TEE TIME: North Wilts Course Review

10:55am Saturday 19th July 2008

AS the world's top golfers are being buffeted by the wind at Royal Birkdale this weekend, spare a thought for the club members grappling with one of Wiltshire's toughest and most rewarding tests.

Situated on the spectacular Wiltshire Downs either side of the Devizes to Calne Road, North Wilts Golf Club offers its very own unique challenge for golfers of all abilities.

Partly designed by the famous course architect Harry Colt, North Wilts is a rare downland treat in a county saturated with parkland courses.

Club professional Graham Laing has stood watch over North Wilts since 1979, and has challenged the golfing community to pit their wits against one of the oldest courses in Wiltshire.

He said: "There's around 3000 courses in the United Kingdom, of which just over 100 are links courses, most are parkland and only about 80 are downland, which makes us quite unique.

"I think North Wilts is a really good downland course. It's brown, bouncy and firm and the fairways are nice without being too green.

"While a lot of courses have gone the way of Augusta, planting shrubs and flower beds, we have actually started removing the trees to maintain the downland character.

"Some courses are going to struggle in future because EU regulations will cut down the amount of water and fertilisers we can use.

"That's why there's starting to become this move back towards more natural golf.

"If you go back to the Open at Hoylake two years ago when Tiger won, the fairways were brown. That's how it used to be. I think that's what people will want more and more.

"It's about educating golfers. Here we have this lovely chalk downland and to me to try and change that would be sacrilege."

Originally carved out of the landscape as a nine hole course, North Wilts has been played as 18 holes since 1973.

With tight fairways and even tighter greens, accuracy rather than distance is paramount, as club captain John Woodhouse discovered when he joined in 1980.

Said Woodhouse: "When I came here I was playing off a low handicap and I thought I would burn the course up, but it caught me out.

"The greens are so small. I keep on about it but they're not going to make them any bigger.

"It is not overly-long but I think it can be a demanding course, especially when the wind blows.

"The sixth hole is a great example. You can take anything from a sand wedge to a three iron depending on the direction of the wind and it's such a small target."

Another tough approach is to the 18th green, where two bunkers lie in wait to swallow any stray iron shots.

And as Woodhouse explains, the cost of finding the sand can hit you in the pocket as well as on the scorecard.

"This year they have been designated as the captain's charity bunkers," he said.

"Every time somebody goes in them it costs them 50p, which goes towards Clic Sargent, the charity for cancer and leukemia in children.

"The plan is to present a pot of sand to the player who has contributed most at the end of the year. At the moment that's me, so I might be making the presentation to myself!"

Halfway through his term of office, Woodhouse has already raised £1,500 for Clic Sargent thanks to generosity of North Wilts members, who he claims are like "one big family".

"We don't have starting times here and I hope we never go down that route, people can always turn up knowing they can get a game," he said.

"I have no wish to go anywhere else because of the fantastic membership here. It really is a special place."

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