Hole Descriptions - Holes 7-12

Hole 7 - Keepers Cottage
495 Yards, Par 5, SI 17

The first par 5. This is surely one of the best chances you will have of making ground.

Some 40 yards short of the green is a fairway bunker - again on the right. The ground between the bunker and green is not easily seen and you can be short if you are not familiar with the hole.

Around the tiered green are bunkers right and left. If you are too long to the left, right you will roll down the slope and if you are through the back, you can end up in trees.

Talking of trees, you will find plenty of them waiting for anything left or right anywhere down this hole.

Hole 8 - Braids Best
431 Yards, Par 4, SI 1

This hole takes no prisoners if you are not straight off the tee. It is long and against the prevailing wind, so if you play it on a day when the wind is not against you, be happy! It is not S.I.1 for nothing.

Your second (if you have driven down the fairway), will be anything from a wood to a mid iron depending on your skill - and your skill will be tested again with this shot. With a depression short left of the green making the green elevated on the left, you have to hit the green or get a very lucky bounce on the narrow approach into this green to make it on with your second.

The green slopes slightly from front to back and has a steep bank on the left which gathers many balls that have been hit to avoid the bunkering on the right.

Hole 9 - Bide-a-while
398 Yards, Par 4, SI 9

This is one of the most generous fairways on the course, so make sure your drive is hit into the centre to ensure a view of the green unaffected by the sight of the heavy bunkers around the green.

If you are off line you will pay the penalty this course imposes from going into the trees. Take your punishment and just get out!

This green has more undulations in it than you might think - so look carefully at the line of your putts.

Having finished the hole, if you're lucky, the halfway house will be open so enjoy your break from the course.

Hole 10 - Mallards Corner
399 Yards, Par 4, SI 8

Ignore the irrigation pond in front of the tee.

Likewise, the bunker in the fairway on the left can be cleared with a good drive and you will find yourself in a good position to hit a short to mid iron into the green.

If however, you do not clear the bunker, you're looking at a long iron or wood for your second and those who know that there is a pond on the right of this green, will know it is in play because of the slight slope that can help your ball fall away.

The green is elevated and slopes back to front and left to right - making it difficult to get to pin positions on the right with the slope down to the pond waiting for anything pushed away.

Hole 11 - Tickly Tap
153 Yards, Par 3, SI 18

By the time you get here, it seems a long time since you played a par 3. So enjoy it! It is the last on the course.

Not much more than a short iron perhaps a 7 from the back, this green is slightly elevated with a big drop at the back and right. If you think therefore to go short or left, then look out for the bunkers.

The water on this hole is largely for decoration so don't think about it.

If you have hit this small target, then you will face some slippery putts on this green so make sure you take care when reading the line.

Hole 12 - Waters Meet
455 Yards, Par 4, SI 4

This hole represents the catch if the wind is with you on the 8th. It goes exactly in the opposite direction and when the wind blows against you it is a monster. That apart, from the white tees, this is one of the narrowest driving holes on the course. From the tee, look at the trees right and left, the ponds right and left and believe they are in play.

A drive that is off line but which escapes the trees off the tee, can find a bunker that encroaches into the fairway at about 210 yards. Of course, there are trees on the left and right - but you're now beginning to understand that applies to all the holes.

If you hit a good drive, it has to be 220 yards or more to have a chance of making the green and even then it will be with a wood (and this is on a good day). The second shot brings a large bunker short of the green into play - and that irrigation pond that you ignored on the 10th - it is now on the right of this green and well in play! Miss all this and there is a bunker around the left edge of the green.