West Herts Golf Club

West Herts Golf Club: sitting directly south of its perhaps better-known neighbour, The Grove, here at West Herts you'll find a course that's benefitted from the input of four of golf's greatest course designers ... Old Tom, Taylor, Colt and MacKenzie. You'll also find a very comfortable clubhouse and terrace.

Naturally tree-lined throughout by Whippendell Woods, this easy-flowing layout, with its generous width fairways and absence of penal rough, is as handsome as it is unpretentious. Always well-presented, there's plenty of space to hit the lightly bunker-defended fairways. It's a different matter as you approach the large subtly-sloping greens, where stylish bunker defences are much more in evidence.

The terrain here ebbs and flows, producing pleasant elevation changes but rarely anything too dramatic. Although the entire course is bordered by majestic woodland, the holes generally exude a spacious feel, rather than anything too tightly tree-lined or claustrophobic. Unlike many other courses, the club have resisted the temptation to flood the layout with deep rough to the sides of the fairways.

There's a few holes were the fairways display a distinct camber, not least at the par-4 17th (Gade View) and par-5 18th (Canal Bottom), where you'll need to hit to the fairways' right side. The par-4 8th (Old Marl Pit) is another tester, where tee-shot placement is key, before an uphill approach to an elevated green.

Pick of the holes: the par-3 16th (Cockpit) is a hole of pure genius, and great fun to play. You'll not see anything of the green from the tee, but will need to fire your shot at a bowl-shaped abyss, at the bottom of which lies the putting surface. Good luck!