Review of the Month June 2019 – West Cliffs

And now, here I am at West Cliffs. 43 years old. I think I have tees in my bag that are older than this facility. But you would never know it until you have played it. That is because it drapes across the landscape like it was always there. However this is a modern course for the modern game.

There are nods to history, spectacular Redan greens etc. It is not genesis, but it is a revelation. The routing of the front nine is majestic. Only 1 and 4 slightly don’t live up to the others. The green sites are infinitely complex and you will most likely three or four putt from long range on any of them occasionally if you have clumsy touch. They are difficult, not impossible. Needless to say, after four days of golf here I was a wreck. At one point I asked if it was legal to use my putter as a snooker cue. Well, is it?

West Cliffs photo courtesy of JCB Lay

The back nine brings slightly more respite than the front but when you sit down and savour the holes you have just played and consider them in turn they are all belters. My advice to you all is not to stick to one set of tees if you can but to mix them up depending on the wind. Some holes are infinitely better and more spectacular from the tips, so if the wind allows, take it on.

West Cliffs photo courtesy of JCB Lay

We were there in June and the wild flora flanking the undulating fairways was blooming spectacularly. It really isn’t holiday golf here. If you like mile-wide fairways and lipless bunkers then West cliffs will be too intense to play more than once or twice. But please go. It is reassuring to see that what we build here in our century is better than what came before. It is straight into my Top 5 of all time.

JCB Lay

Review of the Month June 2019 selected by Editor-in-Chief, Keith Baxter, and sponsored by TaylorMade – click to read JCB Lay's full review and more about West Cliffs.