The Eastbury Hotel & Spa And Sherborne Golf Club Review
Dorset is blessed with a beautiful coastline, and lush, green, leafy scenery further inland. For such a small county, the quality of golf on offer is remarkably strong and it still manages to be home to some of the best golf courses in England. Even at some of its less well-known clubs, the views both on and off the course, the variety, the value and welcome have a great deal to offer. (Our guide on the best golf courses in Dorset (opens in new tab) explains more…)
Sherborne Golf Club
I recently got to experience this on a short trip to Sherborne Golf Club, a place that perhaps should be more well-known. The club itself was founded in 1894 and forty years after its formation, the club decided to expand from a 9-hole track, to an 18-hole layout. The man hired to design this new course was five-time Open Champion James Braid (opens in new tab), and the current design was formed as part of a refashioning in 2002.
The course is pretty and peaceful, and opens with a mid-length, downhill par 4 with far-reaching views which really starts the round off in a positive, memorable way. A few more par-4’s go back and forth before these stunning views return on the par-5 6th, while the memorable par-3 9th plays across a slope into which the green is cut. In fact I also liked the par-5 8th which moves slowly left on the contours of the hill, and the green is intimidatingly small given it is a par-5.
(Image credit: Sherborne Golf Club)
The 12th is a strong downhill par 4 with a hog’s back fairway along with awesome views, and pretty much every hole from there in has its own unique character. Big hitters may be tempted to go for the green at the 14th, but severe trouble awaits anything heading left.
15 is the last of the memorable par-3’s. It is not long but the tee shot is all carry with the green set into the side of a hill, and there are two bunkers waiting to gobble up anything short. Accuracy is key here so if you can, take a par and move on. 16 and 17, both par-4’s, almost connect together with the same fairway, and then 18 is an uphill par-4 to finish which doesn’t set the world alight, but it gets the job done in getting you back to the clubhouse.
(Image credit: Sherborne Golf Club)
All in all Sherborne was a very enjoyable round, and a challenging test if the conditions are right. What I mean here is the wind is pretty much always a factor to consider because of where the course is. I played…
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