Brickendon Grange - Hertfordshire - England

Hertfordshire is blessed with a number of fine parkland golf courses and Brickendon Grange Golf Club sits comfortably within this group. The club was established in the 1960s and fifteen holes – designed by C.K. Cotton – opened for play in May 1967. The remaining three were ready for play in June 1968. A gentleman’s annual membership fee in those early days was twenty guineas... how times have changed!

The golf club is located in the parish of Brickendon, which is set to the south of Hertford, a mere thirty miles north of London. Brickendon Grange Golf Club has enjoyed a thriving membership since the outset and this continues to this day. This is a testament to the quality of the course as many clubs have suffered due to the abundance of new courses opening in the southeast of England.

Brickendon Grange is set in 160 acres of undulating countryside, featuring a wide variety of trees and a number of hazards including no less than eight natural water hazards. At least five of these are well in play from either the tee or for approach shots to the greens. The first of the holes involving water is the hazardous 5th, measuring only 350 yards from the tee but doglegging right at 200 yards, with an approach over a recently extended pond 30 yards short of the green. With the course boundary just left of the green, a very precise shot is required.

The 12th hole is a firm favourite at Brickendon, named ‘Cottons Choice’ after the great man decided this was his pick of the holes. It’s a tight drive with strategically placed bunkers at the landing point, leaving another tough approach to a protected green where more bunkers and trees stand guard.

The signature hole is the 17th, named ‘Ace of Herts’, which is undisputedly one of the best holes in Hertfordshire. It’s a daunting hole, firstly off the tee where anything left or right is punished either by trees or fairway bunkers. Then the approach shot to the green is likely to be played from a downhill lie and over water to a raised green. In our opinion the stroke index of 7 does not do this hole justice in terms of degree of difficulty.

Visitors are more than welcome at Brickendon Grange Golf Club and are assured of a pleasurable time. Many remark on the quality of the course, especially the lightening-fast summer greens. The Brickendon setting is lush, wooded parkland and a favourite part of the experience for us is the walk from the 17th green to the 18th tee. It’s a beautiful wander through the woods where you may contemplate your round prior to your last tee shot to the uphill par three where the welcoming clubhouse waits behind the green.

Brickendon Grange hosted the English Girls U15 and U13 Championships in 2007. Suffolk’s Heidi Baek won the U15 event and Wiltshire’s Hannah Turland took the U13 title.