Tidworth Garrison – Golf Course Review

Golfer’s Tips

• The ground is typically pretty firm, so do give any fairway slopes the respect they deserve – on certain holes, particularly 4, 8, 12 and 14, a tee shot landing in the centre of the fairway could find themselves running into rough or worse.
• On a similar theme is the importance of club selection and strategy on many of the par 3s – several play downhill with ideal landing spots just short and one side of the sloped green, and others require clubbing up for uphill approaches over bunkers short.
• The line on the blind short par 4 7th is further right than you would think given the direction of the tee box and where the appears rough cuts in nearby. Take a peek at the green when visible from the 6th, and given how short and downhill it plays then perhaps an iron for safety is sensible as this will still only leave a mid-iron / wedge in.

Signature Holes

• 4th – a challenging longer par 4 where the tee shot is played to a fairway sliding left to right, which can be used to run past the copse of trees on the left side, with an elevated green that also runs the same way with severe run offs to the right and rear.
• 13th – a beautifully-framed Harry Colt par 3, with three bunkers beneath the green on the left that are ready to gobble any tee shots that are pulled or short.

Review:

A very clever golf course that is thoroughly enjoyable to play.

Based in the depths of ‘army country’ on Salisbury Plain, Tidworth Garrison is a largely excellent course that is played on rolling downland with very few flat holes. Strategy and ball placement is paramount when navigating this short yet challenging track, and this does not end when you reach the greens which are excellent surfaces but very quick and undulating.

Typically for a Harry Colt design, Tidworth starts gently with a relatively straight forward par 4 played up a gradual hill, and then the second is the first of a nice set of mid-length par 3s where the ball can often be run into the green using the camber of the firm ground. You then turn for the 3rd and 4th and these provide the backdrop for the course as a hole – tee shots played to fairways that sit astride a hill, with follow-up approach shots to greens where it pays to weigh up the necessary angle of attack (and therefore where not to miss).

Tidworth really hits its stride in the middle section of the course, with a string of excellent holes that blend expertly into the landscape. The 8th is an downhill par 4 that therefore plays much shorter than the yardage, with an attractive approach into a well-bunkered green with a row of trees surrounding the back, and then the 9th is a flatter dogleg left, with a tricky two-tiered green complex. After the simpler 10th and par 3 11th, you are then hit with the excellent but difficult par 12th, S.I. 1 with a very difficult approach to a green built into the side of a hill even with a tighter tee shot is navigated, and then comes the superb short 13th which is the quintessential Colt par 3 played to a raised green with excellent, attractive bunkers beneath the run off left with views of the Wiltshire countryside beyond.

The tail end of the course is somewhat strange – the 14th, an excellent long par 5 swinging left and downhill to the green in front of the clubhouse, would make a fine finishing hole, but instead you are faced with a trudge through the car park across to 15-17 which are not of the same quality and feel somewhat squeezed into a far corner of the plot. This is a shame but you do then flip back towards the clubhouse for the 18th which is a worthy finishing hole being a nice downhill par 4, playing around to the left and down to yet another subtly difficult green in front of the clubhouse.

Overall Tidworth Garrison is a fine course, well worth a visit, and one would imagine it would be equally worth re-visiting with better knowledge of some of the places not to miss in order to navigate the clever use of the terrain.

• “Top 100” Ranking: 3rd (Wiltshire)
• Golfer View Rating: 68%

https://www.tidworthgolfclub.co.uk/

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