Broadstone
There are five very highly-ranked courses in and around Bournemouth, all of them in the UK&I Top 200, and all of them remarkably different from one another. The one with the greatest variety from start to finish is the beautiful, undulating heathland design at Broadstone. The club was founded in 1898 as The Dorset Golf Club, and its original layout was the work of Tom Dunn who was then the professional at nearby Meyrick Park.
The bunker remodelling on the short eleventh has greatly improved the hole
(Image credit: Rob Smith)
Herbert Fowler was subsequently engaged to redesign the bunkering, but much of his work was on holes that were lost when Harry Colt was brought in at the start of the first World War. Colt replaced the more parkland holes with a new sequence of what is now the 5th round to the 16th, taking full advantage of the wild, heathland landscape. Privately owned until 1971, it was then bought by the membership who sold the clubhouse and car park for development, replacing them in 1985.
A Hole That Splits Opinion
The seventh green with the lay-up area in the dip below
(Image credit: Kevin Murray)
When working on an undulating plot, architects frequently have to make tough design decisions that fit in with the land. Broadstone’s big talking point is the super-tough, stroke index one, par-4 7th. The drive is semi-blind up the hill, before you have the choice of going for the green in two or laying up into the valley beforehand, a shot that is tricky to judge. Officially 422 yards, it plays way longer, with some thinking it is too fraught with danger and open to chance, while others love the challenge. Harry Colt was an architectural genius, so why not play it and see what you think?
From this angle, the lay-up area is hard to see
(Image credit: Kevin Murray)
Don’t be fooled by the yardage
For a course that covers such an enormous acreage, it is not one of the longest in the world. However, this is offset by the fact that there is a tight par of 70, with just two par 5s which bookend the opening nine. The changes in elevation add greatly to the challenge, especially on the higher parts of the course on the back nine where the wind can also have its say. There is plenty of excellent bunkering in evidence, particularly where some more recent changes have greatly improved the look and feel such as at the two short holes on the back nine, the 11th and 15th. The par-4 7th is rightly stroke index one, and is a hole that really divides opinion…
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