Weymouth - "one of the friendliest private members golf clubs in the south"

The Saturday course of the 2013 Tour, Weymouth was a tough test for most of us. OK, the wind was blowing pretty hard all round but this is very up and down and there are plenty of trees to get in your way if you're off line.

Apparently Weymouth Golf Club was set up by people disillusioned by the set up at Came Down. The course was opened in 1909 but during the second world war much of it was converted for food crops. It was restored to 18 holes in 1953 and is a 5,754 yard par 70.

Paul and Matthew fell foul of the out of bounds on the left of the first (Bassett), but the first really memorable hole is the par 3 fifth.  There's an elevated tee and trees on either side narrow the target. Matthew overshot here and nearly hit Brian waiting on the sixth tee! Another great par three is the eighth, uphill and protected by bunkers this is another one that will punish an errant tee shot.

There's a tough long dogleg par four in the shape of the twelfth (perhaps the longer holes are a bit less interesting) but you do get respite at the fourteenth with a short, downhill par four. Matthew practically drove the green here but with his provisional ball. That's followed by a short but well-protected par 3 (I wonder why I remember the short holes better!)

The last three holes all present their own challenges. The sixteenth is a longish par 5 with a stream ready to catch errant second shots from the shorter hitters (I speak from experience), the 17th has a hedge you need to clear with your drive (again, not one for the high handicappers) and the final hole is one for only the brave or foolhardy to try to cut the dogleg.

It's a tough course and was made all the tougher by the wind. I'd have another crack at this, but on a nice day!

And we did get that nice day in 2014, very warm with a much lighter breeze this time. Make no mistake though, this is a hard course that makes you work for everything so hats off to James for his course record 37 (17 better than last year!). Kevin did improve on his 25 points from last year but not by enough to deny Ben W the title.

Best scores

37 points - James (off 36) 2014
36 points - Simon (off 21) 2014
35 points - Simon (off 21) 2013
34 points - Ben W (off 9) 2013
34 points - Ben F (off 16) 2013