Weston-Super-Mare Golf Club

The prolific course architect Tom Dunn was a very busy man during the 1890s, designing layouts at Woking, Sheringham, Royal Wimbledon, Royal Worlington & Newmarket and here at Weston-Super-Mare where his survey report concluded “that on the land situated between the Royal Sanatorium and Slimridge Farm, a Golf Link may be formed second to none in the world. There are a number of natural hazards and the turf throughout is of excellent quality”.

Dunn’s original 9-hole course was extended to 18 holes four years later then the next major change took place in 1922 when Alister MacKenzie was commissioned to alter and modify the layout, resulting in the course that is still in play today, almost a century later.

Weston-Super-Mare Golf Club is a seaside course, lying to the south of Weston-Super-Mare Bay, with wonderful views across the Bristol Channel, past Brean Down, Steep Holm and Flat Holm towards Cardiff and the sandy soil of the fairways allows golfers to use medal tees and normal greens all year round.

The five par threes (at 3, 7, 11, 14 and 17) are all beautifully bunkered short holes (as one might expect from a MacKenzie design, of course) and a trio of par fives complement these one-shot holes, two of which (the 461-yard 8th and 456-yard 13th) are well within birdie range.

“Road Hole,” the 458-yard, par four 15th is the signature hole on the scorecard and it does have similarities with the famous 17th at the Old Course as it begins with a blind tee shot with out of bounds down the right and a fairway that leads to an offset green protected by a treacherous bunker at the front corner.