Delamere Forest Golf Club Course Review

Delamere Forest Golf Club Course Review

GF Round: £70-£90 weekdays only
Par 72, 6,344 yards
Slope 134
GM Verdict – One of inland Cheshire’s finest courses, a beautiful Herbert Fowler heathland creation with great variety and a wonderful feeling of space.
Favourite Hole – The 9th is a cracking short par 4 where you drive onto a plateau fairway before an exhilarating approach across a wide gully.

If you’re looking for a game on the way up to or back down from the best golf courses on The Wirral, then the renowned Herbert Fowler heathland layout at Delamere Forest should feature high on your list. This secluded course, midway between Chester and Middlewich, has a wonderful step-back-in-time feel, plays over free-draining sandy soil for year-round playability and is one of the best golf courses in Cheshire.

In 2010, the club celebrated its centenary before two years later embarking on a six-year renovation project to return its fine course closer to its open heathland roots. Under the guidance of Tom Mackenzie of renowned architects, Mackenzie and Ebert, every bunker was returned to its original Fowler design, greens that had shrunk over the years were extended back out, and a significant volume of gorse, trees and scrub was removed.

This work has vastly enhanced Delamere’s visuals and its challenge off the tee and on approach play. One of the standout holes – the downhill par-3 6th – now looks a picture from the tee thanks to the rebunkering work, while elsewhere, new tees on the 11th and 18th have further improved already strong holes, with the par-5 finale lengthened to 529 yards.

Plenty of trees remain, of course, including the attractive copse to the rear of the fine short par-5 2nd hole that follows a rollercoaster fairway, but overall today’s Delamere Forest has an enhanced feeling of space that’s evident as you gaze out over much of the course from the attractive clubhouse

Other memorable holes include the testing long par-3 4th where, mercifully, the green does at least gather the ball in, and the 9th, which plays back to the clubhouse via a plateau fairway and then a stirring approach across a wide gully. The 13th and 14th are fine holes too, with 13 a classic, heavily bunkered risk-reward short par 4 and 14 dropping down to another attractively bunkered green.