COVID, and related sheltering anxieties, had reduced the normal happy band of spring tourists from the Gogs in Cambridge to six this year. A trip to County Durham had been planned for 2020 and then postponed, but earlier this week we were at last able to get away, even though pandemic restrictions did mean amendments to our itinerary including, sadly, the loss of an opening game at picturesque Hartlepool GC, hard by the sea if not all properly linksland (and with one of the most unusual modes of access to a golf club I have ever seen). In the latter's stead we played at Bishop Auckland GC, a course which has been mentioned on GCA before for its possession of only two par fours in the first twelve holes: it then ends with six. Unfortunately some of the heaviest May rainfall in years throughout the NE of England rendered this old hillside course rather wet and squelchy, even if pleasingly unmuddy. Some pretty short holes, and some quite nice green sites, but nothing terribly memorable on a wet afternoon.
We then moved to the seaside and two historic golf clubs and the excitement mounted, palpably. 36 holes on the Micklem Course at Seaton Carew were followed by 36 at Cleveland (Redcar) the next day, and interestingly the consensus of the party was to prefer Cleveland - at least once the long slog of the first four holes adjacent to the industrial spoilage had been passed. Sean Arble has kindly profiled both Seaton (its Bishop variant) and Cleveland on GCA before, and both are unquestionably the real thing: Seaton is apparently to remove more of the non-native buckthorn that lines several of the fairways (which will only add to playability) and the one thing which my friends didn't like was precisely that 'choose eighteen out of twenty-two holes' feature for which Seaton has become celebrated. Quite a lot of potentially confused walking about to find the right route for the day. Some very clever green sites, and some very clever, and spare, bunkering, renders Seaton emphatically a second-shot course, in contrast to Cleveland where there are notably more carries from the tee (and simply more tough hitting to be done). It was sad to see the beguiling, empty seaside ground behind the current clubhouse where the Cleveland first and eighteenth once stood, even though this has meant the addition of some excellent new holes (14-16) on the seaward side of the property. The Marine Hotel, Seaton Carew was absolutely fine as basic golfers' accommodation, with extremely nice staff.
A fairly weary bunch of golfers of fairly advanced years (age-range c58 to c 72) then broke the journey home to Cambridge with a game at Elsham in Lincolnshire, a well-kept, pleasant but fairly generic tree-lined course in rural parkland which (like Bishop Auckland) had suffered from recent rain and was playing at more like 7200 yards than the advertised 6200.
Anyway one major point of these notes is to observe that the whole trip of 108 holes cost less than £140 all up in green fees (the price now of a single round at the large majority of the British 'Top Fifty', howsoever defined, let alone the various Open venues). Without exception we were warmly welcomed everywhere, and all of the club staff we met were impressively helpful and cheerful, despite the various COVID restrictions in place throughout. The one downside in each club were the soggy chips, apparently the local preference until we got as far south as Elsham, where something closer to a fry could be obtained.
In recent years this same band has visited Cumbria (based around Silloth) and Northumbria (based around Goswick) and in purely golf terms this was perhaps the least compelling itinerary of the three. For visiting golfers on a budget who want to sample something slightly off the usual itineraries, Teeside is nonetheless a terrific place to go. Hartlepool, Seaton, and Cleveland would make a splendid tour, and with any luck you might get more consistent weather than we did, although there were definitely (some) moments in the sun. And you would have plenty of spare funds for the eating and drinking and talking that are so central to a good golf tour with friends.