Pulchritudinous Purbeck

[Andy Levett]

I’ve wanted to visit this course since it was featured in a British golf magazine about 25 years ago. It just looked like such a pleasant spot to play golf. Isle of Purbeck is a Colt course so the architecture shouldn’t be too shabby either.

Their original website didn’t really do the place justice but it’s been revamped with some terrific panoramas – go to http://www.purbeckgolf.co.uk , select courses, then ‘view points’ and enjoy.

The same menu also has an impressive ‘gallery’ of stills. Here’s a couple to give a taste. I've still not visited but I believe the first pic is of the 5th - not unlike another 5th, at Portrush:







Note: The photography’s better than the coding – the site was fine on a work computer running Internet Explorer but the gallery wouldn’t launch on a PC running Firefox, even with the pop-up blocker disabled.

[TEPaul]

Where in the hell is this place and why have I never even heard of it if it has holes that look like those two?

This is depressing not to have even heard the name before. Where is it? Is there actually an Isle of Purbeck? I've never heard of that before either.  

That bunker on the bottom photo is the real deal---THE REAL DEAL!!! It's so much the real deal I bet most golfers in the world would actually think you're being a complete asshole if you ever even tried to touch it with a rake!

[TEPaul]

Look at the face of that bunker on the right! You know what that thing looks like? A high-class, high-rent rabbit condo, that's what!

[Pete Lavallee]

Tom,

Isle of Purbeck is on the south coast of England just to the west of Bournemouth, the ferry you see is traveling to the Isle of Wight. The course is on the less populated side of the bay; the local area is a nature preserve I believe. However there is very good golf on the other side of the bay with Parkstone, Ferndown and Broadstone.

[Pete Lavallee]

Mark, I believe there is a moat or some other muddy stream which technically turns the peninsula into an island.

[TEPaul]

Man, that Harry Colt---he really was something, wasn't he?

[peter_p]

TEP
Confidential Guide, page 267. Doak scale: 6. According to the isle of purbeck website it is a peninsula, but gives the feeling of an island.

[ed_getka]

Andy,
   Thanks for bringing this one to our attention. The list gets longer, the life gets shorter.

[Bill_McBride]

Andy, in the top photo, is that a directional pole on the left edge of the picture?  What kind of hole is that, and what's the carry down to that fairway?  Great view!

Sorry for all the questions but that is a fascinating hole!

[Mark Bourgeois]

Bill,

Your questions have sent me to the stacks!  This would be the Par 4, 404-yard 5th hole, named "Agglestone."

The hole appears in "Britain's 100 Extraordinary Golf Holes," but interestingly not in Golf's "World's Greatest 500 Holes" or "1,001 Holes You Must Play Before You Die." (Here's hoping for a long life.)

You play as far to the right as you dare. No idea on the directional marker; perhaps it's for the ladies tee.

As the authors note, "the punishment for failure is pretty severe."

Edward VII declared the view from this tee to be among the finest in his kingdom.  The authors also note the 5th is often considered Britain's most-scenic tee.

Mark

[Bill_McBride]

Very cool indeed, thanks Mark!

Given the good reports on Parkstone recently, it sounds like a good trip might be Deal / Littlestone / (Sandwich) / Parkstone / Purbeck.  

Tom Paul, there is so much great AND accessible golf in the UK, it's a shame not to go there a couple of times a year!

[Jason McNamara]

Given the good reports on Parkstone recently, it sounds like a good trip might be Deal / Littlestone / (Sandwich) / Parkstone / Purbeck.  

Add Rye if you can, and West Sussex is but a 20 minute detour off the main route.

Jason

ps.  Pete, wouldn't that ferry be going to the Channel Islands?

[Andy Levett]

Bill, Mark
The marker post indicates the safe shot for those who don't feel confident of reaching the turning point - there's a straightaway fairway, obscured by the gorse in front of the tee.
But as the prevailing wind is from the left and behind I'm guessing most people, most of the time, will be tempted to play it as a Cape hole.
The hole is in the centre of this google map aerial:
http://tinyurl.com/2q5e2v

[Mark_Rowlinson]

I'm pretty much in agreement with the rating of others above - Broadstone is something special once it gets away from the clubhouse onto higher ground.  Parkstone is a fine course with lots of good architecture and a club president who oversaw the removal of many trees, opening up splendid views onto Poole Harbour, and the restoration of heathland characteristics.  Ferndown is now too short for you people, but just right for me.  The views at Isle of Purbeck are magnificent, and two or three holes, such as the 5th, are terrific, but there's some fairly dull stuff, too, which perhaps suggests that not all of Colt's work is intact.  The 6th, by the way, is the most punishing uphill par 5 I can think of, with the narrowest of curling fairways running between tall banks of the deepest gorse - horrid!  

Anyone been to Sherborne?  I remember it with affection from my youth, a visit inspired by an article written by Donald Steel who singled it out for praise.

[Ed Tilley]

I've played Broadstone, Parkstone, Ferndown and Isle of Purbeck in the area. I would rate Broadstone as comfortably the best course of the four and Isle of Purbeck as comfortably the worst. Great views but, other than the holes pictured and a couple of others, it's pretty dull and featureless and in poor shape too.

That said - it took me 5 hours to get round so maybe I was just in a bad mood!