PAUL HOWARD (Reviewer for Top 100 Golf Courses website) – Sunday August 4. 

Dear Furness Golf Club,

I had the pleasure of playing your course yesterday and I thank you for allowing me to play. I have reviewed the course as a panelist on the Top 100 golf courses website. Here are my comments;

“For the execution of the voyage to the Indies, I did not make use of intelligence, mathematics or maps.” ; Christopher Columbus.

I felt that quote had significance, given I had found Furness Golf Club without any recommendations and for once without reading any reviews. As many are aware I often try and combine a game of golf around where I watch my football team (Wigan Athletic) play on away days. Having never been to AFC Barrow I had no idea of the area and simply picked Furness as the closest course to the ground. So like all explorers it was simply into the unknown and pure coincidence I came across a quite simply breathtaking discovery.

The game itself, as most pre season friendlies usually turn out, had very little entertainment. Barrow scraped a simple one nil win. So jumping in the car, disappointed, and driving nine minutes, on, I expected little from the golf course, given it had been fairly unheard of.

If it’s all about first impressions I’d have probably carried on driving. An unimpressive clubhouse on the opposite side of the road, no Professional shop, that I could see, then a putting green and a first tee that didn’t offer much, meant I didn’t bother even hitting balls beforehand. The first and eighteenth holes run parallel to each other and appeared quite dull, even with a backdrop of the Irish Sea. There was no plaques advertising that Furness is the 6th oldest course in England and no starter, with his clipboard, announcing you on the tee.

The first, a straight par five was alright. The second, a par 3, was decent. What followed is arguably one of the best sets of golf holes I have ever been privy too. I stood on the third tee in awe of what was before me. The backdrop, the views, the layout, nobody in sight, for this is what an explorer seeks. Golfing bliss.

Hole after hole, moment after moment, shot after shot, I kept thinking could it get any better. Surely at some point it would end. A few poor holes. Maybe the views would disappear. Surely this couldn’t continue? Yet it did. I found, I wasn’t holing out, instead I was rushing to the next tee to see what view or moment was next. Making my way to the back tees I’d stand looking around at times. Each hole had some level of excitement… cancel that, ‘each shot brought excitement.’

I wish I could go through each hole. Coming off a golf course and the following day recalling every one, is rare. The senses exhilarated by the smell and sight. Standing on the third tee those views with the beach and sea to the left and the Cumbrian Mountains in the distance will never be lost on me. The par 3, sixth, into the wind, making up a low punched 7 iron into a green standing above you… The tee shot on the eighth, daring to set it out over the beach, so the wind could bring it back to the fairway, before playing a short iron to a plateau. The two hundred yard, semi blind, par 3… Then driving it along the beach on the long eleventh hole. It never stopped. Each hole had something memorable. I could go on…

At £40.00 during the week and a further five pounds of a weekend, Furness surely is the bargain of the century? I scored the course a five out of six. On attending I found the greens hollow-tined. I’d have dearly loved to have played the course with the greens in their prime given some of the borrows and slopes. I think adding them into the mix, making some pitches near on impossible would only have enhanced my experience. Yet it didn’t dampen my enjoyment. I vow I will return to play them, in better times. With steps into some of the deeper bunkers I found them consistent in how they played. Yes at times the fairways were patchy and maybe not as defined. The tees maybe a little small but then they did have four, on each hole. The course allows for ‘bail out’ areas and in order to maintain some length there are longer walks backwards to find the rear tees. It is though a joy to see a course finding a way to add an extra back tee in, here and there to add some extra difficulty and appeal to all standards. In no way does it create any less enjoyment, given the nature of the land.

Furness Golf Club gave me a buzz. I will return. I cannot speak highly enough of it and consider it in a bracket with some of the best courses in Cumbria. She is a little out the way but if you are keen to discover a new promised land with treasures on every hole, then I can assure you, Furness is worth that journey of discovery.

Paul Howard.

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ESSEX VISITORS (Ilford Golf Society) – Tuesday June 18 @ 09:40

On behalf of the above visiting party I would like to thank you for making their visit such a pleasant and memorable one.

From booking to post-game refreshments the support, professionalism and friendliness, of both staff and members, was second to none.  The course was in outstanding condition and was a pleasure to play on.  All should be complimented accordingly.

They all loved every minute of our visit and they look forward to visiting again in 2025.

Thank you to all of your team and staff.

Best regards

Alan Dunn 

On behalf of the Ilford Golf Society