Bude and North Cornwall Golf Club

Do not let whinging reviewers put you off a very enjoyable,challenging and rewarding golf course. Old fashioned - lots of blind shots, but not too taxing, even two on one hole! - and a little short to start, but packs a wallop at the end, as you crawl onto the tees (Very hilly and tiring). There are tricky greens (should have holed more!), and deep bunkers with some very varied laid out holes. Par 5s should be gone at as they are a little short, but watch for the rain and wind which change things somewhat! A surprise burn on the tricky downhill 14th and 16th, which are almost blind. The geography can be tricky as holes morph close to one another!! But after a battling struggle and almost on my knees, to hit three straight shots, but miss the birdie putt, on the 18th sent me off really full of praise for a holiday seaside course well worth the visit. Unpublicised twilight rate excellent!

Played here February ,2012 Not the best links course i've ever played but worth playing all the same. Better than holiday seaside golf but not top class. It's set more in the town than actually right on the coast & although you can see the sea you don't get the sense that you're right on it. But i quite liked the feel that the course feels like it's part of the town (The back of 1st tee is literally 3 yards from the road & a long row of pretty victorian houses frame the early holes). I enjoyed the first 7 holes (good par 3 4th & the 320 yard 3rd is a good example that a par 4 doesn't need to be long to be tricky )but found the course less enjoyable from here on in.The last 5 run up & down a side slope. Quite a tiring course to play due to the hilly finish & it's compact so you need to keep your wits about you for stray shots. We played on a Tuesday when there was nothing on & yet we only just got a space in the car park so it can get busy with members. The club itself was very welcoming with friendly members. Kevin B.

Played Bude on the way down from Devon to Cornwall. This is a tough, challenging course and it really wasn't that windy the day I was there. Its a bit scruffy, the clubhouse a little cramped. Its located right in the middle of town so strangely its surrounded by houses and churches, but these don't intrude into the course - such as in places like Palm springs or florida where each hole is surrounded by houses. Regardless of the real estate, this is a unique course in its variety. The first few play back and forth on the other side of a road. Fairly easy holes if you keep it in play. Crossing back over for the rest of the round is where the fun starts. There are many blind shots, even on the second shot. Unfortunately I was on my own so it was tough to know where to play even with a planner. There are a group of holes that play through some large oak trees, that is quite unique for links golf. I recall one hole where the green was far below a dune that stood guard at the end of the fairway - "birdie here can make the week" is how scoring on this hole was described. I might have made par. Overall, this course stood out to me for its challenge - not for its beauty or conditioning. It would be a fun course to play a match on...not a medal.

Ordinarily, Bude & North Cornwall GC is hardly even mentioned when people list the links of Cornwall. But that's presumably because of its distance from the A30 - it's certainly not because of the quality of the course. I'd play here over Trevose, to name but one, any day. The first five holes are the closest to the sea but, slightly unusually in this context, it's the ones further inland that contain the more rollercoaster landforms and memorable holes. Bar the slightly parkland feel of 9 and 10, the remainder has evocations of one of my all-time favourite courses, Perranporth, a few dozen miles further down the coast. Six and seven are both pleasingly blind and have challenging raised greens. Eight is a very dangerous 180 yard par 3 where anything right is dead. Admittedly I'm not a huge fan of the overly-bottlenecked par 5 9th but the 10th is a lovely par 3 with the green protected by a hungry stream. The blind drive on the par 5 12th is to an anarchically convoluted fairway and that hole is followed by another good semi-blind par 4 and then a terrifically challenging 200 yd par 3 that would grace any links course. The last 5 holes do run side by side but personally this wasn’t an issue for me – instead, it's far outweighed by the challenge of further blind shots, two mid-iron approaches over the aforementioned stream and a tight but eminently birdieable par 5 that makes for a suitably exciting finish. The welcome is warm and at £30 for a day it's also superb value for money. Definitely one to add on to a tour of Kernow. 8/10 'Young P' (h/c 12)

I'm a country member at Bude and it definitely is worth making the trip down from Surrey as often as possible to play this course. As previous comments have referred to, the course differs vastly from day to day, purely at the whim of the wind. The greens are superb and the newly improved club house serves a great bacon sandwich! Well worth a visit

As a player not graced with the opportunity to play a links course with any frequency, I am probably not the best judge.........but this is great! The first 5 holes, although closer to the sea and offering good golf, probably offer the visitor the best chance to pick up a stroke or 2. Once you cross the road, it is a different story. Many holes have a 'blind' drive, as do some of the second shots, but it is really a very good course and the drainage is first class (the wind probably blows all the surface water away). Knowing it would probably save at least 5 to 10 strokes (and a couple of balls) from your round but the 'unexpected' adds to the challange. Good value, friendly staff and members but a ferocious wind!

This seaside course is great fun with good greens and an incredibly friendly clubhouse. The towering dunes on the 6th and 7th are unforgettable. The last few holes are slightly repetitive as they run parallel, but each has its own hazards to navigate.