Cheadle is an old club – older than most in England – founded in 1885. It is, therefore, celebrating its 125th anniversary this year. After Royal Liverpool it is the second oldest Cheshire club, moving to its present home, only eight miles from the centre of Manchester, in 1895.
About the origins of today’s course I am a little unclear. The R&A Golfer’s Handbook gives the designer as ‘Mr Renouf’. When I last played the course (in 1993) I was told that the designer was ‘R. Renouf.’ The only Renouf about whom I am at all informed is T.G. (Tommy) Renouf who first came to England from Jersey in 1896, speaking very little English. He was Professional at Roundhay for a short time before moving on to Shipley, where he only stayed for a year before taking up a post at Carlisle and Silloth. He remained there until 1906 when he moved to the Manchester Golf Club. He moved again in 1930 to Stockport, lasting only a few years before accepting an invitation to resign. Was Tommy the Renouf who laid out Cheadle, or was there a brother? Did he come to England before Tommy? Could he have laid out the Cheadle course in 1895? I should welcome any enlightenment. I should also love to know how close today’s course is to the original routing.
Compact is perhaps an understatement concerning Cheadle’s site. Every inch of ground had to be used to squeeze nine holes out of the very limited acreage. There are crossing holes. On several occasions your tee shot is launched out over the green on which you have just putted. At one point consecutive tees have been constructed but a few feet apart. The practice ‘range’ involves a tee set alongside the 1st fairway from which the ball is struck across the 1st and 8th fairways. Yet there is something delightfully historic about all this. You immediately recognise that this was how it used to be at lots of old courses. And you begin to marvel at the ingenuity used to route the course in such a way as to maximise the strategic use of the topographic features. However, what is not at all like old courses is the upkeep; Cheadle is rightly proud of its thoroughly modern greenkeeping and the condition of the course.
A few alternative tees have been arranged to vary the play from front nine to back nine. The 6th hole plays at 437 yards and the 15th at 440, which explains why the front nine adds up to 2495 yards and the back nine to 2498, giving a total of 4993 yards for 18 holes with a par of 64 but a standard scratch of 65, a sign that this course is no pushover, despite its diminutive size.
1/10 307 yards par 4
The tee shot sets a trend which will recur, driving towards a rising fairway. It does not rise by much, but it is sufficient to give little hint of the bunkers which flank the slightly curving fairway.
Over the last few yards the fairway sweeps down to a small green, calling for a perfectly-weighted approach shot.
There is a mischievous bunker raised up to the front left of the green. There is nothing subtle about it, but it does have a period piece appearance about it.
2/11 171 yards par 3
There are four short holes, eight in the full round, and they are all full of character. The tee shot is played downhill across a stream to a green set on higher ground beyond. Its surface slopes down seriously from back to front. The bunkers are set a little distance away from the putting surface. Might the green once have been more extensive?
3/12 328 yards par 4
From the back tee there is only a glimpse of fairway to be seen. The slope on the 2nd green is very apparent from this viewpoint.
The forward tees reveal the fairway rather better. There is less of a feeling of driving out over the 2nd green from here.
This is only a short two-shot hole, but the approach is subtly defended with a slight ridge obscuring the bottom of the flagstick.
Once again the green is small, sloping and plentifully bunkered.
4/13 421 yards par
All three of the longer par 4s run parallel to each other and the stream makes a reappearance on each. It should not be a factor to the competent player on this hole. There is plenty of width to the fairway. True, out-of-bounds lies beyond the trees to the right, but the more threatening problem is posed by the two big trees in the far distance on the left.
Finish behind these and there may be no viable shot to the green.
Looking back from behind the green, which is close enough to the out-of-bounds for it to be a factor.
5/14 97 yards par 3
This is a tiddler, but the putting surface is almost completely encircled by sand and the bunkers in front are set into a ridge which, again, obscures the base of the flag making distance judgment tricky.
Set just behind the forward bunkers this pin position is testing. There is nothing at the back of the green to prevent a ball which has been hit slightly long from running away down a bank into a shallow, grassy pit. Nothing but pinpoint accuracy will suffice.
6 437 yards / 15 440 yards par 4
The view from the 6th tee is of a gently rising, straight fairway.
The 15th tee slightly alters the angle of approach to the fairway, with a feeling that the trees on the right are now a greater factor. The little ridge into which the bunkers have been set on the previous green is clearly visible.
Although the fairway does not climb steeply, it does so just sufficiently to limit the length of a good drive. It is not until you are about 200 yards from the green that you get a full view of what is still to be done, with the remaining fairway falling to cross the stream, yet again, 100 yards short of the green before climbing up on the far side. It is not a big putting surface, but the surviving grass mounds enfolding it suggest that its area was once much greater. As ever at Cheadle the green slopes significantly.
While the stream should be of no consequence to the good player today, it must have been a serious hazard in exactly the right place a hundred years ago.
7/16 170 yards par 3
The stream reappears to good effect on this attractive, downhill short hole.
This green is handsomely located below the 1st green. It is not sufficient simply to clear the stream: it is preferable not to leave a downhill putt on this green, sloping down from back to front and from right to left.
8/17 404 yards par 4
To reach the back tee you return up the slight hill you have just played down to a tee alongside the 7th. It is not an ideal arrangement, but it does provide another hole over 400 yards in length. The drive through trees is tight.
The yellow tee is some 50 yards in front of the white and provides a more acceptable walk back from the 7th green. There is less constriction on the drive, too. Yet again we are driving towards a rising fairway.
This hole is all about three all-encompassing cross bunkers completely splitting the fairway some 50 yards short of the green.
There is opportunity to play a pitch and run shot if you duck the challenge of carrying the cross bunkers in two shots.
9/18 160 yards par 3
A short hole slightly masked by trees and a hedge on the right from the back tee.
The hole is abundantly guarded by sand. This cross bunker tends to obscure the bottom of the flagstick and makes the green appear closer to the tee than it actually is.
There is, in fact, quite a lot of dead ground, slightly sloping, in front of the putting surface.