Clyde Johnson’s recent renovation work at Hadley Wood on the 1st, 2nd and 9th holes, is a wonderful example of how a partial course renovation can be a looking glass into the potential a piece of land holds within. That isn’t to say Hadley Wood isn’t more than presentable in its current form, but I believe there is so much more to come by rekindling that Alister Mackenzie flavour still further.

Maybe I get that feeling because of the change and stresses this club was put under, particularly in the first 50 or so years of its existence. It was opened in 1922 to great acclaim, a famous quartet of players (including Harry Vardon) playing on that opening day, and you can see from the old photographs what a triumph the golf course was, beautifully bunkered and boasting abundant multi-hole vistas. But the land ownership situation had always been complicated and with World War 2 coming when it did, in the subsequent years the club faced a number of near misses and comprising moments. Fine holes were lost, peril was close at hand, and it wasn’t until 1976 when the club purchased the freehold of the land containing the golf course that things began to settle.

The club have wonderful records that show there have been four distinct layouts of the course, including a brief arrangement of 27 holes before the war. The original routing was arranged in two loops of nine returning to the clubhouse (as Mackenzie liked to do). What you see from the four sets of plans is that, although holes have changed, fairways have moved and the routing has subtly shifted, the 18 green sites today were all part of the 27 hole pre-war offering and 16 of the 18 are the original putting surfaces, at least in location. The final changes to the routing were the creation of the two par 3’s (3&10) which replaced the 11th and the 12th from the original layout. The structure of the course has laid largely untouched since around 1970.

The Hadley Wood you play today opens with two of the newly renovated holes. I’m told the 1st is a marked improvement, and the green site is a wild and wonderful opening test of the flat stick. The 2nd however is a whole different ball game, a complete jaw dropping Mackenzie-esque wow moment from the tee, where playfully shaped bunkers line the driver landing zone and encircle the treacherous green.

The 3rd and 4th holes are the weakest two holes on the course for me and it was no surprise that neither were original Mackenzie holes. The 3rd green was created after the expansion to 27 holes and was played to as a par 4, which is how the approach shot to this now par 3 feels. The 4th is a strange dog leg left where the tee shot feels awkward and the green feels out of character. It turns out this hole was played in the opposite direction and the green was actually a par 3 (the 3rd from the original design) which makes much more sense on reflection.

The journey from there on to the newly renovated 9th is all brilliant stuff, back to the Mackenzie routing with his penchant for visual deception abundantly on show. I particularly liked the testing par 4 5th, bunkered so attractively, and the dimunitive par 3 7th played down towards the lake and to a quite terrifying slippery tiered front to back green. The new 9th is even more of a revelation than the 2nd, this short par 4 bursting with strategical interest. The temptation is to pull the driver out and force the ball up towards the plateau green defended by an angry looking bunker complex short and left. However, dependent on the position of the pin, it might be a prudent play to lay back and allow yourself a fuller shot to allow you to apply enough control on your approach.

The back nine is much closer to its original form, with the last 5 holes playing pretty much as they did in 1922. Of the two non-original holes and green sites, I prefer the par 3 10th to the 3rd, if nothing more than on an aesthetic basis, as the testing tee shot is played across the lake to a green bunkered heavily at the front. The 11th is a long uphill par 4 that was the 9th in the first layout, returning you to quite magnificent clubhouse, standing statuesque a few yards beyond the short grass. This hole is a quality offering and I really felt it set the tone for the back nine showing a sustained level of memorable quality and strategic interest. An interesting exception was the 13th, like the 3rd and 4th, a hole that raised eyebrows on our first play. Having seen that the green site of this par 5 was originally a par 3, I applaud the creation of a new tee to try and persuade golfers to play it as a 3 shot hole, with a solid option being to play your approach from where the original tee once was. The 17th is probably the pick of the par 3’s for me, just pipping the 7th, and it is the perfect amuse bouche to precede the strong finishing par 4 played back up the hill to the house.

Hadley Wood is a club and golf course to keep an eye on. As it stands today, a general improvement I’d like to see would be for there to be an onus on trees removal and returning the sight lines closer to the expansiveness in the original photographs. A pretty much intact original Mackenzie, located inside the M25 with a potential complete course renovation in the offing, blends all the ingredients for a meteoric rise in the rankings. Whether the renovation happens to all 18 holes is yet to be seen, but if it comes to fruition, I think Hadley Wood will force its way into the conversation of being considered one of the very finest parkland golf courses England has to offer.