Broadstone Golf Club

Broadstone Golf Club, Broadstone, Dorset, England Click any of the large images to return to the main Broadstone course page Broadstone Golf Club - photo by Rod Wiltshire Broadstone Golf Club - 5th hole Broadstone Golf Club - 7th hole Broadstone Golf Club - 8th hole Broadstone Golf Club - 14th hole Broadstone Golf Club - 18th hole

Top 10 Golf Courses in Dorset 2015 Dorset Best in County rankings updated Dorset lies in the south west of England on the coastline with the English Channel and more than half of this rural county is designated as an area of outstanding natural beauty. A large proportion of its southern boundary forms the Jurassic Coast, a UNESCO World Heritage site that extends almost one hundred miles, where international field studies have looked at the wide variety of geological features occurring along its length. There’s some great golf to be found along this coast – as well as further inland – with some of the golf clubs established as far back as the 1890s, when the likes of Came Down, Isle of Purbeck and Sherborne were all founded. We’ve recently revised our rankings for this region and present now our newly updated Top 10 for Dorset. Broadstone holds onto the number 1 slot in the county, which is not entirely unexpected as it currently occupies a position in our Top 100 chart for Great Britain & Ireland. This lovely old heathland track has attracted a flurry of recent complimentary reviews, exemplified by: “the layout never fails to deliver a great round of golf in wonderful surroundings with superb views over the surrounding countryside”. At number 2 in the Dorset listings, the position it has occupied since we first established our county rankings in 2012, is Remedy Oak, a John Jacobs design that opened for play almost ten years ago. A designated regional qualifying course for the Open from 2013 to 2017, this top woodland track also features in our GB&I rankings. Such is its undoubted quality (especially since the club’s recent investment in USGA greens), we think it’s a modern classic in the making. Rising one place to number 3, we have the course at Parkstone, where James Braid modified the original Willie Park Jnr. layout back in the early 1930s. Not much has changed at this terrific track since then and the course is all the better for it too, with fairways routed across heathland and around lakes and pine trees, in a wonderfully natural setting. At number 7, climbing two spots in the chart, the course at Dudsbury Golf Club, Hotel & Spa is a tree-lined parkland layout where water comes into play at no fewer than fourteen of the holes. Designed by Donald Steel and opened in 1991, it offers a really tough test of golf when played from the 6,900-yard championship tees. The only new entry in the latest edition of the Dorset rankings arrives at number 10 and it’s Knighton Heath, which is situated a few miles north of Bournemouth, with fairways set our around a compact 90-acre parcel of land. Extending to a modest 6,065 yards from the back tees, this tree-lined track is tight in places so playing to handicap is never a foregone conclusion when teeing it up here. Sincere thanks to all the clubs and professional golfers who assisted with our re-ranking process for this region. To view details of all the courses in our Dorset Top 10 rankings click the link. If you’ve played extensively across the southwest region of England and would like to contribute to our next re-ranking exercise then please email Editor-in-Chief Keith Baxter at keith@top100golfcourses.com. Jim McCann Editor Top 100 Golf Courses

Alex Frolish has been a pilot for approaching 20 years and now travels to all corners of the globe in his role as a commercial airline pilot. His passion for flight is only equalled by his passion for golf and golf travel. Having picked up a golf club over 35 years ago when aged just 3 years old, Alex has played over 550 courses across every continent on planet earth furnished with a fairway. Over the next few months you’ll be able to follow Alex’s golfing travels as he brings you anecdotes of his life both in the air and on the course. One thing about being a travelling golfer and panellist who is also an airline pilot, is that you can guarantee nobody will have played the same last ten rounds that you have. This always makes for interesting clubhouse conversations, although keeping tabs on exactly where you’ve just been can be a little troublesome. I’ll be honest, life can be chaos at times. To illustrate that exact point, May might have been my most jam packed and varied month in some time, with thirteen rounds played in three countries at some of the best courses those countries have to offer. Summer rounds, winter rounds, links and parkland. My golfing diary is a myriad of contrasts. The month started on Top100 regional duty, at Bristol & Clifton Golf Club, the final course I had yet to play in my home county of Gloucestershire in England. It has to be said that Gloucestershire isn’t blessed with an abundance of architectural heritage, but it is in the Bristol area of the county that you find the most historic and well rounded golf clubs. One such club is Bristol & Clifton, located just a couple of miles from the famous Clifton suspension bridge, where the members and staff are fiercely proud of their golf course. I was impressed with this place (particularly the conditioning), and would highly recommend a visit if you are ever in the area. Photo credit: Bristol and Clifton Golf Club My next outing was formed in friendship rather than in the hunt for architectural splendour. Rocco and I first connected in 2018 and shared a round at Pittsburgh Field Club in Pennsylvania. It had been five years but we had stayed in touch and I had vowed I would get back out to share another round with him. This time we played at a local municipal, Pittsburgh National, a course I knew little about. It turns out that when you come to a golf course with no expectations, you are often pleasantly surprised, and this ex Country Club layout demonstrated an abundance of interest and value. A first time visit to a quartet of gems of English golf followed, played over two of the finest weather days of the year so far. I will remember Broadstone for its magnificent land and the way in which the course wraps itself around and across the varying undulations. Ferndown was possibly the most supremely conditioned course I have played in the U.K. in the last twelve months; the vista looking down the effervescent 1st fairway will be imprinted on my mind for some time. Woking’s understated historical majesty charmed me nearly as much as the brunch on the terrace after the round. And Worplesdon, just a few hundred yards from Woking, completed an epic 48 hours of golf in emphatic fashion. Photo credit: Ferndown Golf Club Next to the clifftops of Oregon, to play arguably the most wonderful par 3 course on the planet. Coore & Crenshaw were presented with some piece of land to route Bandon Preserve across, but they have done one hell of a good job in telling a story in just 13 par 3 holes. Surely the growth of the game should be focussed on creating more golf courses like this one; playable, enjoyable and accessible to all. Then on to Old Macdonald, to complete the Bandon set (for now). I played the tips in a steady breeze and played one of the rounds of my life to shoot a few under my handicap and a couple over the par of the course. Old Mac might get some stick in certain quarters, but I found it to be a solid blend of beauty and playability, two key ingredients for the enjoyment of a golf round for me, and it was a round I will remember for some time. The Duchess at Woburn was quite the contrast to play just a couple of days after Old Macdonald. This tree-lined parkland layout in the heart of the English countryside places a heavy premium on accuracy rather than options, and I found the contrast in styles a leap too far, following my best round in some time with my worst in living memory. That’s golf I suppose, and as my golfing years pass, I seem to be able to more easily accept these ups and downs! The game is always bigger than your score. Let that be no slight on the Duchess though, which is a beautifully peaceful place to play and to take in the relative solitude that the dense avenues of trees provide. The Jockey Club in Argentina is revered as one of South America’s most prized golf clubs. It boasts two (yes two) original Mackenzie golf courses, routed across surprisingly spacious grounds on the outskirts of Buenos Aires. We played the Red course, the more highly regarded of the two layouts, and we visited in early winter after a sustained period of wet weather, the course was in simply stunning condition. The land here was as flat as a snooker table when Mackenzie arrived, and this is one place in the world where the good Doctor had to work hard to generate undulations and interest that felt at the same time, in keeping with its surroundings. Of course, he managed it with aplomb and in doing so, left Argentina with one the best dual course layouts in world golf. As an aside, if you ever get the chance to play here, make sure you order the steak. However your round has gone, this plate of food (and accompanying glass of Malbec) will send you home one contented golfer. Photo credit: Patrick Koenig Finally, a whistle-stop stay in New Jersey found me visiting another world-renowned 36-hole golf club, Baltusrol. This golf club is the stuff of dreams for the average golfer, boasting two world-class golf courses with facilities to match, and it was awe-inspiring to walk the fairways of the Lower course just prior to the LPGA Championship. My lasting memory will be my drive into the 18th fairway which rolled to within a few inches of the plaque, celebrating Jack Nicklaus’s famous 1-iron in the 1967 US Open. Slightly overawed with the potential for replicating such a heroic piece of golfing history, my wayward 3 wood did no justice to the drive that had managed to follow so closely in greatness's footsteps. It didn’t matter though; to have had the chance to attempt it in the first place was the greatest of privileges. On to June, which looks no less packed with golf. It all begins with a pilgrimage to a part of Scotland I have wanted to visit for most of my golfing life. After that, there is plenty of potential for some last-minute madness, with trips planned to Spain, India and Singapore. In the meantime, the golfing season in the Northern Hemisphere is in full swing, so wherever you are and whatever you have planned, I wish you the straightest of drives, well-negotiated four- footers and happy rounds.