A favourite song of my dear departed dad was I Talk to the Trees, and if he'd ever ventured onto Enville Golf Club's Highgate course I'm convinced he would have finished up hoarse!
As for the many golfers who no doubt enjoy the innumerable delights of this golf club, I'm pretty sure they probably spend a moment or two cursing the trees rather than talking to them.
That's because this is a course boasting plentiful woodland. On many fairways you are cocooned by elegant avenues of trees, while there is also a sizeable acreage of heathland where you'll find unforgiving clumps of heather, gorse and fern always prepared to gobble up wayward shots. That's not taking into account the trees! And with many pines, firs and others, the course does have a Scottish feel about it - a comment made to me by several golfing friends, who also said I would find my visit a most pleasurable experience.
They were spot on!
While there are no great panoramic views of a distant horizon, this is still a most attractive course set over undulating country. Even the drive into this part of south Staffordshire - bordering onto north Worcestershire - is a delight and gives a hint of what is in store as you motor through woodland and across the common.
The club at Enville first came into being in 1935, founded by a group of local enthusiasts who saw through the construction of a nine-hole course and its original clubhouse, long since demolished during the club's development in the ensuing decades.
Anyone involved in those far-off days would look upon today's establishment with considerable pride. There are now two 18-hole courses, Highgate and Lodge, a practice area which the club hopes to extend later this year, and an excellent clubhouse with first-rate facilities.
And then there's Enville's enviable reputation as a course of distinction, especially the challenging Highgate which has hosted numerous PGA and county events over the years.
One of the attractions is that there's plenty of contrast. Ignore the lack of distant views, for here is a course with plenty to enjoy as regards its own immediate scenery, and it's a course which not only makes you think about your game but which also invites you to be quite adventurous.
No wonder it gets so many visitors from across the country and further afield.
It's a credit to all concerned, from the first tee to last. Playing off the yellow tees the yardage is a fairly lengthy but fair test of 6,381 yards. The first couple of holes are more heath than woodland and in some respects gently welcoming, although the par five first has a rising fairway of 472 yards to a well-guarded green and I was delighted to open up and get away with a par. The green was reached via three and seven woods, and a reasonable nine iron. The much shorter second (218 yards) produced another par although I had finished up short from the tee.
The pars quickly dried up from that point especially as the third was a blind shot up rising ground, and once over the brow attention is swiftly focused towards the intimidating bunkers on the edge of the fairway. The challenge ahead was now very much in evidence and the increasing density of woodland had yet to be ventured into. Still, several of the following holes were satisfyingly bogeyed considering the handicap I'm currently playing off. There are a number of interesting dog-leg holes and particularly appealing among these is the majestic sweeping fairway of the 586 yard par five ninth.
By now you will realise that the trees are with you - but 'conversation' can be avoided as most of the fairways are on the generous side. However, anything a wee bit wayward - or if you try to take any liberties - will have you face to face with a trunk or two, and just like the song... they won't listen to you.
The 476-yard 10th, a par five, is a tough but delightful hole down into a hollow with a ditch and fairway bunker to avoid and back up the other side to yet another almost perfect green.
Indeed, one of the striking features about the Highgate course is the quality of the greens - well grassed, receptive and true. If you can't save strokes on these then it's a new putter or a few more hours on the practice green.
The inward nine has a couple of little gems - the short 14th and 16th. The former is just 146 yards and really is short and sweet with a large bunker to the front of the green, a small pocket of fir trees to the left of the hole and another bunker to the right. Accuracy is the requirement but mine was lacking and a six iron dropped among the trees.
This was to be repeated from the next tee but thankfully here there was a route to the green with a little pitch. Par should have been rescued but the ball decided on a tour of the hole and stayed up.
Too much fade from the 15th tee took the ball back into the trees with no way through. But after chipping out and finding the edge of the green, the putt of the round saw the ball drop from around 35ft away.
The 208-yard 16th is a picturesque hole with a little pavilion to the side of the tee, and in between this and the green is an eye-catching pond full of wildlife. Plenty to stand and admire here, as there is on most of the holes, but this one provides a welcome preparation for the final slog which includes the 507-yard par five 18th -the second longest on the course.
Fairly flat, but another slight dog-leg to the left where there is a strategically-placed bunker at around 200 yards, receptive to those who might try to cut the corner! Avoid that, which I managed to do, and it's then reasonably straightforward - although there is nothing at all straightforward about this enchanting and invigorating course.
The Enville club is set in superb countryside, well away from the hustle and bustle of everyday urban life, and its Highgate course is a magnificent rural retreat and a golfing treat.
Highgate course (par 72, yellow tees 6,381 yards)
Green fees: £35
Enville Golf Club
Highgate Common
Enville
Stourbridge
Tel: 01384 872074
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