Bishop Auckland Golf Club Top 100 Review

Bishop Auckland Golf Club was established in 1894 on land owned by the Church Commissioners, situated in parkland on the High Plains overlooking the Bishop of Durham's Palace and the River Wear in County Durham. Golf had informally been played on the outer park of the Bishop's estate from around 1890 by theological students at the Castle before the club was formally constituted. The original layout was designed by James Kay, who also extended the course to its full 18 holes in 1913. The course plays to a par of 72 over 6,460 yards, with a course rating of 71.7 and a slope of 131. In more recent times, well-regarded course architect Jonathan Gaunt has made contributions to the layout, though without substantially altering the original routing. James Braid and Harry Vardon played an invitational match at the club in August 1906, with Braid winning both the morning and afternoon rounds.

The course is arranged as two returning nines across roughly 115 acres of tree-lined parkland, and is widely noted for an unusually structured routing by modern standards. The outward half plays to a par of 37 and features three consecutive par 5s at the second, third, and fourth holes — an arrangement with no close parallel in British golf — before the front nine closes with two heavily bunkered par 3s at the seventh and eighth. The par-3 seventh is particularly regarded as one of the stronger short holes in the north of England and has been featured in several golf publications. The back nine plays to a par of 35 and finishes with six consecutive par 4s beginning at the thirteenth, with the left-doglegging thirteenth rated as stroke index 2 and considered the most demanding hole on the card.

The estate setting lends the course considerable scenic character, with panoramic views across the Wear Valley and the ancient landscape of the Auckland Castle grounds visible from several points on the course. The ground and turf quality benefit from centuries of use as deer park and grazing land, giving the fairways a firm, close-knit playing surface. The club has a strong competitive tradition within county and regional golf in the north of England.