Basingstoke

Basingstoke Golf Club sits in Dummer, a small village just off the M3 in Hampshire — commuter country on the surface, but the rolling Hampshire chalk downs here have a quiet, open character that suits golf well. The course occupies the kind of unhurried English countryside that's easy to drive past at speed and never fully appreciate from the motorway.

Hampshire has a long and understated golf tradition, with clubs that tend toward solid, unpretentious layouts built for members who play regularly through all four seasons. Basingstoke fits that mould — a members' club serving a large regional town, the sort of place where the golf is taken seriously without being precious about it. The downland setting typically means firm, fast-running turf when conditions allow, with the open skyline and prevailing southwest winds shaping how the course plays from one day to the next.

At par 72 over 18 holes, this is a proper full-length test for the club golfer looking for a straightforward but honest day out in the Hampshire countryside.