Written by Neil White
When a Top 100 course doesn’t ring my bell during my first visit, I feel compelled to return to see what I missed.
From Royal Portrush to Ashridge, the second rounds have opened my eyes and left me with much more positive impressions.
This was certainly the case at Little Aston, a club on Wentworth-esque estate on the edge of Sutton Coldfield, near Birmingham. I was last there four years ago after the first COVID lockdown, but only now can I truly understand why it is seen as having one of the Midlands’ premier courses.
The friendliness of the welcome (visitors receive a rather lovely key ring, pencils and stroke savers) was matched by the quality of the lunchtime snack and, most importantly, the quality of a course which is part parkland and part heathland.
One of its unique features is its practice putting area – a sloping course-in-itself which runs around beautifully manicured flowers and heather bushes. I kid not when I say I nearly lost a ball there during my first visit when my ball took a borrow that fed into the undergrowth.
Little Aston was designed by Harry Vardon but Harry Colt was later brought in to upgrade it. His fingerprints, aka extreme bunkering, are all over it and only those who are deft out of the sand are likely to score well.
My first trap of the day came after my opening drive down a descending first hole, which would be par-able if bunkers and the trees down the left can be avoidable. I had to settle for bogey. Par-5s are where most opportunities arise, including the 3rd, which weaves inside a line of trees down the left and more trouble on the right before ascending sharply between bunkers.
The stroke index one is curious because it is one of the easiest holes at less than 320 yards. Keen placement off the tee allowed me to chip onto the green and snaffle a birdie. Little Aston’s conditioning is excellent, with its consistent greens, fairway turf, and pristine tee boxes.
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The heather, which becomes part of the course from the sixth hole onwards, was in gorgeous full bloom when we played. Meanwhile, the lily-pad-laden ponds bring attractive but dangerous dimensions to the 12th and 17th.
The long par-four 10th is my favourite hole, forcing the player to steer away from heather on the left while trying to avoid being blocked out from the green by a tree on the right.
There is a need to smash over a massive horizontal bunker on the sharp dogleg 14th, a short par-four which can yield a score if managed correctly. Ditto the par-5 15th, whose fairway is split by a sand trap and quirky grassed mounds.
Little Aston’s website claims its signature hole is the 17th – a par-four defended by the water encroaching from the left, threatening those who play too long or short. The home hole is a bending par-4 with a green defended by yet another vast sand trap.
It is the culmination of a round that Mrs W and I thoroughly enjoyed, and it left us thinking that a combo of Little Aston and Sutton Coldfield, where we played a couple of weeks previously, should be a fine enticement to golf in Birmingham.
About Neil White:
Neil White is a panellist for NCG Top 100s course rankings. Listen to Neil’s podcast The Golf Pilgrim here.
