The three courses at Woburn offer a subtle variety in terms of the questions they ask, but a quality they all share is that they provide a special atmosphere that defines a round of golf here. The sense of solitude and peacefulness is good for the soul and that peace is only punctuated occasionally by the distant cry of ‘fore’ or the deep tone of urethane impacting wood. One of the prettiest inland golf courses you will play, the test of the Duchess is one that bucks the trend and modern leaning towards width and angles and a plethora of short grass. This is an exacting test of accuracy and character that isn’t immediately apparent as you assess the scorecard, where you will need to consistently find the slithers of short grass that weave amongst the avenues of trees that define the line of play, to produce a decent score.

The first tee shot perfectly sums up the test that awaits you for the rest of the round. The fairway lays over a rise obscuring the rest of the hole, but you know where it is you need to play to, as the rest of the vista is a sea of trees. The reveal as you crest the rise is a fabulous one, as a tumbling fairway that dives and rolls before climbing towards the green site is laid out before you. Required is accuracy of line from the tee and accuracy of distance on your approach. The overriding theme for the round ahead is clear.

The 2nd hole is a par 3 that must play as one of the hardest for its length of any par 3 in England. The tiny hourglass green site is encircled by bunkers on 3 sides and played through the narrowest of chutes between the trees. There aren’t many pleasant places to miss and a mindset of minimising the compounding of mistakes will stop you compiling a card wrecking score here.

The 3rd was my favourite hole strategically on the front half. This short 4 asks a simple question; where would you be best placed to attempt your approach shot to this deceptively well protected green? With a cavernous bunker short and a green site placed at and angle that means it is narrow front to back, the answer is that it isn’t necessarily as clear as it may first appear. The theme continues for most of the front side with attractive green sites nestling amongst amphitheatres of trees, improbably narrow corridors marking the line of play, and accuracy of line and playing approach shots from the right areas being the key ingredients to ensuring the scorecard keeps ticking over. 

The weakest hole on the front side was the 8th hole, where I felt it wasn’t necessarily set up to play in a way that would be pleasurable for all. This almost 90 degree dogleg right requires a shot from the tee that carries far enough to take the corner out of play. I’m not convinced that is achievable from the standard tees for all levels of golfer, and the shot that is left if you don’t make the distance is a chip with a wedge to an area beyond said corner, as the inside of the bend is marked by trees that cannot be cleared vertically. I also felt trees down the right of the approach impinged the line to the green site, even from certain areas on the fairway. If I had free reign to make changes to the course, I would start with the 8th and an assessment of what could be done to make what could be a strong hole, more playable.