Yeovil (Old)

The Old course at Yeovil Golf Club is certainly different. C.H. Alison originally fashioned nine holes on Babylon Hill and Charles Carter (the club pro) laid out a further nine when new land became available later.

“Now pay attention, this might get complicated” wrote Joe Lee in The Golfers Guide to the West Country: “For if ever a course suffered from a split personality, it is Yeovil. As every football fan will tell you, Yeovil is in Somerset but, tucked up so close is it to the county border that the club’s 18-hole Old course lies entirely on the Dorset side of the River Yeo, while the 9-hole Newton course is all in Somerset. And although the club is affiliated to the Dorset Golf Union, it is only historic, and could equally affiliate to Somerset. Got that?

The Old course is also a Jekyll and Hyde teaser. The par three 2nd soon tests your mettle, playing uphill between the trees to a blind green. That is swiftly followed by one your wouldn’t want to play so early in the round, the 402-yard 3rd which plays a lot longer, and which has a regiment of bunkers across the fairway just short of 300 yards.

If your card isn’t already ruined and your confidence in tatters, the course is pleasantly picturesque for the most part, with the 14th affording fine views over the town.

Then it turns nasty again, with a long 230-yard par three swinging left to right downhill to a two-tier green at 15, followed by a par five at 16 down towards the river and a valley of willow trees, both played into the prevailing south-westerly winds.

But despite its two-faced nature, it is nevertheless a pleasing course, where all standard of golfers feel in with a chance. And isn’t that really what it is all about?”