WEST COUNTRY CLASSIC
Some courses deliver love at first sight, while others have a deeper beauty that simmers and grows. Rob Smith explains why Burnham and Berrow fits into the latter category... STEPPING BACK
Ihave been lucky enough to play the cracking Championship links at Burnham and Berrow in Somerset on and off for almost three decades. However, even though I can remember instantly liking the course a great deal, my appreciation and enjoyment of it has continued to grow on every subsequent visit.
The reason for this, I believe, is that there is a subtlety to the design and presentation which means the drama that unfolds is an ensemble piece with 18 strong and interesting character actors, rather than a blockbuster with two or three star names. Late last year I returned with the Golf Monthly team, several of whom had not visited before, for a 24-hour stopover which included my first stay in the dormy house. The club itself dates back to 1891, when a fledgling nine-hole course was laid out over Berrow Warren by Charles Gibson, the professional at Royal North Devon. Over the next 30-odd years it was extended
and improved, with input from Herbert Fowler, Hugh Alison and Alister Mackenzie, as well as the first-ever editor of Golf Monthly, Harold Hilton. The greatest impact of all was that of Harry Colt, whose changes were put into play in 1923.
It was not just the design that benefited from such influential figures. The club’s first professional, who also served as Keeper of the Green, was five-time Open Champion JH Taylor. This was his first appointment and he
felt his time here, competing over this demanding links, was a key influence in his subsequent successful playing career.
Such was the early success and popularity of the club that for the first 40 years of its existence there was also a ladies’ course on land just to the south. This was closed down in the early 1930s, at which point the ladies were invited to join the men’s club… so long as they paid for any necessary clubhouse changes!
Since those early years, the course has hosted a great many prestigious events, including the Womens Amateur Championship, the Brabazon Trophy and both the English and English Ladies Amateur Championships on a number of occasions. Were there more in the way of infrastructure and space for spectators, you would imagine that the course itself would be more than worthy of staging a top-flight professional tournament. The routing of the Championship course is very much that of a traditional out-and-back links, with the opening hole taking you westwards from the clubhouse towards the Bristol Channel. This is an attractive par 4 played out to a green that is framed by dunes either side and behind. You then turn to the right and head pretty much due north for the next seven holes. The 2nd warns you of the challenges ahead – with revetted bunkers either side of the fairway and a wild, undulating green – and the 3rd is played to a sunken green that will tend to gather the ball in.
Following a cut-the-corner par 5, the 5th is the first of four sublime short holes, this one played over no man’s land to a must-hit green nestling in the dunes. The new back tee at the next is at the start of three strong driving holes, but there is some hope of getting a shot back at the par-5 8th, so long as you don’t leak the ball to the right. The front nine concludes with another excellent par 3, again with a new back tee up in the dunes. The green on this picture-perfect hole is surrounded by a minefield of deep and intimidating bunkers.
Your journey home begins with the blindest drive on the course – a blast over towering dunes on a dogleg to the right where slightly left is best – and you are now heading south for the rest of the round. As on the front nine, each hole is quite individual.
The 11th, although tough into the wind, is perhaps a little less visually distinct than the others, but I really like the 12th, which takes you up to the 13th-century St. Mary’s Church. Although the green was originally part of a quite different design, the dead ground in front and run-off to the right make for a real challenge.
The final par 5 comes next and is as narrow as a skittle alley. This is followed by the 14th, a bunkerless and slightly uphill short hole that is all about the carry. Following a long and a short par 4, the latter with a rollercoaster green, the last par 3 at 17 is another peach. Then, with a driving line that is difficult to discern at first sight, the 18th is a colossal two-shotter played right to left and to a well-bunkered green overlooked by the clubhouse. It’s as tough a closing hole as you will find anywhere! Just over 40 years ago, Fred Hawtree designed an extra nine holes which have now matured into an extremely enjoyable alternative. It’s a bit of a hike from the clubhouse to the first tee – roughly the length of a short par 5 – but it is more than worth the effort. A number of the holes would not be in the least out of place on the Championship layout, and when the wind is blowing it can be a very tough test.
With small greens and perhaps just a little narrower in places, there are two short holes, a par 5 and six par 4s, although only one exceeds 400 yards. I remember chatting with the incumbent secretary on a previous visit, who told me with a knowing smile that the club doesn’t have the best course in the county, it has the best two courses in the county. He might just have been right. The whole complex is kept in tip-top condition by Richard Whyman and his team, while away from the course, David Haines and his colleagues run a state-of-the- art teaching studio and very well appointed shop right next to the full-length practice range. The light and airy clubhouse is just four years shy of its very own centenary, but it has been substantially and sympathetically modernised and is extremely comfortable. The front-of-house staff, along with everyone operating behind the scenes, offer that perfect blend of friendly service and efficiency. We all felt the catering was of a very high standard and our dinners and breakfasts were all very eagerly devoured. I am not sure we could have been made to feel more at home.
One extremely welcome facility is the on-site dormy house, which is right across the car park and caters for up to 12 visitors. This allowed us to enjoy an extra glass of wine… possibly two… and the packages on offer from the club that include golf and catering offer quite exceptional value for money. A bonus of staying over means that you also have access to the club’s snooker room!
The Championship course at Burnham and Berrow sits proudly at number 30 in the Golf Monthly Top 100. Access from the M5 could not be easier, and you can’t help but feel that if there were perhaps a stronger supporting cast of local major-league courses, the club would be at the heart of one of the UK&I’S leading golf destinations. As it is, its 27 lovely holes and excellent off-course facilities make it a resort in its own right. In my view, and in the view of all of us at Golf Monthly, the club represents all that is great about links golf.