The Worcestershire Golf Club Course Review

The course enjoys a beautifully peaceful setting in the lee of the Malvern Hills

(Image credit: The Worcestershire Golf Club)

published 25 January 2022

The Worcestershire Golf Club Course Review
GF Round: £45wd, £55we
Par 71, 6,455 yards
Slope 141
GM Verdict A beautifully peaceful, varied and engaging parkland design packed with strong holes
Favourite Hole The SI1 par-4 14th, a super-tough two- or more likely three-shotter

Not many people venture into the corridor between central England and the Welsh borders in search of golf, but it is their loss as there are several very engaging courses including The Worcestershire (opens in new tab). This peacefully-located club is situated between Great Malvern and Little Malvern, at the base of the beautiful hill range that runs this way.

The Worcestershire Golf Club - Hole 4 — The risk-reward par-5 fourth has a thrilling approach over the stream

The club dates back to 1879, making it the oldest in the county, but sadly its Alister MacKenzie course from 1927 lost half its holes in WWII. Fred Hawtree was enlisted in the 1970s to make it back to a full 18 which means that just six are now complete MacKenzie designs, eight are Hawtree’s, and the other four have elements of both.

The Worcestershire Golf Club — The short fifth runs beside the eighth and in the opposite direction

The opening two holes play down and back up before a delightful short hole from an elevated tee and through the trees. The 4th is a tricky and unusual par 5, while the 5th is a lovely par 3 back over the valley.

The Worcestershire Golf Club - Hole 8 — Bunkers await at the third par 3, the eighth hole

The next two are good par 4s, and you then reach another excellent short hole, the 8th, which was originally MacKenzie’s 3rd.

The Worcestershire Golf Club - Hole 10 — The demanding par-4 tenth is a testing 441 yards from the back tee

Two more very strong MacKenzie par 4s again run side by side at 9 and 10, before you change direction and head north.

The Worcestershire Golf Club - Hole 14 — Stroke Index 1, the fourteenth is arguably a par four and a half!

The par 4s from the 11th to 13th require accuracy from the tee more than strength, but both are needed at the super-tough and very justifiably stroke index one, 14th. Not only is it long, but the approach is uphill and to a really tricky green complex.

The Worcestershire Golf Club - Hole 17 — Only Bryson-esque golfers will be able to go for the par-5 seventeenth in two

The final short hole at 15 is another MacKenzie original, albeit with a modified green, and you then encounter back-to-back par 5s, the 16th raising hopes of a birdie, the 17th slightly less so! A straightaway par 4 leads back up to the clubhouse with the green nicely positioned below it.

With no courses in the UK&I Top 100 and only one Next 100 course, this county is not so renowned for its golf. Nonetheless, if you take a look at the best golf courses in Worcestershire, there are plenty of fine and enjoyable designs with the Worcestershire undoubtedly right up there among the very best.

Rob Smith has been playing golf for more than 40 years and been a contributing editor for Golf Monthly for over ten years, specialising in course reviews and travel. He has now played more than 1,170 different courses in almost 50 countries. Despite lockdowns and travel restrictions in 2021, he still managed to play 80 different courses during the year, 43 of them for the first time. This included 21 in 13 days on a trip to East Lothian in October. One of Rob's primary roles is helping to prepare the Top 100 and Next 100 Courses of the UK&I, of which he has played all but nine. During the 2021-22 review period, Rob has played 34 of the Golf Monthly Top 200. He is a member of Tandridge Golf Club in Surrey where his handicap hovers around 16. You can contact him at r.smith896@btinternet.com.