Cavendish Golf Club

Cavendish golf club is located just outside of Buxton in a beautiful rolling landscape, and makes the most of this. A very warm welcome in the pro shop, some swings in the nets (no driving range), and some putts to feel the greens and we were off. The first 3 holes tell you a lot about this course and its challenges. Fairways always sloping left/right and uphill/downhill, and best to leave your approach in a good place to attack the pins that were often placed close to the edge of the green or a severe slope on the green. The greens were for me the main challenge, as they were not easy to read, lying in a terrain that is sloping, and the greens themselves with a lot of slopes on them. But that made up for the fact that the course is rather short (modern standards) and not a lot of fairway bunkers around. Greens are also well protected, wind plays a factor as you often tee off from elevated tees or hit to elevated (or lower) greens. Very much a challenge on your first time here. One minus point : 9th hole does not pass the clubhouse. Plus : for the first time I could use a backstop to bring my ball next to the hole after short-sighting myself on a par 3.

Wat een prachtige baan. We konden nog op het laats een buggy krijgen. Bleek achteraf ook wel echt nodig. Veel heuvels, maar wel veel ruimte ook. Dus we hebben best goed gespeeld. Fijn vertoeven op de baan, veel variatie en zeer goede ontdehoud. een paar extreme holes aanwezig, meer dan de moeite waard.

Surely, there can be no better value in golf than the twilight visitor rate at Cavendish - the home of the Alister MacKenzie Golf Society.

Yes, it cost just £25 to play this picturesque Peak District course which recently found its way into England's top 100.

And it must also be the toughest par 68 anywhere.

Cavendish is in Buxton, renowned for being the only place where play in a professional cricket match was halted in June because of snow.

Therefore, expect the conditions to be challenging. A couple of years ago, I stood on the elevated sixth tee and burst out laughing because the wind was so strong.

Even on a balmy May evening when there wasn't a breath back at home,45 miles away, there was a chill in the air and more than a bit of a breeze at Cavendish.

This is a course which demands precision around the greens and my past experience and the lightning-fast practice area had sewn the seeds of doubt.

Almost every hole at Cavendish is an unexpected adventure and after our game and we mused over how the management team have created such a top track and yet charge players so little by comparison to its peers.

Ok, Cavendish is a tad isolated but Buxton is a beautiful town and a round here is worth a stopover.

Few courses have been born with the advantages of Cavendish GC. Not only did the 9th Duke of Devonshire provide the land, he also paid for the construction of the course and the clubhouse! Furthermore, when the Duke terminated the lease for the Burbage Ladies GC, a pack of members became newly available to sign on to the new club. Finally, for many years the Duke’s estate subsidized the club until 1954 when the members purchased the club and adjacent farm for the criminally low price of £5000! Such largesse is to be roundly applauded.

The singular purpose of Cavendish's design is outstanding. The routing of the course is masterful with several clever changes of tempo and a flow which capitalizes on the terrain. It is surprising very few birdie opportunities exist when we consider the yardage from the back tees is just over 5700 yards. Most courses of this length would often be considered easy, but Cavendish has seven holes over 400 yards in length. Depending on wind conditions, all could take driver/wood to reach and a few will always require some wood play through the green. Mixed in with these longer holes are a handful of short par 4s, a few of which are reachable. Additionally, where Dr Mac makes up a ton of ground in creating a course which plays longer than 5700, is with the five par 3s, three of which are very short drop-shotters. I am personally not terribly keen on this sort of hole and playing three of them is certainly less than ideal, but in addition to the outstanding 13th which is decidedly an uphill one-shotter, they are critical transition holes which allowed Dr Mac to tackle some of the more challenging terrain without creating any uphill slog holes. I was especially impressed how Dr Mac got the most out of some of the prominent and not so prominent features. Three examples are:

1. Use of the stone wall on #14 creating a wonderful hole out of dead flat land.

2. The use of old railway embankment to house tees for #s 6 and 15 and create backdrops for #s 5 and 14 greens.

3. The River Wye is used for holes 10-12, #10 being one of the best holes on the course.

The course rests in a valley and as such there is some up and down. However, as mentioned above, Dr Mac cleverly avoided any arduous climbs, but Cavendish is a workout none the less. In addition to the terrain being wild and wooley at times, because of its position in the Peak District, the course receives a lot of rain and therefore the soil is heavy, moorland-like. That said, Cavendish could not be allowed to get too firm or some of the shots would be akin to playing pinball!

t is plainly obvious I think Cavendish is a remarkable course. While some of the details such as lack of fairway bunkers, narrowing of fairways and green area reduction have compromised part of Dr Mac's original vision, the single biggest issue with Cavendish is its conditioning. The course usually plays a bit wet. Be that as it may, with at least nine excellent holes, three (#s 10,13 & 15) of which are All England candidates, Cavendish is indeed special. Whereas many modern architects would have made Cavendish a longer, more testing course and likely a much tougher walk, Dr Mac kept the yardage very low, yet used the land brilliantly to make the course seem much harder than the scorecard would indicate. The casual visitor is most welcome and can play this Dr Mac gem for a very reasonable green fee. Can golf get any better than this for the price? Does golf need to be any better than this at any price?

Beautiful courses laid out on hills are not uncommon in this part of the world. The Cavendish course disitinguishes itself by the hand of the famous designer, who would one day also draw Augusta.

The holes lure you into a false sense of ‘I can par this one’. But then, you are fooled by a treacherous brook, an odd tree or, most often, an impossible green to make with a two-putt. This course is like a poodle dog, cuddly but with sharp teeth. You will surely enjoy playing it, but it may not be visible in your score card.

Recommended reading is the review of Sarah Forrest below.