Braintree

Braintree Golf Club was founded in 1891, which makes it the third oldest in Essex. The club’s original course was located at Chapel Farm on the outskirts of Braintree, serving the club for thirty years until it relocated to Chapel Hill in 1921 after a 2-year notice to quit the property was issued by the landlord.

Fifty years further down the line, with the possibility of the Braintree by-pass cutting through the course, the club moved to Stisted, with Fred Hawtree given the task of laying out a new 18-hole course for the membership. Work started in earnest in 1971 and was completed two years later.

Today, the course extends to 6,185 yards from the back tees, playing to a par of 70. Holes are arranged in two distinct returning loops; the shorter outward half to the north of the estate is a mix of par threes and par fours, while the inward half to the south features several fairways that skirt the meandering River Blackwater.

Feature holes include the right doglegging short par four 5th (“Plantation”), the heavily sand- protected 130-yard 10th (“White Gates”), the toughest par four on the card – rated stroke index 1 – at the 394-yard 15th (“Chapel Hill”), and the closing 18th (“The Falls”) which snakes its way to the home green.