JCB Golf & Country Club Review: A pristine track with one of the UK's scariest Par 3s

For three days this year, the JCB Golf & Country Club will become home to perhaps the most raucous tournament on the British golf calendar. As the host of LIV Golf UK—a title it assumed last year and will hold until at least 2026, the JCB, as it's informally known, is the local epicentre of what LIV's owners and players hope will be something of a golfing revolution.

Every other day though, this unassuming spot, roughly equidistant from Stoke and Derby, is cloaked in an almost reverential silence. On the day GolfMagic arrive as part of the media preview for the breakaway golf tour's upcoming tournament, it feels as if we're the only people booked to set foot on the course that day. Given the club doesn't really have any members, per se, it's likely that we are, and that's exactly how the club prefers it.

What, then, is the purpose of the JCB? The answer is in the name. It's no mere co-incidence: the JCB is indeed owned by the same company that makes the famed yellow diggers, established by the company's billionaire owner Lord Bamford and sat—not that you'd likely notice driving past—quite literally across the road from the company's Uttoxeter factory. 

Construction began back in 2014 and cost £30 million—the project ostensibly set up to take a neglected stretch of land surrounding the ruins of 18th century manor Woodseat Hall and bring it back to its former glory. 

Realistically, the club that did eventually open in 2018 is equal parts marketing exercise and corporate playground: a sanctuary where JCB's executives and buyers can be sent out to enjoy a very pretty 18 holes, wined, dined, and put up in one of the club's luxury lodges afterwards. Membership cannot be bought, rather it's strictly limited to company execs and employees of other businesses who have paid the club for exclusive access. All-in-all, it's unlikely more than 30 people on average will play the JCB each day this year, even in peak season—although JCB employees do get to play the track on a Sunday afternoon for a fee, however, which is nice.

JCB is notoriously a company that, in its use of luxury items as a form of marketing, doesn't take any half measures—something that becomes instantly apparent as you make your way to the clubhouse. The grounds, needless to say are immaculate. The company's famous limousines, dressed in their distinctive JCB number plates, dot the entrance to the clubhouse and the lodges. The welcome you get upon arrival is more akin to arriving at a luxury hotel than a golf club.

It's clear, too, that the Bamfords intended from the get go to build one of the finest courses in the UK and spared no expense in doing so (although when you have to move half a million tons of soil, not having to hire diggers probably helps a bit). The course is the magnum opus of European Golf Design's Robin Hiseman, who set out to create a course worthy of, and capable of standing up to, the best golfers on the planet—a tournament level showpiece to carry the JCB name to a global audience (and in to Top 100 lists across the UK and Ireland).

Has he succeeded? Absolutely. In fact, it's no exaggeration to say that the JCB stands among the finest parkland courses anywhere in the British Isles: a sloping, undulating track that rides the natural hills of the Staffordshire countryside, starting from its hilltop clubhouse and winding down around the lakes and streams of the area. 

Alders Brook and what was once the Uttoxeter Canal serve as natural obstacles, while the surroundings can shift from open, almost links-y parkland to dense woodland in the space of a single hole. Both 9s loop back to arrive at the clubhouse, however a well-appointed halfway house is also available for snacks and replacement balls—which given the amount of water around, you'll likely arrive in need of.

The piece de resistance, of course, is the famed 17th Par 3—a hole I can now confirm will likely strike terror in to the heart of mere mortals. Stretching almost 220 yards across South Lake (at LIV Golf this weekend it'll play closer to 250), an elevated tee looks down on to a picturesque two tier island green, sheltered front and bank by bunkers that flow directly into the water like beaches. While I'm sure there are scarier out there, it's by far the most menacing par 3 I've experienced in my golfing life so far.

Reviewing a course like the JCB, one so exclusive by its very nature, can feel slightly futile at times. It's more than likely that most people reading this review will likely never be offered the chance to step foot on its fairways. Even so, there's no doubt that this is one of the most special courses in England—a course that, despite its reason for being, rightly boasts a reputation as a truly tournament-ready venue. 

I feel immensely lucky for having had the chance to play it, and should you ever get the chance to do so yourself, I suggest you grab it with both hands.