Leeds Castle Golf Course might not be in the city of Leeds – in fact, it’s in a small village in Kent – but it most definitely has a castle, and one that provides a stunning backdrop to arguably one of the prettiest 9-hole public golf courses in the South East.

The par 34 course, which is located five miles from Maidstone, first opened in 1924 and was built for the Honorable Lady Baillie, the then owner of Leeds Castle. The castle and the golf course was opened up to the public in 1976, and since then has been enjoyed by generations of golfers from all over the country.

Known as ‘the loveliest castle in the world’, parts of the historic building date back to the 12^th century, while its stunning moat, turrets and castellations are all in superb condition, making it a major attraction for visitors to this beautiful corner of Kent.

As well as popular tourist venue in its own right, the castle has hosted all manner of public and private events, including meetings for foreign heads of state, business conferences, open air concerts, and even served as a dramatic location for the BBC’s Antiques Roadshow. It is also a romantic venue for weddings, and famously hosted the nuptials of former US Open champion Retief Goosen. The grounds are also home to a maze, and what maybe the only museum in the world devoted to dog collars.

“We have something very special here, and there’s nothing like it in the world,” says Steve Purves, the golf club’s long-standing professional, who has been in the role for 18 years. “I feel very privileged to work at such a wonderful place, and hope to continue for as long as they’ll have me!”

Purves, who still competes in tournaments on the PGA South Region and Kent PGA circuits, enjoys giving lessons to golfers of all standards in this most inspiring of settings. Golf lessons are available for groups or individuals, with prices starting from £22.50 for a 30-minute private lesson to £60 for a nine-hole playing lesson, while a series of four half-hour lessons costs just £40.

The course itself has changed little over the years, although former Ryder Cup player Neil Coles was brought in to make some revisions to the layout in the late 1980s. The re-routed course now has a new 6th hole along the moat’s edge, and a teasing par three 8th hole, plus the 9th hole has been extended to a par four.

At just £13 for nine holes during the week, and £16 at weekends, it’s an extremely affordable and entertaining round of golf, and being just 2,843 yards long, gives golfers plenty of time for a pleasant stroll inside the castle once they’ve negotiated their way around the course.

Visiting golfers can simply turn up and play on the day, or pre-book up to six days in advance. But even better value Is offered through an annual season ticket, which represents great value at just £295 for an adult five-day ticket, and £395 for a full seven-day ticket. To make it even more affordable, payment can be spread across the year.

For those who play less frequently, the club’s new One Under Card allows you to buy seven rounds for the price of six. Also available in midweek and seven-day formats, prices start at £78 for an adult five-day card.

Both have great benefits and are available to purchase online at www.leedscastlegolf.com, directly from the pro shop, or by calling 01622 767828.

EXCLUSIVE GOLFNEWS READER OFFER
Buy any golf season ticket online and receive a FREE 12 pack of Titleist Velocity golf balls worth £30! To take advantage of this offer, which is valid until March 31st 2016, visit www.leedscastlegolf.com and quote promotion code ‘GNM2’.

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Set in the stunning surroundings of the New Forest, Bramshaw Golf Club boasts two memorable, but hugely contrasting courses, and a comfortable boutique hotel in which to rest up between rounds. Words by Nick Bayly

It didn’t take me long to discover that they do things differently in the New Forest when I turned a corner just a mile or so off the M27 near Lyndhurst, and came across a pig trotting nonchalantly across the road.

And then, around the very next bend, I had to slow down to pass two donkeys that were greedily chewing at the hedgerow, seemingly oblivious as I tried to give them a wide berth on what was a narrow stretch of road.

Such scenes are common for golfers at Bramshaw Golf Club, whose membership all but shares the land around and on which its two 18-hole golf courses are built. At the oldest golf club in Hampshire, the relationship between man and beast goes back many generations, with the Royal & Ancient game first having been played on Brook Common back in the 1860s.

Under the private ownership of the Crosthwaite Eyres family since 1953 (whose current generation lives on the estate), Bramshaw is a fine example of a club living in harmony with its surroundings. As it falls within the confines of the New Forest National Park, animals have the right to roam – and roam they do, even if it means ambling across a fairway while you’re in mid-backswing.

This is certainly the case on the club’s historic Forest Course, an 18-hole, 5,574-yard layout that is almost unique to these shores. Built on common land, it’s golf at its most natural, with only the tees and greens being managed, while the fairways are left to take nature’s course, barring a bi-annual cut to keep them playable. While the greens are partially fenced off in order to preserve the sanctity of the putting surfaces, grazing cattle, deer and ponies are left free to leave the odd loose impediment for golfers to contend with.

With stunning countryside views, and some challenging topography below your feet, it’s safe to say that a round on the Forest Course will linger long in the memory. And, at just £25 for a round, it’s an absolute bargain providing you enter into the spirit of it all.

And while the National Park is quite rightly very strict about changes that can be made, the club is planning to redesign the course next year, altering the order of the layout in order to better accommodate golfers and wildlife. The revamped configuration is set to be open on April 1, 2017 – when the new season officially gets under way.

While the Forest Course makes for a fun round, more serious golfers will focus their attentions on the 6,400-yard Manor Course, which opened for play in 1972, and occupies land on the other side of the Bell Inn, which was once home to the clubhouse, but now provides 26 comfortable bedrooms and a bar and restaurant for all to enjoy.

With over 40 years under its belt, the Manor Course has matured into a fine parkland layout, which, while not long by modern standards, features a significant number of tight, tree-lined holes, making it a challenge for all handicap levels. And although there are just 30 bunkers to navigate, they are particularly well placed, especially around the smaller-than-average greens, where only the slightest misjudgment can leave you reaching for your most-lofted club.

Highlights for me included the second, a 550-yard par 5, which requires two lusty blows to leave you a delicate approach shot over a stream to a green tucked into a clearing in the forest; while the fifth, a 500-yard par five is another typical Bramshaw challenge, requiring a long and accurate drive to the left-hand corner of a left-to-right dogleg to set up the chance of reaching the green in two.

There are four excellent par threes to contend with, the longest of which, the 7th, weighs in at a hefty 225 yards off the back tees, and presents a stern test for the less assured ball striker. The 273-yard 12th and 325-yard 14th offer a bit of respite on the back nine, with big hitters assured of a decent birdie chance ahead of the challenges of the 15th – a long par five that bends around the tree line – while final two holes require yet more accurate driving, with out of bounds all down the left on the 17th, and the 18th requiring a pin-point tee shot to a hole that doglegs left at a right angle to set up an approach to the final green, which looks like a very small target indeed from the fairway. All told, it makes for a thoroughly entertaining game, set amid extremely beautiful, yet easy-walking surroundings.

A friendly proprietary club, with a spacious two-storey clubhouse and a well-stocked pro shop, Bramshaw boasts a healthy competition scene, busy seniors’ and ladies’ sections, and a growing and active junior section.

With two courses to play, and lots of other things to see and do in the area, an overnight stay is all but essential for the visiting golfer, with the Bell Inn providing the perfect place in which to hole up between rounds. Under the same family ownership as the golf club, it offers 28 extremely comfortable rooms – and two more besides the clubhouse – all boasting en-suite facilities and offering the very essence of country house hotel chic. The spacious restaurant serves up an excellent range of home-cooked food, many of it sourced from the estate and other local farms, while there is a wide choice of locally brewed ales to sample from the bar during the inevitable post-round analysis.

So whether you’re looking to sign up as a member, book your next golfing break, or plan a society outing, Bramshaw Golf Club really does tick all the boxes – just watch out for those donkeys!

MEMBERSHIP OPPORTUNITIES
Memberships are available across all categories, offering access to both courses, as well as host of other benefits, including 10% discounts on spend in the clubhouse; advance bookings; free guest green fees for family members under 10; and reciprocal playing rights at 13 local courses. For membership enquires, call Stuart James on 023 8081 3433 (opt 4).

BOOK YOUR BRAMSHAW BREAK
Stay-and-play packages comprising one round on the Manor Course, one round on the Forest Course, and overnight accommodation in the Bell Inn, with dinner, bed and breakfast, start from just £109pp (Sundays), while two-night, two-rounds stays begin at £159 between Nov-March. There are special offers for groups, with one in 12 staying free. To book, call 023 8081 3433, email golf@bramshaw.co.uk, or visit www.bramshaw.co.uk.

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The most famous interaction between Jerry Pate and Pete Dye surely came in 1982, when Pate won what would become the Players Championship the first time it was played at Dye’s new Players Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass in Florida. Following his victory, Pate pushed Dye and PGA Tour commissioner Deane Beman into the water left of No. 18 green, an amusing scene with plenty of laughs that nevertheless highlighted the frustration felt by many players about the difficult new layout. 

Six years after it first opened, Centurion Club has developed into the epitome of a modern golf club, where its members enjoy first-class service and stunning clubhouse facilities to match the quality of its world-renowned championship course, writes Nick Bayly

The reasons for golf’s declining popularity are many and varied, but among those that encouraged the owners of the Centurion Club to set up shop on the outskirts of Hemel Hempstead in 2010 was golf’s failure to keep up to speed with the lifestyle demands of the modern member.

The lack of a genuine service culture, draconian dress codes, endless tee time restrictions, treating female members as second-class citizens, and a diminishing pride in the presentation of golf courses and clubhouses, many of them worn down by years of under-investment, gave the team behind Centurion hope that a club that dared to do something differently could not only survive, but positively thrive.

Located a few miles west of St Albans, and just a few minutes from junction 8 of the M1, Centurion has shaken up the traditional private golf club model by offering a genuinely five-star, members-only experience, while remaining both affordable, yet refreshingly unencumbered by the stuffy and elitist attitudes that many high-end private clubs insist on adhering to.

Representing a blueprint for how a golf club for the 21st century should be operated, Centurion has been open for the best part of six years now, and in that time has built up a 600-strong membership that is enjoying a fast-maturing golf course and the kind of facilities that you’d expect from a five-star hotel.

With that ethos, it will come as no surprise that you’ll find no club captains or green committees here, and you’ll certainly find no posters explaining the dress code (there isn’t one), and there is a refreshing absence of noticeboards. It’s access all areas, with not a ‘keep out’ sign in sight.

While the 18-hole golf course – more of which later – has been open from the beginning, as it were, the clubhouse, as is often the case in new builds, came later, with the impressive two-storey structure that spans the entire length of the large pond that guards the right-hand approach to the course’s closing hole, opening in 2016. The £5 million edifice is the icing on a particular appetising cake, the likes of which are no doubt being baked by the club’s expert team of chefs, who have turned the impressive ground-floor restaurant into a destination not just for golf club members, but for diners from all over the region. Saturday cream teas are a virtual sell-out, as are Sunday lunches, while Friday and Saturday nights always require a reservation to secure a table.

Michelin-starred Jeff Galvin, who is a member at the club, helped set up the restaurant, and although he is no longer directly involved, his ethos and commitment to quality remains very much intact. And while you can still get a damn fine bacon sandwich – on a toasted brioche bun, of course – in the relaxed surroundings of the upstairs sports bar before your round, downstairs in the more formal 80-cover dining room, the seasonally-changing menu offers a slightly more refined culinary experience.

It’s a clever part of the clubhouse’s design that it disguises its true purpose with such skill. All the golfing elements – the locker rooms and the golfer’s bar and lounge, are located upstairs, tucked away from the more public spaces, while the ground floor wouldn’t look out of place in a boutique hotel. Walk into the side entrance, and past the pro shop – which is more akin to a boutique emporium – and you’d be hard-pressed to know you’re in a golf club at all. There are no endless rows of wooden noticeboards and not a silver trophy in sight. It’s a light and airy space, that moves seamlessly from one area to the next, feeling intimate, yet spacious, and above all, relaxed.

Elsewhere within the building there are separate rooms for private dining, conference spaces, although only members and companies with connections to the club are allowed to host corporate golf days here. And while the main entrance at most clubhouses are often cluttered with a haphazard scattering of trolleys and golf bags, here, all of the accoutrements of golf, including a small buggy fleet, are hidden behind high stone walls – out of sight, yet close at hand.

The club’s co-founder and managing director is Scott Evans, a genial Scotsman who brings almost 30 years’ experience working in golf club management at the likes of Loch Lomond, Dubai Creek, Yearwood Lakes, and, most recently, Troon Golf Management, to the table, and he knows better than most what it takes to keep discerning golfers happy. “Our plan from the outset was to create a club that rivals and goes beyond the very best for its quality, while getting rid of the all the stuffiness and small-mindedness that permeates through many traditional members clubs. You won’t need a certain length of sock or type of trouser to play here, let alone a jacket, and we encourage all our members to bring their families and to treat it as their golfing home form home.”

Evans adds: “Our aim has always been to focus on providing the very best facilities for our members, and let the reputation and standing among the golfing community evolve. The challenge has been to create a quality product worthy of our location so close to central London, and to be considered one of the finest available.”

While the clubhouse is suitably impressive, the reputation of any golf club still quite rightly hangs on the quality of its golf course, and here is where the Centurion more than lives up to the hype. While many courses state their claim to fame on a handful of good holes, it’s as hard as it is unfair to single out any one hole at Centurion, given the quality and variety of the challenges on offer.

Measuring 7,195 yards from the back tees, which plays to a par of 72, the middle and forward men’s tees take it down to a more manageable 6,850 and 6,555 yards respectively. The layout begins in an attractive area of pine woodland on the western edge of the 250-acre site, where the opening five holes cut a green swathe through the tree line. A sweeping downhill right-to-left par five opens up proceedings nicely, before switching into a stunning par-three, where a raised green provides a tempting, if often elusive target.

This is followed by a superb 405-yard par four, which swings right to left, with a greedy bunker guarding the corner of the dog-leg. After the beautiful par-three fifth – a 160-yard downhiller to a flat green with little margin for error on all sides – the course opens out over more rolling terrain, although thanks to sizeable mounds between the fairways, a sense of individuality is maintained for almost every hole. The 450-yard sixth is a really testing par four, with a big drive required to bring a flag that is hidden behind a raised bank into play, while the ninth introduces the first of four significant water hazards, although the toughest of them is probably the 12th, a 400-yard par four with a pond fronting the putting surface to catch under-hit approaches.

The 190-yard 14th is as testing a par three as you’ll find, playing uphill all the way to a raised green that has trees back, right and left, and bunkers at the front, while the 150-yard 17th is another stunning short hole, with two trees standing like sentries behind the green, while water lurks to catch anything hit long and left.

The holes have all been given Latin names, such as Alma Mater, Pro Forma and Hydro, to reflect the Roman history of the local area, and the course closes with the aptly-named Ad Infinitum, a 545-yard par five whose green sits below the clubhouse. With the putting surface protected by a large lake bounded by a stone wall to the right, it’s a fitting finale to a thoroughly entertaining round that will test all parts of your game.

Prepared to tournament specifications, the course offers all year-round playability, with arguably some of the best putting surfaces to be found anywhere in the country. Built on sand, the bent grass surfaces are like carpets – fast, true and firm, yet receptive to the right kind of shot. Given its tour-standard quality it was perhaps fitting that the European Tour chose Centurion to stage the revolutionary GolfSixes event in 2017 and 2018, which not only introduced the golfing world to a faster, more exciting alternative to 72-hole stroke play tournaments, but also alerted the world to the quality of the venue, with many of the players that took part in the event coming away wanting a regular, conventional Tour event to be held at the club in the future.

That request has been met, in part, as next year the club will host one of the showpiece events in the women’s professional game, the UL International Crown. The biennial matchplay event, which is run by the LPGA Tour and managed by IMG, sees teams of four representing the top eight golfing nations in the world compete over four days of matches from August 27-30, 2020. It’s a real feather in Centurion’s cap, and promises to showcase the talents of the world’s best women players to a UK audience for the first time outside of the Women’s British Open.

For those that would like to enjoy their own piece of the action at Centurion, seven-day, corporate, business, and international memberships are offered, all of which are tailored to provide the most flexible options to suit the needs of the golfer, whether that be one who plays two or three times a week, or just once a month. Either way, being a member, or knowing one, will be the only way to access the course, as visitors can only play as a member’s guest.

“The different membership categories offer greater flexibility to suit each member’s lifestyle,” says Scott. “We want people to feel that it is their club, and they can come and go as they please. There are no tee times, no visitors, and the course will never be bunged up with endless inter-club matches or societies. We have created a club that is already renowned for its friendly atmosphere and outstanding standard of service. We want to create a distinct ‘wow’ factor which ensures that once you’ve visited the club you’ll never forget it.”

I, for one, certainly haven’t, and I believe they’ll be plenty of others out there who will agree with me once they’ve had a glimpse of the way they do things at Centurion.

For membership enquiries call 01442 510 520, email hello@centurionclub.co.uk, or visit www. centurionclub.co.uk.

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Golf course architects Tom Doak and Angela Moser, along with developer Michael Keiser, are off and running at one of Keiser’s three projects currently being built in three different states. Five greens have been constructed at Old Shores in the Florida Panhandle, and preview play on as many as 12 of the holes could commence as soon as October. 

Boasting a classic James Braid-designed parkland course and a stunning clubhouse, Bush Hill Park Golf Club has been enjoying a new lease of life in recent years, with the 128-year-old north London venue buoyed by a new generation of golfers that have been attracted to the club by a continuous period of investment in the facilities and a new emphasis on inclusivity, first-class hospitality and a family-friendly ethos

Like many golf clubs in the UK, Bush Hill Park enjoyed a significant uptick to its membership ranks during the pandemic, with the leafy North London club, which is located near Enfield, less than four miles from junction 25 of the M25, being fairly inundated with enquiries from men and women of all ages looking to find somewhere to play during those strange times when golf was just about the only activity allowed besides dog walking. 

Fortunately for many of those enquirers, Bush Hill Park had the capacity to cope with some extra members, as the historic club, which was founded in 1895, had, also like many other golf facilities in the UK, experienced a dip in membership over the last decade or so. While the pandemic brought pain and suffering to many people, one of the few positive by-products was a renewed appreciation of the great outdoors, and in golf in particular, largely due it being sport that, although extremely sociable in normal times, is also easy to do while remaining socially distanced. With visitor play suspended during the early months of Covid back in 2020, the only way you could get a game at Bush Hill was to join. 

Fast forward three years, and the club’s membership has swelled to a new high of 650, and a waiting list has been introduced for the first time in over 30 years. Seven-day membership is full, while a new six-day membership, which allows play on every day except Saturday, and the five-day membership, are also close to capacity. 

It all points to a very rosy picture for a club that not that long ago was on its proverbial uppers, with income from golf activities barely enabling the club to break even, let alone invest for the future. Now, with the bank balance back firmly in the black, and those who have joined in the last few years appearing to be in it for the long haul, the club has been able to carry out some long-awaited renovations to both the course and the clubhouse, bringing it firmly into the 21st century and beyond.

Stewart Judd, the club’s general manager, who has been in role since 2017, is justifiably proud that Bush Hill Park has become one of the most progressive golf clubs around, and he, and his fellow board members, are determined that the club’s future fortunes are permanently turned around based on the quality of the facilities and the member experience, rather than being a flash in the pan caused by a global health disaster. 

“Golf clubs can get a bit caught up with tradition and tradition is often a reason not to change, whereas we try to celebrate our heritage, but keep looking forward,” he says of the club which celebrated its 125th anniversary in 2020. “We are all about championing inclusivity and welcoming everyone, be they are single figure competitors, new golfers, groups of friends, or social members who simply want to enjoy our new hospitality facilities.”

The club’s progressive attitudes have captured the attention of several major awards in recent years, with England Golf dishing out Bush Hill Park with ‘Golf Club of the Year’ in 2021, while the venue also picked up the highly coveted Club Awards’ Club of the Year title in 2020 and again in 2022. The judging panels were clearly impressed by what has been going on at the club in the last few years, most notably in the area of women’s golf development, with Nicola Bennett, the club’s Senior PGA Professional, and a Golf Foundation Ambassador, helping to set up a pathway to golf that has seen over 70 women golfers come through the sessions, leading to over 20 taking up full membership. 

“We’re trying to achieve more of a balanced membership profile,” says Stewart. “Within the Women in Golf Charter we’ve set ourselves a target of another 50 female members between now and 2025. We’ll continue to drive that and we want to continue to improve things in the clubhouse. We refurbished our bar the year in 2019, and made it much more contemporary and modern looking. We want to try and keep that rollout going in the clubhouse – with potential to improve changing rooms and our restaurant area, which is currently being renovated. 

“It’s just carrying on improving things in the clubhouse and developing the golf course. We want to keep improving our practice facilities too. We’ve put the new bays in and practice green and chipping area, but we’ve got a space where we can put in some more holes and the aim is to have an academy course.”

The 18-hole course, which is neatly contained in just under 100 acres of parkland, is not long by modern standards, measuring 5,776 yards from the competition tees, but its par of 70, and a sextet of tricky par threes and four lengthy par fives, ensures that players must bring their ‘A game’ to score well here. Some of the fairways are narrow, tree-lined affairs, although it broadens out in places to enable big hitters to open their shoulders on the par fives, three of which are well over 500 yards long. The closing stretch of holes from 13-18 is especially memorable, with water coming into play on the par-four 17th. All in all, it’s an entertaining mix that will provide a challenge to all elements of your game in delightfully peaceful surroundings.

The installation of a state-of-the-art irrigation system back in 2018 has proved a life saver as far as the course is concerned during a series of hot summers, most notably in 2022, when many courses burnt to a crisp, and it’s more than paid its way in ensuring that quality playing conditions are maintained throughout the season. 

Once entering the club’s gates, the first-time visitor can’t fail to be impressed by the sweeping driveway that leads through beautiful grounds to the majestic clubhouse, the Old Park Mansion, a listed building that has been home to its members since 1922. The clubhouse provides an impressive venue for all occasions, with function rooms of various sizes, three bars, a restaurant and spacious changing rooms. There is a large patio at the front of the building, overlooking the 18th green, and a veranda at the rear overlooking the first tee, both of which provide great places to sit outside with a drink in the sunshine, and make the club the perfect place to spend time whether or not you’re playing golf.

Although the club upholds the traditions of a private members’ club, it also welcomes visitors and societies to enjoy its facilities, with pre-bookable tee times available during the week and at weekends, while society packages are also available. The dress code is very relaxed, with a sports bar where golfers can come in off the course as they are, while jeans are allowed throughout the clubhouse.

The club offers a wide range of membership options, with the full categories offered with discounts for families and age-related concessions for members aged between 18 and 30. A credit-based Lifestyle membership, offering seven-day access to the course and full member benefits, can be used to book tee times and play in all club competitions, and is a good option for those wanting to give the club a try before committing to full membership, as well as those who might only play once a month or so. The club also has a very active junior section and offers a structured junior coaching programme of group and individual lessons.

All told, Bush Hill Park has all the right ingredients in place to create a very special golf club and a very happy membership, and looks set to do so for many years to come.

To discuss membership opportunities, please call 020 3146 9892 or visit www.bhpgc.com. 

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Want to know more about some far-flung golf course that most people have never heard of? Want to dig into the details of the Golfweek’s Best course rankings, or those of other publications? Or just want to sit and listen with fascination as one of the most well-traveled players in the world speaks with incredible intelligence about great golf holes, long walks and dream vacations? 

With its stunning 18-hole golf course, top class practice facilities, huge retail outlet, and superb hospitality, Silvermere Golf & Leisure in Surrey is the perfect all-round family golfing venue at any time of the year

Occupying a leafy spot half-way between Cobham and Byfleet, Silvermere has been part of the golfing landscape in this corner of the country for nearly half a century. Offering a superb 18-hole course set among mature woodland and parkland, Silvermere is one of the best-maintained and most challenging public courses in the country. In addition to the quality of the layout, the superb practice facilities, the renowned Golf Store, and the wonderful hospitality on offer at the Inn on the Lake, it is the personal service and attention to detail that makes Silvermere such an attractive destination for golfers of all skill levels, from beginners to tour professionals.

If it’s been a while since you’ve played here, you’ll be surprised at how much the challenging 6,406-yard layout has matured since Neil Coles and Brian Hugget first designed it over 45 years ago. The trees that were little more than a nuisance back then are now extremely mature and make for a solid, yet fair, test of all aspects of your game. High handicappers often find the first six holes quite tough, as distance and accuracy off the tee are crucial, and although the fairways are quite generous, the rough and the rhododendrons are not quite so forgiving. 

The first tee, a nervous place for even the most seasoned golfers, has been raised in recent years to give players a better view of this tricky opening par five,. As you cross the road, the holes open out a bit, but still require a good long game to score well here, especially on the par fours, such as the 8th and the 10th, both of which are over 440 yards off the back tees. The two finishing holes are legendary. Both feature water, and have the potential to make or break a round. The par-three 17th, which, at 175 yards off the whites, looks further than it is, while the notorious 18th requires little more than a mid-to-long iron for placement, but it’s your approach shot that has to carry the water to the island green. Once the lake has been safely negotiated, you can breathe a sigh of relief and hope to two-putt for a well-deserved drink and a bite to eat at the Inn on the Lake.

The greenkeeping team have, as ever, been busy out on the course over the winter, and are currently part-way through a major bunker renovation programme that will see every single sand trap redesigned. There has also been plenty of work to improve the drainage, while water has also been added in the shape of a new pond on the par-five 14th hole, which significantly ramps up the risk and reward on the approach. The greens on the 6th and 11th hole have also been remodelled to create a wider of choice of pin positions, while the 18th tee has also been rebuilt to further enhance the quality of this memorable course.

As well as its golf course, Silvermere also attracts plenty of golfers for the quality of its practice and coaching facilities, which have been the subject of continued investment in recent years. The superb two-tier, 52-bay driving range is one of the best in the country, with the well-kept outfield providing plenty of targets to aim at for focused practice. 

The range offers Power Tees in the ground floor bays and Srixon two-piece balls, is floodlit, and is open early every day and up until 9.45pm at night, making it ideal for practice before or after work. Technology has long been forefront of the Silvermere range experience, with 48 bays fitted with the latest Toptracer system, which tracks the ball in flight for real-time feedback. The technology sees a digital screen located inside each of the bays enabling golfers to see the flight of every ball they hit and receive instant feedback on distance and trajectory. A free downloadable app also lets users store their data on a smartphone for later analysis. The Toptracer system offers a variety of game formats, where golfers can challenge each other to hit targets which reward shots hit closer to the flag at different distances. Golfers can also now purchase golf balls via The Golf More app, which enables users to top-up and dispense balls all via their mobiles, eliminating the need for printed tokens.

Range users have further reason to extend their practice time following the recent opening of new café on the range, where golfers can stock up on snacks and drinks while playing Toptracer games or working on their swing. For regular visitors, The Golf More app offers up to 30% extra credit on range balls top-ups.

Besides being a place to practice, Silvermere also provides the opportunity to enjoy first-class teaching, with the facility’s team of 20-plus PGA-trained professionals on hand to offer a range of lesson packages either in groups or one-on-one. There is a new Full Swing Lounge which combines infrared light waves and high-speed cameras to offer an immersive experience.

Golfers of all ages looking to hone their putting skills – and have a bit of fun – can head over to the club’s free-to-use nine-hole astroturf putting course that is laid out in front of the clubhouse.  For users of the putting green, the club are currently raising funds for the Royal Marsden Cancer Charity, so a voluntary contribution can be made via the donation posts. There is also an enlarged grass practice putting green next to the first tee.

If you’re after some new clubs, or looking to splash out on a fresh golfing outfit for the new season, there’s no better place to shop than the legendary Silvermere Golf Store – an 8,500 square foot retail space which stocks all the major equipment brands, including TaylorMade – which is hosting a special Tour truck fitting event here from April 5-8 – Ping, Callaway, Cobra and Mizuno, as well as some of the more to hard to find ones, such as Evnroll putters and XXIO. The clothing rails are filled with all the latest apparel collections. Alongside established brands such as Under Armour, Galvin Green, Adidas and J.Lindeberg, more recent additions to the store include apparel collections from brands such as G/Fore, Travis Mathew, Original Penguin and Forelson, while Planet FootJoy stocks the largest range of shoes in Europe from golf’s leading footwear company. The store is currently undergoing a refit ahead of the new season, making it even easier and more enjoyable shopping experience.

For a well-deserved drink and a bite to eat, visitors can head over to the Inn on the Lake, Silvermere’s bar and restaurant, where its variety of private function rooms – including the ground floor Waterside Suite – provides the perfect setting to relax, unwind and celebrate, whether it be with golfing partners, family or business colleagues. And with a number of meeting rooms and conference facilities, it also makes an ideal venue for a business meeting or company away day.

If you want to make Silvermere your home – in a golfing sense – although there are 60-odd retirement flats close to the 17th green – the current range of membership packages remains extremely popular. Seven-day membership, which offers unlimited golf, are currently sold out due to overwhelming demand, but there are a limited number of Monday to Friday memberships available at £1,119, while a pay-and-play membership, which costs £269, provides an official handicap and offers access to competitions, advanced bookings, and reduced green fee rates,

Winter green fees are a very reasonable £29 during the week and £38 at weekends, while Silvermere is also the perfect location for groups and societies, with summer packages (April-September) designed to cater for all sizes of golf days starting from just £46 per person.

With spring finally upon us, and the longer, warmer days of summer just around the corner, there really has never been a better time to pay a visit to Silvermere.

For tee bookings and membership enquiries, call 01932 584314 or for online bookings and further details on the latest offers, society packages and other news, visit www.silvermere-golf.co.uk.

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Golf course architect Brandon Johnson, a longtime design protégé of Arnold Palmer, has completed an extensive renovation to King’s North. The layout was originally designed by Palmer and opened in 1973 at Myrtle Beach National in South Carolina.

Home to two of England’s most picturesque parkland courses, and set against the backdrop of a grand stately home, the Brocket Hall Estate remains one of England’s finest golfing venues, whether you enjoy it as a member, a green fee visitor or a golf break guest

Like many golf clubs in post-Covid UK, Brocket Hall has enjoyed something of a boom over the last three years. While for some venues the surge in golf participation has served to add the icing to the top of an already well-baked cake, for Brocket Hall the renewed interest in golf club membership has provided something of a lifeline following a period of uncertainty and instability. 

Since emerging from the pandemic, the last 18 months has seen The Melbourne Club – as Brocket Hall Estate’s golf club element has been known since 2019 – enjoy significant growth, with the membership ranks rising from 400 to a new high of 950, and that comes in the face of the introduction of a £6,200 joining fee. Bookings for society and corporate days have also improved dramatically, with many of the golf events that were hosted in 2022 having already rebooked for 2023. And with the golf breaks and wedding and events market having also rebounded in spectacular fashion, the future is looking busier and brighter than it has in a long time at the Welwyn-based venue, which is located on a stunning 500-acre estate some five miles from St Albans and 20 miles from the centre of London.

Having played Brocket’s two courses – The Melbourne and The Palmerston – several times each over a decade ago, I was interested to come back and see how they had matured in that time. The former, which was designed by Peter Alliss and Clive Clark, is the older of the two, having first opened in 1992, and enjoys frontal views of the magnificent hall and features a course which criss-crosses over the River Lea no less than four times. Measuring 6,616 yards from the back tees, the par-72 Melbourne represents an enjoyable but thoroughly challenging test.

The aforementioned river is in play right from the off, waiting to catch anything struck too far to the right at the short par-4 first, while the par-3 second requires a full 170-yard carry directly across the water to a green which is protected by two giant willows on both sides. The wet stuff is back in action at the par-4 fourth, which requires a long drive to open up sight of the green, this time the other side of the river. The view from here, with the old bridge and weir in full flow, is a sight to behold. 

The course then moves away from the water. A short par-5 and mid-length par-3 follow before a fine short par-4 with small raised green at the 7th, which features treacherous bunkering. The 8th is a 90-degree dogleg with a fabulous approach over a valley before the front nine ends with a short downhill par-3 that sits right by the hall. 

After a quick stop at the halfway house, you get eased into the back nine with a gentle downhill par 5. But don’t get your hopes up as what follows is a brutal uphill par four, that, at 475 yards, only the biggest hitters will find in two. The course then heads back into the woods with a pair of cracking par fours followed by a 200-yard plus par-3. The 15th is another dogleg with the approach shot down the hill to the green on the waterside, while 16th, Waterfall, is another breathtaking holes, which is in effect a reverse of the fourth, requiring a 170-yard second shot over the water, again in sight of the bridge and weir. A short uphill par 4, the 17th, with its green surrounded by a sand-filled moat gives little warning as to what’s to follow for the final hole.

Standing on top of the hill you look straight down at the mighty Brocket Hall, the green in the distance on the far side of the imposing waterway. Follow the winding fairway or boom a drive over the scrub – if you find the short stuff the ball will run down leaving you to decide if to lay up or go for it in two. Most – including me – chicken out, but that still leaves a 140-yard carry over the water to a green that slopes from back to front. Find the putting surface and then enjoy the ride on the quirky, rope-drawn ferry that transports you effortlessly across the water to the safety of dry land on the other side. 

All in all, it’s a memorable round – indeed, better than I remembered ¬– with an intriguing mix of holes that demand your respect and attention at every turn. What was just as impressive was the conditioning, with the greens running as smoothly as the billiard table that no doubt adorns the hall’s games room, while the fairways were also in tremendous shape, without a puddle or damp patch in sight, despite a month’s worth of rain falling in the days leading up to my round. A bunker renovation programme is next on the agenda, and that will only serve to further elevate what is already an elevated experience. 

With another course still to play, it seemed only sensible to make a two-day trip of it and stay at Brocket Hall’s excellent Melbourne Lodge, a converted Georgian coach house which offers 16 luxury en-suite rooms within a pitching wedge of the first tee on both layouts. Generously proportioned and grandly decorated, the rooms are both comfortable and suitably over the top, with ornate furnishings and vast oil paintings adding to the feeling that you’re a guest at an Edwardian shooting party. 

Guests can take their meals in the clubhouse’s excellent Watershyppes brasserie, while from the end of March next year they will also be able to indulge their tastebuds in the estate’s high-end restaurant, Auberge du Lac, which, as its name suggests, enjoys a stunning waterside location and is reopening to members and guests next Spring. Judging by the menu I was served at one of the pop-up nights in the run up to reopening, members and local diners are in for a treat, with a seven-course tasting menu curated by head chef John Barber easily up to Michelin standards, and certainly providing a suitably elevated dining experience that sits alongside Brocket’s other five-star facilities.

After a restful night’s sleep and a hearty breakfast I was ready to tackle Brocket’s second course, the par-73 Palmerston. Unlike the Melbourne, the River Lea doesn’t come into play on this fine course. Instead, there’s bold bunkering to contend with and avenues of trees. Course architects Donald Steel and Martin Ebert have created a strategic course where the golfer is presented with options. Central bunkers divide the third fairway, while the fourth tempts big hitters to drive left, over a small hollow and across the corner of the dogleg.

The short par-5 9th is also tempting to attack in two shots, but cleverly positioned greenside bunkers await anything but the best struck approach shot. Your approach shot on the par-4 12th must negotiate a chalk face which lies some 100 yards from the green. This really is a delightful hole, which requires pinpoint accuracy from the tee. The mid-part of the round is laid out on more open country, before returning to more tree-lined part for the closing stretch, where the 15th and 16th rival any on the course. All in all, the Palmerston offers a well-balanced design that provides a perfect foil to the drama of the Melbourne, and combined are certainly among the best 36 holes of parkland golf to be enjoyed anywhere the country.

A review of the golf facilities is incomplete without a mention of Brocket’s tour-standard practice facilities, which include a full-length driving range, chipping and bunker area, a practice putting green and a six-hole par-3 academy course. And with an indoor studio and a team of highly qualified PGA Professionals on hand, there really is no excuse not to up your game here.

So, whether you’re looking for a new golfing home from home, or simply somewhere to enjoy a slice of golfing heaven for a day or two in one of England’s most beautiful spots, Brocket Hall is ready and waiting.

STAY & PLAY AT BROCKET HALL
Golf break packages, including a round on the Melbourne and Palmerston course, overnight accommodation in the Melbourne Lodge and a full English breakfast, start from £282pp, with one-round packages available from £190pp.
For details of the latest golf breaks, membership enquiries and tee time bookings, please visit www.brocket-hall.co.uk, email membership@brocket-hall.co.uk, or call 01707 368700.

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