Oake Manor - Somerset - England

Oake Manor is about 25 years old and appears to be a thriving community golf club in the midst of some idyllic and typical Somerset countryside, a short distance from the county town of Taunton. The land on which the golf course is built was until recently farming land and despite its mainly clay base seems to drain well, helped by a number of ditches, ponds and at one point a bubbling stream.

The welcome was warm and the course is pure parkland on a gently undulating site which allows for a good selection of golfing holes and challenges. Maintenance was excellent and the greens a joy to putt on.

The first nine holes is longer and in my view the more difficult nine, as illustrated by its two longest holes. The second hole is a right-to-left dogleg par five, driving to a wide fairway, with water on the left threatening the second shot if the dogleg is cut too fine. The fifth, a par four, is the hardest hole of the course by stroke index, and a large pond needs to be traversed on the second shot to reach a green dominated by a large bunker on the right-hand side from which most approaches will be played.

The back nine starts with a fantastic-looking downhill par three where the tee shot is ideally over a large tree, and there are two par fives at 15 named ‘Waterfall’ and 17 ‘The Weir’ which both requiring testing approaches over water. I also liked the final hole which is an uphill dogleg played to a receptive green.

The golf course provides stacks of interest for the thinking golfer who is prepared to plan his way round and could achieve a decent score. But if not, the layout sets the sene for an entertaining and absorbing round of golf for all lucky enough to play here.

Visited Oake Manor as part of a golf weekend in Somerset, with 20 of us enjoying the South West sunshine. Oake Manor was our 2nd destination, and it was as we had thought. The lay out is a fairly new style course, almost American style with water hazards in/around most holes. It was challenging in that it had you thinking about positioning, not the most taxing, but an enjoyable round of golf

Club were very helpful in bookings and lovely clubhouse and seating area on the 18th to watch your team mates finish their rounds enjoying a local cider or two.

From a golf perspective, good course, not too difficult, but water makes you think about positioning. Greens were true and not massively testing but not flat and boring by any means. Fairways in great condition, stick to those and there’s a score to be had.. lots of hazards elsewhere

A great value for money course, with some interesting holes, would recommend a visit.

Oake Manor is a modern style course with quite a few lakes and streams which seem to present most of the hazards. I have played Oake probably three times now (the last being inMay 2019) and the course is generally in reasonable condition. It is quite a short course (6149 yards off the white) and certainly plays better/more interesting off the white than the yellow tees. With generous fairways, only three par 4's over 400 yards and three shortish par 5's there is a score to be made. I find the front nine more interesting than the back and there are a number of good holes where you do have to think your way around and across the water hazards