Woburn (Marquess)

Overview: At Woburn (Marquess), the woodland profile for Woburn (Marquess) is listed at 7214 yards and par 72. The course occupies about 200 acres of mixed woodland, with pine, spruce, sweet chestnut, oak and rarer specimens framing a series of rolling and undulating holes. Peter Alliss, Clive Clark, Ross McMurray of European Golf Design and Alex Hay contributed to the design. Fairways wind through the trees rather than running as straight corridors, and the best lines often require the player to decide how much of a dogleg or approach angle to take on.

History: The Marquess was created as the third course at Woburn and takes its name from the Marquess of Tavistock, later the 14th Duke of Bedford. It was formally opened in June 2000 and quickly became an important tournament venue. The course hosted the British Masters four times and the Women’s British Open in 2016 and 2019, while it also served as an Open Final Qualifying venue between 2014 and 2017. Those events show how a wooded inland course can still provide championship scale and variety.

Did You Know? The Marquess crosses the county boundary between Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire. Its name and setting therefore connect the course to both the Woburn estate and the historic landscape on either side of the boundary.