Host to the Lancashire Amateur Championship June 2011 and the Northern Counties in 2013

Sometimes it can be difficult to decide where to play - there are so many golf courses to choose from - each providing you with information about how good they are. To make your task a little easier we decided to let other golfers tell you about our club and our Harry Shapland Colt golf course. We look forward to welcoming you to The Manchester Golf Club.

Lancashire Amateur Championship 2011

Dear Steve,

Just a short note to say thank you to Manchester Golf Club officials for hosting a very successful championship last weekend and thank you for your own considerable help during the many weeks preparation and for your kind attention during the event.

Special thanks must go to all the staff at Manchester. They were extremely friendly and eager to please which helped enormously with the success of the event. It is unfair to select specific individuals but your professional, Brian, did his utmost to ensure that we were catered for as did Steve and his clubhouse staff who also supplied an excellent meal for the championship dinner.

The course was in superb condition so, special thanks to your Head Greenkeeper Mark Jones.

You have a great Club - it was a pleasure for us to be with you.

Best wishes to you and the Club

Kind regards

Derek Jones
(Championship Chairman)

Lancashire County Veteran Ladies' Golf Association Championship May 2011

Dear Stephen,

On behalf of our Captain: Mrs Anne Sharman, President: Mrs Sheila Holt, the Executive Committee of the Association and the competitors I would like you to convey our sincere thanks to the Directors and Council of the Club for allowing us to use your course for our Championship and to all the staff who contributed to making it such a successful and happy event.

The competitors enjoyed playing the course which is in lovely condition and had been well prepared. The catering was excellent - all our requirements were taken care of. We appreciate that these things just don't happen - there are always lots of people working behind the scenes to ensure that all goes well and our thanks go to all of them, and also to you for making sure everything did go well.

Yours sincerely

Enid Smith

(Secretary LCVLGA)

Ranked 129th in England by National Club Golfer

'Harry Colt is famed for his heathland designs but this is a fine moorland course

THIS Harry Colt design, which is set out on rugged Middleton moorland some 20 minutes north of Manchester, is one of the finest courses in the area. It occupies a massive 240-acre plot at Hopwood Park, where the naturally undulating, winding landscape influences the bounce of the ball.

The start is a relatively generous one – the short par-4 1st offers a downhill tee shot and a short iron approach before back-to-back par-5s. Depending on the wind, big hitters will usually be able to reach one of them with two of their best shots. The drive is tighter on the 2nd but the 3rd plays blind over the crest of a hill, so this can often prove the more difficult of the two.

The course has some fine short holes and an unusual character – it is divided into two by a wide ravine that has a brook winding through the bottom. The vast landscape (you can see for miles from parts of the course) is broken up by woods of sycamore and birch, and is a real treat for the eyes.

The club is also home to top-class teaching facilities and one of the best custom-fitting centres in the country. Run by Brian Connor, the club’s PGA professional, all the leading brands are in stock.

TOP HOLES By Joe Whitley, staff writer

6th, 453 yards, par 4
A REAL test of your long game as it not only demands length at well over 400 yards, but accuracy and trust too. Blind from the tee, this is the toughest tee shot of the day with trees right, rough left and out of bounds also looming. A long approach then awaits regardless, although at least a downhill one, which is made even more difficult by a well-defended green. Take a five here any day.

14th, 476 yards, par 5
A GENUINE birdie chance if played correctly, the 14th is a sharp dog-leg left that can be attacked by bigger hitters. Cut the corner and you may have as little as a mid-iron for your second but fairway bunkers and a narrow fairway make things a little more complicated.

16th 227 yards, par 3
ARGUABLY the finest hole on the course. At well over 200 yards, it will prove difficult even for the lowest handicappers. Play for the middle of the sloping green and settle for a three every time – while four is no disaster.'

Rated **** by Golf World

'Manchester is a fine parkland/moorland course located just 10 miles north of the city centre. It is a very user-friendly course as it is never too busy (peculiar for a course next to such a large urban centre) and has excellent practice facilities. Once you tee off, it won't take long to realise that the course is not so accomodating, with the wind whipping across the rugged moorland landscape and accentuating badly struck shots, particularly so with the proliferation of sloping lies you can get on these undulating fairways.

Despite the temptation to try and overwhelm the course with brute strength, Manchester embraces, intelligent play, and the members generally cite the 12th as a good example. At this par-4 a driver off the tee will leave you with a longer approach shot but a flat lie. These trade-offs are classic Colt design traits and if you bear this in mind throughout you should have few problems with the course.

As you would expect in this area of the country, the reception at the club is always first class and you always feel as if you are a member of the club, if only for a day. Recommended.'

Further comments: 'A course that puts golfers first and not profit .... High class moorland golf at an affordable price ..... Characters at this club make it a pleasure to play ..... Good finish.'

Scored 16 out of 20 with the Peugeot Golf Guide

'Close to the city of Manchester, this fine course is easy to play during the week, particularly for meetings where business and extreme pleasure mix very well indeed. Practice facilities are excellent, which is not always the case in Britain. The layout is not very long but the tee-boxes are well placed to provide each category of player with a challenge, and the better players will have to think long and hard and play well to card any sort of score.

On an open moorland landscape which is unexpected so close to a city, the course is very exposed to the wind which can become a major obstacle, particularly on the dog-leg holes, where, as on all Harry Colt courses, you need to think carefully about where to put your drive to get the right approach to greens protected by bushes, trees and bunkers. Strategy is to the fore again at the 12th, where hitting the driver will leave you a short approach shot but on a sloping lie, while a 2 iron will leave you on a flat part of the fairway but with a longer approach to the green.

A rather hilly course, Manchester offers some fine views to make up for the difficulty of club selection.'

Rated Number 1 out of 14 golf courses in Greater Manchester

'Visited Manchester with our small Golf Society on 11th July 2008.

This is a superb all round venue for a days golf. The welcome, hospitality and catering were second to none and there were no problems in tailoring a Society package to suit us which was not one of the Clubs "Standard" ones.

The course is fantastic with a great variety of holes which roller coaster around the vast area that it covers. There are some great driving holes and a great set of par 3's.

This is Britain (and of course Manchester) and the weather when we played was pretty dreadful and it rained most of the day but if anything it demonstrated just how good the course is. Even with some slight surface water on some, the greens still played well. In dry conditions they must be like putting on glass.

Off the course the Clubhouse is excellent and every golfers whim is catered for without fuss.

All in all, a most enjoyable day, despite the weather and we hope to return on a dry day in the future.''