Buxton and High Peak Course Review
Buxton and High Peak is a less well-known course in a county not renowned for golf but it still has plenty to offer…
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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.
Rob Smith has been playing golf for more than 40 years and been a contributing editor for Golf Monthly for over ten years, specialising in course reviews and travel. He has now played more than 1,170 different courses in almost 50 countries. Despite lockdowns and travel restrictions in 2021, he still managed to play 80 different courses during the year, 43 of them for the first time. This included 21 in 13 days on a trip to East Lothian in October. One of Rob's primary roles is helping to prepare the Top 100 and Next 100 Courses of the UK&I, of which he has played all but nine. During the 2021-22 review period, Rob has played 34 of the Golf Monthly Top 200. He is a member of Tandridge Golf Club in Surrey where his handicap hovers around 16. You can contact him at r.smith896@btinternet.com.
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