Danny Lockwood pays a visit to Woodsome Hall Golf Club
It’s easy to understand why members of Woodsome Hall might feel a touch over-protective about their golf club – and why they might quite like being the Halifax, Huddersfield and District Union’s best-kept secret. After all, who wants to share a winning lottery ticket when you can have it all to yourself?
However, times are changing at the 103-year-old golf club, which is set in the idyllic grounds of an estate thought to house the second oldest golf clubhouse in the world.
“Ardglass in Northern Ireland is dated 1405 and claims to be the oldest building used as a clubhouse.” said the club’s director of marketing and communications, David Russell. David, who has a background in media and recently took on the newly created role at the club, added: “We’re looking at further investigating the actual age of the hall. We are unsure as to the exact date that a building first appeared at Woodsome and it could even be mid to late 15th Century, although at present we describe it as 16th Century. As such, we believe we have the oldest golf clubhouse in Great Britain, and the second oldest worldwide.”
For 21st Century guests, the arrival at Woodsome is impressive. Driving in front of the hall, you pass the elevated first tee, which looks a lot like a Downton Abbey croquet lawn. The experience is heightened further when you step inside the magnificently preserved hall. I won’t labour the point here, just go and see for yourself.
A very healthily supported members club – about 700 strong – Woodsome Hall could be said to have been historically modest about what it has to offer.
Formed after a meeting of enthusiasts at Huddersfield’s George Hotel – the birthplace of rugby league – it opened in 1922 on 134 acres on hillside above the main road towards Sheffield, which was leased from the sixth Earl of Dartmouth, the club’s first honorary president. The Dartmouth family home is nearby at Blake Lea in Marsden and the tenth Earl is honorary president today, though his family sold the property to the golf club for £10,000 in 1939.
Inside the impressive club dining room – said to be formerly the local courtroom – guests can be assured of a first-class welcome and hospitality. As some clubs wrestle over the ups and downs of food and beverage, at Woodsome the quality is assured by head chef Will Spaight and his team. After 20 years at the club, his service is as dependable as that of PGA professional John Eyre, who joined the club shortly after Will.
If marketing the exceptional offering to the wider public hasn’t always been front of mind for the Woodsome board, it’s clear the club hasn’t been standing still. Maintaining a stunning property like this and heating it in an English winter doesn’t come cheap, hence the club running its own biomass boiler system. They have also created a bore hole to help irrigate the course. Meanwhile, some 10 years ago, the eight-bedroom en-suite dormy house was opened – re-marketed last year as The Cottage on the Course.
“It’s worked very well,” added David on the name change. “We get visitors who find us via places like Booking.com who probably wouldn’t know what a dormy house is.”
Gaining a license to hold weddings at the hall in 2021 further expanded the commercial opportunities available.
General manager Ryan O’Connor leads a friendly and dedicated team who take great pride in what they have at their disposal. “If anything, we might have been a bit shy about what Woodsome Hall has to offer,” he said. “It’s time we put ourselves in front of the golfing public a bit more positively.”
On the golf course, the clubhouse and adjacent buildings sit at the heart of two nine-hole loops. There are a few climbs – notably up the second, fifth and 12th fairways. The towering Emley Moor mast, a few miles away, is almost an ever-present reference point – though I found it complemented the quiet, rural idyll the course enjoys.
Tree-lined fairways must be navigated with care, while red markers down the left side of the first three holes are designed to speed up play for golfers who hit one offline.
No two holes feel the same and there are several handsome shots from elevated tees. The sloping landscape means most greens have an element of mounding around them with some distinct run-off areas which you need to be wary of. The putting surfaces tend towards large, flattish areas with subtle breaks, and they are very fair.
Although this is not a long course with its par of 70 and just one par five on each loop, judicious fairway bunkering keeps big hitters honest.
Woodsome Hall Golf Club (yellow tees)
1 – 399 yards, par 4
Wide and handsome, avoid the sand with a fairway finder from the tee. The approach is played over a steep drop to a flat green but beware the precipice at the rear.
2 – 389 yards, par 4
Played back parallel to the first, there are trees left, while the approach is uphill to a plateau green with front bunkers.
3 – 196 yards, par 3
A pretty par three played from an elevated tee to a green with bunkers and a narrow entrance, you must avoid missing at the back left corner at all costs.
4 – 420 yards, par 4
An undulating, long par four, the fourth is played a little downhill before turning left towards a well-guarded green with run-offs to the left side and rear.
5 – 270 yards, par 4
A quirky little hole at the bottom of the course, the fifth is played uphill with a sharp dogleg left and three bunkers protecting the elbow. Another plateau green features sand short left, while the banking at the back can help slow the ball down.
6 – 392 yards, par 4
A straight par four played back towards the hall from an elevated tee, the sixth features a slight right-to-left sweep. Beware the gully and play confidently uphill over the front bunkers to a mounded green.
7 – 159 yards, par 3
A very picturesque short hole, this one also features a tight entrance to a smaller green with a bunker front left and another below the surface on the right. The mounding is larger on the left side and it can help you find the green.
8 – 409 yards, par 4
Playing down then up, this left to righter features out of bounds on its right side while there’s also a diagonal ditch to negotiate. The best position to be in is left of centre – from here you can play confidently to an elevated green with a distinct MacKenzie-like back shelf and large traps for protection.
9 – 495 yards, par 5
Sweeping right-to-left with a fairway which runs away right, the ninth can be tricky to get right. The approach is played over a decorative pond to another green set slightly above you. There’s a trap below the green on the right, while the left bunker is above the putting surface.
10 – 152 yards, par 3
A mid-length par three with a front left bunker, you can hold a shot on this back-to-front sloping green.
11 – 307 yards, par 4
A short downhill par four with a dip between the fairway and green, you may not be able to see the bottom of the flag when playing your second shot at the 11th. Sand each side and steep run-offs to the right and rear guard the green.
12 – 317 yards, par 4
Short but very difficult, this uphill 90-degree dogleg left par four can be challenging. Don’t be tempted to go straight over the 17th as it’s out of bounds. A flat green with a bunker set below it on the front left corner also features run-offs beyond the sand.
13 – 125 yards, par 3
A short par three with mounding at the rear, the big bunker right of the green must be avoided.
14 – 370 yards, par 4
Heading to the top of the course, the 14th hole is all in front of you. There are two fairway bunkers right, then front bunkers guarding a narrow entrance to a back-to-front sloping green.
15 – 286 yards, par 4
Short but tricky, you should favour the left side at the 15th, avoiding the three elbow bunkers, before playing into a green that slopes away from you – the slope bringing the boundary wall into play.
16 – 478 yards, par 5
Big hitters can take on the corner at this par five, while smart hitters play into the heart of the corner of the 90-degree dogleg right. Your second shot must stay clear of three lateral fairway bunkers, while three more traps protect a flat green. There’s a drop to the green like the first hole, while steep run-offs guard the back left and right sides.
17 – 327 yards, par 4
A great looking hole played from an elevated tee – this is the signature hole at Woodsome Hall. Avoid the many bunkers and be careful with your approach as the green slopes away from you.
18 – 310 yards, par 4
A relatively short par four, the 18th dips then rises while turning to the right. A central fairway bunker and shorter one on the left can catch players out before you play slightly uphill to a green with a bunker sitting below its surface on the front left corner and a huge trap all down the right side. The green also has run-offs on the left side and at the back.
