Woburn (Duke's)

The Duke’s, the oldest of the trio having being founded in 1976, is around 300 yards shorter than the Marquess but a similar distance longer than the Duchess’ and has a little bit more seniority about it.

This layout, designed by Charles Lawrie, has hosted several prestigious professional and amateur golf tournaments in its relatively short existence. And apart from a short stretch of holes, just before and around the turn, each hole is memorable and at times breathtaking.

I must admit that by the time I had played the tenth (after commencing at the sixth thanks to a shotgun start) I was wondering what all the fuss was about. Holes six and nine are sound par three’s, played in opposite directions over a deep valley, but don’t compare to the other short holes on the course and whilst there is nothing wrong with the seventh, eighth and tenth – all strong 400+ yard par fours – these weren’t quite up to the admittedly very high quality I was expecting.

However, it didn’t take long for the course to start going through the gears and virtually every other hole from there on in was superb and everything I had imagined and hoped it would be. Each hole is played in almost glorious isolation from the next and the round as a whole is enthralling as you walk the peaceful fairways.

The tree lined nature of the par 72 course, each hole flanked mainly by towering pine, silver birch and chestnut, inevitably requires straight driving and you don’t have to be far off the fairway to be totally blocked out from the green. Indeed at times you can actually be on the fairway and still have to work the ball slightly if the hole is located in a certain part of the green.

There’s no denying that the Duke’s course becomes very narrow at times and I must admit that I’m not a fan of ‘strategically placed’ trees but for the whole the Duke’s remains very playable. My only other major gripe was that there are quite a few times where steep slopes will feed the ball towards trouble; to the right of the first, to the left of the fifth and to the right of the 14th are three cases in point. On each occasion you may well lose your ball and be overly punished for only a slightly wayward shot.

There are many holes I could mention in more detail but amongst the highlights were the short third, played dramatically downhill to a wickedly sloping green in a mini amphitheatre of trees, rhododendrons, gorse and other shrubbery, the 13th, where you must play across a chasm to a plateau green, and the 17th, which curves beautifully through the surrounding trees.

However, the hole that trumped the lot for me was the right-to-left dog-leg fourth that climbs imperiously through a valley of pines and is played to an elegant two-tiered green. But just like the courses themselves everyone is likely to have their own personal favourite.

Despite many holes being played through mature trees the routing of the course does have a little bit of a feeling of going ‘up and down’ at times and many holes do run parallel to one another but this is a minor point as is my pet hate of the course finishing on a relatively weak hole from a playing perspective (long iron, flick). There’s actually nothing wrong with the 18th hole, except that it is the 18th hole.

On my first visit I found the greens to be true enough but only medium paced, possibly in protection of the European Seniors Tour event to be staged shortly afterwards. However, when returning in July 2017 they were immaculate and much quicker.

As somebody who loves their links golf, and usually tends to shy away from heavily watered courses with pristine carpets for fairways, Woburn is the polar opposite of my preferred type of golf and isn’t somewhere I should logically enjoy. But I did and that speaks volumes for the place. To be critical, because of the softer nature of the course, you don’t quite have to use your imagination on shots around the green as much as you do at seaside and top heathland courses but this actually made a refreshing change for me.

As far as inland golf goes Woburn is very close to the pinnacle; a fine English venue and certainly a worthy match for the three courses at the more famous Wentworth. It's a shame there isn't more variance in the three courses at this impressive 54-hole facility but that is more to do with the similar terrain and setting than anything else.

Read the review of Woburn (Marquess) here.

Read the review of Woburn (Duchess') here.