Glynny46

My first visit to The Cavendish this week. A short gem of a course. We didn’t get the full summer treatment as 4 greens were temporary and some of the tee boxes were forward/temp but we got a great feel for the place even though. It was charming. Very, very enjoyable.

Not the most difficult of courses or the longest having driven a couple of holes and leaving 50 yards in on a few others, but if you’re dialled in with the wedges this course can repay you kindly.

There was a bit of work happening out on the course that the members will see the benefits of in the summer.

Will be back to play this in the summer. Can’t wait. Handsome and surrounded by the beautiful Derbyshire countryside. A hidden gem.

Enjoyed The Welcombe today. There’s a mixed bag of holes out there and some big hills that older unfit guys will really struggle on especially if carrying.
The greens were running very true and were quite impressive but there were far too many bunkers in need of some TLC and over growing with large weeds.
You need to play this course a couple of times to get to know it. On a few blind holes we drove on what really should have been an iron.
But it was charming, some great holes, beautiful trees and ponds lining some of the holes. Would certainly return.

This course has had its ups and downs over the years with the highs of The British Masters being held there in its heyday to the lows of the last few years with little investment and the course generally being neglected.
However, the course recently became a private members club and already the new team have set to work about the place with a revitalised enthusiasm and new investment and the change in the quality of the course is remarkable in such a short space of time. The members have come out en masse to dust the place down and give it a thorough pruning and boy it’s paid off.
There is a noticeable change in the mood and the feel good factor is evident and back once again.
The club is far from the finished article though, there are many changes happening, due to some land being developed for housing, including the shutting down of the driving range and the pro shop imminently moving over the road to where the 18th finishes, as opposed to where the 1st starts. That aside the course is returning back to its very best with a new head greenskeeper and staff looking after the place.
The layout has always been there, it’s widely acknowledged to be the best in the county, but the quality has been lacking through under investment for far too long. The members that have stood by the course through its ups and downs deserve something better and it looks like their prayers might have been answered.
The course itself is, for the most part, lined by some beautiful big houses overlooking it and this is definitely in the class of a ‘new design’ type course. It’s a fairly gentle start to get your eye in that lulls you into a false sense of security as you make your way down to the 4th thinking ‘I might do well today’ and then the course starts to bear its teeth and gives you a bit of a nosebleed until about the 14th!!!
The water (which comes into play on 10 holes!), narrowness and trees all start to work against you and if wayward off the tee, you can generally kiss goodbye to that par. But it will reward accuracy, just be prepared to drop a club or two on some holes where you think it’s begging for a driver to be pulled out the bag. It’s been designed cleverly that way to get you thinking on the tee box.
There are some fantastic holes, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 and 15 through to 18 are all great but the 18th is worth the entrance fee alone. Water for as far as the eye can see on the left, overlooked by some stunning houses, and OOB to the right so you have to be accurate off the tee. 200 yds off the tee will leave you a further 200 yds up the narrow-ish fairway just to get into position to go for the Sawgrass styled island green that can only be stepped onto via a bridge on the far side of it, and that’s still another 150 yds away!
The big boys that can rip a drive 300 yds are teased with the ‘should I, shouldn’t I’ scenario of having to rip a further 3 wood to go for that most rarest of things, and something to dine out on for the rest of your days ... an eagle on Collingtree’s 18th! There are probably more Dodo’s still in existence than have been eagles on the 18th!
It’s a superb closing hole and the friendly members overlook the final green from a patio terrace. So be brave and commit and they’ll let you know the quality of your final approach shot as you make your way past them to the bar!
All in all, a rough diamond trying really hard to make its way back up to where it should be and with a new team driving them and a new found vigour ... they just might do it.
Fingers crossed, it really is a great layout.

Kingsthorpe GC is situated right in the heart of Northampton and surrounded on virtually all sides by houses making this course short and particularly compact. So much so that there are a number of tee boxes where you are close to the green you have just left. Very close to the green you have just left. In fact so close to the green you have just left as to think, there's a high chance a wayward ball is going to come winging its way into your tee box ... and often does. Cries of "fore" are more common on this course than any other I can ever recollect.

The tee boxes of the 3rd, 5th and 7th and the greens of the 2nd and 6th are probably all within a half football field of each other making that particular part of the course surreal if you all happen to be there together. Very social, but very different. If you don't like many eyes watching you then this is not he course for you.

It's quirky, quite hilly and very tight as mentioned but a lot of these things adds to it's appeal. It's a gift of a course for the long straight hitters with the 3rd, 10th and 11th very driveable and maybe the 1st, 8th, 16th and 17th if you really catch one out the middle of the bat and get a good bounce, if you have a 330yd drive in you of course.

The greens were in very good condition for saying it was the last day of Oct and very well pitch repaired so well done to the members. No laziness here.

Unfortunately there is only 1 par 5 but as mentioned plenty of scoring opportunity on these very short par 4s. Criticisms this weekend were the slow pace of play as there was a society and lack of equipment to suck up the million dropped Autumn leaves making the ball hard to find on 2 occasions even when on the fairway but obviously this will only be for a short period of time.

We managed to get this course for a fantastic price off one of the golf apps therefore making this exceptional VFM.

Members were friendly, the course is tight, greens excellent, superb VFM and bags of character make this a fun course to play and topped off with a bar/balcony overlooking the 18th where you can virtually whisper down to the golfers you're that close. Very good for society banter!

All in all, good fun.

Round 76. Handicap 3.

I played this course for the first time just recently after hearing so much about it hoping to be blown away by it. Blown away I wasn't but it was a pleasant enough knock with the course ticking all the right boxes to a high enough standard, just not exceptional. I had managed to find a hard to refuse price on one of the apps so me and a pal went along.

Probably not the greatest of starts as the pair in front of us walked over the brow of a hill and out of sight on the first so we gave them a minute and then we played with my partner taking a driver only to be met a few seconds after his drive by a rather irate player ascending the brow raising his hands at us. Sorry. I gave it a further 2 mins before hitting a 2 iron up the centre. We followed up only to be met by the pair in front just over the brow looking for a ball. My 2 iron was only a number of yards away from where the other player was standing. Sorry (again). The 2 dropped down a steep hill and rang a warning bell even though at this point we were only yards away. Point taken. But nowhere had we seen on the opening tee a 'wait for bell' sign and if there was it wasn't obvious. Also the 4 ball behind us was on the brow of the hill before we had rung the bell so had both groups missed it or is there a sign even there? Whatever, it's clearly not obvious enough!

Anyway, the round was underway and it was clear the track was going to be undulating but the greens were very well manicured right from the word go. I'm presuming the greens will be fast in summer, but I'm also hazarding a guess the course could be a bit boggy in winter esp between holes 2 & 3 and with that many hills. We shall see.

The middle holes were all pleasant enough with a couple more bells for blind drives here and there but some nice holes generally with not too much danger out there really. To be in real trouble here it would have to be a particularly bad shot deserving of a bogey or double. If you want to be in real trouble, you would have to work for it.

The highlight to the course for me was the closing 4 holes with a nice long 15, picturesque 16 over a lake, simple 17 and handsome 18, back over the same lake as 16, with the clubhouse looking on.

All in all, pleasant enough, ticked all the boxes and an enjoyable round. I will certainly play it again but at the reduced rates from the apps as I don't think it can justify its summer green fees from my first impression.

Round: 76 Handicap: 3

Yesterday was the first time I have played this course for 2 years and its reputation is very much the cheap and cheerful course in the area where rather annoyingly the club lets people play in jeans etc (well if they don't - people were!)
I had to book here as its more established and 'famous' neighbours of Collingtree, and to an extant if you live on the West of Northampton, Silverstone were fully booked so here I was ... honestly not expecting much from memory.

But I must admit there has been a great improvement to the course in most areas, I believe coinciding with new management coming in around 2 years ago. Ok yes a lot of the bunkers were still suffering from being waterlogged from heavy rain the night before and the tee boxes were desperately in need of some TLC but the greens were absolutely superb compared to 2 years ago. A round up at Collingtree will cost around £40, and here cost me £16, but Collingtree can only dream of having greens and bunkers, the non waterlogged ones, like these rather embarrassingly for them. The greens were handsome, large, fast and very true. A pleasure to putt on.

The course however is desperately in need of 2 more par 5s though as it only has 1 and that's very reachable for any single figure handicapper. It will never set the world on fire as it is quite unimaginative and not much of a challenge. But for a beginners course to learn the game, it's a great little starter and excellent VFM. It also has a large driving range and an American Golf shop on site along with a par 3 course too so you can mix it up should you like to.

Well done to the management but especially the greens keepers. You're doing a fine job, keep it up but please - NO JEANS!!!

I always look forward to a round here as it does everything it needs to, with no fuss and you can generally get a round here for a very respectable price and it's fairly quiet most days. It knows it's not St Andrews and it doesn't pretend to be, it just does everything it needs to, to tick your boxes and walk off a nice course thinking 'yep, I enjoyed that'.

It's a sensible layout on a large flat area with a driving range, small shop (particularly nice staff) and a nice little putting area. It welcomes you with a nice easy wide open par 5 1st so score well on it as that's as easy a start as you're going to get on any course. It is a fairly easy course everywhere to be fair and you can score well here as there's not much trouble really anywhere. To be in the thick rough or water here then quite frankly you deserve to be as it's so wide open on all the holes.

It does seem to suffer after a heavy rain, well the fairways and bunkers do, and in winter it can be carrying bags only, but the greens are generally always playable. The fairways are always cut well and the greens are decent all year round. Not the fastest greens in the area and not the slowest but they are true but many of the greens are very flat. It's quite open and the wind can affect the round so just keep it low on them windy days.

The par 3s range from the short 3rd and 16th at only 120 yds ish to the 6th that can play 200 yds off the whites. And I love the fact it has 4 very scorable par 5s, if you're a single figure handicapper and you don't score on any of them then you'd be very disappointed.

The members and staff are friendly and it's just a good value for money no frills course.

I've played this course about 10 times now and really, really enjoy the layout. No 2 holes are alike and it really mixes it up with short and long par 3s, short, long, straight and dog leg par 4s and long and straight and long and dog leg par 5s. It's got the lot. If you're doing 36 holes here your thighs would certainly let you know come the end of the day as it throws in plenty of gradient but instead of becoming tedious and tiring all the hills add to its charm. My handicap is 3.5 and I play to that on a lot of courses, here it's more likely to be a +5 on a good day and that's off the yellows. It really is a smashing mixture and I could see the White/Blue tees (that I haven't managed to play) being a really good challenge. It's always in good condition and the greens are always in a good state and run true, the bunkers are always nice too.

You can get the odd bargain here for £15 a round off certain sites but that's not the norm but I have never had this course to myself, far from. It always seems to be busy, really busy and being a member I'm sure is quite frustrating if you're hoping for a nice quick round, it's just not gonna happen. It's a popular hotel complex and I have heard members have been rung up to have their tee times moved as guests wanted the tee off time. Whether this is fact or not I'm not sure, I'd certainly hope not.

It has a good sized shop, a driving range, a friendly bar and if you're doing it as part of a hotel stay package you wouldn't be disappointed as it has a swimming pool and busy bar/restaurant. If you've been jiffed with organising your annual lads golf weekend away you'd be onto a winner with this place as it's a gem of a layout and the hotel ticks all the other boxes you need for a good weekend away.

If it wasn't for being part of a busy hotel, I'd be a member tomorrow!

I have played this course now about 20 times and always look forward to the test as its a real golf course that offers in spades. Often captured in the golf mags Top 100 lists for the UK it's easy to see why. Standing on the first tee on a beautiful summers day it's easy to forget you're here for a game of golf and not just here to admire the incredible colours the flora and fauna can throw at you.

It's pretty much immaculate all year round as you'd expect of a course so highly rated but in the height of summer when prepared for some of the high ranking tournaments it holds it's wonderful and the greens are some of the best anywhere. Missing the fairways might not look too treacherous but if you've missed the bracken, that just seems to swallow errant balls up, it's highly likely you're in amongst the whispy stuff that grips the club like no tomorrow. Don't be too brave, rather a longer fairway iron than a short chip out of that stuff any day.

Once you've made your way through the relatively easy half dozen opening holes it just seems to get tougher and tougher culminating in its own little Amen Corner of the 11th round to the 14th which if you can come out of level par or better then give yourself a pat on the back. Even if you've hit 2 good long straight 250 yd drives on 13 and 14 you can still be left with anything between 170 - 230 yds for your 2nd approach depending on if you're on whites or yellows and if the wind is up. I would love to play the blues here, what a test they must be.

All in all its just a charm, the members always seem to be friendly and it's very deserving of its Top 100 status and with its recent smashing improvements its ranking is only going to drop lower and lower. Many would suggest it should comfortably be in the top 50 as it has many fans.