One of the pleasures of working in golf is the connections you make, often with people whose moves to fairways new takes you on that journey with them. I am lucky enough to receive many golfing invitations, and during the Winter I spotted three that would combine very well on a short trip away. Yorkshire has more courses than any county, and despite playing most of the big names over the years such as the Golf Monthly Top 100 favourites at Alwoodley, Ganton and Moortown, there are still huge gaps in my golfing CV.
Hebden Bridge
- Par 34, 2,582 yards
- GF: £16 (9 holes), £24 (18 holes)
- W: hebdenbridgegolfclub.co.uk
My first game took me up an exceedingly pretty hill to Hebden Bridge for a game with Jim Mosley, a university friend of Golf Monthly’s former editor Mike Harris. Jim helps with the marketing at this member-run club where Craig, their one-man greenkeeping team and only full-time employee, presents a course in remarkable condition. With occasional help from one or two members, he should be very proud of what has been achieved on this outrageously scenic 9-holer.
Despite the vertiginous setting, it’s a relatively easy walk, and its nine holes include two real crackers; the opening par 4 which rolls its way to a green that’s hard to hit ,and the par-3 8th which is at the highest point of one of the most elevated courses in the country.
The views to 270 degrees around the course are genuinely breathtaking and I would have happily stopped here all day had it not been time to head off to my second port of call.
Otley
- Par 70, 6,275 yards
- GF: £47wd, £58we
- W: www.otleygolfclub.co.uk
I had been invited to Otley by their manager, Mark Moore, a PGA Advanced Professional with whom I had liaised when he was at his previous club. Joining him for a spot of lunch before playing, he told me about the changes happening on and off the course at this bustling and very friendly club. Suitably refreshed, we headed out onto the parkland design which is known for its opening handful of distinctive and demanding holes which include stroke index 1, 3 and 5, as well as two strong and testing par 3s.
Keep your score going here, as Mark did and I didn’t, and you are on for a good round. A pair of very pretty streams, or becks, come into play on several holes, and these make an already attractive course even prettier, as well as more interesting and strategic.
The two fine par 5s at 6 and 8 offer the possibility of redemption though each is protected by Gill Beck, and while the back nine may be shorter, it is not necessarily any easier. I greatly enjoyed my visit, and it seemed to me that this is a club whose stock is set to rise.
Sand Moor
- Par 71, 6,360 yards
- GF: £125
- W: sandmoorgolf.co.uk
My final invitation had come not from a manager, but from John Winter, a very keen Top 100 assessor for Golf Monthly who is a member at Dunstable Downs. He has family in West Yorkshire, so had recently taken up country membership at Sand Moor. Adjacent to Moortown and Alwoodley, it makes for a trinity just about as holy as the three Ws in Surrey, and is a course that had been on my radar for years. We were lucky enough to play with Chris Brown, the club’s general manager, who could not have been more welcoming or engaging.
This heathland/moorland mix is packed with interest and variety, frequently changing direction, and with that perfect amount of elevation change to create interest, views and strategy without straining the leg muscles too much.
Extensive tree clearance and bunker work over recent years has transformed the Alister Mackenzie design from good to great, and it’s the kind of design that will ask all the right questions, but not beat you up if you get the answers wrong. I’m aware that I often make reference to a particularly strong selection of par 3s, but there is no avoiding that here; they are all top drawer!
John is clearly a huge fan as he has joined the club, and I have to say that were I to live in the area, I would be more than happy to do the same… despite him being a member here! Sand Moor is indeed an excellent club with a course to match.
There is just so much golf in all of Yorkshire that you could never run out of new, different, and very enjoyable courses to play.
