Enville (Lodge)

It may well be the shorter of the two courses at Enville Golf Club, but the Lodge Course brings together heathlands and woodlands in incredible fashion.

Along with the Highgate Course – the championship offering at the venue – the Lodge Course has a great mixture, one you might not expect to see in the West Midlands.

Divided into the two layouts in the late 1980s, the Lodge Course comes to just shy of 6,500 yards, but provide some stunning vistas of both kinds of golf.

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The history of Enville Golf Club dates back to the period between the two World Wars. The golf club was founded in 1935, and began life as a 9-hole course.

Alf Padgham designed the first nine with Arthur Wrigglesworth adding five more before Horace Lewis took the course up to 18 holes just three years after the club had originally opened.

Frank Pennink created a further nine holes before member and professional Ron Hinton took it up to the 36 holes Enville offers today. The 36 holes were then rerouted into the Highgate and Lodge Courses, which remain as they are today.

Although the Lodge Course is some 200 yards shorter than the Highgate Course, they both have similar properties. The fact that it is the shorter course, principally by dint of its having only two par 5 holes, does not make it one jot easier. There are not many half-heathland, half-woodland courses around, especially not in the West Midlands, and on the Lodge, every hole is unique, setting a different challenge. Every hole is superbly bunkered, both in the quality of design and strategic placing. Every fairway is manicured and the greens are like carpets, subtly contoured and absolutely true. Above all, every hole, with its undulating fairway framed by richly diverse trees, is stunningly beautiful. At just shy of 6,500 yards, the Lodge is a tricky prospect, with its tighter and more undulating fairways making it the more intimidating of the two courses.

The course begins with a medium-length par 3, one that is played over heather to a green guarded by three bunkers. At 178 yards from the tips, a long iron might be required for your first shot of the day. A narrow fairway awaits off the second tee, while the 3rd is a generous hole. It is only 320 yards, but that does not necessarily mean that it is a simple test. The fairway pinches in the further down you go, and the green is well guarded, putting off the very longest of hitters that might be tempted to go for it...

After crossing the road, golfers are then taken away from the heathlands, and start a run of nine forested holes. That run begins with the hardest hole on the Lodge. With a split fairway, the majority will have to lay up to the right distance before the first part of the short grass ends. That will still leave an approach of some 180 yards to a shallow green, one that has a false front. Although only 305 yards, the 5th is also one of the trickiest holes on the course. Placement with your tee shot is key to have the right angle to a treacheous putting surface, one that runs away from you on three sides. The tee shot on 6 requires both length and accuracy, especially with trees encroaching into the right side of the fairway, while water sits to the left. The approach, if you have found the fairway, is much simpler, but it is a raised green so take an extra club.

The first of the two par 5s on the Lodge Course comes at the 7th. At 510 yards, this is a good birdie opportunity, as long as you can find the fairway. Like on 6, trees bite into the right side of the fairway around the 200-yard mark, but if you can knock it past those, then there is a good chance of drawing a circle around your score. The 8th is the first par 3 in the woodland section of the course – a 185-yard hole that is played to a large, circular green. Two bunkers sit short of the putting surface, so take an extra club, especially with it playing slightly uphill as well. The final hole on the front side is another testing par 4, and the first proper dog-leg on the course. Moving its way round to the right, a precise tee shot is required, but just make sure you don’t run through to the other side of the fairway as water does await. The green is shallow so club selection is crucial.

There are only two par 5s on the Lodge Course, and the second and last of those comes at 10. Kicking off the back nine, this could be another birdie chance, but realistically only for the longer hitters who can knock it past the two fairway bunkers off the tee. Most will stay short of those and then lay up in front of the cross bunkers that are 60 yards from the surface. 11 is a hole where anything right with either tee shot, or approach shot will see you in trouble. The left side of the fairway needs to be found off the tee, so you have a view of the green around the tall trees. Then, with your approach, anything right of the green will leave a tricky up and down. The 12th brings to a close the woodland run on the Lodge, with another cracking par 4. At 420 yards, it is lengthy, but with an elevated tee, you can at least see everything you need to avoid on your way down the hole.

After you’ve crossed back over the road, you return to the heathlands once more for the final six. That run begins with a tough par 4, with heather lining both sides of the fairway. The green is guarded by two bunkers, and is more than 30 yards in length. The fairway on 14 sits on an angle, moving diagonally to the left as you look at it from the tee box. That brings the heather on both sides, and a fairway bunker down the right, all into play. Runoffs on three sides of the green also make it a tricky approach. 15 is just shy of 400 yards, and once more, heather lines the fairways This time, the green has mounds around it instead of runoffs, but that doesn’t make the second shot any less difficult.

The closing stretch on the Lodge Course will not test your distance, but it will test your accuracy. 16 is a par 4 of just 360 yards, but in recent years, bunkering and mounding has been added to this hole to make it a sterner test. The tee shot must get up the first part of the slope so you have a view of the green, but for the longest hitters, the downslope towards the green could propel tee shots even further forward. The 17th is a par 3 of only 155 yards, but with bunkers and heather within feet of the green, there is no room for error. 18 looks pretty simple – 350 yards, just one fairway bunker and so on. However, that fairway bunker is right in the landing zone for most, and there are three more traps by the green. Add in that the surface is a sloping one, and a three-putt for bogey could well be on the cards.

Where is Enville Golf Club located?

Enville Golf Club is located to the west of Birmingham, just outside the towns of Stourbridge and Dudley, in the West Midlands. The centre of Birmingham – England's second city – is less than 20 miles to the east of the venue. The A449 and A458 run either side of the golf club, with the M6 and M54 also both in close order to Enville.

Stourbridge Town and Stourbridge Junction are the two closest train stations to Enville Golf Club, both around seven miles to the southwest by road. The former runs trains to and from the latter, with Stourbridge Junction operating services to Kidderminster, Stratford-upon-Avon and Worcester, among other destinations. Birmingham Airport, which sits on the opposite side of the city, is around 30 miles from Enville Golf Club. Manchester Airport and Liverpool John Lennon Airport are both within a two-hour drive to the north, with East Midlands Airport a similar drive to the east.

Are there any NCG Top 100s: England venues nearby?

The Lodge Course at Enville Golf Club is one of several cracking venues within the vicinity of Birmingham, along with the Highgate Course at the same venue. Blackwell, Beau Desert, Little Aston, Copt Heath, Sutton Coldfield and the Brabazon Course at The Belfry are all within an hour or so from Enville.

What golf facilities does Enville Golf Club offer?

Not only is there the Lodge Course, but Enville Golf Club is also home to the Highgate Course as well, providing members and guests alike with 36 holes of golf.

Away from the two golf courses, Enville is also the home to a full-length driving range with both matted and turf tees, along with three short game practice areas to give the opportunity for plenty of golfers to hone their skills at the same time. There is a putting green by the opening tee box of the Highgate Course.

What are the green fees at Enville Golf Club?

The price of a green fee at Enville Golf Club changes throughout the year, depending on the season. It is also different depending on whether it is a weekday or weekend.

For more information on current green fees at Enville Golf Club, visit their website here.