Isle of Purbeck – Golf Course Review

Golfer’s Tips

• A longer approach is favourable on the short par 4 3rd, as you are hitting off a downslope over front bunkers to a green that runs away from you. Driver is never the play, and in Summer a tee shot that would normally go 175 yards will run to 200 and will leave a full wedge in.
• The famous 5th hole (see below) has a marker post to assist with alignment on your tee shot – the marker post suggests the left edge of the fairway, as opposed to the middle, and the right extreme can just about be seen by using the stone path as a line.

Signature Holes

• 5th – a spectacular and challenging hole, a real show-stopper. Breathtaking views of Poole bay from an elevated tee, formerly an Iron Age burial ground, to a hidden fairway below which doglegs right to an infinity green with Studland Bay beyond.
• 11th – an excellent par 3 that is another that lasts in the memory. Played downhill over heather and gorse towards a deceptively large green with a perilously deep bunker front left but which is framed beautifully by a collection of tall pine trees to the rear.

Review:

Quite possibly some of the best views on any golf course in the UK, with Poole Harbour forming the backdrop to the majority of holes across a steadily improving golf club.

Despite the course slope rating and hole lengths, Isle of Purbeck is most definitely a challenge. There are very few ‘gimme’ holes, if any, for example even if the short par 3 9th is surrounded by several bunkers and is particularly susceptible to the strong winds, so golfers must keep their wits about them in order to score well.

The course starts in relatively subdued fashion, with two par 4s forming a back and forth to the clubhouse, and then the 3rd is a clever little par 3 – on paper very short and simple, but in reality it’s a blind tee shot over the crest of a hill, and then a tricky pitch into the green which runs away from you. The 4th is where the course really finds its feet, a nice par 3 played up to an infinity green with Studland Bay beyond, and then the 5th is the absolutely breathtaking standout as noted above.

Holes 6 and 8 provide the two par 5s, both of which are likely to be 3-shotters due to wind direction and length respectively, and after the short par 3 9th and down-and-up-again 10th you hit another great section with the strong downhill par 3 11th, tricky blind 12th and very testing 13th with a steep incline to a green seemingly cut into the side of a hill.

The hole variety and quality is generally very good, but the closing holes perhaps slightly let Purbeck down a touch. 16-18 are all relatively similar in terms of length and challenge, and 18th in particular is quite a weak finishing hole, instead feeling a bit squeezed in such that the finish is at the clubhouse.

The course used to suffer, particularly in Summer, due to its exposure to the elements and the disproportionate amount of gorse and trees which drained the course of necessary moisture, but the excellent work performed by the current ownership to reduce the excessive gorse and restore the heathland is having an amazing effect on the quality and playability of the course.

Isle of Purbeck has moved up the ranks in recent years, and with the sheer potential afforded to the club, coupled with the simply amazing views, it’s easy to see that this might continue that trend and become a major contender in the Dorset and wider England heathland stakes.

• “Top 100” Ranking: 85th (England)
• Golfer View Rating: 79%

https://www.purbeckgolf.co.uk

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