Through Standedge Cutting, the highest point of the A62 that runs from Manchester to Leeds, the first village on the Yorkshire side is Marsden. It’s a village with its history rooted in woollen mills, with the largest said to have spanned 14 acres, with 680 looms running at its peak in the 1930s. These days, it’s a characterful valley village, that’s charm has led to it being used as a filming location for TV shows including Last of the Summer Wine, Where the Heart Is and The League of Gentlemen.
The hills that surround the village are home to Standedge Tunnel to the west; the UK’s longest, deepest and highest canal that stretches 3.5 miles, and opened to canoeists a few days before this piece was penned. To the south, high above the village shops, you’ll find a series of reservoirs, hundreds of kamikaze sheep, and Marsden Golf Club. Founded in 1920, it was funded by a ‘prominent local gentleman, supported by friends’, with the ‘links’ laid out on old farmland at the end of Wessenden Valley.
The original handbook provides a fascinating read, with such gems as ‘the visitor to these breezy acres is privileged to enjoy most inspiring views of the surrounding moors and hills, while the invigorating air puts him in the humour to enjoy to the full the sporting and scenic attributes of the course’. It also provides an amusing insight into a bygone era, via the adverts for local businesses, offering such fare as ‘house nuts’, pickled tongue, and tea cakes (‘often buttered but not bettered’).
Whilst consumer demands and advertising styles may have changed in the last hundred years, Marsden Golf Club has seemingly much less so. The clubhouse is still the original farmhouse with veranda down two sides, and the course’s layout looks remarkably similar, with the opening two holes across Mount Road, and the remaining seven back on the side of the clubhouse… albeit we note that another 648 yards have been added to its length in the intervening years.
The course was designed by renowned golf architect and Yorkshireman Alister MacKenzie, of Augusta fame no less, with his design principles never more evident in his philosophy that ‘the course should have beautiful surroundings, and all the artificial features should have so natural an appearance that a stranger is unable to distinguish them from nature itself’. For the course at Marsden is absolutely stunning! From the stone barn ruins, to the views across valleys, there’s rugged beauty in every direction.
Whilst not the longest of courses, every hole presents an interesting and different challenge, over and above the distractions of that gorgeous vista. There’s doglegs, ditches and walls among the features to navigate, and with frequent crosswinds a major factor, club selection can vary significantly on the same hole on different days, or even between front and back 9! Such are the restrictions on available space, a third of the holes intersect, requiring common sense, whilst being rather sociable.
Back in the clubhouse, and we receive the friendliest of welcomes, from both members and staff alike. The conservatory offers another chance to savour that outstanding panorama, and whilst expectations of the catering are modest, they’re swiftly and massively exceeded, with an extensive and mouthwatering menu, and some of the best (and biggest!) hand cut chips we’ve ever sampled. It’s the icing on the cake of a brilliant visit, and we cannot wait to return to marvellous Marsden!
Key Info
Holes: 9
Par: White / Yellow: 68. Red: 70 (when played as 18 holes)
Yards: White / Yellow: 5,812. Red: ????
Slope: White / Yellow: 129. Red: 127
Visitor Green Fees: £8 – £25 depending on if 9 / 18 holes, time of year and whether with a member
Website: https://www.marsdengolfclub.co.uk/
Location
Prices correct at time of writing (June 2024).
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