Aberdour
Looking back along the super-tough eleventh hole at Aberdour
(Image credit: Aberdour Golf Club)
As golfing counties go, Fife might just be Scotland’s equivalent of Surrey; packed with quality and quantity and several courses in the Golf Monthly Top 100 UK&I. Founded in 1895, Aberdour is one of its less well-known clubs, and it moved to its current parkland home on the northern shore of the firth in 1905. Seemingly of modest length, the real reason is that there are six varied short holes offset by a lone par 5 at the 13th, Ash Tree. Unusually, the course is bookended by par 3s, with the opener a chance to get off to a flyer if you can ride the wind without falling off! The 11th is both beauty and beast, skirting Barnhill Bay at the far end of the course.
Abbeydale
The par-5 sixth at Abbeydale is a real beauty
(Image credit: Abbeydale Golf Club)
Also dating back to 1895, Abbeydale is to the south-west of Sheffield and moved to its current site just over a century ago. Here, it benefited from a design by the great Herbert Fowler, famed for his Top 100 courses at Walton Heath, Saunton and The Berkshire. It uses the gently rolling landscape to great effect and has recently benefited from renovations and substantial bunker improvements by Jonathan Gaunt.
Out of bounds lines the left-hand side of the shortish par-4 eighth
(Image credit: Abbeydale Golf Club)
The greens are large and undulating, and there is an unusual but very enjoyable imbalance to the two nines with two par 5s on each but just one short hole going out and four coming home.
Ashford Manor
The par-3 fourteenth at Ashford Manor is just 151 yards from the back tee
(Image credit: Rob Smith)
Although you will glimpse Heathrow’s arrivals and departures while playing, such are the flightpath angles and the protection offered by the many specimen trees that you would never know you are just minutes from the busiest airport in Europe. This oasis of golf runs over a level, free-draining course that dates back to 1902, and is one of the best golf courses in London.
Bunkers protect the short but sweet sixteenth
(Image credit: Ashford Manor Golf Club)
Key to scoring is positioning from the tee, and there are some very tough par 4s such as the 7th, 10th and 16th. Harold Hilton, two-time Open champion and founding editor of Golf Monthly was a member, and there is a lovely clubhouse with fine views out over the course.
Ashridge
Thunderdell – the eleventh at Ashridge – is a lovely par 3
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