Chipping Sodbury Golf Club

Chipping Sodbury GC is a parkland style course in Chipping Sodbury, Gloucestershire, about 12 miles north of Bristol.

It is a members club and was formed in 1905. Fred Hawtree designed changes to the course in 1971 upgrading it to 18 holes. A new clubhouse was built in 1976. It was modernised again in 1996 with 14 new tee areas, sculptured mounds and 5 lakes.

There are 4 tees in use on each hole, eg white, yellow, green and red. The yardages are 6,860, 6,657, 6,342 and 5,743 respectively. All play to the same indexes, though in practice the ladies use only the red tees!

The pars and SSSs differ, eg the white tees are par 72/SSS74, the yellow tees are par 73/SSS73, green tees are par 73/SSS71 and the red tees are par 73/SSS75.

We played from the green tees! The card comprised 3 pars, 11 par 4s and 4 par 5s.

The 3 par 3s are all fairly short, no shots received, I found all of the greens but came away with only 3 pars.

The par 4s and 5s are a joy to play! A couple of blind tee shots, some bunkers and ditches to avoid. Course was in great condition! The round opened and closed with par 5s!

The greens are large, with uphill approaches, and were shaped like uphill saucers, ie with significant fall away points depending on pin placements!

The competition was one which had host club members and visitors combined in 3 balls. I was in the last group hosted by their 2017 Club Captain Clive Reynolds! An excellent host!

The club, members, catering and professional staff were very welcoming!

Chipping Sodbury is classified as an England Golf Championship venue!

This is a very good golfing challenge which I can readily opine that any TSGers visitors to the area would enjoy also! I may enter this competition again next year if a suitable itinary involving other course could be put together!

Visitor green fees are £46, £28 as a members guest, and £30 with a County Card. My Seniors Open Stableford competition entry fee of £24 included coffee and bacon roll plus 18 holes. There was a £6.50 competition post match food menu available. I had the ham, egg and chips. Excellent quality!