Alwoodley Golf Club

Alwoodley, founded in 1907 north of Leeds, is the first golf course Alister MacKenzie ever designed. He was more than the architect: a founder of the club, its first secretary, a member of the green committee and captain in 1912.

It is a par 71 of 6,914 yards with a course rating of 73.9, on heathland cut out of heather and gorse.

What it asks of you

Long carries from the tee, and a decision about how much heather to take on. The fairways are tight, springy and fast-running, which is the defining property of good heathland turf: the ball lands and keeps going, so the landing area matters more than the carry.

The greens are large and undulating, with what reviewers consistently call cunning bunkering. That combination is the MacKenzie signature in embryo, twenty years before Cypress Point and Augusta: a green that accepts a ball from one angle and rejects it from another, with a bunker placed to make the good angle expensive.

The finish is what visitors remember. The ninth is a long par 3 of 235 yards from the championship tee, and the eighteenth a 484-yard par 4 that reviewers call a genuine test rather than a formality.

What players say about it

This is a private club with visitor access, and it is well covered by the golf press. The points below summarise what recurs. These are other people’s opinions, not ours: we have not played the course, and we name and quote no one.

What comes up in its favor

• That it is MacKenzie’s first course is the draw, and reviewers say the design already shows what he became.
• The turf is praised in almost every account: fast-running, springy heathland ground of the kind England does better than anywhere.
• The course ranks in the top hundred of the United Kingdom and Ireland, and near the top of Yorkshire.
• The closing stretch, and the eighteenth in particular, are singled out.
• The sweeping holes through heather and gorse are described as beautiful, which for a course this demanding is unusual praise.

What comes up against

• The heather punishes a wayward drive absolutely: a ball in it is often unplayable rather than merely awkward.
• The long carries are unforgiving for a high handicap.
• Visitor access is limited and must be arranged.
• At 6,914 yards it is a long day on foot for anyone who is not used to heathland.

Getting there and when to go

The club is at Alwoodley, about twenty minutes north of Leeds city centre and half an hour from Leeds Bradford airport.

The season is year-round on heathland, which drains well, but June to September gives the best conditions, and August is when the heather is in flower. Visitor times must be arranged in advance.

Green fees

Visitor conditions are set by the club. See the club’s own site.

How this page was made

The factual frame comes from public sources: OpenStreetMap for the location, the club’s published history and the MacKenzie Society for the founding and MacKenzie’s roles, and public course records and the golf press for par, yardage, rating and the notable holes. The opinion section summarises public reviews read in September 2026; we report recurring themes rather than individual voices, and we reproduce no quotations.

We have not played this course, and this page is no substitute for a round. The club has not paid for this page, has not seen it before publication and has no say over its content. If you know the course and something here is wrong or out of date, write to us and we will correct it.