Nine Hole Golf

We braved the elements and headed out to Sapey Golf and Country Club.

So let’s be upfront and say that we played the course in truly horrendous weather, it would have come as no surprise had the club decided to close for the day, but full credit to the greenkeepers for getting it playable.

With the COVID restrictions in place, we weren’t able to fully use the facilities. We did receive a warm welcome in the club shop as we checked in for our round and some useful advice on the course before we headed out. We have to highlight the stunning walk to the first tee, you could easily transport yourself to an RHS garden!

The course itself is an easy 5,705 yards with a Par of 69 from the yellow tees. The front nine wrap around the outside of the course, the back nine in the centre.

The outward nine.

So let’s get into it. The opening tee shot is slightly uphill, left to right trees dow the left and out of bounds on the right. Avoid drive will leave a short iron or wedge into generous green. A fairly gentle introduction to the course. The first of the six par 3’s plays around 160-170, an elevated large green awaits your tee shot. The third is a short par 4 around 280 yards, good drive or long iron to the hear of the fairway leaves a wedge in, you don’t want to be long here.

The 4th is the first water hole, your drive wants t favour the left side of the fairway otherwise you could be blocked out by the trees. The green is protected by water however that shouldn’t really come into play. and there’s plenty of it down the right hand side, but a good drive should see you short or left of it, you’d be very hard pressed to find water off the tee. The 5th is a pretty long but straightforward par 4 with a large green. The par 3 6th is well protected by trees which can challenge your club selection, it plays longer than you think. The 7th is the first of the three par 5’s, a narrow tee shot and out of bounds all down the right will test your driving game. With the conditions we faced it had to be played as a 3 shot hole!

The 8th is a great hole! Elevated par 3 with a small ditch guarding the green. Don’t go long as water wraps around the back of the green, not a long hole but it requires a solid shot, par here is a good score! The 9th hole was probably my favourite, a short par 4 at only 330 yards. You drive over water to a fairway that slopes left to right. A wedge into a beautifully framed green which wouldn’t look out of place on the Marques a Woburn, a birdie hole if you get a good tee shot away!

The back nine.

The back nine starts with a par 4 and its quite a tight tee shot between two well-positioned trees either side of the fairway. A good tee shot and it’s just a short it on in. The 11th is another visually great par 3. Water is all in front of the large narrow green long is safe just don’t go too long! The par 5 12th is pretty straightforward and reachable in two with a good drive. The 13th is the longest par 3 at 193 yards. We played it in the worse of the conditions with driving rain and a 3/4 club wind!

The 14th demands your attention from the tee. Water in front of you and a ditch that runs across the fairway around at around 200 yards. Get yourself away and a mid iron into the green which is protected by a bunker to the right. The last of the par 5’s follows, the tee shot needs to take into account a small ditch running across the fairway but another possibility to go for the green in two if you get a good drive away.

Onto the par 4 16th where you tee off down hill into a small dip before heading back up to a large green, a good opportunity for a birdie before the final par 3. A short iron downhill to a good size green where again you have a good opportunity to grab another birdie. So onto the final hole, a solid drive leaves a mid iron into the final green.

How did we score it?

Category	Score
Variety of holes	8/10
Experience	8/10
Design	8/10
Value for money	7/10
Uniqueness of venue	7/10
Total	38/50

In summary:

As I said at the top we played in horrendous weather, however we loved the course. It has several memorable holes, the stretch around the turn were our favourite holes, the par 3 11th probably the signature hole.

The front nine gets the nod for me it just has that little bit more. Value for money at £30 a round is pretty good and there’s some good winter offers to be had.

Definitely worth playing if your in the area, we’ll definitely be returning to play it in 2021. Fingers crossed you have better weather than we did.

Jeremy