens much bigger and more contoured. However Cheshire is a small county compared to the whole of the American nation - it claims after all to be a national golf links - and I think Delamere probably stands within the Cheshire hierarchy in a similar position to NGLA in America.

[Mark_Rowlinson]

I think the only house normally visible from DFGC is:



It set me thinking. I cannot remember seeing a house from Sandiway, which is just down the road from Delamere. There might be a farm off to the right of the tough 14th. You can only see five houses and one farm from my own course at Wilmslow. At the Donald Steel course at Portal near Delamere there a couple of cottages visible. I don't think there is more than a farm visible from Crewe, but I am going from memory and I haven't been there since 1993.

I received an e-mail today from Martin Brown the DFGC professional who played the course today for the first time since mid-December. He said that I would be delighted to see how many Silver Birch have been taken out and that the pines stand out much more prominently. As it's such a great winter course I'll have to go there soon to see for myself.

As to Cristian's point about NGLA here are a few views of the course in general rather than specific holes which might support his theory about a similarity, the windmill notwithstanding!

[Tony_Muldoon]

An outstanding tour, I really enjoyed it.   Mark I don't normally go too much by classification but sometimes it helps.  A heathland course with trees set back, or a Parkland course with wide palying corridors, or just its ouwn palce?

Once again thanks for this most enjoyable round.

[Rob Rigg]

Love the holes where there are downhill approaches to slightly raised greens or greens protected with canted fairways.

This is a trait too rare on modern courses that I have played - downhill approaches can be challenging and fun.

[Mark_Rowlinson]

Tony, It all depends on how you define heathland. There is heather and I suspect there will be more of it as its growth is nurtured by the green-staff. I imagine that there is plenty of sand beneath the surface as there is a big quarry just over the hedge from the 2nd hole. It's called Crown Farm Quarry and there's information on it on the Cheshire Government website.

[Tom MacWood]

A fascinating photo tour, and I don't see anything in those photos to indicate a Simpson involvement. It is interesting how two long time partners can have such different styles. That is also true with Colt and Alison.

How much was the course changed in the early 20's?

[Mark_Rowlinson]

Tom, It was a fairly major rebuild. Below is the attempt to reconstruct the route of the original course and the notes written by Tony Leggard:




 
DELAMERE FOREST GOLF CLUB – THE ORIGINAL COURSE


One who sets out to write the history of the Delamere Forest Golf Club, - (2010 will be the centenary year) faces an almost insuperable task.  The meagreness of the Club’s early records can be judged from the fact that in none of the Committee minutes is any reference to the man who designed the course, or to whoever constructed it: - nor in the documents is there any record of payments to these people.  No plan of the original course is in existence, nor are any of the original score cards.  Fortunately it has now become possible to reconstruct the original layout in some detail because the late George Johnson who started caddying on the course in 1921 had a memory of quite extraordinary clarity and took the trouble to go round with me and pinpoint the location of all the original tees and greens.

It is certain that the firm of Fowler and Simpson, probably the leading architects of the period, was called in to re-design the course in 1921, since passing reference is made to their work in the minutes and accounts.  But now that we know what the original course was like, it seems almost certain that its design was the work of an enthusiastic but ignorant amateur, (perhaps Willie Clegg), since many of the holes must have been really quite astonishingly poor.  The actual work was almost certainly carried out by the ground staff.

The original first tee still exists as part of the Clubhouse lawn, though we do not know exactly which of the flat areas on the left of the path down to the bridge on to the course was used as a tee, - possibly two of them.  There were two large bunkers flanking the fairway on the left in the bank in front of our scratch tee, and one where a patch of rough and brambles can still be seen on the right.  The green was on the right of our present fairway, left of the steep bank, not far from where the grass bunker is now.

The second hole was a short hole of about 200 yards, played from a tee close to the out of bounds hedge to a green in roughly the same position as our present first green, though the green has since been moved several yards to the left.

The third tee was close to the gate at the corner of the course, and for a time was resurrected as a winter tee for our second hole.  The green was on the flat space between the men’s and ladies tees for our third hole, so any reasonably hit drive would have finished in the deep depression which catches a hooked drive from our present second tee.  The remains of the bunker in the face of this depression can still be traced.  In the 1921 revision, the green was moved to a position some forty yards short of its present position, and was relocated some years later.

The fourth tee was on the mound just above the wooden shelter close to the Ladies’ fifth tee and the drive was aimed up our fifth fairway.  The green was well to the right of our fifth green, and its site is now covered with small pine trees, gorse, and brambles.  It can, however, be roughly located by finding the remains of a deep bunker which used to be on the right front of the green.  The fifth hole was played from a tee close to our present sixteenth, though probably rather further from the pond, to what is now the bottom level of the sixteenth green.

The sixth tee started to the right of, and level with the top level of our sixteenth green, but by 1921 had been moved down to our present Ladies’ seventeenth tee.  The green was substantially where it is now, though the bunker in the left front of it did not exist.

The seventh tee was to the left of our seventeenth green, and has recently been brought back into use.  The seventh green was on the right of our eighteenth fairway, adjacent to the protruding corner of the wood where an ancient silver birch resided before blowing down in the wind, and has been replaced by some foreign sort of maple.

The eighth tee was visible until recently, just beyond this protruding corner, and the green is now our practice green.  Even allowing for the fact that the bank up to the green cannot have been as steep as it is now, it must still have been a pretty poor short hole.

The ninth tee now serves as the yellow tee for the tenth hole, and in those days there was no flat area for the drive to land on; there was a deep dip between the mound where our tenth fairway starts and the top of the hill. The green was some fifty yards left of our present tenth green, in an area now so covered with seedling trees that it is impossible to locate it accurately.
The tenth tee was just beyond this green, in effect some forty yards further back than our present eleventh tee, so anything less than a well-struck drive was unlikely to reach the fairway. But the hole, at 504 yards, was much the same length as our eleventh hole, because the hole was between the large bunker on the left of the fairway and our twelfth tee. There was quite a bank behind this green, which was levelled off when the present green was constructed, the spoil being used to elevate the next tee. The eleventh hole was much as twelfth hole is now, though the tee was at ground level.
The twelfth tee can still be identified on the path forward from our thirteenth tee, level with our twelfth green. The green was substantially where our thirteenth green is now, though it has been remodelled.
The thirteenth tee was originally our ladies fourteenth tee, though by 1921 it had been moved back to one of our present sites. Here again, there was no flat area for the drive to land on, there being a deep dip there instead; How deep can be deduced from the height of the steep bank on the left of the present fourteenth fairway, which is the soil imported to level it off. The green was much as it is now, except that the long horseshoe bunker on its left was then only a small affair at the side.
For a course not lacking in bad golf holes, the fourteenth must have been just about the best. Played from our ladies fifteenth tee, it was a blind short hole to a green on our fifteenth fairway not far from the bell. From there, the players trudged up a flight of steps up the bank past our present sixth tee.
The fifteenth tee was close to the wooden shelter serving our sixth and sixteenth tees, to the right of the track leading in from the boundary fence. The hole was a short bogey four played to a green on the right of the path some forty yards in front of our seventh men’s yellow tee, its site can still be distinguished together with bunkers on either side of it.
The site of the sixteenth tee can also be distinguished, a few yards beyond this green, and the hole was played to a green short of, and to the right of, our present seventh green, though it’s exact position is not easily defined.
The seventeenth tee was in the area of our men’s thirteenth tee; though since that tee was built up during the redesign, its exact location is problematical. The green was saucer shaped in a position somewhat to the left of our present eighth green, and remained there until 1963.
The eighteenth hole was similar to our present ninth ladies hole, except for a number of bunkers now abandoned.


HOLE   YARDS   BOGEY   HOLE   YARDS   BOGEY
1   320   4   10   504   5
 2   200   3   11   145   3
3   325   4   12   260   4
4   375   4   13   300   4
5   165   3   14   210   3
6   265   4   15   260   4
7   350   4   16   320   4
8   160   3   17   345   4
9   320   4   18   250   4
   2480   33      2594   35

If they bothered with score cards in those days
One might look like this: -


The Course length was: 5074 yards Bogey: 68





Competitions

[James Boon]

Mark,

Many thanks for this tour. Yet another great course you have in Cheshire and certainly one I'd like to give a go if anyone else ever fancies heading that way?

Cheers,

James

[Mark_Rowlinson]

James, I should be more than happy to meet you there as long as you don't mind my increasingly incompetent play.