Coxmoor GC is a heathland style course in Sutton in Ashfield, Mansfield, Nottinghamshire!
The club was founded in 1913, initially as a 9 holer! It was extended to 18 holes in 1929! The current course layout was co-designed by the Notts GC club Professional Tom Williamson and the Coxmoor professional Len White!
More recently Ken Brown was engaged to do some course redesign and introduction of new/modified bunkers!
*****
Playing History
Coxmoor has staged regional qualifying for the Open Championship and also the British Seniors Amateur Open Championship!
The club attests that it is one of the best 4 courses in Nottinghamshire, ranked after Hollinwell (aka Notts County), but on a par with Sherwood Forest and Worksop (Lee Westwood's course)!
The competition starter advised proudly that the club had been awarded the home staging of Nottinghamshire County matches in 2020!
*****
The Clubhouse
A new modern style clubhouse has also recently been opened! The club is about to commence the building of a large new practice putting green to the side of the new clubhouse between it and the pro-shop!
*****
The Course
The course is a par 73 from the black, white and yellow men's tees and is a par 74 from the red ladies tees!
The SSSs are 74, 73, 71 and 72 respectively! The yardages per the card are 6,804 (black), 6,695 (white), 6,220 (yellow) and 5,498 (red) respectively! I played off the white tees!
The Round opens with a spectacular downhill par 4 tee shot towards a row of waiting bunkers, and rises up to a bunker guarded green; then finishes with a 539 yards steady uphill hole with a carry over a stretch of gorse in front of the fairway! I think it's the only par 4/5 with no bail out area; but also to a green that seems to be about 75 yards long! A tough index 8 hole!
*****
The Par 3s
There are 4 wonderful par 3s, ie the 2nd, 7th, 10th and the 17th!
I particularly liked the 2nd and 7th holes which are 'dive bomb' downhill shots, 189 and 135 yards respectively.
+ 2nd: a towering 189 yards downhill tee shot over a ring of deep pot bunkers! (One of my playing partners, an 8 handicapper, made 5 attempts to exit one of the bunkers! Inexplicable!)
+ 7th: a 135 yards downhill shot with a full carry needed to make the green beyond a stretch of long thick grass / gorse! There is a dangerous drop off to the right side of the green! I missed my 15 foot birdie putt!
+ 10th: a long 181 yards tee shot from in front of the new clubhouse and halfway hut, to a slightly raised green! A skied tee shot left me a gap wedge yardage below left in some light gorse but a very good recovery approach and a 2 putt finish gave me a good bogey!
+ 17th: A semi blind significantly uphill 194 yards tee shot! I skied the tee shot leaving a gap wedge shot up to the green and 2 putted for a net par! This was the only par 3 where I got a shot!
My outturn stats for the par 3s was +3! Not too bad perhaps but only one of the holes was a shot hole and I only found 2 greens off the tee! Also I 3 putted my 25 foot birdie putt on the 2nd!
Two of my worst tee shots of the round were on the 10th and 17th holes but I redeemed matters with excellent uphill recovery approach shots!
*****
The Par 4s
My outturn stats was +8 for the 9 par 4s! As I received shots on only 6 of the par 4s, I was 2 shots too many! My 2 triple putts on the 8th and 15th account for the excess! Large tricky undulating greens!
*****
The Par 5s
The par 5s are a good mix of holes ranging from 493 to 579 yards!
#3. The shortest of the par 5s at 493 yards! An uphill drive to a raised/blind fairway, a lay down shot is followed by an approach to a raised undulating green! Reachable in regulation, a club selection error led to a short wedge 4th shot close to the pin and a 1 putt par!
#6. A 519 yards index 7 hole! Drive from a high tee over a valley to an uphill sloping left to right fairway! A drive to the right found a heavy grassy lie! Unfortunately my attempt to reach the fairway hit a tree and back into gorse! Made the green in 5 but a triple putt led to a blob 8!
#13. A 535 yards hole, index 14, tee shot down from high to a sloping right to left fairway. This is reachable in regulation. I missed a shortish birdie putt!
#16. The longest hole on the course at 579 yards, index 6! A tee shot down the right side of the fairway, followed by a 2nd either around or over a dogleg left to leave an uphill approach to a blind green! After a good drive I duffed my 2nd shot to leave no chance of making the green in regulation! A very good 4th shot approach led to an excellent bogey 6!
#18. A 519 yards hole, index 8! The tee shot requires a carry over gorse of about 175 yards, leaving two good hits to reach a huge undulating green in front of the clubhouse! A bogey 6 was a very good score!
My outturn stats for the par 5s was +5! Given that I had shots on 4 of the holes they seem a good outcome! However the stats include 2 pars and 2 bogeys but are distorted by a triple bogey on the 6th with 3 putts after taking 5 onto the green!
I was +2 after 5 holes but I hit a bit of a slice of the 6th tee into some slightly thick rough and couldn't get back to the the fairway with my first attempt to vacate the rough hitting a tree and deflecting back into some gorse! Found myself with a 10 foot downhill putt for a 7 which lipped out!
Worse! I missed a 3 foot birdie putt on the 13th!
*****
Green Fees
Visitor green fees are £75!
*****
Seniors Open Stableford Competition
There was a field of about 120 competitors! The competition entry fee was £42.50, including a post match meal and prizes! Great vfm!
The winning score was 38pts, of which there was 2 scores, and 3rd place was 37pts! My score of 33pts was not too far off! Two avoidable blobs and a missed short birdie putt put paid to my chances!
The CSS was 75, reflecting how difficult the course was in the variably windy conditions!
*****
Catering
The competition entry included a post match hot meal! Options were chicken and leek pie or sausage casserole, both with a choice of vegetables and potatoes. I elected to have the casserole with mash and chips! Lovely!
Because of the all day competition there was a restricted breakfast / lunch option! I had a pre-game toasted sandwich and chips!
*****
Date Friday, 06, September 2019
