Ipswich Golf Club (Bixley)

Overview: The Bixley course is the shorter companion layout at Ipswich Golf Club, laid out on the same Purdis Heath estate east of the town. It combines par threes and par fours on sandy heath and woodland ground, making it a quick round that still asks for accuracy. Tight lines, careful bunkering and testing greens mean it is more demanding than its scale suggests, and it serves well as a warm-up or a relaxed evening game. Five par threes and four par fours move the scorecard between wedge distance and a full tee shot, so club selection changes often despite the compact scale.

History: Ipswich Golf Club was founded in 1895 at Rushmere Heath and moved to Purdis Heath in the late 1920s. The Bixley course followed around forty years later, opening in the late 1960s, decades after the move. It was planned partly for newer golfers and to relieve pressure on the main course, and has kept that role while gaining its own following.

Did You Know? The Bixley course was officially opened by Henry Cotton, the three-time Open champion who had also played in the exhibition that launched the main Purdis Heath course in 1928.