BRANCEPETH CASTLE will host the English Champion Club tournament - and competing golfers simply have to enjoy the view.

The elite crop of amateurs will be more concerned about their scores when they head to County Durham next month, but the host club’s Richard Aisbitt – the holder of the prestigious Logan Trophy - has urged players to appreciate their surroundings.

Aisbitt is an authority on scoring low, highlighted by his success in the English Mid Amateur Championship, which arrives on the back of being crowned Northern Boys champion twice in the early 90s. He has won the Durham County title three times and club championships at Bishop Auckland and Brancepeth on 14 occasions.

His most recent course record arrived early in July, a five-under 67 at the Northumberland club during the 54-hole Logan Trophy, in which he finished six shots clear of the field to secure his first national title.

He is excited at the prospect of his beloved Brancepeth – originally a deer park - hosting the English Champion Club event on September 19-20 after attending the recent captain’s day there.

Aisbitt said: “Our halfway house is between two par threes on the ninth and tenth and we were in the hospitality marquee alongside the tenth tee with the captain, Steve Rose, with the castle, which dates back to Norman times, as our backdrop.

“When you play the course as often as I do, you can get a bit blasé about it. I had never stopped before to really soak it all up at that particular spot on the course. It has got to be one of the best golfing views in the world.”

The opinion is shared by Jonathan Naylor, this year’s captain at Moortown, who chose Brancepeth for his away day this summer. Both clubs have tradition.

Moortown were the first club to host the Ryder Cup on British soil, in 1929, and their course was designed by Dr Alister MacKenzie, the creator of Augusta National. Brancepeth rubs shoulders with Lytham, Wentworth and Moor Park among the Colt collection of the great man’s course designs.

But how should the Champion Club players set about attacking the course?

Aisbitt said: “The first four of the five par threes are stand-out holes and when the overall scores are added up, that is where the Champion Club tournament is most likely to be won or lost.

“On the second you need to get your clubbing right because there is a shallow green front to back. Half a club out either way and you could be in trouble.

“The fifth is a long par three where a lot of people don’t take enough club into the prevailing wind and the ninth is the only one of the five which is usually down wind.

“The ninth is also the signature hole and my bogey hole. It was once described by an American golf magazine as the hardest ninth hole in the world. The entrance to the green is very narrow and I hit the ball right to left but, given the lie of the land and the shape of the hole, it lends itself more to somebody who fades the ball.

“The tenth calls for a good long solid accurate strike into a smallish target with bunkers both sides - anything else and you are going to miss the green - and the 15th is the most straightforward of the par threes, not really that hard a hole.

“On the par fours and fives, you must hit the fairways as often as possible. If you don’t, it’s more difficult than normal at Brancepeth to find the greens and the course nearly always rewards accurate players rather than outrageous shot makers.”

*To view a virtual tour of the course should brancepeth-castle-golf.co.uk.