Great Torrington Golf Course

Overview: Great Torrington Golf Club plays at Weare Trees on Furzebeam Hill, on the northern part of the Great Torrington Commons in north Devon. It is a compact nine-hole course on a triangular site of about 26 acres, using separate tees to make an eighteen-hole round. Sloping fairways and greens, gorse and short heathland turf shape the play, and the hilltop gives broad views over the Torridge valley.

History: The club began in 1895, inspired by the success of Royal North Devon. After playing on several nearby sites, it received permission to build on Furzebeam Hill in 1932. Members cleared gorse and made the greens by hand on the 26-acre common, a practical beginning that still explains the compact, sloping shape of the course. During the Second World War, parts of the common were ploughed for crops.

Did You Know? The course sits within the wider Great Torrington Commons, an area of some 365 acres held for the town, so the golf shares its hill with walkers and centuries of common rights.