235 - Sheringham Golf Club

Location: Sheringham, England

Rating: 8.3

Off to Sheringham and our last stop on our trip around Norfolk and fair to say we were pleasantly surprised by a relatively unknown golfing destination in the UK that offers a great variety courses from links to wonderfully manicured parkland course to a couple set above the cliffs with Sheringham being one of those.

A great course to finish, and just up the road from Royal Cromer, it had the same stunning views and offered a few more cliffside holes. For those wanting a good pre round warm up, they have both a driving range and also pitching area with a chipping green near the clubhouse and a putting green in front of the clubhouse there is ample area to sharping your tools.

After a tucking into a chunky sausage roll in the clubhouse, we set out to the first tee. The course is a par 70 and at 5,700 meters long I can imagine it is a beast when the wind picks up. Luckily we had perfectly calm weather. Playing on a Sunday afternoon the course was relatively quiet and apart from an American group playing 4 man scramble in front of us we had a pretty speedy round.

The 1st hole is no easy feat, an uphill par 4 with a wide open tee shot, you’d do well to lose your ball there, the green is raised and surrounded by gorse bush. I’m sure many a golfer has taken a club or two less to avoid bringing this into play. The 2nd is a pretty straight forward par 5 but it takes you towards the start of the cliff edge stretch of holes. The 3rd is an uphill par 4 and the start of the most scenic holes on the course. The 4th heads slightly back inland with a short but tricky par 4 with gorse bush surrounding a slightly raised green. If you’ve seen pictures of Sheringham, I am certain this is the hole you would have seen. The view is awesome, it is the signature hole and stroke index 1. From the tee you can kilometers of the Norfolk coastline and with this elevation and plenty of space you can get up and bomb your drive. The stroke index 1 comes from the bunkers that sit beneath you right in driving distance and if you’re lucky to escape hitting them the green is dug into the hill with anything left going to trickle its way on down.

The next two continue down the cliffs before heading back slightly inland but the views don’t stop there, you get a glimpse of the elevation you were at before. Coming back the other way the par 4 9th not only offers stunning views but also a very interesting hole. With the fairway falling off in front of you it is difficult to know where exactly to aim. Once you actually get down there you realise it is way wider than you could’ve imagined. With the green well below your feet, a steep drop off over the back, it leaves a tricky approach. The 10th was one of my favourite holes, a relatively straight forward par 3 but with bunkers all around a raised green you have no room for error, coupled with the lush green bush surrounding it provided a very scenic picture.

Once you make your way to the end of the property and start to make your journey back to the clubhouse, the trainline starts to come into play with a couple of holes running parallel. A couple of balls might have ended up on there. The round finishes with a tricky par 4, a blind tee shot and for the first timers, absolutely no knowledge of the huge, wide raking bunker that protects the left side of the fairway. A strong finish to a really good course, with plenty of bush but not everywhere and strategically placed. Sheringham had good conditioning but much like the other courses in the area struggled a bit with the dry weather. £100 is good value for the twilight rate