GolfTraxx: A fusion of Golf, GPS, Database, Mapping, and FUN technologies

Hole 1

Hole Name PARKSIDE

From The Tee An enticing opening hole on account of its shortness, its simplicity and the sense

From The Fairway it must offer an ideal birdie opportunity because the green can still be in reach even after a poor opening drive. Yet danger lurks throughout. For instance, when the tee position is closest to the river, with only the green’s very front edge visible from the tee, even a leading tour pro would prO-Bably opt against a controlled hook directly to the green. Instead the prudent opening drive is strai

On The Green to where it turns sharp left, and a short approach between the two front bunkers. A sharp hook and the river beckons, unless one of the line of tall lime trees marking the western boundary of the course intervenes. Anything drifting right risks an awkward lie among trees loitering beyond that edge of the fairway. Most players walk to the second tee satisfied with a par.

Hole 2

Hole Name CASTLE

From The Tee Lumley Castle creates a lofty and majestic backdrop looking down on

From The Fairway the fairway and provides a line from the tee either at its center or left hand tower. For many, the drive from a medal tee hard up against the out of bounds fence is intimidating, even reaching a flat lie on the fairway is an achievement. Because of the slope a half-decent strike drifting right can all too readily finish in a small copse. The hole then turns left, all the time climbing steadily to

On The Green green making it play longer than the measured length, except in a strong westerly wind. The deep bunker short and left of the green is to be avoided while the bunker digging into the centre right hand-side is visited surprisingly infrequently. This is perhaps because, when the pin is sited on the lower tier, a third or fourth shot from just short of the green is preferable to putting down from the

Hole 3

Hole Name SPIRE

From The Tee

From The Fairway The reward for the climb up the second fairway is to be returned back from where you have just come, plus a spectacular view of the town and parish church (hence the name of the hole). Yet the two holes are quite separate, only a wild hook on either bothering players ahead or behind. This part of the course, in the original Lumley Park, has centuries old Lime, Ash and Oak trees dominating the land

On The Green planted long before anyone thought of adding a few golf holes. The positioning of the three tee boxes are quite separate but the longest drivers are advantaged, able to carry the huge trees that advance into either side of the early part of the fairway, however care must be taken to avoid the imposing and punishing fairway bunkers. More modest hitters must thread their tee-shots through to a fairw

Hole 4

Hole Name THE HAUGHS

From The Tee A short walk, with Lumley Beck on the left, soon brings The Haughs into view, the second distinct area of the course.

From The Fairway Opened in 1995, the landscape appears remarkably mature with trees and tall bushes replacing farmland which, although it was featureless before the arrival of golf, nevertheless contains some of the richest soil in the country. This is the first of two par fives on the course – the other appears only two holes later. The fourth dog-legs slightly right with the dense woodland of the Lumley estate p

On The Green Standing on the tee with the green barely visible over 500 yards away, it is difficult to imagine BO-B Stephenson, then 76, holed his second shot during a 2007 seniors tournament for that rarest of birds, an albatross – the only one in the club’s history. Usually the hole requires a drive avoiding three bunkers to the left, a second shot short of the narrow ditch crossing the fairway 80 yards from

Hole 5

Hole Name WATERSEDGE

From The Tee The walk to the fifth tee is short but now the direction turns westerly into the prevailing wind,

From The Fairway helping to make this one of the most difficult holes of the outward nine. Yet viewed from the slight elevation of the medal tee, the drive seems inviting enough. True, there are trees, bushes and undergrowth stretching all along the left while the first hint of the river encroaching from the right is only too O-Bvious. Yet the landing area, if not the fairway, looks sufficiently broad.

On The Green The preferred drive is up the right hand side in order to provide the best line for the approach shot, however, care must be taken to avoid the fairway bunker. If you pull your second shot the line of trees stretching alongside the final part of the fairway on the left can be unforgiving. The green itself is comparatively flat but tightly bunkered at the front and both sides. Standing on the tee,

Hole 6

Hole Name RIVERSIDE

From The Tee The name of the hole derives from the River Wear – providing the right hand boundary throughout its length –

From The Fairway rather than the Emirates Durham International Cricket Ground visible in the mid-distance. The river rarely receives a visit – not so the accompanying vegetation close to the fairway, particularly where an average drive or second shot might land. Similarly, there is little relief on the left, with uninviting territory the entire length of the hole. But waywardness is always possible with distance a

On The Green This, the second and last par five, is the longest hole on the course. One advantage, though, is that from the white tee the bunkers on the left side of the fairway are out of reach for most players. However further bunkers await approaching & around the green and care must be taken to negotiate them successfully.

Hole 7

Hole Name PARK VIEW

From The Tee The first of three par threes on the course, and arguably the most pleasant.

From The Fairway The fairway trees don’t come into play and the green is easier to hit than on the 12th and the 16th. This green is also more receptive, sloping from back to front. There is not much rough, just a semi cut on both sides and if the ground’s firm, and if you are short but reasonably accurate, the ball will run on to the green. There are three bunkers around the green – one on the right by the river a

On The Green and there is a lot of unseen ground between tee and green where the land falls. The far left bunker, which is very deep, tends to be the most visited hazard on the hole. The lower unforeseen land in front of the green encourages a misjudgement of distance and, with the wind usually right to left, it is tempting to be enticed into aiming too far wide of the river.

Hole 8

Hole Name BRIDGES

From The Tee PrO-Bably the most straightforward hole on the outward half, yet still a testing par four.

From The Fairway From the medal tee, looking backwards across the river to the park, one reason for the abundance of wildlife on the course is only too O-Bvious with ducks, geese, swans, water-hens and even sea-gulls being fed a never ending supply of stale bread. On the left of the hole, trees border the fairway. Yet from the tee, the gap seems wide enough, a good drive beyond the

On The Green two left bunkers often helped by a gentle slope towards the green. However everything moves right, bringing a fairway bunker into play from the tee for the longest hitters and, more significantly, a front right greenside bunker, visited far more frequently than its companion on the left. Little compensation that the green entrance is generous, and the mounds surrounding three sides prevent many sh

Hole 9

Hole Name BOAT HOUSE

From The Tee The last hole of the outward half is a long, demanding par four. Part of the difficulty results from length.

From The Fairway For many, for most of the year, two very good hits are needed, often a third. Shape is another prO-Blem, the hole bending further left than might appear at first glance from the tee. By contrast the designated route up the middle avoids a bunker short right, another further up on the left, and leaves a long second down a relatively narrow fairway. But there is room off the fairway on the right bef

On The Green The green, sloping from the back is not easy to read although the entrance, bunkered on either side, is comparatively wide. A cottage behind the green, only recently demolished, gives the hole its name, a memory of days when the journey from castle to church needed a river crossing.

Hole 10

Hole Name ROAD HOLE

From The Tee Chester-le-Street’s version of the identically named hole at St Andrews but without its own road bunker.

From The Fairway Yet like its namesake it is praised and criticised in equal measure. The first of two holes on return to the Park, it is for most players a dog-leg right starting at river level before climbing steeply for the seventy or eighty yards immediately in front of the elevated green. Before that, a good drive needs to be far enough along the valley but not over far nor over left, to avoid the out of boun

On The Green A short drive to the right, especially beyond the road snaking its way up to the castle, is the direct route but is beset with prO-Blems. From the centre of the fairway the hole turns sharp right. The approach up the hill ought to be straightforward enough but not for anything pulled left. For the longest hitters, though, the temptation to aim straight at the green carries various risks . . . of b

Hole 11

Hole Name CLUBHOUSE CORNER

From The Tee A short but craftily designed par four with much of the play determined by a small copse of ancient

From The Fairway trees on the right hand side of the fairway, straddling the direct route from tee to green. The drive, from a tee close by the castle boundary, ought to offer few prO-Blems if held left to avoid the inevitable bounce towards the copse. And there is ample room further wide even if it doesn’t appear so from the tee. However, the drive down the designer line must either be short of the

On The Green two bunkers in the left of the fairway or beyond. Too far though and the out of bounds of the road to the castle can come into play. The approach, from the middle of the fairway down to river level, can look inviting enough. But beware. The green is small, very narrow at the front, built up on three sides, delighting in throwing slightly misplaced shots off both left and right or, worse, the back.

Hole 12

Hole Name HA-HA

From The Tee This start to the Top Field – the last of the three distinct areas of the course –

From The Fairway brings the second of the par threes. It climbs gently but steadily from a tee overlooked by the inviting clubhouse bar to a green only just outside the grounds of the castle. Hence the name, referring to an ancient hidden ditch (ha-ha) close behind the green, invisible from the tee but not to be visited – invariably resulting in either a penalty drop or, more likely, a tramp back to the tee.

On The Green The ditch, originally intended to prevent livestock wandering too close to the castle, apparently provided insufficient protection from golfers when the then Earl of Scarborough sanctioned the first course design in 1909, meaning another twenty years before the hole could be brought into play. In 2017 a deep, wide swale was added which snakes up the hole and should be avoided at all costs. The slo

Hole 13

Hole Name BROADWOOD

From The Tee If a tee-shot finishing in the Ha-Ha ditch is a rarity at the short twelfth, at this hole it is commonplace

From The Fairway with the ditch now parallel to the line of play on the left, providing a tight out of bounds turning into a fence when the ditch runs out. This hole belies its name, Broadwood, as the trees narrow it on the right hand side. There is ample space, but only on the far right and on the parallel fourteenth hole. Closer to the fairway, a poor drive often ends in Hodgson’s trench – a gravel based drainag

On The Green while all too often even a good tee shot can be hindered by a large Birch tree (affectionately known as Schmeichel), intruding well into the right hand side of the fairway. A straight drive leaves an attractive second shot, the fairway sloping gently to the green. But a mishit in either direction leaves a trying shot from the long grass surrounding numerous groups of trees. The green entrance is n

Hole 14

Hole Name THE VIEW

From The Tee Another par four, still in the area of the original Broadwood, starts with a tee shot from well

From The Fairway beyond the previous green back in the opposite direction. A wild shot right can easily find the parallel thirteenth fairway. Yes, it lengthens the hole because the intervening trees have to be carried but a shot to the green is always possible. Care must be taken with the fairway bunkers,

On The Green the right side one is in reach of most players whilst the left side ones are often in play depending upon the wind. The ideal is a long and straight drive, leaving the very hardest hitters close to the green and pitching to the largest, flattest putting surface on the course, before enjoying another splendid view to the town and beyond.

Hole 15

Hole Name LONG HAUL

From The Tee The longest par four on the course, justifiably stroke index one and aptly named –

From The Fairway only a minority of members ever having reached the green in two. Nestling in front of a crop of tall conifers, the green is clearly visible for the full length of the hole with the fairway climbing gently but steadily – especially in the latter part. The fairway may be relatively narrow but is largely untroublesome apart from occasional trees running up either side, thickening at drive length on t

On The Green eighty yards from the green. Playing short of it might make for a relatively straightforward approach but as a third shot. Even then prO-Blems remain. The shot has to be part directed towards the out-of-bounds only two or three yards from the putting surface. A deep bunker front right always threatens while the slope of the green has many times hastened a three putt. For most golfers, a par is bot

Hole 16

Hole Name HOME TURN

From The Tee A walk through the conifers, at the highest point on the course brings

From The Fairway the sixteenth tee and the last and most demanding of the par threes. Part of the difficulty arises from length, approaching two hundred yards, but most derives from features around the green. The most O-Bvious is a deep bunker guarding the right hand entrance ten yards short. A visit there rarely yields a par. Beyond are another two bunkers, mostly hidden from the tee, running down the right side

On The Green A fourth bunker, back left, is also barely visible from the tee. Add these to the adjacent out-of-bounds fence on the left, a relatively shallow entrance, which hides both a steep drop beyond the green plus subtle borrows and it is not hard to appreciate why the hole is both the most difficult short hole of the round but also the third hardest hole on the course according to competition scores. At

Hole 17

Hole Name RIGGS

From The Tee The final two holes head directly back towards the clubhouse and are both helped whenever the wind is anywhere near

From The Fairway southerly. The first of these is a flat, comparatively straightforward par four; its name relating to a series of regular undulations running at right angles to the direction of play. The undulations, rig & furrow, date back to when the land was farmed. So the length of a drive can be highly dependent on chance, that is where it lands. Even a forward bounce rarely proves long enough to reach the s

On The Green yards from the green. But that remains the favoured side. There is space, if not fairway, before the undergrowth guarding the practice ground intrudes on the left. In contrast, any shot from out right – even on the edge of the fairway – must contend with strategically positioned Oak trees, with thicker woodland running much of the length of the hole. The shot to the green needs to avoid front bunk

Hole 18

Hole Name CESTRIA

From The Tee The eighteenth leading down to the clubhouse provides, as befits a final hole, the most inviting of

From The Fairway drives with the bonus of an unhindered view of the Emirates Durham International Cricket Ground on the other side of the river and the castle to the right. But there are dangers. There is room on the left but that soon turns into unplayable rough while any of the trees on the way can easily O-Bscure a shot to the green. The prO-Blems on the other side are potentially greater.

On The Green The ideal tee-shot is down the left hand side but a drive straight down the middle will end left. Yet, however short, never under-estimate the approach shot nor the resultant putt. The green is narrow, slopes sufficiently from the right to throw even a firmly struck shot off left while the variation in gradient means no guarantee of two putts. It might be the most likely hole for a birdie but, mos