Golf in Gloucestershire/Bristol

[Klimski]

Cleeve Hill is fairly close to home for me and I've played it a number of times. It's quite normal to experience four seasons in one day there . Do they still have fences around some of the greens at Michinhampton Old that keep the cows off?

Weirdly enough, I don't recall fences at Minch Old. That doesn't neccessarily mean they weren't there. I am sure they were present at Cleeve.

 

[D-S]

I’m glad you had good weather, a strong wind at Stinchcombe can make the opening 5 or so holes really tough.
The weather at Cleeve is very unpredictable, it took us 3 attempts last year to get the course rating done - unexpected fog and rain came in twice and on the third try fine mist made lasering all the various distances really tricky. I hope they don’t overprice Cleeve as it was only £20 or 25 a couple of years ago and great for the experience although those looking for ‘decent’ course conditioning as well as the views etc. might be disappointed.

 

[Arthur Wedge]

When we played it last year I loved Cleeve Hill -enjoyed Minchampton Old as well

 

[Chemas001]

Ok, first off: we had an amazing three day golf trip in the Cotswolds. Of course the weather made a major contribution: two sunny days bookmarking a day with a bit of cloud cover ending in sun. Now, as promised: my review of the courses.

We played Minchinhampton Old, Cleeve Hill and Stinchcombe Hill.

Firstly my personal ranking based solely on enjoyment as a handicap 18 golfer, scores out of 10:

• Minchinhampton Old 8.6
• Stinchcombe Hill 8.5
• Cleeve Hill 8.2

This ranking may surprise many on this forum, as Cleeve Hill is an England Top 100 ranked course. You can find my reasoning below. Full disclosure: the other party members each ranked the courses in different order..


General impression

In general all three of these courses offer a great experience. They gave me a feeling of playing golf as part of a community - all three are played over common land (Stinchcombe isn’t strictly speaking common land but offers public access). So as a golfer, you’re in the company of ramblers, picknickers, mountainbikers, horse riders etc. To some, this may be off putting, to me it’s great. I don’t play golf to escape into an elitist isolationary fantasy, and I think that sharing land is always a good idea. Sure, you will need to wait sometimes, but we got along just fine.

Coupled with that, all three courses offer beautiful landscapes, wonderful views and nature. Each feels integrated with the landscape, rather than laid out on top of a landscape. In this sense, Cleeve Hill is the standout: its routing is wildly creative and exciting. It was saved from closing only a few years ago and I really hope it goes from strength to strength!

Now for the reviews:

Minchinhampton Old

What made this course for me was the one-two punch of beautiful scenery and great playability. It was also quite a comfortable walk, although by no means flat.

I shot 87 - just about my course handicap, and found most of the holes full of character and interest. There aren’t too many blind shots. And the smallish greens have goon run ups to play the course ‘links style’.

To me, the par 3’s are especially memorable. The 8th “The Bear” is a very fun and very hard 170 yard shot over a quarry to a larger green, the 10th a risky short shot over another wild quarry with a bail out area to the right. I can’t really put my finger on it but Minch Old has a very natural flow, and I’ve never felt this fresh and willing to go another round after 18 holes! A prime example of this is the almost hilariously featureless par 5 that is dead straight and just rolls on and on: “Park End” the 12th. One could argue that this makes it boring, but I just found it fun.

A personal highlight of my day was hitting a 270 yard 5 wood on the 17th hole! (downhill, hard baked fairway..haha). I felt like Rory for a minute.

Simply put: Minchinhampton Old is a very fun course that is also affordable UKP35. I highly recommend it to anyone from handicap 24 and better. (Our beginner struggled with the undulations and forced carries over quarries and such). If there is one note of criticism: some of the greens were a bit rough. But I’m not complaining.


Stinchcombe Hill

Stinchcombe Hill was a real surprise. It doesn’t get much buzz compared to Cleeve or Minch, or even nearby Painswick - but make no mistake: it’s a quality golf course. The greens were by far the best on our tour, running true and at a good pace. I would even deign to say they were the best greens we’ve seen in three tours to the UK and Scotland.

Of course, due to the weather the greens weren’t soft or receptive, so it was all bump and runs, which I really enjoyed.

We played a four man scramble and shot -5, which we were proud of and it was all smiles as we enjoyed a Guinness, sausage baguette and chips.

Now, for the golf club. The first standout stretch of holes is from 5 through 9. Running along a ridgeline, with some really good and challenging green complexes. The 5th has a green perched off axis over a steep drop-off which makes for an exciting approach. The 6th is a short shot but well protected green. Hit it long and you’ll end up on a shelf style backstop. The 9th is a 147 yard par 3 with a well bunkered green that is located in a far corner of the common with (again) fine views.

The second fine stretch is the closing three holes, each of which can be opportunities to make a good score, or mess up your card.

The course, in general, flatters those who can be a bit wild with driver and this is what helped us get to below par. It is not without teeth though. With some strong bunkering protecting the greens, making the par 3’s especially quite challenging: you need to carry the front bunkers and somehow stop the ball on hard greens. My personal highlight of the day was a full 18 holes of putting really well. The greens really suited my putting stroke and style and I really “rolled the rock”. Shot of the day was a blind (tree) 85 yard steep uphill approach shot to the 16th green, managing to hold the green getting us an easy par.

Although I found the overall experience of Minchinhampton more unique, I would prefer to be a member at Stinchcombe. I would simply love to play that course every week.

In closing: I recommend anyone visiting the area to play at Stinchcombe Hill, handicap 24 or better. Although a 36 range handicapper who can hit a ball 150 yards, could also play there. One note of criticism: some of the par 4 holes on both front and back 9 could be described as a bit ‘sameish’.


Cleeve Hill

Our golf tour was built around Cleeve Hill, and it didn’t let us down. It’s a wonderful place, and quite unlike any other course I’ve played. It did remind me, because of the wild undulations, of Mullion Links down in Cornwall. But it has a very unique character. With roaming sheep and ramblers, stunning views of the Cotswolds and an atmosphere all of its own.

And whilst I really enjoyed this wild joyride of a golf course: hitting over crags and quarries, off of tee boxes perched on outcroppings - I did find it a bit of a slog. Also, some of the greens were a bit rough, although not poor. My sand wedge is also grateful not to have been in use, as the bunkers don’t just feature sand, but also sand stone shards.

We played a 2v2 Greensomes match and the challenging nature of the course, combined with the prevalence of blind tee shots on the front nine, made the match a bit testy at times. But that’s more on us than the golf course, obviously. What was quite clear though, is that if you hit a long ball, there are scoring opportunities. So, I can recommend it mainly for handicaps of 18 or better.

For me the standout holes were the long (but very downhill) par 3 10th. There, I hit my usual 160 yard club all the way to 205 yards. Which is nice. The 13th is a sharply undulating par 4, where the tee shot takes you over a high brow, and it’s all downhill from there. The green complex is in a gap between two rings of an iron age fort wall, up against the very edge of the plateau. A really hard green to hold from 140 yards out, hard downhill!

Finally the 18th is straight out of someones surrealistic golf course design manual: a rollicking downhill par 4, where you tee of from one of several outcroppings. A great finishing hole - that we all made a right mess of, due to our match having ended on teh 17th green.


All in all we did really have a great time there, and all hope to revisit. I am slightly worried as to the new owners plans with the place. They intend to knock down the clubhouse to replace it with a new building that will also serve the many ramblers. But it is hard to fathom how it could work financially unless they raise the green fees a bit - which I am obviously not advocating for - nudge, nudge, wink, wink.
In closing: I recommend Cleeve Hill to anyone with strong legs and healthy heart and ideally a handicap of 18 or better. It’s wild, and it’s out there. You may be frustrated, but you won’t be bored.

As a long time member at Minch Old it’s always refreshing to read reviews like this from players ready to take the rough with the smooth. I absolutely love all three of these courses and if anything drastic happens to the OC, I would certainly be looking to join one of the others. The big advantage of being at member at Minch Old is the access we get to the New Courses as well so effectively 3 courses for £750.

Thank you for not being to hard on the greens as we desperately need some rain now and they are being hand watered every day (which is the same at Cleeve) and they are just about holding up. We have a new head green keeper who is very passionate about the course and always happy to tell it straight about what is happening, what they can do and what to expect going forward. He also has done lots of research on old layouts of the course and is slowly moving the fairways around to give some of the holes a bit more shape and to bring some more of the natural contours back into play. Many of the holes have had to change over the years as greens were too close to the roads, the 12th for instance, you would have walked over the old green site on the way to the 13th tee so originally you had to play over the large bank and ditch which is now on the right of the new green.

Really happy that you enjoyed your trip in the Cotswolds and the sun was shining for you, come back and play them in the winter and the wind is blowing hard, they are brutal and very unforgiving then!

 

[Chemas001]

Cleeve Hill is fairly close to home for me and I've played it a number of times. It's quite normal to experience four seasons in one day there . Do they still have fences around some of the greens at Michinhampton Old that keep the cows off?

Not many cows out at the moment and as it’s very firm we are holding off on the fences as long as we can. General feeling is that they attract the cows and they use them for scratching and then do quite a bit of damage to the green surrounds and have often dug up the approaches especially on 12 and 15.

 

[Golfnut1957]

Ok, first off: we had an amazing three day golf trip in the Cotswolds. Of course the weather made a major contribution: two sunny days bookmarking a day with a bit of cloud cover ending in sun. Now, as promised: my review of the courses.

We played Minchinhampton Old, Cleeve Hill and Stinchcombe Hill.

Firstly my personal ranking based solely on enjoyment as a handicap 18 golfer, scores out of 10:

• Minchinhampton Old 8.6
• Stinchcombe Hill 8.5
• Cleeve Hill 8.2

This ranking may surprise many on this forum, as Cleeve Hill is an England Top 100 ranked course. You can find my reasoning below. Full disclosure: the other party members each ranked the courses in different order..


General impression

In general all three of these courses offer a great experience. They gave me a feeling of playing golf as part of a community - all three are played over common land (Stinchcombe isn’t strictly speaking common land but offers public access). So as a golfer, you’re in the company of ramblers, picknickers, mountainbikers, horse riders etc. To some, this may be off putting, to me it’s great. I don’t play golf to escape into an elitist isolationary fantasy, and I think that sharing land is always a good idea. Sure, you will need to wait sometimes, but we got along just fine.

Coupled with that, all three courses offer beautiful landscapes, wonderful views and nature. Each feels integrated with the landscape, rather than laid out on top of a landscape. In this sense, Cleeve Hill is the standout: its routing is wildly creative and exciting. It was saved from closing only a few years ago and I really hope it goes from strength to strength!

Now for the reviews:

Minchinhampton Old

What made this course for me was the one-two punch of beautiful scenery and great playability. It was also quite a comfortable walk, although by no means flat.

I shot 87 - just about my course handicap, and found most of the holes full of character and interest. There aren’t too many blind shots. And the smallish greens have goon run ups to play the course ‘links style’.

To me, the par 3’s are especially memorable. The 8th “The Bear” is a very fun and very hard 170 yard shot over a quarry to a larger green, the 10th a risky short shot over another wild quarry with a bail out area to the right. I can’t really put my finger on it but Minch Old has a very natural flow, and I’ve never felt this fresh and willing to go another round after 18 holes! A prime example of this is the almost hilariously featureless par 5 that is dead straight and just rolls on and on: “Park End” the 12th. One could argue that this makes it boring, but I just found it fun.

A personal highlight of my day was hitting a 270 yard 5 wood on the 17th hole! (downhill, hard baked fairway..haha). I felt like Rory for a minute.

Simply put: Minchinhampton Old is a very fun course that is also affordable UKP35. I highly recommend it to anyone from handicap 24 and better. (Our beginner struggled with the undulations and forced carries over quarries and such). If there is one note of criticism: some of the greens were a bit rough. But I’m not complaining.


Stinchcombe Hill

Stinchcombe Hill was a real surprise. It doesn’t get much buzz compared to Cleeve or Minch, or even nearby Painswick - but make no mistake: it’s a quality golf course. The greens were by far the best on our tour, running true and at a good pace. I would even deign to say they were the best greens we’ve seen in three tours to the UK and Scotland.

Of course, due to the weather the greens weren’t soft or receptive, so it was all bump and runs, which I really enjoyed.

We played a four man scramble and shot -5, which we were proud of and it was all smiles as we enjoyed a Guinness, sausage baguette and chips.

Now, for the golf club. The first standout stretch of holes is from 5 through 9. Running along a ridgeline, with some really good and challenging green complexes. The 5th has a green perched off axis over a steep drop-off which makes for an exciting approach. The 6th is a short shot but well protected green. Hit it long and you’ll end up on a shelf style backstop. The 9th is a 147 yard par 3 with a well bunkered green that is located in a far corner of the common with (again) fine views.

The second fine stretch is the closing three holes, each of which can be opportunities to make a good score, or mess up your card.

The course, in general, flatters those who can be a bit wild with driver and this is what helped us get to below par. It is not without teeth though. With some strong bunkering protecting the greens, making the par 3’s especially quite challenging: you need to carry the front bunkers and somehow stop the ball on hard greens. My personal highlight of the day was a full 18 holes of putting really well. The greens really suited my putting stroke and style and I really “rolled the rock”. Shot of the day was a blind (tree) 85 yard steep uphill approach shot to the 16th green, managing to hold the green getting us an easy par.

Although I found the overall experience of Minchinhampton more unique, I would prefer to be a member at Stinchcombe. I would simply love to play that course every week.

In closing: I recommend anyone visiting the area to play at Stinchcombe Hill, handicap 24 or better. Although a 36 range handicapper who can hit a ball 150 yards, could also play there. One note of criticism: some of the par 4 holes on both front and back 9 could be described as a bit ‘sameish’.


Cleeve Hill

Our golf tour was built around Cleeve Hill, and it didn’t let us down. It’s a wonderful place, and quite unlike any other course I’ve played. It did remind me, because of the wild undulations, of Mullion Links down in Cornwall. But it has a very unique character. With roaming sheep and ramblers, stunning views of the Cotswolds and an atmosphere all of its own.

And whilst I really enjoyed this wild joyride of a golf course: hitting over crags and quarries, off of tee boxes perched on outcroppings - I did find it a bit of a slog. Also, some of the greens were a bit rough, although not poor. My sand wedge is also grateful not to have been in use, as the bunkers don’t just feature sand, but also sand stone shards.

We played a 2v2 Greensomes match and the challenging nature of the course, combined with the prevalence of blind tee shots on the front nine, made the match a bit testy at times. But that’s more on us than the golf course, obviously. What was quite clear though, is that if you hit a long ball, there are scoring opportunities. So, I can recommend it mainly for handicaps of 18 or better.

For me the standout holes were the long (but very downhill) par 3 10th. There, I hit my usual 160 yard club all the way to 205 yards. Which is nice. The 13th is a sharply undulating par 4, where the tee shot takes you over a high brow, and it’s all downhill from there. The green complex is in a gap between two rings of an iron age fort wall, up against the very edge of the plateau. A really hard green to hold from 140 yards out, hard downhill!

Finally the 18th is straight out of someones surrealistic golf course design manual: a rollicking downhill par 4, where you tee of from one of several outcroppings. A great finishing hole - that we all made a right mess of, due to our match having ended on teh 17th green.


All in all we did really have a great time there, and all hope to revisit. I am slightly worried as to the new owners plans with the place. They intend to knock down the clubhouse to replace it with a new building that will also serve the many ramblers. But it is hard to fathom how it could work financially unless they raise the green fees a bit - which I am obviously not advocating for - nudge, nudge, wink, wink.
In closing: I recommend Cleeve Hill to anyone with strong legs and healthy heart and ideally a handicap of 18 or better. It’s wild, and it’s out there. You may be frustrated, but you won’t be bored.

Interesting and informative write up.

We played 36 holes at Cleeve Hill last year. We also had all four seasons during the process.

I was particularly interested on your view of the other two. We are planning to play 36 at Stinchcombe Hill in September and probably 18 at Painswick which you didn't play. Is there any particular reason why.

On the way back north we are going to play Baildon, just north of Bradford, which appears to be a similar course to these 3.

 

[D-S]

Interesting and informative write up.

We played 36 holes at Cleeve Hill last year. We also had all four seasons during the process.

I was particularly interested on your view of the other two. We are planning to play 36 at Stinchcombe Hill in September and probably 18 at Painswick which you didn't play. Is there any particular reason why.

On the way back north we are going to play Baildon, just north of Bradford, which appears to be a similar course to these 3.

Painswick is a far tougher walk than Cleeve, the hills are much steeper although the course itself is far shorter. The paths are also very rough so using trollies is fairly difficult.

 

[Klimski]

Interesting and informative write up.

We played 36 holes at Cleeve Hill last year. We also had all four seasons during the process.

I was particularly interested on your view of the other two. We are planning to play 36 at Stinchcombe Hill in September and probably 18 at Painswick which you didn't play. Is there any particular reason why.

On the way back north we are going to play Baildon, just north of Bradford, which appears to be a similar course to these 3.

We chose Stinchcombe over Painswick because I figured (with advice given here) that it would be too much quirk and challenge for our lot. We range in handicaps from 18-30, with an absolute beginner joining us this time around (who walked with us and played a hole here and there). It was about getting the balance of courses right for the tour.