Golf Club - Northern Golfer

CourseReviewFlorida style inNorthumberlandLonghirst Hall’s courses are tip-top and really test yourability as Paul Corney discovered fishing for ballsThe brainchild of Ashingtonbusinessman, Tommy Dawson,Longhirst Hall Golf Club has comeon leaps and bounds in recent years.Built on a former opencast site, the original18-hole ‘Old Course’ opened for play in 1997 andis still used each year throughout the winter.The initial layout, created with a classicFlorida-style design in mind, is sprinkledwith lakes and water features and is hometo numerous types of duck, geese and swansall sharing their new habitat with passinggolfers. With a par of 73 off the yellow tees andmeasuring 6,398 yards, the Old Course stretchesto 7,160 yards (par 72) from the gold tees andhas been skilfully modelled to provide some ofthe most visually stunning holes in the country.In total, 42,000 trees were planted for theopening and since then a further 10,000 havebeen added along with an additional 18 holes,thanks to the hard work of its Golf DirectorGraham Chambers and his staff.Chambers explained: “Longhirst stems fromthe boss’s visit to Florida. A number of differentpeople were brought in to look at getting thecourse constructed based on the Florida lakestypes of designs. In 1997 the original 18 holesopened and that was followed by a second phaseof construction of 11 holes which makes theLakes Course as we know it now and the firsthalf of the Dawson course.“That was opened in 2002 and we finished offwith a third final phase which was the secondhalf of the Dawson Course. Hopefully we will beadding a covered driving range shortly whichwill give us a one stop centre with a number ofclub and academy membership options, alongwith various coaching options.”As for the two courses, the Lakes is atrue test of accuracy, with tight fairways andan abundance of water offering a seriousexamination of course management for even thevery best of golfers. The opening hole, a shortishpar four is followed by a tough four-shotter. Agood drive favouring the right side of the fairwayand avoiding the bunker on the right shouldleave a 150-yard approach, played over water toa green that slopes steeply from back to front.Played from the yellow tee, the third is astraightforward par five but from the medaltee, it is a monster of a par four where only thelongest and straightest of hitters would darecontemplate going for the green in two.With water all down the left and out ofbounds to the right, the drive at the fourth isintimidating and the approach to a long narrowwell contoured green with water on three sides,is not any easier.The fifth and signature sixth are both parthrees and to complete the front nine arethree par fours where watery graves awaitany wayward shots. Holes 10 and 11 are fairlystraightforward but take care at the 12th becausethe narrow fairway slopes dangerously towardsthe lake approximately 250 yards from the tee.At 292 yards off the yellow tee, the 13th maybereachable if you are brave enough but a sensibleiron to the heart of the fairway should leavenothing much more than a wedge to the green.The 14th is a fairly tough par three, playedover water and the 15th is an even tougher onemeasuring 201 yards from the medal tee withwater guarding the right side of the green.Some relief at the 16th, a long par five and nowater to contend with although watch out forthe out of bounds to the left of the fairway.And then it’s the penultimate hole and themost talked about one at Longhirst - it can be acard-wrecker. Avoid the water from the tee andyou are faced with a second shot to a narrowlong green flanked by two ponds on each sideand that’s easier said than done, before movingto the 18th, another par five.48 NorthERN Golfer