 IF FORTUNE truly does favour the brave, then Mossock Hall can be confident about its future. A relative newcomer to the region's golfing directory, the north Merseyside venue has already revealed a bold approach to its course design. Set across rolling former farm-land at Bickerstaffe, Mossock Hall has not been afraid to take its original blueprint and, in a couple of key areas, rip it up. The signature hole, for instance, has been totally redesigned and the result of two years' hard work will be seen for the first time this summer. Set in a wooded dell crowned by a stream, the 11th hole was as short on length as it was large on charm. From an elevated tee, the green was just 116 yards away from the white tees with a vertical drop worthy of any rollercoaster. As the late Rugby League commentator Eddie Waring would have put it, the best route to the green was an 'up and under' to avoid the pocket bunkers and overshooting the green into the water at the rear. But that meant the target area quickly resembled a punch bag and it was decided to cut short the aerial bombardment. While the new hole retains the elevated tee, it now plays across the dell to a green that is, well, just green. There is precious little room for error on the course's toughest short hole, which has been stretched a little to 143 yards from the back. With the stream swirling around the left-hand side and away behind the back and a string of white poles marking the out of bounds like candles on a birthday cake round the out-side of the green, it is a most demanding tee shot. There is no easy route in and only a precision shot will bring any reward. Then there is the course's original finishing hole, which has now been switched with the ninth. Both greens sit alongside each other. The old ninth was closest to the clubhouse, so is now the 18th. It means the front nine now closes with a classical short par 4 at a maximum of 322 yards, where you need to pull your tee shot up short of the pond that guards the green and the cleverly positioned bunker to catch those trying to lay up short and open up the green down the right. The final hole also has water in front, with the stream that serves the pond on the new nine providing the barrier to a twotiered green. The hole is again on the short side at 340 yards from the back, but the sharp dog leg right leaves a decision whether to take on the rough to finish in front of the stream or hit to the corner of the dog leg and leave a longer, but still a straight run, into the flag. All part of the golfing conundrum posed by Mossock. It is not a shout-it-in-your face golf course. Instead it mounts a whispering campaign against your round and one that the club has looked to intensify. The water hazard on the par 3 14th has been extended round the back of the green. If the flag is on the left, it clearly comes into play but if the flag is on the opposite side it is the sand you have got to avoid as you aim to fly your ball 188 yards to the green. And there is more sand on the course than when it first opened in 1996. And it is deliberately more visible, often infiltrating the fairways so that your tee shot is not as straight forward as first appears. Tree planting, too, means that in years to come the character of some of the holes, particularly among the more open first few holes, will alter. Some 6,000 have been introduced to the rural setting after it was decided to give over farmland to a golf course as part of the boom in new clubs which the sport enjoyed during the 1990s. | 
