Winning formula is found by Longhirst
Evening Chronicle - Wednesday August 8, 2001

In golfing terms Longhirst Hall may be the new boys on the block - but when it comes to giving golfers what they want, they could teach a few of their elders a thing or two.

For despite only opening four years ago, Longhirst, which is situated about three miles out of Morpeth on the Ulgham road, has a massive membership of 2,250-the biggest in the country.
And it is proving so popular that a new course is under construction - 11 new holes are now open and the remaining seven will come into play in 2003 - and there is planning permission for a third 18-hole course while a driving range is due to open in the next two months.
The brainchild of Ashington businessman Tommy Dawson, Longhirst has broken the mould by offering memberships for just £40.45pa, including VAT and Golf Union fees, which entitles you to play golf for just £5 per round. There is an initial joining fee of £30 plus VAT, but for that you are a member of the club and can get an official handicap and enter club competitions etc and you don't have worry about finding a large chunk of money for annual subscriptions. But while the current phenomenal membership is proof that Dawson has come up with a real winner, it wouldn't work if the Longhirst course wasn't up to scratch. Built on part of the former Butterwell Opencast site, Longhirst measures 6,572 yards off the white tees and 6,398 off the yellows - and if that isn't enough you can always try your hand off the new gold tees, which stretch the course to a massive 7,160 yards, although I wouldn't advise it!
In the four years since I last played Longhirst, the course has come on leaps and bounds thanks to the work of course manager Graham Chambers and his staff.
In addition, Dawson thinks nothing of getting on the course at 6am to wage his personal campaign to eradicate the clover, which has been forced to beat a hasty retreat. As a result the fairways have quickly developed a mature springiness, and the greens, while firm like those on a links course, putt fair and true. And although water is a major feature on the majority of holes, the course enjoys magnificent drainage and is a genuinely playable all year round unless it is covered in snow.

Being a former opencast site, the one thing lacking is mature trees although 42,000 have been planted to the future benefit of both the course and the surrounding environment.
Invariably you have to contend with the wind and here again playing Longhirst is like playing on a links course, where position is as important as length if you arc to open up the way into the green. The course opens with a fairly benign par five and a par four of 324 yards, although here you have to carry a burn of around 185 yards with your tee shot.
Then it's into the prevailing wind for two par threes of 169 and 161 yards broken by a par five of 510 yards - all three invariably playing longer than their yardage - before the course comes alive at~ six with a cracking par four of 371 yards.
Although not long by modern standards, you have to lay up with a four or five iron because of water, leaving a testing second. This is followed by the stroke index two 414-yard seventh played off an elevated tee but again with water very much in play, while the outward nine finishes with two par fours of 379 and 386-yards where position off the tee is all-important.

Now to the back nine and 10 and 12 require good drives into the wind to clear water, while the 198-yard 11th is a far-from-easy par three.
Thirteen, at 392-yards, invariably leaves a tricky second to an elevated green as the water hazard at the front is much wider than it appears, while the only advice at the 427-yard 14th is treat it as a three-shorter unless you are a really big hitter. At 201 yards, 15 is the longest par three on the course, while the 504-yard 16th provides a birdie opportunity if you can avoid the fairway bunkers on you drive and second shot.
Now comes 17, the most talked about hole at Longhirst and one I still have to fathom out. Avoid the water with your drive and you still have to find the green with your second - and with two greenside ponds instead of bunkers on either side, that is easier said than done!
The 18th, a 550-yard par five, comes as a relief especially as it is normally played downwind and reachable with two good shots. But the green is narrow with bunkers on either side and its is often more prudent to lay up just short and then pitch on. The new course - or rather a composite of seven of the old and the 11 new holes now open - is open on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. When it opens in full, it will measure 6,101 yards off the white tees and 5,821 from the yellows but water will play an even bigger part than it does on the original course.
For the 19th, Longhirst have use of the excellent modern clubhouse facilities of the cricket, tennis and hockey club, while for visiting parties there is also a major tie-up with Longhirst Hall Hotel. Four years old it may be, but in that time Longhirst has made a major mark on North East golf. That is a tremendous achievement and if Dawson has his way - and when didn't he? - then you ain't seen nothing yet.

Contacts: Bookings: 01670 791562; Memberships: 01670 791562