Andy Mortimer visits Woodhall Spa Golf Club, the home of English amateur golf and one of the world’s best courses . . .

One of most famous views on Woodhall Spa's Hotchkin course

Woodhall Spa, regarded as one of Lincolnshire’s most attractive locations, is renowned for its Edwardian character and peaceful atmosphere.

Many people will have picked one of its many fine hotels or guest houses for a relaxing short break, but few will probably recognise the village as the home of English amateur golf.

Almost 120 years of golfing pedigree has seen Woodhall Spa Golf Club expand to become one of the top golf clubs in the UK – and recognised across the world.

From its humble beginnings as a nine-hole course in 1890, its website now proclaims one of its two courses to hold the title of 53rd best golf course in the world, while it is also home to the English Golf Union (EGU) and National Golf Centre.

Catering for the needs of England’s top amateurs, it contains a short-game practice area unparalleled in Europe and proudly boasts its role in helping to blossom the careers of the country’s current crop of top professionals, Lee Westwood, Justin Rose and Hull-born Richard Finch, current holder of the Irish Open title.

Award upon award has been bestowed on the club and its courses – most frequently the older Hotchkin course, which was voted best inland course in the UK by Golf World magazine.

Director of operations at the club is plus-one handicapper and fervent golf fan, Hertfordshire-raised Richard Latham. I chatted to him in the luxurious surroundings of the clubhouse dining room as he explained more about how the course has matured and how the EGU – the governing body for men’s amateur golf in England – has come to rest in deepest Lincolnshire, far from the heartland of the country’s most accessible and famous golf courses.

Smartly dressed in a blue suit and club tie, the 50-year-old said: “When the English Golf Union was looking for somewhere to locate the National Golf Centre in the mid-1990s they considered a number of locations mainly along the M6 and M1 corridors.

“But nothing suitable was found until Woodhall Spa club owner Neil Hotchkin – a prominent member and former president of the EGU – offered this club in an attempt to secure its future. He came from a very small family and without the EGU’s involvement, he may not have found anyone to take over after his death.”

The EGU gladly accepted – “they would not have expected to acquire a top quality golf course with infrastructure and with enough land to build another course and extensive practice facilities”, said Richard – and with the club’s future finally secure, much was done to advance and prepare it for its new role as the National Golf Centre.

From 1995 onwards, the EGU worked to build a second golf course – later to be christened the Bracken course – as well as a new EGU headquarters, pro-shop and practice ground. Today, this has all but been completed and one of the true great golf clubs and courses in the UK is coming to the peak of its powers.

Richard says the National Golf Centre has had a huge impact on the local area.

He said: “Thanks to the involvement of the National Golf Centre and the EGU, the courses are kept to a high standard offering all-year-round golf.

“The practice facilities are exceptional and golfers of all standards can book lessons, along with local schools and the community of Woodhall Spa.

“We have always had a policy of using local tradesmen and buying local produce, which we do whenever possible, and along with the thousands of visitors we cater for each year, most of our staff are from the local area, too.”

Behind the fabulous recent history of the club is a rather wonderful 120-year tale of total dedication to golf, something that Richard is only too well aware of. An enthusiast in golf course architecture and history, he said: “Golf was first introduced at Woodhall Spa in 1890 when a nine-hole course was opened for play,” he said, sipping the final remnants of his very tasty coffee from his cup.

“Five years later – when the land the club was built on was needed for building – it was hurriedly moved and another nine-hole course laid out. The course remained in that location for another six years until, with further land needed for the town’s development, land owner and prominent club member, Stafford Vere Hotchkin, offered a sandy tract of land off Horncastle Road for the building of an 18-hole course . . . and that is where it remains to this day.

“Professional golfer Harry Vardon – winner of six British Opens from 1896 to 1914 – was employed to design the course and he visited on 24th January 1903 for an exhibition match over the old nine-hole course, during which he set a course record of 35.”

Richard Latham, director of operations at Woodhall Spa Golf Club

Despite the best intentions, however, poor weather conditions in Lincolnshire in the early 20th century meant the 18-hole course took more than two years to build with the official opening not taking place until 1905, when Vardon again played an exhibition match. The course at this early stage was estimated to be about 5,500 yards long.

Developments over the years saw the course increase in length to match improvements in golfing technology while the course design changed much, particularly after the First World War.

Richard continues: “After fighting in the 1914-18 War, Stafford Vere Hotchkin took a great interest in golf course architecture and set up his own golf course design company, remodelling many of Woodhall Spa’s holes.

“Keeping the course open through the Depression of the 1930s and war of the 1940s was no small feat and when his son, Neil, took over in 1953, the course was respected as one of the best in the country.

“Neil was a staunch supporter of English amateur golf – becoming president of the EGU in 1972 – and it was this commitment to amateur golf that led him to sell the course to the EGU when they came looking for a home for the National Golf Centre.”

The additional course the EGU built was named the Bracken course and it opened in 1998. The original course was renamed the Hotchkin course after the man who did so much for English amateur golf.

A quick tour of its first few holes shows why it is regarded as the finest inland course in the UK by Golf World magazine.

Built on sandy ground – there is a strip of sandy soil running through Lincolnshire and Woodhall Spa that has existed from the Ice Age – it is a heathland course, lengthy enough to challenge the country’s bigger hitters and lined either side of the fairways with heather, gorse and trees.

Bunkers have been altered over the years from Stafford’s original shallow, wide sand traps to become much smaller and deeper while the greens are deceptively flat. Richard explains why . . .

“Because the Hotchkin course is so difficult from tee to green, there is no point making the greens overly complex, too, or it would be too difficult to play. It is important that we consider the needs of all standards of golfers,” he says.

Membership at Woodhall Spa is currently £791 a year. For that, members have access to two unique golf courses – the second, the Bracken, is totally different from the Hotchkin in that it is built on a more clay-based soil and is more like a typical parkland course found elsewhere in Lincolnshire – as well as the driving range and clubhouse.

The short game area, which is only open to golfers who are supervised by a professional, has five greens located up to 75 yards from the main teeing ground, undulating greens for putting and even a pot bunker to practice difficult escapes from right up to the front of a sand trap. “You have to make sure that you apply the right technique to escape!,” says Richard.

And behind the scenes Richard, too, has his own colourful and interesting tale to tell.

Born in Scotland to an English family, he moved to St Albans, in Hertfordshire, and had ambitions from a young age to be a professional golfer.

A self-confessed “lack of talent” prevented him reaching the top of the game but he did qualify for the British Open at Royal St George’s, in Sandwich, Kent, leading the field after nine holes.

While never reaching the top of the game, Richard continued to succeed in county golf playing for Hertfordshire and Lincolnshire for 33 years, saying he “loved the camaraderie of the county game”.

His full-time occupation during the 1980s was in the aerospace industry but when this hit trouble, he utilised his knowledge of golf and set himself up as a freelance golf marketing consultant. He became involved in many different aspects of the golf industry.

Richard continues the story: “When I first set myself up in business, my first contract was to assist Strokesaver, the number one supplier of course distance guides.

“Away from this, I would help golf clubs across the UK increase their marketing techniques and by the mid-1990s, I had a number of contracts. I also set up my own amateur tournaments, one in particular was the La Manga Masters – a 72-hole stroke play event, played in Spain before the season started.

“I saw there was a need for it and through good contacts from my golfing days it was relatively straightforward to set up.”

Eventually Richard was approached by the EGU to head up operations at Woodhall Spa Golf Club.

He said: “The EGU approached me directly to take over as director of operations and I was very flattered.

“They wanted me to help them bring the National Golf Centre forward and I think we have done that.

“We’ve had a lot of top amateur English golfers here who have since become professionals. Players like Lee Westwood, from Nottinghamshire, and Richard Finch, from Hull, have both seen their games tutored and improved here. We have a business to run and it has to be run successfully.

“However, because of the history and pedigree of the course here, it is a joy to do.”

Factfile:

Woodhall Spa Golf Club is on The Broadway, Woodhall Spa, LN10 6PU.

For more information, call: (01526) 352511 or visit: www.woodhallspagolf.com

For more information on the English Golf Union, visit: www.englishgolfunion.org

Green fees for the Hotchkin course are £67.50 (summer) and £45 (winter).