Woburn Golf Club - The Marquess

Having been a local to Woburn throughout my life, it has always been a club of much interest and one that in my eyes holds so much beauty. Woburn golf club has 3 championship courses – the Duke’s, the Duchess and the Marquess. On a number of occasions I have visited the club when professional competitions have been held there and walked the fairways admiring the towering pines of the Dukes course.

I was brought up to appreciate the value of money and when it comes to such places as top 100 golf venues, it wasn’t exactly top of the list whereby my parents would shell out the funds to play it. To be honest I would never have expected them to do so either!

I do now find myself fortunate to have a good career that pays well; however not so much that Woburn is a regular round - quite the contrary at upwards of £150/round.

One of the aims of playing the top 100 courses is to do it at a reasonable cost and where possible take benefit from playing with members and twilight rounds etc. Especially considering playing the top 100 with green fees alone will be over £13k let alone travel and accommodation! On this occasion I was fortunate to play with a friend who had contacts who obtained a round at a sensible rate.

Although I had visited the club, I had never been into the clubhouse. This is because the courses spread out over the woods are open to walk to the general public and it is not uncommon to see golfers out with their dogs attached to their golf trollies. From the outside the club house does not give away a lot. A brick built structure with a glass atrium seems quite understated for a club that boasts 3 championship courses. When you walk through to the reception, it is decked out with no expense spared. There is a lovely chandelier in the entrance made from deer antlers (no doubt recovered from the woods over the years). The reception desk is set in front of a large slate clad structure that rises up to the atrium above and provides a very warm yet modern feel.

It is was good to find a pro shop that actually stocked golf clubs as they tend to be a dying convenience due to being out priced by the internet and large outlets. Mind you I wouldn't purchase much more than a course planner due to the eye watering prices in there!

On checking our party in at the pro shop we proceeded to have a bacon sarnie in the Bloomsbury room which is for use by all. There is a member’s bar tucked away for the privileged!

While not a particularly large clubhouse for a club this size, it was plenty adequate and was immaculate throughout.

After breakfast we picked up our buggy which was spotless. We racked up the bags and headed out to the putting area. I don't usually have a buggy as I prefer to walk, however one of our party members would have struggled with the distance hence we had one on this occasion.

 

The Marquess has its own putting area to the Dukes and Duchess and I knew that the course was looking to be a challenge going by the slopes installed to the putting green. They had a good amount of break in them considering the amount of rainfall that the course had received in the previous 24 hours. I was pleased to realise that the putting green reflected the course greens too which is one of my pet hates is when they don't.

Having previously played the dukes a number of years back the first thing that struck me about this course was that it was a lot more open than the Dukes (and for what I know about the Duchess too) although the fairways were still lined for the majority by tall trees.

The first hole is a generous opener to lull you into a false sense of security before the course starts showing its teeth from the par-5 2nd hole where a tug will snooker you behind the pines and a loose one right will likely be gobbled up by the fairway bunkers. Should you miss them then you have some heavy rough to handle and make it impossible to approach in 2. As it happens for me with a reasonable drive and a 3 wood into a firm breeze I was still 50 yards short of the green. Should I have had the distance you have a crowned green which is protected front left and back right by bunkers and thick rough to a relatively small landing area.

 

  

Number 4 has a rather intimidating drive into a fairway flanked on both sides by trees and draws resemblance to the 17th at Augusta National with the now removed Eisenhower tree

Hole 7 was a definite favourite of mine despite the pathetic 9 I walked off the green with! Playing off the medal tees, at 200 yards is the first of five enormous fir trees that split the fairway. To the left of them is the correct line but very tight. Going right of the trees is the direct line but you must be long on your first and second shots, otherwise you have trouble. The second shot requires have a terrifying long iron or fairway wood to push it forward, however you are required to be extremely long to carry the 200 yards of thick rough and another 3 bunkers in the run up to the green, alternatively to draw the ball around the trees and back onto the fairway on the left. Should you be short or find the top of the trees off the tee, the fairway banks back toward the tee and what initially seems a good hit will end up at a meagre 200 yards!

 

Get your drive out the way and you are nowhere near done. The second is troublesome where the fairway narrows on the run up to the green to 20-30 yards across. Finally when on the short stuff you have a challenging putt on the heavily banked green where a putt within 10 feet is an excellent outcome. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hole 9 is in my opinion one of the most visually striking holes on the course. You hit your tee shot onto an elevated fairway on a plateau where a well-positioned shot leaves a beautiful approach to this green. Find yourself short in your approach and you will be in the ravine or collected by the two front bunkers. Such a beautiful hole on a summer’s day with the shrubs in full bloom (can't recall if they were azaleas or rhododendrons). 

 

The halfway house on the Marquess is the best halfway house I have ever visited. It is a beautiful two storey timber clad building boasting its own bar and plush seating areas with plenty of choices of food on offer. For those wanting to play the back 9 only there is a car park behind along with a small putting green. I thought it was a great touch. The house is set back into the trees whereby it merges into its surroundings nicely and doesn't intrude on the course experience. 

 

Hole 11, might like the first is an inviting open drive onto a large fairway.

 

 

 

Hole number 12 I found strange and completely out of character with the rest of the course whereby it featured water and is the shortest par-4. I can in some way understand why Sam Torrance once criticised it as it is almost unreachable off the tee and now so for Joe Average (off the medals). A definite risk / reward hole that as it happened on the day, I probably would have reached the green easily but the way I was playing I opted sensibly with a 3 wood that I almost ended up in trouble. Definitely a strategic hole to play where not thinking about your shot properly will find you in trouble. 

How I played on the day was incredibly up and down and while I hit some good shots, I was pushing a few around and completely fell apart at stages. For a 14 handicapper, having four 9's on the card was not a good day for me. It did not however damped my enjoyment of the day.

 

The Marquess is a wonderful course and fully deserving of its top 100 ranking although I think the only reason it is ranked so low in the list is due to the preference over links type courses from those who rank it. However it may be my bias to that view.

 

I signed off with a par at 18 and enjoyed a pint and a mean burger in the clubhouse – recommended.