Rushmore Golf Club Course Review

Rushmore Golf Club Course Review

GF £30-£50; Twilight: £25-£30
Par 71, 6,358 yards
Slope 130
GM Verdict – An enjoyable course with a real sense of occasion on the Wiltshire side, a good number of strong holes and enough water to keep you on your toes.
Favourite Hole – The long par-4 8th is very attractive visually as you stare across the dip to the green from the fairway – both inviting and daunting given the likely length of the approach shot.

The best golf courses in Dorset are headlined by the famous Golf Monthly Top 100 heathland trio around Bournemouth (Broadstone, Parkstone and Ferndown). But there is much good golf to be found elsewhere in Dorset, including the fine course at Rushmore in the north of the county right on the Wiltshire border.

Related: the best golf courses in Wiltshire

In fact, the layout at Rushmore actually straddles the Dorset/Wiltshire border, with nine holes in each but no bunkers in Wiltshire due to certain restrictions on the land that side of the border! The entrance drive winds through a mature deer park on Cranborne Chase and there is a real sense of grandeur about the course’s setting right from the off, where the towering sequoias that frame the 1st hole magnificently will really stir the golfing soul.

You start out in Wiltshire and venture into Dorset after the 3rd, where you must successfully negotiate trees in the fairway and a pond short left of the green. The first hole in Dorset is then a pretty, mid-length par 3 over water, while the distant views as you play the 6th – a longer par 3 – are spell-binding.

There’s then more water to avoid both off the tee and up by the green on the long par-5 7th and another pond to contemplate in the dip on the superb down-and-up par-4 8th as you stare up towards the green from the fairway with almost certainly quite a long club in hand! This makes for a shot that is both visually appealing yet slightly daunting.

The uphill par-5 12th features a narrow approach courtesy of yet more water, but it should be stressed that despite a seeming preponderance of water, that isn’t really how it feels on the ground. They are nearly all relatively small accumulations rather than vast expanses, although that won’t be much consolation if you pull or push your final approach here whether going for it in two or hitting a wedge in for your third shot.

Crossing back into Wiltshire, the vista of verdant fairways and wispy golden grasses away to your left from the 13th tee and fairway is captivating, and the par-5 15th that makes up much of this view is a memorable hole sweeping majestically round to the left. Before that, there’s one final expanse of water to cross on the short par-4 13th, where it’s worth leaving yourself your favourite distance in as there is absolutely no margin for error between the pond and the edge of the green. This is no time to be leaving yourself a fiddly half-shot, unless they're your speciality.

After the uphill par-3 14th, which plays longer than its yardage, you then appear to have a bit of a chance on the run for home courtesy of that par-5 15th and two short par 4s. That said, the par-3 17th might prove a slightly different proposition off the back tees into any sort of wind at 185 yards, so any gains you can make elsewhere would be most welcome.