Thurlestone Golf Club Course Review

Thurlestone Golf Club Course Review

GF Round: £30-£60; Day £70-£80
Par 71, 6,179 yards
Slope 130
GM Verdict – South Devon clifftop beauty with an excellent outward stretch along the cliffs and four par 5s over the final seven holes.
Favourite Hole – The par-3 6th is the pick of the early par 3s, not long at just 145 yards but with a ring of eight bunkers placing a premium on accuracy.

If ever a verbal endorsement were worth taking maximum advantage of, then being mentioned in the same breath as one of America’s, and indeed, the world’s most revered courses would surely be it!  Thurlestone, laid out over the relatively low clifftops between South Milton and Bantham beaches in South Devon, was once likened to Pebble Beach by Peter Alliss. While the views may, at times, rival those of its Californian counterpart, especially at the far end where you gaze across to Burgh Island and its famous Art Deco hotel, the green fee at this splendid Harry Colt creation is mercifully a mere 10% of Pebble’s even before the latter’s compulsory cart, caddie and forecaddie fees.

It was Colt who extended the original nine-hole layout to a full 18, and this really is British clifftop golf at its finest. The views alone warrant Thurlestone's inclusion in any list of the best golf courses in Devon, with outstanding views out to sea almost throughout, although the cliffs are at their closest and most in play over the opening stretch. Indeed, if ever there were a playing configuration of contrasting halves, Thurlestone takes some beating, with the front nine playing to a par of 33, while the journey home serves up four par 5s over the final seven hole in its total of 38.

The start is a little fiddly as you play back past the clubhouse and over the beach track on the potentially drivable opener, but the green is raised and well-protected and the car park isn’t a million miles away on the left if you tend to turn things over too much when really going for it! You then mostly work your way along the cliffs for much of the next ten holes, with the odd deviation here and there, before heading just a little further inland for the final seven and all those par 5s.

Some of the early par 3s really stand out, especially the back-to-back 5th and 6th – the former a testing long affair to a green just above the beach, where you may be reaching for a fairway wood, and the latter a much shorter number where the green is completely encircled by no fewer than eight bunkers of varying size.

When you reach the farthest point at the 11th green, take a moment to gaze out over Burgh Island and its famous hotel, and make a note to head out there yourself for a pint in the Pilchard Inn before your trip is over, either on foot at low tide or on board the vintage, and quite extraordinary, sea tractor if the tide has defeated you.