• South Coast UK Golf – Sedlescombe Golf Club

Sedlescombe Golf Club, Kent Street, Sedlescombe, Sussex, TN33 0SD, United Kingdom

01424 871700

Playing for the first time at Sedlescombe Golf Club, based in the area of Battle and Hastings, there is no need to tell you this is an area of some historic importance not to mention great beauty.

On arrival, you can see this is a busy golf course. 

A brand new modern Clubhouse greets you with a large patio area (that wouldn’t be out of place in Spain) with table service, friendly staff and a great mixed menu.

Visiting in the middle of the British summer, you can never really predict either the weather or your game. But having read only good things about this course, I was excited to see what this club (now under new management) was going to be like.

Now I’ll get my excuses out of the way straight away.

Sedlescombe Golf Club played host to the PGA Sussex Championship the week before our visit, so the rough had been grown up and the greens top-dressed, so I wasn’t expecting to play to my handicap and I was right.

This is a course that you need to study, learn and think about. If you like to blast a driver down every fairway, forget it. At Sedlescombe, you require patience and accuracy.

Having played another local seaside course the day before, what a contrast this would prove to be. 

This course is a mature, dense, and beautiful parkland course and there is not a sound to be heard except the larks and the cuckoos.

On speaking with members, some of whom referred to the course as ‘Ditch-combe’, I would advise buying a course planner if you’re playing here for the first time.

With tight tree-lined fairways, and in places some very small greens, this is a course I could play again and again and again. It is my kind of course.

Every hole is different. Some elevated tees, some sunken greens, some very reachable Par 4s and some seriously testing Par 5s. Oh, and plenty of water. Yep, this course just about has it all.

The stand-out holes for me were the 337 yard 8th and the 232 yard 10th, but I’ll also mention the dog-leg 15th to a tiny hidden green, surrounded by tall trees. If you make this in two, you are a good golfer.

If I had any issues with the course (and I am nit-picking now), the rough needs another cut now the PGA’s have gone and I would say the greens could be a little better.

However, judging by the number of works going on around the course, this is something they are already working on. 

I have no doubt that this will be the leading course in the area within a few years.

Membership is very reasonably priced at only £900 pa. Very affordable when compared with some of the more established clubs in the region.

There is a hotel on site too, so you have the option of completely immersing yourself in golf for a few days without leaving the venue.

Lastly, the club also offers a great driving range on-site for those wanting to practice before their round.

Inside the Clubhouse, the changing rooms are modern and clean with all the amenities you would expect including good disabled facilities.

In summary, I REALLY liked this course.

It’s clear the new owners (who have also had to battle with COVID) have the ambition to make this one of the best South Coast UK golf courses, providing a relaxed ‘inclusive’ atmosphere and I am already looking forward to returning soon!

By Ian Mullins