Sidmouth Golf Club

About

A golfing jewel in the crown is a fitting description of Sidmouth Golf Club. Overlooking the fine Regency town of Sidmouth the 1889 J H Taylor designed course enjoys wonderful sea views from its undulating fairways, and there are beautiful scenes to be savoured throughout the 18 holes.

The course offers a combination of demanding short par 4s with a premium on accurate driving to take best advantage of the sloping fairways plus 7 par threes, varying in length from not much over 100 yards to almost 200. Any golfer making all seven threes as had a phenomenal day.

Once the first two holes by the Clubhouse are played the course turns away and runs alongside the established woodland on the edge of Mutters Moor, reaching the 9th green at the highest point of the course with great views back down to the sea. The dogleg 3rd is a truly demanding hole where, in truth, 5 is never a bad score.

Unusually that very tough hole is followed by 3 consecutive par threes, with a short walk between holes 5 and 6 across one of the many footpaths which criss-cross Mutters Moor. The 7th asks a tee shot across a dip into the rising fairway on the far side, whilst the 8th is another immensely demanding hole; you’re asked to guide your tee shot along a narrow fairway, favouring the left to allow it to run on the slope, then an uphill second, possibly with a fairly big club, to a green with very little depth and a huge tree on the front right of it. One of the hardest holes in the county.

From the 10th tee the course swoops back to the Clubhouse, with the exception of a short detour to play consecutive par 3s up into and then down back out of the compound, hitting over Muttersmoor Lane and its wonderful Devon Banks before coming back onto the main part of the course past Harts Holes Plantation. Each of the last 6 or 7 holes offers wonderful vistas across the valley, the town and up and down the coast.

13 is the only par 5, and reachable in 2 but demanding a controlled approach from a sidehill lie. Another pair of short holes to follow, 14 playing uphill into a two-tier green, with Out of Bounds perilously close to the left when the flag is on that side of the green, followed the redan-like 15th where you use the slope to turn the ball to the flag.

The 16th again demands a well-controlled second to a green cut into the side of the slope before the last two short par 4 holes offer definite birdie chances. 18 is very driveable, if you can get the line right, but the two-tier green is challenging.

As well as the developed woodland alongside the course there is a huge range of trees within the boundaries of the course, deciduous and evergreen, which add to the enjoyment and the strategic challenge.

The fine clubhouse also provides a panoramic view of the Devon and Dorset coastline of Lyme Bay and beyond, designated as the country’s first natural World Heritage Site.

Sidmouth Golf club offers a warm welcome to all golfers, visitors, groups and societies coming to play golf in Sidmouth. Amazing views, tasty food and one of Devon’s friendliest clubs guarantees you a day to remember. The lucky ones join the club!

There can’t be many places better than to sit on the balcony, overlooking the 18th green or choosing to look out to sea and down the Jurassic Coast, reflecting on the round you have just played and planning your next visit. Perfect.