Buxton and High Peak Course Review

In a county not really renowned for golf, Buxton and High Peak is a less well-known course but has plenty to offer…

Buxton and High Peak Course Review

I enjoyed an excellent day at Buxton & High Peak (opens in new tab) when visiting off-duty with friends in 2014, but as this was at a time before I was also photographing courses, I only have a handful to share. Hopefully this brief glimpse will be tempting as there are several very interesting holes and there is much to enjoy.

This is a historic club dating back to 1887, and the course runs over gently undulating land on the eastern outskirts of the town. Its near neighbour is the lovely Golf Monthly Next 100 (opens in new tab) course just the other side of town, Cavendish (opens in new tab).

Less than 6,000 yards from the back, the par of 69 is very fair and the course can be defined in bite-size chunks with the first three holes heading eastwards away from the clubhouse. The next three are over quite different terrain with humps, bumps and hollows, and the need to keep it straight.

Seven is a straightaway par 4 before you cross the A6 to a section of three holes on its northern side. Two short holes sandwich a par 5, and the first of these is a lovely little par 3 down the hill. One of my playing partners lost his topped tee shot in the morning, only to find the very ball in the deep rough when he did exactly the same thing in the afternoon!

Back across the main road, there is the super-tough SI one 11th, a long, uphill par 4 that dogs to the right and a heavily bunkered green. The 12th runs in the opposite direction, back down the hill and round an old quarry.

The final par 3, the 13th, is a lovely and very natural looking short hole played up to a hidden green with trouble all around.

The course finishes with a handful of solid par 4s, the last of which is seemingly the simplest but which has a magnetic road running along to the left of the green. Buxton and High Peak is not a course on the radar of many golfers, but this is a pity as the green fees offer extremely good value and there is plenty of entertaining golf on offer. If you’ve not been before and you get the chance, do.