Perranporth Golf Club Course Review

Perranporth Golf Club Course Review
GF Round: £55wd, £65we
Par 72, 6,293 yards
Slope 123
GM Verdict A challenging, eccentric and unique test of golf in a quite glorious, elevated seaside location
Favourite Hole The down and then up rollercoaster par-4 3rd to a fabulous green site with panoramic views all the way

Running over elevated ground beside this Cornish resort town, the links at Perranporth Golf Club was designed by the ubiquitous James Braid in 1927. As natural and elemental as they come, the undulating design is a few miles from Newquay and works its way over and through some of the most impressive and glorious dunes in the country. Such is the wildness of the topography that very few man-made bunkers are needed.

The course opens with a very inviting drive from behind the clubhouse down towards the town and a green with a deep bunker and run-off on the left. This is followed by a very tricky par 5 up the slope, over the brow and down to the left.

The 3rd is a very appealing mid-length two-shotter with a drive down into the valley and approach up to a raised two-tier green.

The first of just three short holes comes next and it will not be to everyone’s taste as it’s a full-blooded blow towards a marker pole with just the top of the flag beckoning coyly in the distance. Yet again, the views from the green are sublime. The 5th is the second par 5, again played blind from the tee and with a lovely pond to catch anything short and right. The 6th is a tiddler up the hill over two deep, hidden bunkers.

Three more characterful and tricky par 4s take you to the turn, and the back nine heads out into more wild dunes, this time a little higher up and so with even more fantastic panoramas. The 11th is the final par 5 requires three good blows.

Two shortish par 4s continue in the same direction towards the beach and the South-West coastal path. Each will reward a straight hybrid or even mid-iron from the tee with just a short pitch to the green.

There are some who will be able to drive the 13th, but anything too far off line may be gone for good.

The toughest hole on the card is the 14th, an uphill two-shotter that plays longer than its 392 yards.

The 16th is the longest of the three short holes, played over humps to a large, wide green again offering the breath-taking backdrop of the Atlantic Ocean. The 17th is a very challenging par 4, and the closing hole a drive and a pitch, or sometimes just a drive, to a green perched up on a shelf.

Health and safety experts might recoil at the number of blind shots, but this is old-fashioned, elemental golf played in a delightfully unspoiled location that should appeal to the vast majority of golf lovers. If you are after natural golf with originality, views, character and endless intrigue, Perranporth is right up there with the best golf courses in Cornwall.