My Trip To England's Southern Sandbelt Included A Visit To A Recently Upgraded Top 100 Classic
Jeremy Ellwood plays a selection of Hampshire courses in and around the sandbelt a couple of months apart on two journeys home from south-west England
As suggested above, I have to confess that these three courses were not all consumed in one sitting, as it were. Back in February, I'd taken myself down to Dorset for a couple of nights for a bit of coastal walking and to take in a round of golf somewhere.
Sadly, the weather conspired against me and most courses were either closed or partly closed. Instead, I looked to see if I could find a nine-holer to play somewhere on my way back to Sussex.
My search led me to the James Braid-designed course at Alton in Hampshire, where I thoroughly enjoyed my early-afternoon knock on an entertaining and mercifully dry layout in unexpected sunshine.
The wonderful downhill par-3 3rd is the star of the show, but the next par 3 at 5 was also a challenge, playing across a dip that made the flag look further away than the card told me it was.
The memorable par-3 3rd on the James Braid course at Alton
I also liked the par-4 7th, ideally suited to a power fade around a clump of trees that hide a deepish hollow.
A long-overdue return
If part one of this trip was impromptu, part two was planned around knowing I was playing in an event for golf club secretaries at the magnificent Golf Monthly UK&I Top 100 heathland course at Liphook in April, which tops most lists of the best golf courses in Hampshire.
Looking for somewhere to stay on my way back from another west country trip, it dawned on me that Old Thorns, less than a mile from Liphook at the closest point, not only offered accommodation, but also a course I hadn't played for 20+ years, although its steeply up or down holes had lingered long in the memory.
The steeply downhill 5th hole at Old Thorns
So long, it was as if I'd been there yesterday when I scaled the vertiginous tee on the short par-4 5th, where attack mode needs to factor in the pond short left.
Before that, the memories were hazier, which was slightly surprising given the quality of holes like the 3rd and 4th, a majestic long par 4 across a dip then a lovely mid-length par 3 up through the pines.
The beautiful par-3 4th at Old Thorns play up through the pines
The 7th is another pretty par 3 over water, while the 8th and 11th play either side of the same lake, with a cross stream to factor in on the latter. The fine run for home starts with the 15th, a mirror image of the 5th that plays steeply up and over a sleepered front to a treacherous hourglass green.
After plunging down again on the tempting par-5 17th, you turn right for the final testing par 4, which was straight into the wind and required a fairway wood approach for me.
After hitting my shot of the day to 20ft I was hoping for a grandstand birdie finish, but sadly the putter was unwilling.
A heathland beauty
The event at Liphook next day got off to a flier when Darren Murphy, who I had played with at the club he manages in Harborne last year, nonchalantly holed a 4-iron on the long downhill par-3 1st in one of the early groups!
Liphook starts with a long par 3 (left) and finishes with a gettable par 5 (right)
I've played Liphook several times both before and after two brand new holes were created five or six years ago, with others remodelled, lengthened, realigned or, in the case of the former 10th and 11th, merged into one hole.
The beautiful par-3 8th is one of the two completely new holes created five or six years ago
I liked both those holes individually previously, but there's no doubt that their marriage has created an excellent and visually strong par 4 to open the back nine.
There are many good holes here but my favourite remains the down-and-up par-5 7th, now the first hole you play on crossing the railway.
Get your drive away and it's a real chance; miss it and you may well have to lay up short of the cross-trouble 130 yards out, which doubles up as the Sussex-Hampshire boundary.
The author holding the flag on the 9th in The Golf Club Secretary event at Liphook
I also now have a new-found liking for the clever, shortish par-3 12th (former 7th), which used to be the first hole you played across the railway.
The pressure to hit its two-tier green is very real, for most misses will see you fighting hard to save par. A superb course in superb mid-April condition.
Alton
Par 68, 5,753 yards (18 holes)
Green fees: £30wd, £40we (18 holes); nine-hole rates available
Old Thorns
Par 72, 6,288 yards
Green fees: £90 Mon-Thu, £120 Fri-Sun; twilight, residents' and day rates available
Liphook
Par 71, 6,317 yards
Green fees: £180 Mon-Thu (£135 twilight), £210 Sun
Stay
Old Thorns
Griggs Green, Liphook, GU30 7PE
W: oldthorns.com
(Prices correct at time of publication in July 2026)
