The Dorset County Golf Union was founded in 1923 and there are now 32 member clubs affiliated to the Union. Dorset is therefore one of the smaller golfing counties in England, but despite the relatively modest number of county golf courses, the quality in Hardy Country is remarkably high.

Dorset Ladies County Golf Association was founded twelve years before the county’s male golf union and it has promoted the welfare and interests of female amateur golfers ever since. Today, nineteen clubs are affiliated to the association, with a combined membership in excess of 1.600 individual lady golfers.

Bridport & West Dorset, Isle of Purbeck, Lyme Regis, Sherborne, Came Down and Broadstone were among the early Dorset golf clubs, all of which were founded in the 1890s. Broadstone (1898), Ferndown (1923) and Parkstone (1909) are all located within a mile or so of each other and it’s these three clubs that continually vie for the moniker of Dorset’s Best In County golf course. But there’s a new kid on the Dorset block which is located half a dozen miles further north that is beginning to threaten the old guard. Remedy Oak was designed by John Jacobs (master planned by Jonathan Gaunt) and its setting in 250 acres of mature woodland gives the new kid a sense of maturity way beyond its tender years.

Dorset is a lovely county to visit for a short break, with numerous picture postcard seaside resorts, which are strung along the World Heritage Coast, and many fabulous golf courses. We wonder why Dorset is not more widely acclaimed as a golfing destination?

Our Dorset Best in County golf course rankings were updated in 2019. Click the link to read the story.