I finally went and played this beauty yesterday. Thanks to this website (and Sean particularly) gems like this come to our attention. It was a thoroughly worthwhile day out.
The spur for this visit was my contact with our very own Clyde Johnson, who shall be helping course manager Daniel Robinson build some new alternate tees this coming winter. Daniel was kind enough to take me around and show me where they shall go. It's surprising that alternate tees have not been provided before and they shall certainly be welcome on the second lap around.
It was fascinating to study the Colt greens, which Daniel believes are genuinely the original surfaces. It is easy to believe this as the common Colt tropes of flared edges and bunkering on the high side is much in evident. They are a very engaging and technical set of greens, which still hold relevance in the modern era, even though the approach distances are generally much shorter than original.
With 600 members, Leckford can be quite a busy little course. There is a local membership in addition to the John Lewis arrangement, but one senses that the low key nature of the 'club' is much cherished by members who don't want to be bothered with having to book a tee through a pro shop. In the small pavilion there is a snack machine and a coffee machine. Green fees are paid into an honesty box and Daniel's office doubles up as a sort of pro shop if a visitor needs a few balls or tees.
Sean's photos do a fine job of giving us a flavour of the course. I'll just add a couple of the 8th hole, which appealed to me for the exacting nature of its approach shot, after the spectacular tee shot from on high. It's a typical Colt green that invites you to make use of the contour short and to the side of the green to feed the ball into the pin, but with the jeopardy of punishing hazards nearby.
Green 8: Take aim at the deep bunker tucked into the hillside to the left and let the ball feed into the pin. Don't spunk it into the front bunker as I'm about to after a perfect drive (see ball in middle of fairway). It's about the hardest fairway to hit so I was delighted.
Behind Green 8: Typical of Colt with a bunker tucked into the hill on the high side of the green, with a highly flared green contour to help the approach shot, but which makes a controlled escape from the bunker doubly difficult. some beautiful little pockets on this green.
I found Daniel to be very welcoming and I think he appreciates the interest shown in his course by golf architecture devotees. I think genuine enquiries to visit will always be generously accommodated.