Painswick - Gloucestershire - England

Am I the first person to have played both Sunningdale courses on the one day and then traveled to play Painswick the next day? Possibly. Are these two golf clubs at completely different ends of the golfing spectrum? Most definitely!!

However, I must say that whilst it is indeed no Sunningdale (nor does it pretend to be) I really enjoyed golfing at Painswick. Yes, it not particularly well manicured and yes there are walkers wondering across virtually every fairway, but where else will you get to experience not one, but two blind tee shots on Par 3's measuring just over 100yds??

Should it be on any Top100 list, not for me no, but if you're within an hours drive then I'd suggest trying it out; for £20 you're not going to be disappointed!

Also, and we all agreed on this one, the food in the clubhouse/bar afterwards was some of the best we've experienced anywhere on our golfing travels, adding yet another reason to visit Painswick....

I played Painswick twice recently. Most courses are more enjoyable with some course knowledge but Painswick takes the cake. You’ll likely save at least half a dozen shots by knowing some lines and where to play smart, so paying the small green fee again was a no-brainer. It is a hard walk but only takes a couple of hours early morning.

It is short and nadgery, though the double fairways mean you have room for driver on some holes. Out of that playing corridor, you’re dead. Maybe the best example of this is the par 5 9th, where only the right side of the fairway makes the flag visible. You can then take on the pit and trees to the left of the green, or lay up before, or into a hollow – or go towards the 7th. It has so many options, hopefully shown in the middle photo.

Multiple visits also means you can play with more of the crazy slopes, which have to be used to get near some flags. Other highlights are the ridiculous blind par 3 5th (first photo), par 4 11th which begs for driver but has a tiny corridor, and the 14th which plays over a quarry (last photo). Painswick is worth a couple of plays and I’m sure many more. With some experience it’s scoreable and a lot of fun.

Many people will not like this course, it is as far removed from the generic PGA Tour golf set up as you could find, more Beverly Hill Billy than Hollywood but as far as I am concerned this course is pure gold.

I have never smiled so much on a golf course ever, I actually don't think I stopped smiling all round, all I could think was this course is bonkers, but also great.

Sure you have to play over people picnicking on the fairway, avoid horse hoofprints, ask for your ball back from a dog owner after their dog picked up your ball (actually happened), drive over regularly used roads, play on less than perfect greens, but the course is an amazing position and asks fabulous questions that you can answer in so many different ways unlike the drive and wedge monotony of some modern courses.

I was lucky to play it on a sunny windless day, as otherwise finding your ball would be near impossible at times and you could be buffeted to kingdom come.

The holes within the fort are of fabulous quality that could easily be found on famous links courses, whereas the remaining holes are not of such quality, but are sufficiently good to be part of a course that you will never forget.

Was staying away for work when we decided to take the golf clubs and see if we can fit 9 holes in during the evening. Well Painswick was not the course you want to play after a hard days work on the tools.

The first reads around 224 yrds and is on the scorecard as a par 4! Don’t let the yardage confuse you this is all up hill and short of the green is a deep quarry like hole and I was ready to call a Uber back to the clubhouse after I putted out!

However I let the love of the game carry me on and I can confirm I was not disappointed! This course is not for everyone however i would highly recommend a visit and for £17 it was a steal! The scenery is in a world of its own.

Clubhouse and members where more than welcoming and would 100% return to play again if back in the area just make sure I’m well rested before

To play or not to play? That is the question. A sense of humour, a good pair of lungs, the patience of a saint and more than a modicum of Lady Luck will help you navigate your way up, over, round and back down Painswick Beacon.

If you start and finish with the same ball, frame it.

The opening hole is probably the worst I’ve ever played – a short par four, straight up a precipitous hill with no redeeming features. When you reach the 2nd tee you’ll probably have time on your hands to catch your breath and for your heart rate to lower.

The 2nd and the 3rd share the same Cotswold Way playing corridors with the 13th and 14th on the way home. The Cotswold Way is a very popular walking trail which traverses the escarpment for more than 100 miles from Chipping Campden in the north to the city of Bath in the south. It was busy with both serious walkers and rambling families when we played a couple of weeks ago. We waited for what felt like ages on the 3rd tee until a walker (who was carefully studying his map) was out of harm’s way. He was either oblivious to mortal danger or completely confident we’d wait for him to amble by.

Painswick has more than its fair share of blindness… I’ve never before played a course with three blind (not mice) par threes, so this was a first for me. I felt the routing, especially around the beacon, to be bewildering and clumsy at best. However, there’s plenty to like… the green complexes are mostly good and the 200-yard par three 6th is an all-world one-shotter that would not look out of place at Ballybunion. I also liked the blind short par four 11th and the par three 15th played blind into a pretty glade.

My main concern was that fairways and tee boxes were full of perennial weeds. Some of the tees were just bare earth and very, very uneven. These would be considered poor at any course.

Thankfully my expectations were managed before I played here by a number of knowledgeable golfers. Tim Elliot’s review below set the bar at an appropriate level. What can you reasonably expect for a £20 green fee?

Do I recommend Painswick? Yes I do. Do I consider it to be an English Top 100 contender? No I don’t. However, if there was a category for Top 100 Golf Courses under £25, Painswick would be very near the top.

In the end, I couldn’t decide whether Painswick is golf or orienteering. But it actually doesn’t matter. It’s an experience that mixes fun and fear in equal measure. Take a few extra balls, an optional compass and sharpen your wits.

Painswick has fast been gathering cult status, and as Tim reflects below, this has led to some well-respected rankings now including Painswick within their top 100 lists. Personally, I find all of this a little baffling and somewhat insulting to some clubs who have found themselves missing out, for Painswick is seriously fun golf, but is it great golf? Not by my own criteria.

Sadly, Painswick’s newly elevated status had left me with slightly unrealistic expectations entering the round. I’d taken it for granted that the course conditioning would be a little shabby, but there are a few too many weak holes that I just didn’t care for. My biggest concern however was that the flow of the round was all too often interrupted due to the limited course acreage. This is not land that’s fit for eighteen holes.

The most interesting part of the course comes when climbing around Painswick Beacon. These holes are completely unique and make Painswick worth the visit on at least one occasion. This piece of land is cross-country golf. It’s fun as a one-off, but I’d need some convincing to think that I’d want to play this style of golf every week.

The opening holes are frankly a little bland, with the steep gradient climb at the start of the round being a wicked way to activate those glutes. The 4th was the first hole of genuine note with its eye-catching sunken green, but then after another lung buster of a hill-climb to the top of the hill-fort at 5 comes the one legitimate world-class hole at the 6th. A long par three at over 200-yards, this hole is sublime and played across some beautifully bumpy links ground that would even enhance some of the best coastal courses in the country. There are other details at Painswick I enjoyed too, with a handful of the green-sites being excellent. Executing a decent shot into the speed slot approach at the 8th was a personal highlight whilst the climbing and blind entry into the par four 11th was the other standout hole across the eighteen. The 10th hole also plays across the same bizarre and linksy land formations, but landing your ball on the tiny punchbowl green felt like the golfing equivalent of needing to hit the bullseye. This all equated to golf on the edge of the extreme, but maybe it overstepped the mark a little too frequently for my own tastes.

The holes away from the beacon lack the same interesting qualities whilst the shared fairways across 2/14, 3/13 and 8/9 just aren’t wide enough to allow two groups to play safely side-by-side meaning long delays became a regular frustration. Some areas of the course would also benefit from vegetation clearance with the 7th, 14th and the drop-shot 15th all coming to mind, but sadly this is a club operating on a shoestring budget and won’t benefit from being able to spend money on such luxuries.

The 16th presented what I’d assume may be more grass covered iron-age structures meaning there were more interesting obstacles to negotiate from the tee, albeit this was another hole where fairways cross and you either need to be patient and wait for the 17th tee to clear or risk bringing the group ahead into play. And whilst I do enjoy playing commonland courses, I prefer it when walkers aren’t wandering blissfully unawares across fairways. All in all, with the various shared fairways where you cross paths with other golfers, the frequent delays became inevitable and led to a frustrating stop-start round of golf. We weren’t even playing on a particularly busy day. As for the end of the round, it’s probably best that I don’t expand too much on my safety concerns with the dogleg 17th, whilst the characterless short 18th brings a sad conclusion to the round.

I don’t mean to do Painswick a disservice. There are pockets of brilliant stuff here including some bizarre and wonderful land formations. There are also two or three genuinely excellent holes and a handful of particularly interesting green-sites, so come and take a look at Painswick and decide on its merits for yourself. Take the opportunity to play a fun and unique round of matchplay with your friends, but it ought not be a course that’s taken too seriously.

There are nearly 1900 golf courses in England and in Golf World’s latest ranking of the Top 100, Painswick comes in at No.91. This position surprises me, as for instance it sits a lowly 15th in the county of Gloucestershire according to the top100golfcourses.com list, and this county is not generally regarded as a ‘hotspot’ of English golf. So after three months of no golf in Lockdown, we ventured out in glorious Spring weather to learn more by playing the course.

The golf course is set out along a narrow ridge leading up to Painswick Beacon, with its magnificent views over Cheltenham and surrounding area from the edge of the Cotswolds. The area around the Beacon is rugged and very hilly with both golfers and numerous walkers, with their dogs, much in evidence.

The golf course is very old-fashioned and quite bewildering in style with criss-crossing fairways, blind shots, massive changes in elevation and a totally unique layout, measuring in length just 4800 yards. The front nine, for instance, starts with 4 par4s, only one of which is over 300 yards long, followed by 3 par3s and ending with 2 par5s which share the same fairway whilst going in opposite directions.

Conventional, Painswick is not, the undulating Common land makes consistent green-keeping nigh impossible, but the delightful old layout gives a remarkable insight into how golf was played in its formative years. The welcome from members was warm indeed, and the fun to be shared by playing their course should be experienced by any golfer interested in the game’s history.

In my view, Painswick is nowhere near the Top 100 of golf courses in England, but as an experience with no concern about the modern influences in the game, the course is right up there. It is cranky and gives endless enjoyment, although your scorecard seems quite irrelevant.

Review of the Month March 2021

Painswick cannot really be considered as a great course in the sense of manicuring or flow. This is fair enough really, it is situated on a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and therefore no machinery can be used to maintain the course. In other words, greens are most likely trimmed by hand.

Yet I am delighted to say that Painswick is very good. Quirky in every sense of the word, but very good regardless. It doesn't start this way - the 1st is horrendously uphill up a virtual cliff face - but from the 3rd you catch sight of the beacon. This view is worthy of top 10 in the county alone.

And we reach the 5th, only 100 yards or so but played blind up the ramparts, a distinction which wielded the hole a ranking of 7th Most Extraordinary Golf Hole in GB and Ireland (you can find the book second hand online, a very entertaining read). The 6th and 7th are a pair of fabulous par threes, both downhill over crazy terrain. And after 2 par fives, we reach the 10th.

Now, I'm not too sure how to feel about the 10th. The greensite is amazing, sloping and titchy, but blind up the hill I feel makes the hole questionable. However, the hole would be better as a par three of 150 yards or so as you can make better use of the bowl green.

My favourite par four is 11, only 229 yards but through the ramparts to a wicked green. I really like the modest finishing stretch as well, and 17 and 18 while less interesting end the round fittingly.

The course should be considered for top 10 in the county. It's great fun, and a world away from what one would expect from an English golf course. Value here is amazing at just 22 quid per head, give it a play!

What an interesting course! Played in summer and was such good value for a green fee. Greens weren't great but the design of the course makes it a must play. Be prepared for some serious walking due to the huge elevations, with one par 3 seeing over 100ft of elevation (I didn't even know where the green was it was so high) which is what makes this such a unique and kinda crazy course.

On a recent drive from West Yorkshire to South Wales we decided to jump off the M5 and play a quick round at the highly unusual Painswick Golf Club. It proved to be one of the best decisions we’ve made.

With so many ordinary courses in the UK, serving up a full house of relatively mundane holes, Painswick should be applauded for the moments of brilliance and uniqueness that it shows during its 18.

It’s such an exciting course to play although perhaps not a great one for trying to keep a score on! At just 4,831 yards and with so many apparent birdie opportunities (on the scorecard at least) shooting a good total round here should be a doddle. This is certainly not the case and we quickly forgot about our tally and just enjoyed the course for what it is; sheer fun. The best example is perhaps the opening hole; the hardest 220 yard par four you will ever play. And, yes, that did say 220!

Admittedly, the course is fairly run of the mill for some holes, however, it still manages to engage the golfer with interesting green sites and various undulations in one form or another as it plays along a narrow ridge. So cramped in fact that several holes have a shared fairway on what is essentially an ‘out & back’ layout.

There are a number of varied short par fours during the round, seven all told, and a delightful par three towards the end with a green set deep in an amphitheatre of trees. Other things such as the cavernous grassy hollow on the first, the green location at the 4th, the excellently contoured putting surface of the 13th and the unusual drive at the 16th are all highlights on the course too.

However, these are not the moments why I will remember Painswick with great fondness. The real reason is for the run of holes between the 5th and the 11th where you play up to and then on top of a beacon that this section of the course is laid out over. Here you will discover four, arguably five holes, which are nothing short of sensational. Not necessarily great holes, with the exception of one, but they present challenges to the golfer that you will not easily find elsewhere.

Ed is the founder of Golf Empire – click the link to read his full review.