Hallamshire - Yorkshire - England

I played Hallamshire last week, on a hot, dry, sunny and windless late afternoon. The weather could not have been better. Usually I play Hallamshire in the wind and rain. It therefore gave me the opportunity to reevaluate the course in a totally different light, enabling a more objective view.

The course did not disappoint. The conditioning was excellent, the greens true, the rough penal and for the 1st time I got to appreciate the 14th -16th stretch so much better.

The course offers a lot of variety - the par 4 4th is lined by small pines and on this sunny hot afternoon, had the look of courses seen in Portugal and Spain (until you see the trees all bend heavily due to the prevailing wind!). The stretch 7 - 11 crosses and re crosses a valley through the course and the 15th and 16th have a real links feel with the low sun casting long shadows across the sandy based turf.

The 7th is one of the less strong holes, playing downhill, short and better to have played before, as placement is key but even then the ball can run onto trouble. The same can be said for the 10th as too well a hot drive will leave your ball running out of fairway and into the heather!

The par 3’s are all good, all different with the 17th in the quarry remaining the best.

There are some unfortunate lies and slopes despite good drives - the sloping fairway on the par 5 5th can be really cruel, but overall this is an excellent course and worthy of it’s ranking within Yorkshire lists.

Hallamshire Golf Club in my hometown of Sheffield sits proudly on the edge of the City, almost 1000 feet up and with the Peak District on it’s doorstep. So when the wind blows in from the West, as it invariably does, this is a tough course as the 1st 8 holes (apart from the Par 5 5th) are played out into the wind. The 1st is a tough start in these conditions and the par 3 2nd equally so. To keep your card intact by the turn is somewhat of an achievement.

Looking at other reviews I would describe Hallamshire as heathland/moorland - has the gorse and some linksy elements on some holes.

The 6th is a class par 3 and the 17th a stunningly set short par 3, which can still be a card wrecker. Hole 7 is a quirky short downhiller and the 8th back across the valley can play very hard on a windy day.

The 10th is good and they have just extended the 11th with some guidance I believe from Matt Fitzpatrick, who is a member here.

If I was being critical of the course I find the stretch from 14 to 16 a bit samey with 2 par 5’s and a long into the wind par 4 16th. I find this part of the course a bit bland. But that is being critical and then the 17th makes up for that feeling and the 18th off the whites is a nice gently curving to the left par 5 with the green right in front of the clubhouse

A quality track and deservedly best in Sheffield, though it;s not quite as good as the Hallamshire members would have you believe. Play it on a still day, if you are lucky!

Hallamshire Golf Club lies on a narrow strip of land at the edge of the city of Sheffield, overlooking the Derbyshire Peak District National Park and Pennines.

Golfers outside the White Rose county may not be too familiar with this course but it's certainly one they should familiarise themselves with as soon as possible.

Hallamshire is a difficult course to categorise. It's obviously not a links (although there are some linkesque elements to be found here), it features plenty of heather but I wouldn't class it as a heathland course (some do though including the Sports Turf Research Institute), it's high on the edge of the Peak District moors but it's not what I would call moorland, it's parkland to a certain extent but not in your typical sense and there are plenty of trees but it isn't a woodland course!

So what is it then? Well, my answer to that is... does it have to be anything? Why should a course be classed as any particular type, what does it matter? Hallamshire basically takes some the best properties of the above mentioned categories and creates quite a unique experience. The Hallamshire Experience.

Its elevation of almost 900 feet above sea level provides glorious views but also means that it is exposed to the elements (hail showers at the end of May on one visit). It also means that wind is a big factor up here.

Harry Colt has designed and influenced many great courses. This one might not fall into the top echelon of those but the 'Hallamshire Experience' is a very enjoyable, testing and rewarding one.

I dislike the phrase 'hidden gem' but for many that's what this course will be until they play it for the first time.

Ed is the founder of Golf Empire – click the link to read his full review.

Was finally able to play Hallamshire to complete the top 10 in Yorkshire, and it certainly didn't disappoint. The condition of the course was absolutely fantastic 2 days after having a storm, it felt like you were playing a course ready for summer. Greens had very good pace about them for February. As for the layout, it has an extremely tough 1st 4 holes, 450 yard Par 4 1st with OOB right, long Par 3 followed by 2 strong Par 4s. You then play a great risk reward Par 5 where your 2nd shot is played over a 50 foot quarry to a heavily sloping green. Another cracking Par 3 follows downhill to a small well bunkered green. You then play a stretch of extremely hilly golf holes, but the way they are laid out is very clever hitting approach shots over the valley and teeing off on the edge of the quarry. You then begin the finishing stretch, with a great mix of short Par 3 and 4 followed by 2 rewarding Par 5s. The signature hole is the 17th, a quite brilliant short Par 3 (Only about 135 from the very back) to a tiny green. You play from an elevated tee with a wide expanse of gorse infront and all down the right as the green sits right under the edge of a quarry. 2 very steep run off areas left and right make it key to hitting an accurate tee shot, it is a wonderfully designed short Par 3. The finishing hole is another great risk reward Par 5, gorse running the entire length of the right hand side of the hole. Another last he gorse bush and 2 cleverly placed bunkers down the left make it a tough tee shot. With the hole relatively short, you then have the decision whether to go for the green, but with a large drop off area down the left and clubhouse sitting 10 yards to the right of the green it is an extremely dangerous 2nd shot. Hallamshire is a great example of using every bit of land available and producing a testing but very enjoyable layout with a variety of short and long holes. A must play for anyone, oh and the views are pretty amazing too!

I completed the Yorkshire Top 10 (as it currently stands anyway) with a trip to the Hallamshire on a sunny evening in mid-July. The course is quite undulating (is there a flat course in Sheffield?) which leads to a variety of challenges. However, being located on the western outskirts of the city I was hoping for more views of the beautiful surrounding countryside of the Peak District to the west but except for sneaking a look over the wall at the back of the 8th green, I was slightly disappointed. Having said that, the view stretching many miles eastwards from the 10th tee is quite something.Broadly the course is an out and back layout with a couple of loops thrown in to stop there being too many consecutive holes in the same direction. It has a combination of tough Par 4’s heading out into the prevailing wind and Par 5’s which all come back the other way. If I had to be picky, I’d have routed at least one Par 5 in the opposite direction.All holes give the golfer some to think about both off the tee and nearer the green. Course management is very important and you probably need to play here more than once to appreciate this. This is most evident in the stretch from 5 to 10. The Par 5 5th has a wide valley which is not fairway beginning around 100 yards before the green which requires a player to either lay up with a very short iron or go for the green with a fairway wood – there’s not much scope for anything in between. 6 is a pretty par 3 but the steep descent to the green means club selection is a challenge. 7 is a short par 4 with a blind tee shot where all of our fourball party would have played very different tee shots had we known where we were going. The Par 4 10th is another downhill hole where prior knowledge is essential. I would guess the Hallamshire wins a lot of its home matches in competitions!The welcome was very friendly from the Pro and members alike and the clubhouse is superbly situated with a balcony to view both the setting sun and the action on the 18th green.In my opinion is not in the same class as the Yorkshire Top 3 of Ganton, Alwoodley and Moortown but sits comfortably in the top 10 – I just need to play it a few more times. RdD

Up on the Moors, Hallamshire provides a test to match the views, not least when the wind is blowing, as it most likely will up there. The challenge starts immediately on the 1st, as length is a major defence for the first few holes. After the tricky, but reachable Par 5 5th, you then reach the stunning downhill Par 3 6th, which plays its full length into the wind, and requires a true strike, as short and right is not an option. The course then moves into a more undulating section, placing a premium on course management and positioning. The back 9 offers 3 Par 5's that do provide a little rest bite, and the chance of a birdie, but are offset by 2 short Par 3's, on which a 3 is always a good score. The 17th is particularly pretty. With the 18th finishing under the clubhouse windows, Hallamshire provides a great days golf, on what was on the day a fast running course with small, quick and true greens. Well worth the visit if in the area.

At one of the highest points in Yorkshire, Sheffield's Hallamshire Golf Club can be found and this is well worth a visit. There is no friendly start though, straight into a 467 yard par-4, then a 200 yard par-3 and then followed by two more par-4’s over 400 yards – a tough run of four holes anywhere in the round let alone at the start. The 6th is a pretty par-3, downhill but all carry over the waste-land then the 7th is the short par-4 that all courses should have; a mid-iron from the tee should leave a short iron that needs to land short of the green (it will run on, trust me). The rest of the course has a really nice combination of holes that twist and turn up and down-hill. Pick of the second nine for me, up hill par-4 13th and the picturesque 17th, a par-3 with gorse and a quarry to carry. Nice par-5 to finish and very close to the clubhouse, so don’t go right! Just as a footnote …. Many courses have holes with names but is there a better hole name anywhere than ‘Bilberry Dumpling’ which is the fourth here? – The course feels like a strong 4.5 ball rating, so am happy to a rating of 5 in this case.

We recently played Hallamshire for the first time taking advantage of its winter fourball offer. The course is well known in the area for being among the driest, and open when others are closed due waterlogging. Despite the time of year the greens were in play and we were astonished to find what great condition they were in. Indeed even in January they were a lot better than many courses manage to achieve in the middle of summer. Hallamshire is renowned for the stiff westerly breeze that makes the front ninth very difficult. We were lucky to play in dry conditions and in relative calm yet the first four holes were as tricky as we had been warned they would be. A long par 4 first is followed by a daunting par three which plays 197 yards of the back tees. Even off the winter tees it requires a good hit and there is OB running all the way down the right. Indeed OB is a peril on the right on the first three holes. It was also hard to imagine that we were so close to the centre of Sheffield. Hallamshire is on the city’s south western fringe and has outstanding views of the Peak District moors, particularly from the par three 6th, one of the most delightful yet tricky holes on the course. All of us found the front nine a real challenge and it was a relief to find that seven of the back nine played downwind. An excellent course, we understand now why it is so highly rated and we will be back in the summer to be tested by the best greens in the area.