Luffenham Heath
It's a very fine piece of land that the course is routed over. The opening holes use the terrain especially well, and after a few holes on flatter ground the land movement returns in style for the closing stretch. Despite its name the course isn't really laid out over true heathland, certainly not nowadays. There's plenty of width to the playing corridors, but stray a little more wayward and you'll find thorny bushes, scraggly trees, brambles or gorse — with very little chance of a recovery shot, at least a pain-free one!
For my money the real strength of Luffenham lies in its par fours. There's a series of high-quality two-shot holes and barely a straight one amongst them. Many dogleg or curve significantly, and that makes for genuinely good strategic golf. In the firm conditions I experienced - in the midst of a heatwave - it was imperative to be approaching the green from the correct angle, at least to have chance of attacking the pin.
The first, at just 360 yards, is a fine getaway hole before you play a very strong hole at the next. The second requires a left-to-right tee shot to maximise distance and to thread your drive between fairway bunkers that appear much closer together than they actually are. You must then play over a large depression to a green nicely positioned and guarded by bunkers on both sides.
The third and fourth play as two medium-length par fours. The former runs right-to-left and uphill; the latter left-to-right with a lovely falling approach to a green well below you.
The seventh is another strong contender for the best hole on the course, and it's here that the most noticeable change of the past decade reveals itself. A comprehensive bunker programme — carried out under the respected hand of Mackenzie & Ebert — has sharpened the hazards across the property, and the work is the very best kind: sympathetic to a course of this pedigree rather than imposed upon it. The bunkering on the seventh was always the eye-candy people remembered, but it now looks even better and asks a sterner strategic question. For all that, it was again the green complex that impressed me most — several swales, hollows and ridges as it rises from front to back. It's a feature I'd happily see more of, especially on some of the shorter holes. Generally the greens are relatively flat with subtle slopes, though catch yourself above the hole and they turn nightmarish in the best possible way.
There isn't a sniff of a weak hole at Luffenham Heath, and no two holes are the same — simply a series of very good golf holes, one after another.
There are only two par fives on this par-70 course and both offer birdie chances, though not without their perils. Fairway bunkering must be avoided on both, and even then there's further trickery closer to the green; a gathering swale to the right of the sixth and the awkwardly angled entrance to the 18th pose the main threats. The 18th in particular is a fitting finish, tumbling back towards the clubhouse.
The set of short holes is sound. The 17th is perhaps the most memorable, a dropping shot played to a tricky, sloping green defended by humps, bumps, hollows and bunkers.
The conditioning, as I'd hoped, was the real treat this time around. The conditon of the run-offs around the greens was particulary noticeable. Playing firm and fast, the diving fairways and quick, true greens reward the thinking golfer and the well-judged running shot — and a real credit is due to the green-keeping team, who clearly take enormous pride in the place.
None of this has gone unnoticed, Luffenham hosted Regional Qualifying for The Open Championship from 2013 to 2017 — a genuine mark of quality — and it continues to sit comfortably among the national Top 100 (England) and Top 200 (UK & Ireland) rankings.
A decade on, then, the verdict is an easy one. The things that made Luffenham so enjoyable first time round are firmly in place, the course has quietly improved where it matters, and the welcome is as warm as ever. If you're within reasonable driving distance, seek out a game. You won't regret it.
