TOP 100

Top 100 England 2015
62
Delamere Forest (▼ 2)
Northwich, Cheshire. Par 72, 6,348 yards. Designer: Herbert Fowler.
GV: I play this course a lot and it is one of my favourites.
It’s got four very short par 5s but you nearly always
come of having enjoyed your game rather than having
been beaten up. I am interested to see how the changes
that have been made recently to the par-5 11th and in
particular par-5 18th settle in.
RL: a great-looking course; look out of the clubhouse
window and you think ‘wow’. The 9th is especially
stunning; hit a rescue to a plateau fairway then a short
iron to an uphill green with the clubhouse to the right.
GW VERDICT: laid out by heathland expert Herbert
Fowler and revised by Tom Mackenzie in the last 18
months, our decision to elevate delamere just outside
the top 50 in 2011 now looks well judged.
EXClUSIVE
It’s a heathland with extensive
views over open terrain with a
lovely scale to it. It’s not long by
modern standards but it doesn’t
need to be. We feel it is now
well-bunkered.
I’d heard of it as it is an
original Herbert Fowler and
once I got there it was an
enlightening experience. It is
one of those places you arrive at
and immediately like. anyone
who loves traditional courses
The architect’s view
Tom Mackenzie on his work at delamere.
and clubs will love it. If I lived up
there, I’d join if they’d have me.
We first went in January 2013
and the work is complete.
Initially the brief was to add a
bit of length but agreed with the
club there was a bit more we
could do. So there has been
work on bunkering – both
reshuffling as well as restyling –
because they had been edged
out of shape down the years.
We looked at the old
photographs we had and
returned them to the style
Fowler intended, with softer
edges, as well as re-sited some.
The aesthetics have changed
but so has the challenge; six new
back tees have gone in and
moving bunkers such as on the
7th has stifened it. They had
started to take some trees out
and we continued that process
to encourage the heather, so the
onus is on heather, pines, sandy
turf and open space.
delamere is on a par with
most inland courses in england.
• Tom Mackenzie is one of the
UK’s most respected architects
and vice-president of the eIgCa.
22 golf World Top 100 england 2015