Sibford Gower, Compton Wynyates, Upper Tysoe, Lower Brailes ... romantic Cotswold villages that attract artists and poets to see Old England. But at Brailes it’s the golfers who enjoy the tranquillity of England’s green and pleasant land.

ABOUT BRAILES GOLF CLUB
Sibford Gower, Compton Wynyates, Upper Tysoe, Lower Brailes ... romantic Cotswold villages that attract artists and poets to see Old England. But at Brailes it’s the golfers who enjoy the tranquillity of England’s green and pleasant land.

Opened to members in 1992, Brailes Golf Club now provides its 600 members with virtually everything a golfer requires, all thanks to the foresight of three local businessmen - a property developer, a ground-works specialist and the farmer who owned the land. The company they set up built the club, and now runs it – and if you think companyowned clubs exist solely for profit you'll be surprised; this club is run to give members and visitors a quality golfing experience.

Around the clubhouse, the land is quite level, whilst beyond the stream the ground rises steadily, with old trees and hedges still growing. It provided course designer Ray Baldwin with a landscape ripe for development into a golf course. He revelled in this opportunity to tease all the players in a gentle way. 'Tigers' may see 'rabbits' enjoying their golf and assume it's an easy course: but from the back tees, they will find different challenges, subtly more difficult than they look, and cunningly designed to harry the greedy golfer into taking unwise risks.

The round opens with a longish par-4 that gets the players smoothly under way. On the 2nd, you must clear a stream to reach the green, a feature with which you will become familiar, for you cross it six times during your game, and flirt with it on another couple of occasions. The 4th is harder than the yardage on the card would suggest, thanks to the pond positioned to catch a hooked drive, and the three bunkers lined up between pond and green. Miss the green on the right, and the ball will scamper down a slope and disappear into the luxuriant hedgerow. The 500- yard 8th presents a challenge to those who see every par-5 as a birdie opportunity: the stream sneaks across at 295 yards and a kink in the fairway just short of the green makes it well-nigh impossible to hit the green in two. Birdies are also rare on the 469-yard 9th, for the ever-present stream runs along the edge of the fairway, feeding a pond close behind the green.

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