Somerset Country Club

The Somerset Country Club course is an old Seth Raynor design that first saw the light of day in 1919. Unfortunately, many seasoned commentators now feel that much of the old master’s work here has been diluted down the years.

Stanley Thompson and Bob Moote are said to have carried out renovation work in the early 1950s whilst Geoff Cornish and Brian Silva are credited with changes to the layout in the late 1970s. Unfortunately, neither project is deemed to have been particularly successful.

Still, trademark replica holes by Raynor are very much in evidence. The front nine features an uphill “Cape” and on the back nine there’s an “Alps” at the par four 10th hole, followed immediately after by an “Eden” at the short par three 11th and a downhill “Biarritz” at the long par three 15th.

The 230-yard 15th is still a pretty formidable hole, with water left and out of bounds right, it requires a rather heroic tee shot to reach a green that’s split in two by the trench running through the middle of the putting surface.