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A gentle, downhill par 5 greets the unsuspecting
visitor to Cowes Golf Club. This is relatively
flat, parkland course with easily reachable
out-of-bounds on many holes: all down the right
on the first, into the local High School. You
need a pretty good shot to get out-of-bounds on
the second, but believe me, it can be done, and
is pretty easy on the third. Once you get past
the fourth, your worries are over, for a while,
you are now playing up and down the middle of
the course, just watch out for the water. A
severe hook off the eighth will probably break a
greenhouse, but there are no worries on the
ninth, assuming you are the right side of the
trees of course, and not in the water. I haven't
even mentioned the bunkers, you can actually see
some of them from the tee. If you want to
combine a gentle walk with a good test of golf,
this one's for you.
If you like a leisurely game of golf in the
midst of beautiful coastal scenery, then you
will really enjoy the 18-hole course at
Freshwater Bay Golf Club; it is an ideal venue
for society and corporate golf days. Located on
Afton Down and Compton Down above Freshwater Bay
with sensational views of the Solent and English
Channel, this seaside links style course on
natural open downland is 5,725 yards long, par
68 and provides a challenge for golfers of all
abilities.
All visitors are made welcome and do not
normally require start times, although the
following times are reserved for members:
Weekdays:until
9.30am (10.45am on Thursdays) Saturdays:
until 9.30am & between 12 noon & 2.00pm Sundays:until
10.00am
If you would like confirmation of availability,
please ring the club on 01983 752955.
Lovely park-land course, tighter than Osborne in
that there is an out-of-bounds fence on the
right of most holes, but this course has very
little long rough. There are four par threes in
the nine holes, two easily reachable, and the
other two should be. (I believe there are plans
to lengthen one of these holes to make it a par
four). The character hole is the seventh, and
the character builder is the eighth. The seventh
is a good par three, green above tee, but played
across a valley with a stream running through
the bottom. A deceptive tester to a two-tier
green bunkers right and left and an almighty
slope if you are short - sounds like fun? The
eighth drive back across the valley. OK, you
just went the other way with a six iron, so
what's to worry about? You've got a wood or a
long iron - easy. Many a round has died at this
point. The horses in the field on the right take
it in turns to either eat, or ball watch. Theirs
is a precarious existence.
A family friendly facility. A mature easy
walking course but designed to challenge
beginners and skilled players alike. Fully
stocked golf shop. Floodlit driving range.
Membership and club hire available.
The Fairway Lake, Sandown, Isle of Wight, PO36
9PR Tel: 01983 403217
More of a heath-land course, with gorse, bracken
and heather, this is arguably the top golf club
on the Island. The terrain would seem to be a
natural golf course, although it was in fact
built on Lake and Blackpan Commons - originally
grazing land - and the layout of the course has
changed quite a bit since World War I. For
instance, the present 14th, 15th and 16th are
later additions, the course boundary being the
back of the 13th green, 3rd tee and the right of
the 17th. There was once a hole from (roughly)
the present 10th tee, down over the sandpit to a
green the other side of the track. Nowadays you
cannot see anything in that direction except
trees.
Sandown has just about everything - par three
over water - par three to a narrow green on the
side of a hill - par four over a valley and two
bunkers to reach the fairway - blind drives -
longish carry drives - up-hill holes - down-hill
holes - bunkers - trees - gorse - rough (some
with heather) - elevated tees - pro's shop and a
first class club house, where a good lunch can
be purchased. Well worth the slightly higher
green fee.
Steephill Down Rd, Ventnor, Isle of Wight, PO38
1BP Tel: 01983 853326 E-mail:
ventnorgolf@lineone.net
A downland course, with six of the first nine
holes on a slope, left to right going out and
the reverse coming back. Two of these are only
played once, since additional holes and greens
were built a few years ago. Instead of playing
the ninth as a dogleg, play straight on to the
new green. The tenth and eleventh are new holes,
one out and one back to the clubhouse. So
instead of the first being the tenth, second
time round, it becomes the twelfth and hence the
two holes at the far end of the course are not
played during the second nine. Confused? Ventnor
makes good use of different tees for the second
nine holes - this can make them play entirely
differently.
I introduced a friend to this course one-day in
October - it was a bit foggy. He swears to this
day, that there is no course there at all - we
were just playing to the same flag from
different directions. Go and see for yourself -
it's well worth a visit. It's not easy to find,
so get good directions and if necessary, get a
local to draw you a map.
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