The Duchess is the shortest and prettiest of the three courses at Woburn Golf Club. Major competitions, accolades and honours are heaped on the Duke's and Marquess courses, but the Duchess is lovely in its own right...
Woburn Golf Club (Duchess)
The Duchess is the shortest and prettiest of the three courses at Woburn Golf Club. Major competitions, accolades and honours are heaped on the Duke's and Marquess courses, but the Duchess is lovely in its own right...
4
It is clear when you step on to the first tee of the Duchess, you are going to need a supremely accurate tee-game to have any chance to play this course well.
At well over 400 yards and with barely 30 yards between dense, fairway-hugging pines, this much be one of the most daunting and flat-out hard opening holes anywhere. It is though one of the best on the course, with a rolling piece of land moving gently down before a sharp rise to the green.
The second is a par 3 that is again both a beaut and brute, requiring a mid-long iron to a narrow slither of green framed by trees set closer to the green than on any other par 3 I can think of.
The course then sadly drops in quality - the theme of narrow, corridor like fairways cut into the pine forest remains, but the holes are less memorable, at least not for the right reasons.
After the simple short par 4 3rd, comes an awkward par 5 which is 500 or so yards but the narrow channel turns sharply around the 230 mark - to quote a certain Tyrrell Hatton "What good par 5s force you to hit an iron off the tee?".
A gently turning right but unmemorable par 4 (5th) comes next before a par 5, which this time does let you hit driver, though - it goes with out saying on the Duchess - you must be straight or your ball will clatter into lofty pines.
On that theme, the 7th is a par 3, less closely flanked by trees than the 2nd though on playing a slightly pulled 5 iron that looking to be heading into a green side bunker, I was a bit taken a back to see it clip a tree 50 yards short of the green and drop down: only premiumly accurate golf will work on this course!
The 8th is another sharp dogleg, a bit awkward to find the correct club for the dogleg though the slightly descending approach is reasonably attractive.
A longish straight hole concludes the front 9 before a rolling uphill par 5 starts the back 9. Then come two particularly narrow and tough doglegs, one to the right (11th) then back to the left (12th) - I have to say I didn't particularly enjoy these holes either time I played the course; there were just too intimatingly narrow and uncomfortable to play.
A simple par 3 follows before probably the widest and longest hole on the course, the 14th. On most courses this would be one of the narrowest but after playing through so many tight corridors it comparatively feels like you finally have a bit of breathing room to swing freely.
The 15th tee shot ensures you refocus and if you can get a drive away - much easier said than done - many will be able to reach this short par 5 which uses similar land to the 1st to good effect in the uphill approach over a valley to the green.
A cute par 3 back over the same small valley is probably the friendliest on the course before an awkward hole (17th) with a big tree that the course planner suggests you aim at "and hope you miss" - once you are past this strange and frankly annoying design the approach to the green is actually quite appealing as the ground rolls uphill.
The last is a rather simple hole, curving right through a final narrow corridor of pines to the green.
The greens themselves are uniformly small and simple, there may have been one or two with real contours but the general feeling was you being so relieved anytime you were on one in a reasonable number of strokes you were happy to get out of there with a simple two putt.
I think there is certainly a school of thought around this course that its total demand of accuracy fairly rewards the better player and forces those struggling to focus on what it is they need to do to produce the necessary standard of accuracy to get round the course on handicap.
There is also something to be said for the holes framed in a forest - where the trees are well manicured as with the greens, tees and fairways - where you can only clearly see the hole you are on and the sound of impact cracks off the trunks.
Unfortunately, though I must conclude that while I did enjoy the course for the above reasons, playing it is something of a masochistic experience where any slightly open or closed club face at impact results in a humiliating penalty and amplified frustration. The forest is also so dense, recovery shots are severely limited and there are many holes that are not distinct from one another - when stepping onto the 18th we had to check the ground markers as we were sure we had played it before, such was the resemblence to previous holes.
The high green fee - surely aimed at corporates or those playing it alongside one of the other superior courses - along with its lofty rating on some lists had my expectations high.
But I would have no problem were it to drop off this list altogether an be replaced by courses that test the golfer in a more enjoyable way.
Tom Rogers
The latest ranking of the Top 100 Golf Courses in the World serves as the ultimate global golf bucket list. Most members of our World Top 100 Panel are seasoned golfers, each playing 20-30 of these courses annually while travelling extensively over decades to form their opinions on others. We recognise that opinions vary—even among our panel members. Rankings are subjective, and there are undoubtedly 50 or more courses in the UK and USA alone that could easily fit onto this list. Links Golf Pilgrimages The rankings
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