Slaley Hall Hotel & Golf - Priestman Course

We played this course in the middle of the Christmas holidays so we expected winter golf. However, the course was not playable. It should of been closed due to weather conditions. The ground was frozen rock solid. I’m surprised our clubs weren’t damaged. If it wasn’t pre paid and we hadn’t travelled for more than an hour we would not of went out. It was farcical. We could not even get our tees in the tee box without using our irons as a hammer. If you attacked the green your ball would often bounce more than 30ft in the air and end up 40ft off the back and a lost ball. So 0 stars for the course management not declaring it closed first thing and preventing people from wasting money and time.
The course itself is well laid out with some fantastic holes. It is a course I try to play as often as possible. However I can’t see any rush in trying to get back up when the weather improves until they sort out the condition of the greens. Once thawed, they will still be farcical. There were large amounts of rot on every green. Numerous 2-3 inch patches of rot all over every green. The official explanation was it has just recently happened after contamination from snow. Does not really make sense when you see how much damage has been done.
So all in all, a great course which has become virtually unplayable. And that’s before you take on the fact they let us play on it while harder than concrete.

Usually the course is usually well worth a visit and is very challenging. However, our experience wasn't the best as the course is currently very muddy to the extent that we couldn't locate the ball on some occasions even in the middle of the fairway. Remedial drainage work and restoration of walking routes is required urgently to get the course back to acceptable condition - the 4th, 8th and 16th holes are especially in need of attention. In general the wider facilities at Slaley are being allowed to deteriorate with the road into the hotel having fallen into very poor condition, Green fee should be reduced to circa £10 mid-week to £15 weekend to reflect the current conditions with £32 being the maximum summer rate.

I understand and play winter golf plenty and decided to have a look up on Sunday. I’ve played on the Priestman plenty before but never in winter. It’s a great testing course but I wouldn’t return in winter. The state of the fairways and around greens and between greens were just awful. Again, I understand winter courses but even downhill fairways resembled swamps. If the course wasn’t attached to the incredible Soa hotel, I’m pretty sure the course would’ve been closed or partially closed at least.

I’ve gone neutral because I know how good this course is Spring through Autumn but you will find much much more playable in winter.

Great course really well kept, greens were quite slow but ran nice and true, the course was jam packed and was a really slow round took nearly 5 hours to get around. Backed up on each tee box.

Lovely course and in excellent condition. Greenkeepers do a fantastic job. Fairways, greens and tees all excellent. Very picturesque course. Quite a bit of water but able to avoid with low risk game management. Only annoyance was the very slow play. Got stuck behind two sets of slow players who were stuck behind the last group in a touring party. A bit frustrating and spoiled the round to be honest

Excellent value for money. Course us much more playable than in previous years with rough grades. ReLly fun golf course with variety in holes.

Slowest round i have ever played, had to walk in it was taking over 6 hours. Poor responses from management team and marshall.

Play is extremely slow (6 hours on a weekend). Course is deteriorating and needs TLC.

The course is a lovely layout with some fantastic views. The main issue is its unkempt in areas. The place just needs some tlc. For a premium golf resort you expect the course to look pristine but it's scruffy. The greens were ok. Apart from the first which had tyre tracks through the middle. What let it down was the rough. You don't expect the semi rough to be above your ankles and trying to find your ball just off the fairway was a pain. As for past the semi rough. Forget it. If your ball goes into the full rough the chances of finding your ball is a no no. The course has so much potential but it just needs looking after better.

Lots of mud and unrepaced divots. The course was not in good shape. Lots of mud caused by vehicles driven on wet.ground.

Seems like the Priestman is forgotten about vs the Hunting course. First green had patchy grass and dead grass, with previous 3 hole positions still visible.
Overall most fairways were patchy, with clearly old (dead) divot marks.

We played in the rain all round but the course held up well. Greens were a bit inconsistent but other than that a very nice course.

For years Slaley was the ‘go to’ place in the north east. Even with the addition of close house I would still put Slaley on par with them, this is a thinkers course, rewarding for the big shots but not much room for error, a great test of golf.