This year one of my oldest golfing friends and I decided to take our annual mini-tour to the Birmingham area: for the past quarter-century we have travelled around the UK in either the spring or the autumn to play two 36 hole matches on (generally) two 'Top 100' venues, plus a warm-up at a lesser but still congenial venue somewhere convenient en route. 2019 was one of our sporadic ventures inland: Little Aston was a course (prompted by Patric Dickinson) that I have long wanted to sample, and Blackwell seemed like a sensible second choice, with Harborne (as per the Arble recommendation) the chosen warm-up venue. The weather got progressively better and warmer as the trip progressed, although there was also a decent breeze for much of the Blackwell match that concluded the trip.
Anyway, to start where we started, at Harborne - this was a genuine discovery and (for £30 each on a Monday afternoon) excellent value. The rather strangely expanded and dimly-lit clubhouse was not at all representative of the delights outside, with super greens and (as Sean says) some cracking Colt holes, albeit still with the tree issues that dog so many UK courses of this type and vintage. The truly enticing photographs in the Harborne clubhouse of what the course once looked like, replete with some very substantial bunkers set amidst open country, only show what could still be rediscovered, although significant tree planting on the course boundaries has probably been inevitable given the housing and population growth in the area as a whole. Nonetheless a proper golf course, emphatically, and one I would recommend to any GCA enthusiast looking for a cheap, swift and accessible game in the Birmingham area.
The next day at Little Aston was, taken all in all as a Visitor Experience, one of the single best day's golf that either of us had ever experienced. Given LA's reputation historically as a rather forbidding establishment (doubtless unfair), the sheer warmth and helpfulness of the clubhouse welcome was exceptional, as was the golf course itself: some brilliantly clever holes, with very easy walking (not unimportant when carrying twelve clubs for 36 holes), exemplary bunkering, and a pleasing use of fairway width. Greens excellent, and still of a bewitching calibre that Patric Dickinson would recognise nearly seventy years on from A Round of Golf Courses, and also (as GCA has reported over the years) evidence of significant tree removal. Important changes have been made to the tenth, which now poses a tantalising question off the tee, and other amendments are afoot to what must be a very strong candidate for Best Parkland Course with Some Heathland Aspects in Britain. The whole effect was extremely classy, and we rounded off a truly memorable day with a final challenge on the celebrated LA putting green.
Our third and final venue was Blackwell, again much discussed on GCA in recent years. This was probably in the most amazingly manicured condition that I have ever seen a British golf course anywhere, and to some extent your reaction to Blackwell will depend on how you react to such a pristine environment: certainly the contrast with Goswick (one of the venues for the same outing last year) could not be greater. Blackwell had fabulous greens, and some astonishing bunkers, with much greater changes in elevation than at Little Aston. Only 6080 yards off the daily tees, with five short holes and two short par fours, but with the same basic SSS as Little Aston and after 36 holes we could understand why. If, in the end, the Visitor Experience wasn't perhaps quite the same as at LA, despite some very helpful catering staff, that's perhaps because the separation of Members and Visitors is as pronounced at Blackwell as anywhere we had ever been to. There are some terrific historic photos in the clubhouse, not least of Bobby Jones playing an exhibition match with three celebrated Midland amateurs the day after he had won the Open at Hoylake, en route to his 1930 Grand Slam.
Overall the golf on this trip cost us £230 each for ninety holes - very decent value given the calibre of course presentation and design. And further deforestation would undoubtedly help all three. Little Aston unquestionably goes into my personal Inland Top Ten, perhaps a notch below Alwoodley and Hollinwell, but with a special and distinctive savour all of its own. I appreciate that US GCA visitors probably don't come to the UK to sample these sorts of courses, but the golf around the UK's second city is emphatically worth sampling, and Little Aston especially so.