Downland Golf: Leckford (Old 9)

[Paul_Turner]

Not sure how many 9 hole courses there are in the UK.  Royal Worlington and Newmarket is the best and by far the most famous.  

While not in the class of RW&N, the old course at Leckford is  one of the best.

Downland golf doesn't get much mention here, other than Crystal Downs.  In England downland is high terrain, usually on chalk soil, with thorny scrub as it's primary foliage (hawthorn).

The strength of Leckford is in the terrain and greens...there are a couple of holes along natural, shallow valleys.  There's a great knob to knob par 3.  A big swinging par 5 with a strong sideways slope.  A green tucked away in a little hollow.  A couple of tricky and tiny raised greens.  A dropping par 3 to an island green (surrounded by bunkers).  And an up and down rollercoaster hole.


The best hole, the par 3 3rd.


Hole routed along a shallow valley, with diagonal bunkers that create the options. 2nd.


Looking back down the 2nd hole.  Nice green.


Sweeping dogleg 4th. Bite off as much as you dare.


From the bunker cluster.  The green is perched, but I don't have a pic.


The tee shot a 5 is not demanding, but the short approach is!


Gently downhill to the sunken green at the 6th.


Side on view of the green.


Like the 5th, the tee shot isn't demanding but the pitch is.  Tiny green.


Roller coaster 8th.  I think there's a filled bunker just at the ideal landing point.

I didn't get pics of the 1st and 9th.  But they were fine holes too, particularly the dropping 9th.




 

[George Pazin]

Question from this geographically ignorant poster:

The micro land movement (by that I mean small scale features such as bumps, swales, hollows, etc., as opposed large scale features like hills, streams, ravines, etc.) on seemingly all of the courses Paul posts are so much more interesting to me than what I've experienced over here.

Is it due to the land or more due to modern construction practices?

[JohnV]

Paul, looks like another wonderful old course.  I did a quick web search and it mentioned that they had another 9 that was newer up on top of the hill.  Is it any good?

George,

I think that it is true that modern courses have less of the micro-shaping unless they are handbuilt by guys like Gil Hanse or Tom Doak.  If you look at some of the older courses around like North Park where you play, you see this stuff also.

Unfortunately when you get a guy up on a big earthmover there is very little that will survive.

[Paul_Turner]

Question from this geographically ignorant poster:

The micro land movement (by that I mean small scale features such as bumps, swales, hollows, etc., as opposed large scale features like hills, streams, ravines, etc.) on seemingly all of the courses Paul posts are so much more interesting to me than what I've experienced over here.

Is it due to the land or more due to modern construction practices?

George

It's the moles  



Seriously, I think many of the swales and lumps/bumps are manufactured.  They just blend very well into chipping areas etc.

John

The New 9 is separate and much,much weaker.  A good contrast between the relative quality of shaping.  I'm glad the Old 9 isn't spoiled by combining the 2.

The OLD 9 is pretty tough...about 3300 yds.  Plus it's exposed.  Great shape too, for Winter in the UK...benefit of fast draining soil.

[Pete Lavallee]

Great photos as usual Paul! And yet another interesting
course I was completely unaware of when I lived not 20
miles from there; to bad golfclubatlas.com didn't exist
back then. Would this by any chance be a Colt creation?

[Paul_Turner]

Pete

Yes shock, horror, it's Colt and Co.  I have docs to prove it, but also, I've seen so many now that I can tell pretty quickly.  If you look at the first photo, the flared up right hand side of green is a giveaway, to me.  The course is owned by the John Lewis Group and I don't think they even know who designed/built it.

The bunkers would have originally have had more sand exposed....instead of grass banks...imagine that 3rd hole with the back left bunker with a sand face.  Same for the bunker cluster at the 4th.

Where did you live?

[Pete Lavallee]

Paul,

I spent 6 months in Southampton, in 1989, while my wife was
selling a house she owned there. Royal Winchester and
Stoneham were the best courses I played in the area. I did
know about Hayling Island but never did get over there.

[Paul_Turner]

Pete

I would love to see Park's Stoneham.  What was it like?  Looks quite undulating in the very few pics I have seen.

[Pete Lavallee]

Paul,

My recollection of Stoneham is that it is quite hilly. It was the
only course in the Southampton area that had heather and
gorse in play, quite unusual for that region. Definetly worth a
look, as Sean says.

[Mark_Rowlinson]

I think Stoneham is better than just worth a look.  It's got a lot of thinking holes and it plays a lot longer than its nominal 6300 yards.  I know several very good (scratch and better) players who have been unable to score low on it simply because of its natural defences.  

I like Haying, and the holes at the far end are good, but the start is pedestrian and the hole run quite inland in character.

[Paul_Turner]

Question for Mark R

Does Leckford look like Worthing ?

[Tom_Doak]

I went out to Leckford for a look today, concluding my research for the first volume of the Confidential Guide.  I found it well worth the trip.  The brushy trees have been cut back quite a bit on the 2nd and 4th holes since Paul's photos, and the turf was in lovely condition.

I also walked Stoneham, at Sean Arble's recommendation.  [I forgot it had been mentioned here, too.]  It's an excellent routing over hilly land.  There are at least a half-dozen strong holes (long 4's or par 5's) where you are asked to hit a long second shot off a downhill / sidehill lie -- I love holes like that.  It was a bit wet compared to the other courses I've seen this week, though ... has to be the soils.

[mark chalfant]

I am glad to hear that Leckford  is getting  some TLC.   It looks to be a pretty walk , and very  sporty to play 

Thanks for the photos, Paul

[Jon Wiggett]

Nice to see yet another thread about what looks like a cracking 9 holer.

Jon

[Paul Gray]

Just to add the missing holes, the 1st and the 9th can now be seen.

The first is a par 5 of only 478 yards. The hole itself dogs a little to the left, meaning you're working against the natural left to right slope. Play it sensibly and steer well clear of the ball hoovering bunkers down the right and you'll agree that it's a gentle handshake to the round.  









At 174 yards downhill the 9th is a good closing hole currently severely restricted by an overgrown tree to the left. If Colt were alive today he'd surely want this lump of wood put to better use on the fire! Remove the tree and cut the grass beyond it short and the running option which is currently sadly missing would be restored. I can only apologise for the quality (or lack of) of the photograph.




And a look back at the 9th green from the clubhouse.

[Mark_Rowlinson]

To answer Paul's question (almost a decade late) Leckford doesn't look like Worthing. Worthing is quite bare and many of the man-made features are conspicuously man-made with hard edges and a square-cut feel. I guess Worthing chalk is harder to manipulate than Leckford chalk.

[Tom Kelly]

Leckford looks really interesting. How does the 'New Course' compare?

I'm not expecting anything like the Old Course shown but would it work ok as an 18 for a society day? We tend to play 27 so I don't think 3 rounds on the same nine would go down too well but if the other nine is alright then it might work. I'm looking for something for next year and this might work as a cheap option.....and I get to see a course I might not otherwise get the chance to!

[Paul Gray]

Leckford looks really interesting. How does the 'New Course' compare?

I'm not expecting anything like the Old Course shown but would it work ok as an 18 for a society day? We tend to play 27 so I don't think 3 rounds on the same nine would go down too well but if the other nine is alright then it might work. I'm looking for something for next year and this might work as a cheap option.....and I get to see a course I might not otherwise get the chance to!

Tom,

Personally I don't know the new course but it's reputation isn't great. However, I think the club do offer a package of 18 on the old and 9 on the new so it might be worth a go for a society day. I guess it depends on how high brow your guys are about courses generally.

[Paul_Turner]

Thanks for the pics Paul.  The turf looks great.

(The New didn't look much to me and it's a good thing it couldn't be combined with the Old).

It's good that Leckford has kept true to its downland feel:  no dopey tree plantings just the scrub, lots of fairway and tough greens. 

[Paul Gray]

Thanks for the pics Paul.  The turf looks great.

(The New didn't look much to me and it's a good thing it couldn't be combined with the Old).

It's good that Leckford has kept true to its downland feel:  no dopey tree plantings just the scrub, lots of fairway and tough greens. 

Except for that tree on the 9th. Completely out of keeping with the excellent maintenance elsewhere on the course. I suspect it just kept growing and nobody noticed!