Bramhall

Founded in 1905, Bramhall Golf Club started out with a 9-hole course which was set on local farmland, complete with a farmhouse that doubled up as a clubhouse. Before the onset of World War I, Alexander “Sandy” Herd, the professional at Huddersfield, was engaged to design an 18-hole layout for the club.

Sandy, the 1902 Open Champion, was busy both as a professional and a course architect, designing the course at Stockport and fashioning several others in Yorkshire, including Harrogate, Pannal and Wakefield. Soon after the Great War ended, Bramhall called in Alister MacKenzie to suggest course improvements.

This apparently involved remodelling and lengthening certain holes, along with adding bunkers where required. He also advised the club on mole draining to deal with damp underfoot conditions prevailing over large parts of the course. The work was duly completed in 1919 at a cost of around £250.00.

Further modifications have taken place since then – including relaying greens to USGA specifications – but the course in play today is largely the one finalised more than 100 years ago. Nowadays, it measures 6,347 yards in total and plays to a par of 70, with fairways routed through avenues of mature trees across a rolling landscape.

Feature holes include the only two par fives on the card. The first of these is the 502-yard 7th which doglegs right to the target, with a couple of intimidating cross bunkers to negotiate along the way. The other three-shotter – the 543-yard 13th – turns first to the right then left to the green, with out of bounds running along the right side of this hole.

Short par fours at the 4th and 15th present decent birdie opportunities but avoid the pond to the front right of the green at the former and the centreline fairway bunker at the latter to have any chance of posting a sub-par score at either of these holes.

The longest and shortest of the par threes are probably the best one-shot holes. The 205-yard 6th plays across a pond to a heavily contoured green with more water lurking left of the putting surface, while the 153-yard 14th requires laser-like accuracy from the tee to pierce through a chute of trees to a raised green with four protecting bunkers.