Carlisle

Essential to get a good drive away. The longer hitter may choose to drive over the dog leg corner to leave a much shorter shot in, but beware you don’t run out of fairway, playing safe to the corner 180-200yds will leave you a mid-long iron to the green, once on the green, you may face putting up the tier to a tricky top level pin position, the green is well bunkered on the right and has a single bunker on the left.

The longest of the 3’s, requiring a long iron/hybrid to hit the green, a green well guarded with a large cavernous bunker sitting to the left of the green, making it extremely difficult to make par from. The ball if short will bounce from right to left.

One of the toughest Par 4’s on the course, requiring accuracy off the tee and in your approach to the green, a new men’s championship tee has been added in recent years increasing the length of the hole. A difficult uphill challenging second shot awaits after the tee shot, with the natural terrain of hole, kicking all shots swiftly from right to left, a narrow green is guarded by bunkers on the right. A Par 4 is always a welcome score when leaving the green on this hole.

A beautiful Par 3 requiring a short/mid iron, hitting the green is essential as missing right leaves a very difficult chip on to a narrow sloping green, missing left and you may find the large pond, awaiting an errant tee shot, once on the green slopes from back to front and from right to left, a tricky two putt surface.

One of the shorter Par 4’s on the course, longer hitters may choose to have a go at the green here, but the huge island bunker sitting short of the green makes it a difficult choice, if choosing to lay up short of the bunker will require a tee shot of approximately 180-200yds, leaving you a comfortable 75yds, beware of bunkers left, right and over the back of the green.

Play out to the heart of the fairway, avoiding the trees on the left and the carefully positioned fairway bunkers, the left hand side bunker sits at approximately 250 yards and the bunker on the right at 275 yards, a tee shot finding the fairway will leave a mid iron to the green, a bunker left will catch a loose approach shot, the green is long and thin in size.

A par 4 on the men’s card and a par 5 on the ladies, a great hole it certainly is, the tee shot is relatively straight forwards, only a bunker to the left of the fairway increases the difficulty, a shorter tee shot will leave a long blind second shot or the option of playing up short to the top of the hill, take one more club than you think here when playing your 2nd or 3rd shot, as approach shots often finish short, a small green awaits at the bottom of the slope guarded by bunkers either side of the green.

Position is all important from this tee shot, the clubs ½ way house is great line from the tee, avoid the 2 bunkers on the left side of the fairway, the longer hitter may attempt to carry the bunkers to the right side of the fairway, once you have found the fairway, the second shot uphill has to judged precisely to a three tiered green, miss the green left and you face a very difficult pitch back on to the green.

The first of the clubs Par 5’s, from the tee aim middle to right to avoid the fairway bunker left, positioning is all important on your second shot fairway bunkers and a stream await your second shot, longer hitters may choose to attack the green, but a deep bunker right and the sloping front of the putting surface make it very difficult to find the green.

A demanding tee shot through large trees makes the 10th hole an intimidating prospect, try to shape the ball a little from left to right to hold the fairway, the second shot, is with a mid/short iron, favour landing short left and the ball will find the centre of the putting surface.

The Men’s Stroke Index Number 1 Hole, requiring no margin for error on any shot throughout the hole, the tee shots requires accuracy and the perfect length down the fairway of approx 200yds, to allow players to then see the green as you change direction by nearly 90 degrees left, a shot of 160-180yds can then be played over a ditch to an uphill green, try not to miss the green to the left as to get up and down is but impossible for most players, as the green is severely sloped in multiply directions, when on the green a two putt is a triumph.

After the stern test of the 11th Hole, the 12th allows a little breathing space , a modest Par 5 is easily reachable in two for the longer hitters, but a cleverly positioned fairway ditch at 260 – 280 yds makes every player have to tactically think their way down the hole. With the camber on the fairway from right to left, a second or third shot should be aimed up higher on the right hand side, allowing the ball to skip up to the putting surface for the longer hitters. One bunker on the right hand side of the green catches a wayward approach, with a long thin and relatively flat green when players arrive at the putting surface.

The clubs signature hole, a beautiful Par 3 cut into trees, a very accurate mid iron is required to find the narrow putting surface, heavily bunkered and a small top tier to the green add to the difficulty of the tee shot and putt, like all of Carlisle Golf Club Par 3’s missing the green off the tee shot will make it very difficult to salvage par.

The tee shot is straight forward once the bunkers to the right of the fairway have been avoided, then the fun begins, a mid/short will be required hitting slightly uphill to find the green, favour the left side of the green as anything short of the green will bounce right, and find either the two greenside bunkers or rough, once finding the green, the difficulty continues, a very undulating surface makes for a difficult par 4.

A classic Par 5, a true three shot hole requiring good course management, a generous fairway provides comfort off the tee, when driving keep it left to avoid the fallen tree, as not to restrict your second shot, yardages and club selection are all important making sure you carry the 1st ditch but finish short of the second ditch, for the long hitters make sure you can carry this second ditch, for your approach and third shot be careful not to find the long bunker to the right of the green or the deep bunker to the left.

A great testing par 4, with out of bounds on both sides of the hole, played from the championship tees even requires you to carry the ball over the out of bounds, a huge oak tree is to be found in the middle of the fairway, so favour the left side, hence shortening the hole, a slightly uphill 2nd shot requiring a long iron/wood is needed to land onto this two tiered green, be careful not to go to long and finish in the trees and rough at the back of the green.

The last and possibly the most demanding of the par 3’s, has seen a great deal of development work take place over recent times, with a new Championship tee, and tree removal to create a better vista of the stream on the left hand side of the hole, the hole starts with players firing down onto the green with a mid iron and accuracy will be required as a stream runs down the entire left side of the hole, a bunker right will catch stray tee shots, trying to avoid the stream. Not great for the fainthearted, most players would take a 3 and head to the 18th Tee.

With out of bounds running down the right and new fairway bunkering makes the final tee shot a challenging one. Longer hitters may choose to carry the bunkers, leaving a short approach, others will have to lay up leaving a fuller shot into the green. A well struck second shot is a must as the two tiered green is very unforgiving - anything short of the flag will likely roll back off the front of the green leaving a difficult up and down for par.