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Golf in Gloucestershire/Bristol

Was a member of Filton mid 80s to mid 90s and it’s a v friendly members club. Visited for some lunch last year as was in Bristol with time to kill and was made very welcome. The course is decent and has matured nicely since I was a member. It’s not got any brilliant or spectacular looking holes, but as a test of golf it’s fine and fair, and no walkover for the handicap golfer.
 
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Thanks again for all the great input. Enough to cover two tours to the area. However, I thought I'd let you all know which courses worked out and are now booked: Minchinhampton Old for the Friday. Cleeve Hill for the Saturday, and finally Stinchcombe Hill for the Sunday. Coming from one of the flattest countries on earth (NL), it will be a thrill to play three hilltop courses. I will report back here once the tour is done.
 
Klimski said:
Thanks again for all the great input. Enough to cover two tours to the area. However, I thought I'd let you all know which courses worked out and are now booked: Minchinhampton Old for the Friday. Cleeve Hill for the Saturday, and finally Stinchcombe Hill for the Sunday. Coming from one of the flattest countries on earth (NL), it will be a thrill to play three hilltop courses. I will report back here once the tour is done.
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Good choices, some of the most interesting courses in the area. Enjoy!
 
Klimski said:
Thanks again for all the great input. Enough to cover two tours to the area. However, I thought I'd let you all know which courses worked out and are now booked: Minchinhampton Old for the Friday. Cleeve Hill for the Saturday, and finally Stinchcombe Hill for the Sunday. Coming from one of the flattest countries on earth (NL), it will be a thrill to play three hilltop courses. I will report back here once the tour is done.
Click to expand...

Nice little tour :)

Shame you're not getting to Lilley Brook - maybe next time.
 
Hi all, next week we're off to glorious Cheltenham, to play: Minchinhampton Old, Cleeve Hill (Greensomes match), Stinchcombe Hill. I will write up a little review after the trip. We are very much looking forward to this mini-tour, thanks in advance for all advice offered.
 
Klimski said:
Hi all, next week we're off to glorious Cheltenham, to play: Minchinhampton Old, Cleeve Hill (Greensomes match), Stinchcombe Hill. I will write up a little review after the trip. We are very much looking forward to this mini-tour, thanks in advance for all advice offered.
Click to expand...

If you get a clear day at Cleeve Hill you're in for a treat. Absolutely love the place!
 
Klimski said:
Hi D-S, if you had to choose (we only have a fourball and there's five of us) would you play the front 9 or back 9 again?
Click to expand...
Difficult question, the front 9 is wider, plays longer (even though the yardage suggests otherwise) and is more difficult and has the better views. The back 9 is tighter but has some really good holes, so no matter which you choose, or can get on, you won’t be missing out.
One thing though, although it is not a 9 straight out 9 straight back course, the 10th is a fair old trek from the clubhouse.
 
D-S said:
Difficult question, the front 9 is wider, plays longer (even though the yardage suggests otherwise) and is more difficult and has the better views. The back 9 is tighter but has some really good holes, so no matter which you choose, or can get on, you won’t be missing out.
One thing though, although it is not a 9 straight out 9 straight back course, the 10th is a fair old trek from the clubhouse.
Click to expand...
Cheers, I'll just wait and see. As for the long trek, fortunately it looks like lovely weather, so whoever is doing the long walk will catch some extra rays!
 
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.
 
Klimski said:
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.
Click to expand...
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?
 
Klimski said:
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.
Click to expand...
Played Stinchcombe Hill yesterday for the 1st time and, other than the grumpy walkers on the common, thought it was good and some of the views beautiful
 
A good summary and glad you enjoyed yourselves!

Cleeve truly is a slog, its an absolute mission in fact :ROFLMAO: And you are right - for a higher handicapper I imagine its even harder!! I've certainly found it tough every time I've played it, demands a lot from you!
 
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