Sandiway Golf Club Course Review

Sandiway Golf Club Course Review

GF Round: £70-£80wd only
Par 70, 6,437 yards
Slope 138
GM Verdict – One of Cheshire’s best inland courses blessed with a heathland feel in places and an excellent mix of entertaining and testing holes.
Favourite Hole – The mid-length par-4 9th, where you must avoid a hidden bunker off the tee on your right to savour the inviting downhill approach to the full.

Even with all the coastal delights of The Wirral, Sandiway Golf Club, which celebrated its centenary in 2020, is one of the best golf courses in Cheshire and there’s just the right amount of golf course visible from the classic-looking clubhouse to whet the appetite. You can see the par-4 opener sweeping enticingly down then up and away to your right; the par-3 18th lies right before you; and there are teasing little glimpses of other holes.

Sandiway, which lies just six miles from fellow Cheshire Golf Monthly Next 100 course, Delamere Forest, provides a strong yet fair test via wonderfully varied holes that play through a mix of heathland and woodland. It boasts impressive design credentials, with 1912 Open champion Ted Ray creating the original layout before later improvements in the 1920s by Harry Colt and then in the 1950s by Fred Hawtree.

One of the visual highlights comes just before the turn via the very attractive downhill approach to the mid-length par-4 9th, where the green is backed by a copse of tall trees. This is immediately followed by one of Sandiway’s toughest tests, a brute of a par 4 where the fairway angles awkwardly away from you before a long and testing uphill approach. A 466-yarder that’s a par 5 for most in all but name!

The club hails this hole the start of its very own Amen Corner a hole earlier than Augusta National’s, and it’s easy to see why. If you survive the 10th intact, you then face a pretty 214-yard par 3, the longest of five one-shotters, then another demanding par 4 in the 442-yard 12th before a little more respite in terms of length over the run for home.

The finale may be a par 3 but beware – it’s long enough to look after itself at 180 yards, and OOB lurks menacingly close on the right. With a score going, you may be tempted to bail out a little left and take your chances with an up-and-down! Sandiway is a very good yet fair course with a strong heathland feel in places and an excellent variety of holes.