Painswick Golf Club — Attraction in Stroud

By far the hardest and strangest golf course I’ve ever played but after it was over I kinda wanted to go again!

Clubhouse is nice, friendly staff, they had some sort of cider and sausage festival going on which was great, cocktails were flowing etc…

The actual course was insane. The first hole should have been an indicator to how the rest was going to go. Par 4, Tee-ing off up a massive hill where you have to land the ball either in a 3 metre sqaured patch of questionable fairway or on the green, otherwise your in shin high rough or a massive un-seeable crater.

After dodging literal hundreds of dog walkers, you are greeted with a mountain in front of you on roughly hole 4 which had us questioning if that was part of the course, which of course it was. Instant regret of not buying a buggy.

All the holes cross over each other and it genuinely felt like a DofE track rather than a game of golf.

All greens are unfortunately in terrible condition and putting was just about pure luck rather than anything else.

Hole 17 too the biscuit though, driving over 4 roads, dodging parked cars, kids on bikes, several walkers and a church, to clear all this you need to hit a dead straight drive about 200 yards carry to get to the fairway on the other side.

I’m genuinely surprised we weren’t asked to sign a waver before playing as several occasions we had balls land by us and fly round us only just missing. This is due to the amount of blind drives and par 3 all throughout the course.

However, saying all that, it was genuinely so outlandish, I want to take some unsuspecting mates back and do it again just for fun.

You also can’t complain at £20 per round. I’ve spent £20 on plenty of worse things!

Pain by name,...

A little gem of a club! I played Painswick for the first time last week. It's been on my list of courses I want to play for a long time, but a lot of people in the area don't seem to rate it. It is not a pristine course with manicured flat wide fairways and huge receptive greens, perhaps that's why. Most of the courses in the area (including my own) were closed due to the rain we've had recently. Painswick was open, it was £20 for 18 holes and they had tee times, so why not? This is a fantastic challenge for any golfer. You have to think about every shot, not just check the yardage and select the club. You have to think about the tiny greens, the elevated and blind greens, the quarries, the cows, the fescue, the hills and the wind all come in to play. The views from some of the holes are spectacular! From the 1st tee box you look up a daunting hill for your opening tee shot to a blind green that is protected by a quarry. From there it just keeps you interested. A short par 3 to a blind green, a par 4 that makes you think you need to hit the shot of your live to carry to the fairway. It's great fun! Given the conditions of most of the other courses in the area, there was nothing wrong with the conditions here the day we played it. I could wax lyrical about the course, but just get yourself up there and play it.

The potential downsides... Some of the routes between green and tee are hard work with a trolly. There are dog walkers and ramblers on the course.

One last thing, the club house is lovely. From looking at the pro shop, which is more like an office, I expected very little from the bar. I was surprised how nice it was in there. Definitely worth popping in...

This is a great place to visit and take a break whilst out walking. I am a keen wildlife photographer 📸and love to go walking all around the Painswick, Cranham, and Slad Valley. We came across this lovely place while out on one of our long walks some months ago now. It's now a regular weekend trip!!👍 The staff are really pleasant and polite. The food & cakes are amazing!!!....the chef is a lovely person as well.👌👏 It's for the Golfers, but they welcome any other passerbys! including dog friendly, which is a lovely gesture. I would thoroughly recommend this place if you are passing by, even if you are out on a jolly driving trip too!! It's really nice and comfortable inside, and if the sun's out!😎🌞there is plenty of seating outside, too!👍.....but, just check on their website to see the opening times? As they are not open every day..... otherwise, check it out,...