Crowborough Beacon – Golf Course Review

Golfer’s Tips

• Plays almost like a links course at times during the Summer – running bump & run shots in low and allowing for the ground camber often felt like the play on shorter approach shots, particularly on the front nine.
• Linked to the point above, keeping the ball in play (likely with iron for longer hitters) is at a premium – approach shots will be shorter than they appear due to the generous roll of the fairways and the aprons into greens.
• If you have time to enjoy a beverage on the patio outside the back of the clubhouse, perched on top of the hill overlooking the 1st and the 18th green, then please do!

Signature Holes

• 1st – a superb opener. A strong par 4 playing down the hill away from the clubhouse, with a reasonable carry and then a gentle dogleg right – all with excellent views of the Sussex countryside beyond.
• 16th – an excellent driving hole, playing around a dogleg left from another superb elevated tee over a gully. The approach is up to a raised green, guarded by two classic heathland grass bunkers on each front corner.

Review:

Another very strong offering down in the Sussex heathlands.

Sussex is perhaps a touch unheralded compared to areas of Kent and Surrey, but with Piltdown and Rye (not yet played but offering a links contrast) there is real quality offering a worthwhile trip. 

As you would expect, given the name, Crowborough Beacon sits perched atop a hill overlooking vast distances across the Sussex downs towards the Eastbourne coast, and the course utilises the terrain expertly. There are exceptional views afforded at many points and particularly within the first few holes and throughout where elevated tees are the norm throughout. It all starts with the 1st a fantastic starting hole played down the hill away from the clubhouse sitting at the highest point.

The first half a dozen holes in general are excellent, quite the start to a round. After the 1st you have another strong par 4 played down from another elevated tee and around the corner of a wood, the 3rd is an attractive short par 3 played uphill to a perilously sloped green, and the 4th is a great hole favouring a draw away from a quarry, with an excellent approach to a tapered green. The 5th tee shot is played over a gully with a stream (that features prominently on a few holes) into a fairway that cambers to a run off to the left, with the simpler second shot played uphill to the green, and then the 6th is a superb par 3 played over and around a steep drop off on the left, with the green diagonally cut into the hillside.

I had heard that the course was difficult and it did provide a test, although in my opinion a playable one. There are quite a few tee shots requiring significant carries over heather and certain crossings of a stream running down the hill, not least the aforementioned 1st but also the V-shaped 5th played over a gully and the dog-legged 16th, all of which would be challenging to a shorter hitter.

On the day we played it was certainly the speed of the greens that bore the biggest challenge, even on a day after overnight rain – decent-looking approach shots pitching on or before the front of the green could run through and off into collection areas, which took some getting used to and more practice of linksy-style bumped running approaches even to stand a chance.

A few areas of the course (between holes and in waste areas particularly) were a little scruffy, which could definitely be resolved in future, and the interplay with the road is a little quirky, but other than this it’s a very well put together club.

• “Top 100” Ranking: 91st (England)
• Golfer View Rating: 81%

https://www.cbgc.co.uk

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