Was Woodhall Spa Hotchkin Course The Hardest In The UK?

Nish: 0:00

Every story has an ending. Does our quest to play the top 100 courses in 10 years have a good ending? I’m Nish.

Jim: 0:07

I’m Jim.

Nish: 0:08

And we’re here to guide you through this golfing journey. This is the Top 110 Golf Podcast, episode 27. Was Woodhull Spa the hardest? So we’ve just finished the round at Woodall Spa, the Hodgkin course, and I suppose this is by way of our review of how that round went, jim. So we would be joined by Chris, but unfortunately he’s busy today he couldn’t jump on the episode. So it’s up to me to regale you with the tale of whether we thought Woodall Spa was the hardest golf course in the UK. Actually, and, as we subsequently found out following our preview, it’s the 25th hardest in the whole world, which is mad really, when you think about. So what do you want to know, jim?

Jim: 1:06

Everything, everything you know, particularly the side bets and whatnot. I can’t wait to hear about that later in the episode, but obviously Woodhull Spa over in Lincolnshire, about 20 miles southeast of Lincoln, is the home of English golf.

Nish: 1:23

The home of English golf. Yeah For golf. Yeah, we, it’s a. For us it’s a long old drive. It was about two and three quarters three hours. We didn’t really get stuck anywhere at any point, but it’s uh, it’s a tough place to get to, we gather it’s a tough place to get to for everyone.

Jim: 1:42

Yeah, we were talking about that last time, weren’t we? Yeah, we said in the previous, it’s a tough place to get to for everyone. Yeah, we said we’d be talking about that last time, weren’t we?

Nish: 1:46

yeah, we said in the previous, it’s equally difficult to get to, but it was a. It was a really pleasant drive actually, because we woke up in the morning and the sun was shining, we had kind of everything that was good for a good round was all set up, so we set off really early in the morning. You only get up early in the morning for two things that’s a holiday and then going to go play golf in dead good spirits because the weather was so nice and as we were getting there it was getting hotter and hotter and hotter and we were like okay, we’re in for a good day. So I think we’d given ourselves two hours, roughly, extra time to get warmed up, taking the facilities, all that kind of thing.

Nish: 2:30

Have a club sandwich for chris, obviously. So have a club sandwich. But the we had a problem with our club sandwich rating gym. So we arrived at 10 30 to go and get something to eat. They didn’t have the lunch menu on, they only had breakfast until 12, so we couldn’t have a club sandwich. We did, however, have it later because we finished and we were pretty, pretty goosed and we knew we had a three-hour drive on the way back as well. So we thought let’s get something to eat. So chris did have his club sandwich. I actually had a club sandwich on a bit of gf bread. Now mine was actually really really nice. I thought it was uh, it was a good sandwich. I think chris probably placed it around six and a half seven. Uh, it was a club sandwich, it was nice, but it wasn’t anything. It was no sni, let’s put it that way. Okay, that’s been the greatest so far. And equally, I don’t think it was like Royal St David’s where it was bone dry.

Jim: 3:28

So picture it somewhere in the middle right, yeah, and so when you, when you drive up to the, the facility, well, I mean, what, what, the, what the your first impressions of the, of the whole setup? Because obviously it’s a golf course, but it’s the home of English golf, so I assume that it will have quite a large offices.

Nish: 3:47

Um, for, for all those, employees for all their english golfing stuff that they do. Uh, yeah, we drove up. You drive through the town of woodhall spa, which is beautiful, really lovely place and obviously the sun was shining so it looked spectacular. And then you sort of just randomly like come up to me, you hit the left turn and it’s like, oh, it’s just there there’s this lovely sign saying the home of english golf or england golf, I should say, um, lovely car park, uh, really big, like loads of loads of room there. So we saw parts up and immediately on the right hand side you can actually see the, the first tee and the 18th green. So you kind of hit with it straight away, which was wonderful. We walked up to the pro shop to go and check in and you know, as you’d expect, everything’s branded, all the wood or spa branding, all that kind of stuff and and it was lovely, uh, a well laid out pro shop. The welcome we got was was fantastic. Actually the. The gentleman who checked us in just asked if we played before I. I gather they get a lot of visitors actually, because most of the people were getting all the full welcome spiel. So because they get a lot of visitors, it’s, it’s well practiced and what he was going through. But as part of booking your golf course playing experience, they actually have a par three uh course like a nine hole par three course there and you can go and play. That it’s all included in you in your uh anything. Now we had two hours so we sort of thought we had plenty of time to to crack on and maybe do that and use the practice facilities to their fullest degree. We didn’t. I mean, by the time we’d kind of had breakfast and then got out. Um, yeah, we didn’t really get a chance to to play in the part three course, but I gather it’s really good. It’s not as well maintained, obviously, as the main course, but it’s supposed to be quite, quite good to play.

Nish: 5:47

We went to the the bit that was a novelty for us this time. So we had driving range. You know you walk up through this um, so you know purpose built building for the driving range. You’ve got a gym on one side. You’ve got uh, which our listeners may be familiar with, and remember the zen green stage. You know that when we went to do the interview, didn’t we jim with the movable? So they’ve got one of those in there, so they’ve got that studio. You then go in uh, it’s just like a normal driving range. You sort of tap with your card and get your golf balls out. They’re all tight list uh driving range balls as well, which is pretty good, quite impressive. And then all the bays are like top tracer bays. So you’ve got really good driving range and driving facilities to use. So we’re really happy with that.

Nish: 6:30

Um, and then the real like selling point for their practice facilities is the short game area. So it’s actually a four acre short game area. They’ve got that that you can utilize. We had, uh, this practice green that we were going on to and they’ve got these big deep bunkers which gets you prepared for the rest of the round. You’ve got these big deep bunkers. Yeah, I know well we’ll, we’ll get to the side bit in a bit, um, but yeah, so you’ve got these, these bunkers that you can play out of. There’s all the replication of all the rough that’s over there. So then they had three areas that you could practice from. Chris had taken a load of practice balls and it was great. And then you’ve got an area where you can sort of hit 100 yardish short shots to various targets. So that’s really good. I think it’s worth turning up early to make sure that you have a go at that. Perhaps not necessarily, I think, for the use of the bunkers, definitely you need to get in there, uh and and have a go, because you’re going to be faced with, as we said in the preview, 142 around the course, so you’re going to hit one inevitably, and they’re all pretty deep. Usually there’s very few that were like. You know, what I would call a regular bunker that we play in parkland course is around where we are, but I think for the novelty of a short game practice area like that, it’s great to go and do it. So I think it’s well worth turning up a little bit early.

Nish: 8:01

The clubhouse in and where we sort of had our breakfast it was not what I was expecting but the actual clubhouse itself was it sort of stuck out a little bit. I gather they’re looking at getting everyone to agree to knock it down and start again. Um, it feels like it needs. It was quite nice, like it was an. It wasn’t in keeping with the rest of the buildings because it was quite an old building. It’s quite traditional inside. It had a lovely vibe. Afterwards we sort of went and had a drink and everybody was sat in there having a drink and having a bite to eat. So that’s really like a good, a good plus, because sometimes you go into a club house and it’s quite soulless afterwards there’s no one around and you’re like, oh, I feel a bit awkward having a drink in here, uh, but it was so that that was nice. It just didn’t fit in, I don’t think with everything else. So maybe I was going and expecting some big slick. Uh, clubhouse, you know, really modern facilities, whatever the.

Nish: 9:00

The place where we had breakfast was was a bit different. Again, that had almost like a, a calf type of vibe to it. You sort of went up they had these big like glass counters with cakes and stuff behind there and you know, you went up and ordered your food there and it brought out to your table and it’s like you know, I mean it was, it was nicer than caffeine, but it was. That’s the kind of vibe that it had. So so that was that was kind of our welcoming approach and I mean, like I said, we left ourselves two hours and I mean Chris is loving that because he loves a long warmup and a bit of relaxed time before he gets there. He doesn’t do our last minute. Turn up five minutes to tea time, does he Jim?

Jim: 9:41

Exactly. Well me, not you.

Nish: 9:44

Well, I mean’ve been there 10 minutes before, so you know it’s the same really. And I think I mean I can’t have said I think in a preview I may have said that I’m getting used to doing a slightly longer warm up pre-round and we’ll get to it now. But bearing in mind how I played, I think I might go back to my 10 minute, just rock up, hit two balls in a practice net and then carry on, because I’ve played absolutely horrifically at this golf course.

Jim: 10:16

Well, I mean, it is meant to be the 25th hardest in the world and the hardest in the UK. So you think you know discussing beforehand, you know, even after the preview, that the expectations were very, very unknown. I think is is probably the best phrase to say that you didn’t know what, what you, what you were facing to a large extent, apart from 142 bunkers and, yes, not the longest course in in in the country, but obviously I think that starts to play in your mind a bit, doesn’t it when it’s when you’re thinking hardest course in the uk.

Nish: 10:48

Yeah, I think that gets into your head, definitely gets into your head. It is, it is, it is and it isn’t the hardest course that I’ve ever played. Now it is because it’s the visuals of that golf course. So lincolnshire, if somebody’s not familiar with the county, is incredibly flat. You like you’re driving along and you can just see for miles around, so nothing’s too elevated, nothing’s too deep, anything like that. What they’ve done over there is they’ve and it’s it.

Nish: 11:22

The course is completely built over a sandy sub base. So one of the things that we found was it was the start of april and it was rock hard and bone dry. Now we haven’t had full summer on there and we’ve not had by any means the driest ever winter. But if it’s that hard and dry now, I think in the middle of summer that would be even harder. Now the reason that poses a challenge is that you can land it in a spot, but you just don’t know the ball mechanics at that point. What’s actually going to happen, and it doesn’t seem to be a lot of undulation to try and stop it. So you could be short of a bunker. But if you happen to have hit it a little bit thin or if you’ve happened to just not quite got a high ball flight enough yeah, not enough loft yeah, you’re gonna, you’re gonna skip on.

Nish: 12:13

Yeah, I found the greens were quite hard to hold on to because of that. They were pretty tough. They were good greens, uh. But you know the ball would land and we were struggling to find our, our pitch marks to repair. So gave you a measure of how actually difficult and how difficult scoring was. I think, in that respect, moving it back from going to the green, so that’s the greens, all the greens can’t say.

Nish: 12:39

I remember one green that wasn’t surrounded by bunkers. Now you could be talking sort of left and right. Then there’s rough long and there’s probably one short. That was the minimum on each hole, pretty much. So if you got one short you can’t really run it up to the green. And bear in mind it was running quite well. Bump and run is like my brother-in-law’s speciality, but I quite like that as well because it just means if you’ve not hit it the distance, then you’ve got a chance of still getting onto the front of the green. So that was out of the equation. You couldn’t miss left or right because you were then in a deep bunker and all the ones on left and right were deep bunkers, most of them. The top of the bunker was at the top of your head. So you know. But you really know you’ve got to scoop a little bit and actually that doesn’t work with bunker technique because the scooping is gonna make it make it go to crap. So there’s that, and then if you go long, it’s rough. So what are your options? Approaching a green, you have to hit it, which means you’ve got to be accurate.

Nish: 13:40

That was that was tough, knowing that each time. And then if I move it further back, you’re on the t. So this is, I think, what made it difficult from what I was experiencing. So from the t, as you’re looking, because it’s so flat, you’ve got these, these bunkers that come up and you’ve got like one left, one right, right, almost on all the holes. Visually you can see bunker there, bunker there, and there’s like a tiny gap in between and that seems like it looks like that’s your fairway target. In actual fact that’s not the case.

Nish: 14:18

So Chris Boyd buys a course guide. Your first bunker may be at like 180 and your second bunker at like 200. My driver goes about 240 on average, so you know those bunkers aren’t in range. So actually that little target isn’t that little, it’s the full width of the full the bunkers, because behind that’s a big, wide fairway. However, even though you know that, when you’re looking and you’re picking your target, all you can see is bunker in front of you. So that that just made that psychologically quite a hard battle.

Nish: 14:51

And then the other thing was you couldn’t see the danger beyond that, because you can see these bunkers ahead of you. You couldn’t see what was up ahead after that. So let’s say you I mean you know I could hit my fire line just over 200 yards. So let’s say you had a bunker at like 160, 180 and I know if I landed at 200, I’m safe with five iron, I can play that off the tee. But then if you don’t know what’s behind that and what’s going on and how far it’s going to run, then you, you can then hit a bunker again.

Nish: 15:19

That that was the difficulty. And then the other thing that was difficult was if you did spray it and I said at the top I didn’t play very well, so I did spray it a little bit and I wasn’t good with my driver, which is quite rare for me. Your layup is just basically 20 yards onto the fairway. You haven’t got like 100, 120 yard shot to get you back into play because they’re just there, are bunkers everywhere and there’s danger everywhere and it’s going to run on. There’s a couple of times when I hit a really really good recovery shot. I would be really happy with the normal conditions it would have stopped and it just kept rolling and went into a bunker and it was like, oh, I haven’t even got that sanctuary, really. So what? What we said was it was hard because it was relentless. That course, every single shot required care and attention, which is, for me, is unusual to be able to do that. So it’s constant mental exhaustion.

Nish: 16:16

If it’s, if it is like that for 18 holes, and you know when I get tired at nine, you’re probably thinking, you know, probably it’s the same as me on most other courses I was just going to say that, remember, at abba w and you were like I’ve hit 13 now and I just I don’t want to be here anymore, I want to go and I’ve got a long drive. Those sorts of thoughts are coming into my head. I mean, I have, you know, smashed down two bananas at that stage because I just need some energy, just to get thinking again. And and there was a lovely halfway hook. There’s a lovely chap working. Yeah, it was that. I mean that was good. You know, it was really nice in there.

Nish: 16:52

And um, obviously, because it’s so flat and there was lots of times when we saw lots of people on the course. So you know, you haven’t really got anywhere to go for a week. So having a halfway hook with the toilet was very, very helpful to know. So how many coffees did you have in the morning? So I think you know we asked the question right at the top, didn’t? We was woodall spa hodgkin course, the hardest so far from what we’ve played, even when I’ve played links courses for the very first time, but that it was.

Jim: 17:22

I would say that was definitely the hardest golf course I’ve experienced yeah, I mean you messaged me afterwards and just said that was hard all in capitals and I thought oh right, um yeah, and and I mean you know, particularly when it’s 22 degrees or whatever it was at a particular day- yeah, there’s a lot of factors combined into that.

Nish: 17:43

It didn’t help that I wasn’t striking the ball well, so it wasn’t going where I was intending for it to go. It wasn’t disastrous, but, yeah, certainly I’ve not played my best golf there, uh, by any stretch, and it was difficult because it was hard. Uh, the par fours, it it wasn’t. You didn’t have to play badly to just get a six and you walk off and you go. I played that hole all right, actually, like I drove it. Okay, I hit a decent approach. I’ll go out of a bunker. You know, I’ve kind of like two or three put in what I don’t know, maybe not two people, but like I’ve had a chip, two puts, yeah, anything it’s all right, it’s not too bad, but it’s the sixth. And then you’ve done that. Yeah, I should have been, but it’s like you do that and you go oh, I’ve done that four holes in a row or something like that.

Nish: 18:26

So, um, I think the thing that really I’ll get to it now because we’re sort of talking about it, but look at the scorecard the thing that really really did me over was the par threes, of which one was the signature hole. So I’ll lean into that, but I got. I shot an eight on the very first par three, I shot a six on the second par three and then there was a signature hole, which I’ll I’ll get you, but that just nailed my confidence. I’m around. Should I start giving you what’s going on with the scores, then, and go through the scorecard? I think it’s time I’ve been avoiding it.

Jim: 18:57

Yeah, we’ve not spoken much about it since you actually played, and that’s on purpose, because we need to be doing this review and I wanted it to kind of be fresh and me not to know anything at all really Wanted me to relive the harrowing experience in its full, absolutely, in all its glory, all of it All, likewise, right.

Nish: 19:15

So on the scorecard, jim, let’s tell you this tale of woe that we had at Woodhull Spa. So we turned up to the first tee and, it’s lovely, there’s a starter ready for you there. We got him to take a picture of us. It was nice having somebody to do that and the starter’s hut’s really nice, and the practice green is really nice to play on actually. So it was really really well maintained and I thought this was going to set us up for the round. But they have on the practice green where the cups are that you’re putting into the plastic on. The cup goes all the way to the edge of the the hole. So normally you have that bit of brown that you see where the hole is and then it goes into the cup. But it was all white all the way to the top. So it’s like the american courses where there’s the whole white cup. So you could really sight the hole and I thought, oh, here we go home of england golf. That’s it, this is what we’re gonna get.

Jim: 20:10

didn’t get that the rest of the course, but it was nice on the practice everything’s lulling you into a false sense of security to some extent, isn’t it on this course?

Nish: 20:19

yeah, I think there’s exactly that. Um. So we teed off and the first hole isn’t very long, I think it’s about 350 yards. But you see these bunkers and it’s really weird because everything the distance didn’t quite look what the distance was. So we kept like looking at the, the watches and and whatever. And looking at the watches and whatever, and looking at where the bunkyard bunkery yardage is, where we’re not sure about that.

Nish: 20:44

So it looked like it was late with your iron off the first tee and uh, chris, very kindly, let me go first. He’s got a habit of doing that. And he very kindly, let me go first. And I was like, oh, I know what’s going to happen here if I take a five iron off the tee here, I’m just going to duff it and I’m going to regret not taking the driver. I’ve said that to you before as well. So I stepped up with the driver. Oh, yes, left. However, it ended on the 18th fairway and the guy said if you’re on the 18th fairway you’ll have a shot in, don’t worry, and you’re probably only looking at about 110 yards. I was like great, I’ll take that, that’s not too bad. It was a way Chris stepped up with his five iron and then topped it 20 yards ahead of him and his phrase was oh, christopher of the first team. That was repeated many times during the round. So I think that sets you up for for how we, how we played.

Nish: 21:42

Yeah, so on the first hole I then played my recovery shot from this brockhardt fairway. Uh, I thought I clicked it just right. The line was dead good and it just didn’t quite make it by half a yard and ended up in the first bunker. Now, bearing in mind, our side bet was the fewest number of bunkers hit, not number of bunker shots, but the fewest number of bunkers hit. So I’m like 1-0 or reading on the first hole. So I play out of that bunker out first time. I’ll add play out of of the bunker straight across the green into another bunker it’s on two nil on the first for the first bit and I was just like how have I gone? I’ve got out and I got out really, really well if I hit it too well out of the bunker and it just went straight across the green and that. That. And that was another thing about the toughness of this golf course, that when you’re escaping the bunkers, you need to escape from the bunkers not just get out. You need to get out well, because otherwise you’re going to end up in another bunker over the other side, and that was actually a bit of a running theme for my round of golf at Woodall Spa. So I got plenty of bunker practice.

Nish: 23:02

I think I took two to get out of the next one at that point, and then you know. So I started off with a seven, chris recovered from his topped tee shot to get a five and then we hit hole two, hole two, big, wide, open fairway, like we’re talking 60 yards wide. Not wide enough for me, not wide enough for me, I enough for me. I missed it left. Oh god, I actually think I put one into the trees and I was like I’m not gonna find that. Then I hit my provisional, put that close again, hit a recovery shot. And this is that thing about recovery shots. I was like that is on the money, that’s at the back of the green. Sorry, it bounced at the back of the green like that’s gonna be fine now, no problem, it had gone 20 yards past the back of the green. Sorry, it bounced at the back of the green. That’s going to be fine now, no problem, it had gone 20 yards past the back of the green. So you’re always like if you’re scrambling, you’ve got to be Tiger Woods scrambling to recover around there. So that was pretty tough.

Nish: 23:55

That was Chris’s one and only amazing drive on the second hole. He absolutely mullered this drive right down the middle. There was no christopher at that point, uh, but then thereafter it just couldn’t get his driver to work. So we started off seven, seven, five, five. Uh, we hit the first par three. Now this par three, visually, is absolutely brutal like you look at it and there’s just bunker, bunker, bunker, bunker, bunker, like short is all, um, heather, you can’t, can’t get, can’t see past that. So we were like, okay, long and left might be a miss if you’re gonna do it, uh, but yeah, it’s just just hit the green sort of thing.

Nish: 24:38

So I think chris went first, maybe I went first and hit it, clipped it really really well. Seven. I thought gotta go long, give it, give myself enough. Club, clipped it and it started going long and left. So I was like, right, okay, I’m fine there, no problem at all, chris hits his absolutely perfect. The one spot you could hit it to the green didn’t look like it was, you know bunker bound or anything like that middle of the green, great. So I then play my recovery, shot um and again. When it’s rough, as you’ve seen with links courses, jim, sometimes you know it looks all right and then you try and hit it and it just gets snagged. Yeah, a little duffed.

Nish: 25:11

First attempt to chip through, second one I hit like really, really well, actually got it in the air exactly where I wanted it to go. It landed and started rolling and kept on rolling and went into one of the pop bunkers on the right. I didn’t get out of this time. That’s three. There’s just three nil at this point. That’s three. Um, yeah, so I know I’d know. On the second hole I hit a bunker as well. Uh, it was three and already at that point this is four nil. So I’ve got into this bunker. Took me two goes, I think, to get out of this bunker and then two putted, so I’ve got an eight on the very first par three. So so chris was like come on, nish, sort yourself out, and then you finish that par three. It’s very easy for him to say it hits par three, so it hits the green every time.

Nish: 25:56

But then we crossed the road so we did a big thing. We were like, right, come on, you know, we’ve had a tough opening here. We felt we’d said at this point ourselves we’re like I think this is a hard course, like we need to reset our because we’ve done, we’ve done made a stupid mistake, driving over, going, and just have to keep it straight. It doesn’t look like there’s that much danger, just keep it straight, it’s all right, it’s fine. So we cross the road. Right, come on mental resale. Let’s cross the road. It’s a whole new round, let’s start that. So actually on the next hole after that par three, we both hit stonking drives and then, yeah, did well. So Chris started now at this point he started playing well. So he had a run of three pars in that middle stretch of the front nine and I sort of picked up as well. You know those three holes four for Chris, five for me, four for Chris, six for me.

Nish: 26:46

Seven was a really interesting hole so we’ll jump forward to like the Dream 18 bit. We didn’t see a hole that we really wanted to put forward to Dream 18. There were a lot of very challenging golf holes on there because of the visuals and things like that, but the seventh was a really great hole actually. It was a dog leg right and it was about 200 yards at the dog leg and then you could cut the corner but there was loads of bunkers all on the right hand side like staggered for cutting the corner. So really, really well laid out actually, and the green complex was lovely. That was the one place where, if you hit a bunker, they were like sand scrape bunker so you had a chance of getting out. I think chris hit one at that point. So we were five, one at this point on hitting bunker.

Nish: 27:29

Count on hole seven, jim on hole seven, and then the next par three comes along and honestly, these par threes are just. I mean, you know you’ve, you’ve got to just hit the green, that’s it. There’s. There’s no other margin for error here. Just gets at this course. They dropped a bunker in the land in the bailout landing zone short, just in the middle of it. They just stuck a bunker short left, short, right. Short is bunker, it’s a long, thin green and then back left, back right is thick, rough, so where do you go with that? It’s just no escape. So the par threes, par threes are tough. I think if anybody’s going and playing the hot skin course. Concentrate as much as you can on those par threes, because I think think that requires a bit of effort and a bit of care and attention.

Nish: 28:22

I think we then hit the 9th hole, which was a par 5 and actually a relatively straightforward par 5, so it felt like there was a little bit of respite at that point. What you see is what you get. A unique feature on this par 5 is that at about. Let’s have a little look at here where that would be about. Unique feature another bunker uh yeah, it’s three bunkers in a row, all lined up across the fairway. That’s the unique feature. So they’re not play off the driver, if you’re, you’re going long, but they’re just there like three big bunkers right in front of you. Psychologically, what are you doing? You’re like don’t’re like, don’t hit the bunker, don’t hit the bunker, don’t hit the bunker. Oh, we’re in the bunker now.

Nish: 29:04

Thankfully, I missed and Chris hit them. So we were on 5-2 at the end of the back nine on the side bet score. Then we hit the halfway hut. Lovely chap at the halfway hut you know, he was like giving us a bit of a pep talk told us it eased off on the back nine, which we were very grateful for, and I must admit I think it actually did ease off. So I kind of feel like, almost if that course was the other way around, you started off at hole 10, went around and then did the front nine I think you’d actually do okay score wise. On the front nine, chris was, uh, seven over, so it’s par 35. He was out in 42, which is pretty good. Um, yeah, I was on 58 at this point, which is that’s one of the worst front nines I’ve had in probably a couple of years. I would say I’ve not scored that poorly for a long time. So it was nice to go into the turn hearing somebody go, it’s going to ease off. So that was that.

Nish: 30:15

Then we ended up and then when he hit 10, I think this was the most picturesque part of the course, I think when we do our, uh, our blog with all the pictures on we I did actually take this picture. You’re at the far corner of the course at this point and you look back and you can see quite a lot of holes there, but it kind of it’s like a v-shape. But you know, lincolnshire’s a beautiful county as well and it’s flat, but it’s really, really beautiful and they’ve created a really nice part of the world there. So that was a lovely sort of view and a lovely way to start off your back nine heading into our 12th hole signature hole challenge. So we have already posted this on YouTube. So the eagle-eared is that even a phrase amongst us might actually know what happened here.

Nish: 31:05

But par three, chris’s speciality. I mean it took him absolutely ages to set all his cameras up. I was like, for God’s sake, chris, get on with it. Even I was getting annoyed and it was me that he was recording. So, yeah, we set them all up. It was Chris’s honour because he’d won the previous signature hole challenge.

Nish: 31:26

So he hits his tee shot, spanks it middle of the green. I’m like, right, difficult act to follow here. So I really took some time to mentally prep myself for the kind of contact I wanted to get, did a lot of visualisation, all that kind of stuff Stepped up and I absolutely nailed my eight iron and it was online with the flag and I’m looking at it in the air going, oh, that looks good. I think that’s inside Chris’s ball, that absolutely dead on inside Chris’s ball. It landed in the bunker short of the green. I was just like it’s not gone the distance. It’s not quite. So.

Nish: 32:08

That wasn’t the, it was the one that was on. So there was a bunker very short of the green and then there’s one sort of short but right and I went in that one. That’s short but right it was still. When I got in there it was still above my head height but it wasn’t the really deep left. So we both missed yeah, that was like that’s the deepest bunker on the course. We both missed that.

Nish: 32:28

But again, visually, that hole they’ve kind of built it up out of nothing, like it’s really flat on the 11th and it’s really flat on the 13th, going the other way. But that 12 has been built up a bit, so visually daunting. T-shirt. You see these bunkers everywhere and the green is narrow. So you know it’s everything’s, it’s got to be straight, got to be straight, got to be straight. And even when I was straight it just sort of drifted into that right. So I don’t know whether it was. There’s a bit of a breeze up there or whatever, but probably should have clubbed up. But even even again they’re clubbing up. You’ve got bunker long left, long right. So you don’t have that respite, you’ve got to kind of be on the number really.

Nish: 33:07

So I was absolutely gutted and my reaction on the video I was like, oh man, that was on the line that I wanted to and bear in mind. Badly, I’ve played the par 3 so far. I was extra gutted about that, which then leaves me with a tough up and down to try, because I know he’s in for a par, he’s close enough, Even with Chris’s putting. So I get to the first bunker Out first time, hit a really really good shot Probably had half a yard too short and it rolls along the lip of the next bunker and into that next bunker. Then that left me with a stance where it was in the left edge of the bunker. So I didn’t have a stance, I couldn’t really do anything with it and it was all right. How do I play it out? Hit it, clip the top of the lip of the bunker back in, hit it again, clip the top lip back in, like oh man, I’ve had four shots already. What’s going on?

Nish: 34:08

So chris is obviously recording all this at the meantime, just like chuckling away, like muttley to himself and uh, I’m like, right, come on, just just, I don’t know, just I’ve got so fed up. I was like I’m just gonna chip it out here, so just just did a normal chip. The bunker was was like I’m just going to chip it out here, so just just did a normal chip. The bunker was like head high, there’s a normal chip. But it was the perfect shot, came out, just took the whole contour of the green and just kind of went out and it probably left me about uh, 15 maybe, yeah, maybe, 15 footer, 16 footer to to a six.

Nish: 34:40

By this point, by the way, chris hasn’t had a second shot. It’s just me, all the way. But I nailed my putt in one. So I was like, yes, and it was a left-to-right putt as well, so it was pretty tricky, so I was pretty happy with that. But yeah, he had four putts to win the whole of the six-inch hole challenge and, dare I ask, he didn’t do too well with his first putt. Actually, if you know, you’ve got the confidence of four puts. Yeah, twitching. I think I need to start giving him some more beef before he steps up for his putts now.

Jim: 35:12

I think you do yeah.

Nish: 35:13

The problem is I was in no position to do anything because I’d already hit four bunker shots at a par three. I was like, oh oh, what can I do? I have to do the old like. I’ve seen these missed. I’ve seen these missed mostly by you, chris, actually, as it happens. But um, yeah, he nailed his par putt.

Nish: 35:27

So chris goes four up through six courses on the signature hole challenge. So at this point, what are we on now? It was was 5-2 on bunker count. I’d hit another 2 on this one, so we’re up to 7-2. Now my golf picked up at this point, jim.

Nish: 35:48

So I don’t have total awareness of where Chris started picking up bunkers, but he started picking up bunkers. So we’ve got to a point. I didn’t hit a bunker till hole 17. So the last one, I hit a bunker and I hit a bunker on the 18th. So my count ended up being 9 and I was on 7 already at this point. By the time we’d got to the 17th where, where I went, I’d gone into my eighth bunker, it was 7-6 on the bunker count.

Nish: 36:26

Chris had started finding the sand, so he was actually getting a little bit nervous at that point. He didn’t want to admit at the time, but he was like, oh, it’s getting a bit close, this isn’t it. And I think that I relieved all the pressure by going into a bunker at 17, so, um, and then we got to the 15th. There was nothing really in the uh. It wasn’t a driving hole actually, because all the danger was at between 200 and 250 yards bunkers, very narrow fairway, all that kind of thing. So it was definitely an iron off the tee and I think that was probably, apart from the par threes, that was the only cut hole really that you were looking at an iron off the tee, apart from the first for chris, apart from the first for chris, which he then doffed yeah yeah, we hit.

Nish: 37:08

I hit a decent six iron on this one and chris had gone way left with his hybrid. I think he hit or his three wood. So I’ve stood over my approach, shot and again, now you can just see this big, deep bunker on the right hand side, two bunkers in front of you. This bunker is the green was like copped by these two bunkers like this, so you couldn’t be short left, short right or wide right, wide left either. It was either hit the green or go long. And actually, looking at the course map, there is a bunker back right and there’s a tree back left. So again, what do you do? I absolutely creamed an eight iron. It’s got 162 yards. It was absolutely dead on line with the flag. You know when you’re watching it just going. Oh, my god, that looks amazing. And then I was thinking I took me back to the signature and I was like, oh, please, clear that bunker, please clear that bunker. I saw it, I see it bounce. All right, great, it’s clear of the bunker, fine. And then we couldn’t see it now at this point. I don’t think he was doing it deliberately at this point, but chris was like I, I don’t know where that ball’s gone, though it’s pretty. I think it went close, but I can’t see it. No, I’m not sure. I’m not sure. I think you’re in trouble and I was just walking up going what I can’t be, I don’t get it, I just can’t be. Anyway, we get up there and he’s like oh yeah, I can.

Nish: 38:27

The back, the back edge of the green, there’s a little bank, so chris is kind of messing around. I think chris on this one got, oh, chris got a four. He was, he scrambled well on that one actually. So I had a shot from the back of the green. Great, get my. Uh, I think I got my my nine iron out till I sort of bump it and it was a, it was a slight left to right and it was weird because I totally visualized that is the first time it’s ever happened to me this totally visualized the line of the ball and like all that kind of thing, and I hit it. And so it must have been about 25 feet from the back of the green to the hole and I hit it. And as soon as I hit it I was like that’s exactly where I wanted that ball to go, and I would say it was 10 feet out and I’m looking at chris and chris is going. Oh, that’s a spicy one. That’s was like no, that’s in, that’s on the line, that’s in, that’s in, that’s in.

Jim: 39:13

And it went in.

Nish: 39:14

It went in.

Jim: 39:15

I got a birdie on a par four.

Nish: 39:17

It was like fun on birdie dance A lot, mate. I was Did you get that on video? Oh no, we didn’t. No, actually, I’m full on. I was invested and I think that was yeah, I’m going to give Chris some. I’m going to go full beans on him now. He’s not getting away with this too spicy. I was like, yeah, well, you know, that’s what it feels like to chip in, mate, from the surge of the green. Chris should do that more, bearing in mind his putting. I think he should do that. You just try and chip a bit more.

Nish: 39:57

So it was getting, we were getting competitive at this stage. I think it’s because we’d got it to seven, six on the side bet. You know, I think he was feeling the little, feeling the heat. So I think I’ve learned something about chris. I think I need to start giving him a bit more, giving him a bit more jip during the round. I’m going to psych him out and just put in, that’s it. But I think I’m going to ramp it. I’m going to make myself do it now. I’m going to psych him out on the, especially on the signature holes. Now I’m going to psych him out hole 17 240 yard drive back in a bunker.

Nish: 40:28

It was annoying how I went in a bunker as well, because I ended up again behind a tree from a drive, chipped out sideways and left myself like 100 yards. That’s my gap, wedge distance, spot on. No problem, step up Full of confidence. I was like this is it? This is it? Bang on the number. The hole is 100 yards from where I am and I stuck it straight in the bunker that was right in front of me. That hadn’t even entered my, my thinking, I hadn’t even thought about it, it just went straight in there. I was like, and I think chris, chris eased off as well then, because I’m not gonna hit a bunker now, like it’s, it’s, it’s done, now 17 and he’s, I’m too too behind, too ahead. I suppose it’d be, uh, but again, on this hole, all down the left hand side, you got this one long, massive bunker. It just plays with your mind the whole, the whole time. There’s always something just there back of your mind on this course, like it’s there, there’s a, there’s a hazard there. What do I do with it? Get up to the 18th? Oh no, and it was 17 actually when I hit that shot.

Nish: 41:30

When I hit that shot, when I hit that shot, chris said to me I didn’t want to say it before, but I’ve noticed that you hardly put in any shoulder turn when you hit in the golf ball. And I was like really, he’s like yeah, yeah, you just it’s all arms at the minute and I was like all right, so I’ve been taught. My swing thought has been pause at the top and then everything aligns and it goes okay. Um, and he said yeah, I spotted you in abu dhabi as well and I bear in mind I played really well in abu dhabi. He said you were playing well, so I didn’t want to say it there. And he goes you’ve carried it on here. So he’s put this in my head now, doesn’t he about this shoulder thing. So we step up on the 18th.

Nish: 42:12

So the 18th at the Hodgkin course at Woodhulls Bar is a great hole of golf.

Nish: 42:21

The 18th I really really loved it Par 5 finish.

Nish: 42:25

So if you can hit it long, you’ve got a good chance of getting a good score.

Nish: 42:29

There are bunkers all the way at the left and all the way at the right, so it’s rewarding to get a good score. There are bunkers all the way at the left and all the way up the right, so it’s rewarding to get a good, good shot on there. So he’s told me this about my swing and I’m like, all right, okay, maybe that’s why the driver’s not being going well today. So I concentrated on getting a nice full shoulder turn in pause at the top, just let everything just happen. After that I absolutely creamed my driver 270 yards. It went dead straight and I was like what I usually do basically is my usual ball flight. I just looked at him and I went why the fuck didn’t you tell me that earlier in the round? Um, and then, yeah, I was sort of all right there running, but I hit my last bunker on the 18th, which didn’t really help. That paid to what could have been a good finish and it ended up being 9-6 on the.

Jim: 43:23

I was expecting, though, that it might be double figures from both of you, to be honest, given what we’d read about and heard about the course prior to your play to only hit 9 bunkers.

Nish: 43:38

Yeah, I think it’s weird. I think the bunkers are used more to visually mess with your brain rather than actually be a hazard. The ones around the green are. They’re in play all the time. If you’re unlucky to get in them, then you’re in for a tough day, I think.

Nish: 43:54

But bizarrely, the other thing about the bunkers that I noticed was a lot of them. I don’t know if it’s because it’s so sandy and dry underneath that a lot of them they weren’t even like sand, they were like dust. Uh, it was that dry and they had like rocks and stuff in them as well. So I don’t know whether that’s because it’s early in the season. I think they said that, uh, normally the season there sort of kicks off more and make it. They keep these uh shoulder season fees, green fees, to the end of april, where most clubs finish that in march. So I don’t know if it’s they’ve not quite got the the course in tip-top condition for the start of May. But there’s some rocks in there in the bunker which I wasn’t expecting, and then sandy. Normally you hit your bunker shot and the sand just drops immediately because it’s heavy. It was kind of hanging in the air a little bit, which was a bit. It didn’t put me off my bunker play at all, because it’s really soft and fluffy, that isn’t it, it’s not a problem, but it was unexpected. So to play at all, because it’s really soft and fluffy, that isn’t it, it’s not a problem, but it was unexpected, so it it’s fearsome. Reputation is really well founded.

Nish: 45:04

Um, get into the scores. So what? Chris had shot? Uh, 42 on the way out. He was a 46, on the way back in for an 88, which, bearing in mind, he drove the ball horrifically. There was only one drive that he hit well off the tee. Everything was either getting topped or it was sprayed or whatever. He scrambled incredibly well, really well. It’s a bit of a shame because I wasn’t playing that that well. I didn’t actually get to see his recovery. Uh, it’s always nice to watch that, actually, when somebody hits a really good shot out of a spot of trouble. Now, me, I was 58 on the way out, which was pretty bad, 52 on the way back, which was all right, but still not great. But I got a birdie and, bear in mind, I got nowhere near a par on anything else. So I walked away with a birdie and a par four, which I was well happy with um, so I got a total of 110.

Jim: 45:56

It’s very respectable given how difficult the course was, playing as well, because even though it was you know with with the weather that we’d had the brilliant two weeks of all towards sunshine really, um, not amazing blazing hot, but reasonably warm. That just adds the difficulty, the conditions when it’s so dry, and it’s just not stopping at all it was tough that.

Nish: 46:20

I think it was tough going. It was a mentally taxing course. We both sort of said that that’s the hardest we’re going to come up against. Um, we feel like we passed the test a little bit because it didn’t break us. Um, a lot of my play made sense as soon as chris said you’re not putting in a full shoulder turn. So actually, um, I was bagging him out for for telling me that on the 17th, but actually it was good. I’m glad that he did, because then I hit a couple of good shots and that kind of cemented in my head that, yeah, I was just not doing my basics right. So that’s on me, isn’t it? That’s not the course or anything like that. So I think I could have probably got away with, you know, hovering around 100, I think with a bit more consistent striking. I don’t think I would have done any better out of the bunkers than how I did. I was expecting a bit of a brutal bunker challenge. However, yeah, does it warrant the hardest whole golf course in the UK? I’d say yes, it is relentless in its nature. It definitely isn’t one for high handicappers.

Nish: 47:32

Was it something that play? Again, I’m doing that thing where you ask a question to yourself and then answer it and hate that. But would I play it again? I don’t think I’d rush back to go and play it. The thing that would make me go back is that I’d love to go back and then knowing now what I was doing wrong with my swing, and see if that that’s any better.

Nish: 47:53

And it is good value. Actually we paid. We paid 105 pounds for there and that’s in april. That’s that’s pretty good value. You know, we did it as a day trip and it was really good. Set up for seven in the morning, we were back by about eight in the evening. The welcome we got was fantastic. Practice facilities were amazing. Like you did feel like a pro really when you were at the practice range and all that kind of stuff. And to pit yourself against knowing now 58th best course in the world, 25th hardest in the world, hardest in the uk, but you’re pitting yourself against that. Yeah, it was good. It was a good experience to go to. I can totally understand why that is the national center for golf, because it does test every single element of your game all of the time. I mean, we look, we still had great fun because it it was a friday afternoon, it was baking hot, we’re playing golf.

Nish: 48:50

What’s not to like about that whole scenario? It was amazing, you know, and in amongst that I still walked away I’ve shot a birdie. Uh, I’ve hit an absolute beauty of a drive, 270 yards, you know, on a tough hole with bunkers everywhere. You know all that kind of stuff. It was like when you hit a good shot there. It’s rewarding, it really is. You feel, you feel like a million dollars walking up there. I’ve hit that shot exactly where I needed to and the result has been great. And, like I said, the facilities were great. So, you know, if anybody does find it not difficult to get to to woodhall spa, it’s a thoroughly rewarding overall experience. Lovely, warm welcome from everyone there.

Nish: 49:33

Yeah, while I say I’m not gonna, I wouldn’t rush back to play that, I think to me the the overriding factor with that would be it didn’t have the one element that a lot of other courses do have, which is the kind of history element to the course. You know you’re not there going. Oh my god, seve’s played here. Or oh my god, remember when Jean Valdevelde was stuck in the brook playing. You know, there’s none of that at all, but the elements of the golf course. You know it’s got a halfway hut, catering’s great, holy feel actually in that clubhouse.

Nish: 50:08

That was really nice. All the staff were unbelievable. They were so friendly like there was none of this, like I think they get a lot of visitors. Personally, I think that’s what it is. They just know they want to roll out the red carpet to them. Yeah, for that it’s definitely worth worth like going to. And then you know, god, by all means, pit yourself against the hardest in the in the country, because that’s that was our overriding thing. It was like this is how did it get? We’ve survived it and we’ve done okay. Like absolutely bring from the rest of them.

Jim: 50:38

I think you alluded to it um slightly early on, but out of the out of all the holes, maybe one of them would make the top 18 as it currently stands or we didn’t want to nominate anyone up there because I don’t think there was a hole that that stood out and thought, all right, wow, this is incredible.

Nish: 50:58

That’s not denigrating them at all, I think they’re all of them. They’re all designed to a very high standard actually and they all have a challenge on there. Um, I think we’re maybe both. Uh, we love a visually stunning golf hole. That’s what gets us and that’s probably our dream 18 where we’re at and how we’re pitching it, but what looks good to the eye and there was plenty on that course that did.

Nish: 51:21

But I don’t think anything would jump into that 18. So we almost sort of thought we didn’t want to take a spot up to then have to try and bump it later, and so, yeah, it would. Also, we would for the price that you pay. And if you’re a golf member, any golf club, you know you’re getting about 20, 30 quid off your round because you you’re a member of the english golf union, um, and even I golf, so a lot of people do that to get handicaps. They’re not members of the club. You’re still getting a I think it’s 10 to 15 pound discount off the green fee and it’s not unreasonable the green fee there at all. I think even in the peak period you might be maybe looking at about 145 150 pounds for a fearsome course that’s very well maintained uh, to put yourself against that, I think, is well worth doing, and having a starter there was was fantastic. He filled us in a little bit on the history uh of the club and just put that extra little bit of pressure on your first shot.

Nish: 52:14

Oh yes, I’m getting used to it. Now Having a starter in the first tee is becoming a little bit more commonplace. But, like I say, if I can get to 110 on the toughest course in the land, I think I’m standing myself in good stead there and just don’t forget some of the scores that you’ve smashed out on the other courses, particularly the two Welsh ones.

Nish: 52:41

They were great yeah, I think that’s where it was a bit disappointing that I was that far beyond that 27 shots. I didn’t feel like that. But yeah, that was a brutal golf course, but what I would still thoroughly recommend.

Jim: 52:56

I really would you know I think when he said to you, when he said you know I wouldn’t rush back, I think you know you’ve got 94 others to play as a part of this challenge. Of course you know there’s so much more higher priorities.

Nish: 53:08

Let’s not double up. Hey, that’s a stupid, a stupid idea. Yes, exactly, but yeah, it was a great. What a day, as I always say what a day.

Jim: 53:20

So in terms of how we would rate it, compared to what you’ve played already.

Nish: 53:25

So we started having this chat a little bit and we were struggling to rate it, I think, because I think in the immediate aftermath of that round of golf I had a bit of a stinker. Chris wasn’t great off the tee and there’s all these other things that we’re focusing on. I think we went with the club first. We said let’s rate that because that’s an easy one to go with. So I think with the club, we probably rated it at eight and a half and primarily the practice facilities pushed that up. But you know, the welcome was fantastic.

Nish: 54:03

We felt a little bit let down just by the overall mishmash of the look and feel of the clubhouse, the rest of the facilities, but that’s not their fault, that’s what they’ve got there, you know, and actually the atmosphere that they’ve created inside the clubhouse is really nice. It’s of a traditional golf club. So I don’t know whether actually that for me does work then, because you’re not going into this, you know, is it intimidating to go to this ultra slick facility where everything’s dead, modern and high tech and whatever you’re like? Oh my god, am I supposed to even be here? Imposter syndrome, all that kind of stuff is it better to walk into a place where you go. It’s just like my own golf club feels nice, you know, and I’m welcomed and everyone’s got a smile on their face and there’s good banter between people and all that kind of stuff. I don’t know. So maybe I’m being a bit harsh on the club facilities as such, but we thought eight and a half. I thought the best so far we’ve had has been S&A. That had a blend of absolutely everything. So we said it wasn’t that and then we rated that nine. So I think that’s why we dropped down to eight and a half, wasn’t that? And then we rated that nine. So I think that’s why we dropped down to eight and a half. The course um, I’m glad we’ve done this review, not immediately, I think. The course we might have struggled with our course rating then now.

Nish: 55:20

We haven’t quite agreed on this just now and we’re gonna, by the time we’ll have published the episode and put our blog up with all our pictures which head to top110.couk to have a look at those with a scorecard as well. We had from the ones that we played so far. I think we had sn. A was at the bottom, we had royal saint david’s, then abu dhabi, then more town and stiller. We think this is probably fit in.

Nish: 55:51

I still thought abu Dhabi was better than what we’ve just played at Woodhall Spa. I think Chris thinks Woodhall Spa is better than Abu Dhabi, so he might have put it into the top three. Now I’ve got it at fourth, just outside. So I think we’re going to have a little conflab and finally decide where we want to rank it, what we want to rate it as, but it’ll probably score something around seven and a half eight, probably as a quality, of course. Yeah, so I think that’s. I mean, look at those scores then eight and a half and probably eight. You know it’s. It’s probably one of the better ones out. Six is the best one we played, probably one of the best we played. So I think that gives you a measure actually and it’s good that we’ve done this later that we can reflect on it a bit better. It’s not an unsurmountable challenge of golf, but I think for a very high handicapper above 24, they pitch that limit correctly.

Jim: 56:41

I think that’s really useful to know because obviously it wouldn’t be one that I would go and play without playing probably about 50 more rounds.

Nish: 56:51

Yeah, we said that. Actually, we said that I think you would have not enjoyed that round of golf because it was. I just think it would have beaten you up, that’s all, and you would have gone. Well, hang on a minute. I play golf to enjoy myself. I don’t want to be, I don’t want to feel like this when I finish a round of golf. Oh, the other thing as well was that they didn’t check handicap or anything like that. I think, after having listened to this, you’ll probably self-filter on playing there if you’re a high handicapper. Great experience actually, we did enjoy that and you know, obviously, another one ticks because there’s nothing, really anything near Woodall Spa now, and Woodall Spa is a beautiful little town. So, yeah, done. That is Woodall Spa completed near woodall spa now, and woodall spa is a beautiful little town. So, uh, yeah, done. That is woodall spa completed.

Nish: 57:37

Obviously, we just like we have put the signature challenge up on the youtube. We would love it if you would share this episode. Woodall spa is quite uh, a lot of loads of people actually messaging me, jim, saying what was it like? What saying what was it like? What was it like? What was it like? I think it’s one of those things where people have wanted to go, but obviously it has a fearsome reputation as well. I think they really wanted to know what it was like as a course, so if you can share it, that would be great.

Nish: 58:05

We will have the full 18 up to view on YouTube soon as well. We managed to film all of it, which you’ll be able to see my birdie on Along with a load of bunkers and we In practice, along with a load of bunkers yeah, that’s already up there. Look at the signature whole challenge video on YouTube and you’ll see me floundering in a bunker. But, yeah, if you could do that, we would really appreciate that. And if, but yeah, if you could do that, we would really appreciate that. And if you like and subscribe, of course, that’d be great. Next time. On the top of the 110 golden podcast, we preview the king’s course at glen eagles.