East Devon Golf Club Course Review

East Devon Golf Club Course Review 

GF Round: £75; Summer twilight: £37.50 after 4pm
Par 70, 6,261 yards
Slope 126
GM Verdict – Beautiful elevated heathland course with a fine run for home along the red clifftops of South Devon’s Jurassic Coast.
Favourite Hole – The long par-4 17th, where the drive must stay short of a heathery downslope and the green is protected by banks and a solitary bunker.

East Devon Golf Club is one of the undoubted stars of the south Devon strip and one of the best golf courses in Devon. It’s perched up on top of the distinctive red cliffs along this stretch of the beautiful Jurassic Coast above the popular holiday town of Budleigh Salterton and offers enviable variety among its 18 holes, which blend a strong heathland feel in places, with occasional more tree-lined, tighter-feeling tests such as the 7th and then a splendid run for home in an easterly direction following the clifftop.

Golf in the town started out on a nine-hole course on the banks of the River Otter before moving to today’s glorious clifftop setting in 1902 when a new club was formed. In the early years, the layout underwent a number of changes. The famous Herbert Fowler created this new course in conjunction with the secretary at the time, but it was later modified by both Harry Colt and James Braid. More recently the threat of coastal erosion has sparked a number of changes including a re-aligning of the 16th and a new tee on the 17th, both holes from which the views out over the coast are at their most breath-taking. 

You get a sense of the views to come over the early holes, and this gradually rises to a crescendo as make your way up to the highest ground before starting your final descent from the 16th tee, a strong par 4 as you start the downhill stretch for home. But the 17th is infinitely harder, as you must keep your drive short of a steep heathery bank before firing down to a green from around which your up-and-down prospects can be slim, especially if the pin is on the right and you miss that side.

The 18th is a relatively short finale at 339 yards, but the sweeping left-to-right dogleg does mean you must decide wisely between aggression and caution, for if you go for the big one and hold on to it, you could come badly unstuck right at the end. Before that, the 10th is arguably the prettiest of the par 3s, with its three-tier green placing a real emphasis on accurate club selection, although the downhill 13th looking out towards the sea may have something to say about that!