CountBleck

We usually enjoy Ansty. Visited several times before, and usually gives a good test with varying shots. The weather was almost perfect on this occasion, hot and barely a breath of wind. Ideal conditions for me as a short hitter, the ground was hard and running fast, as the weather had been pretty dry for a week or so. We had a couple of little issues that are worth pointing out. 1) We arrived for our Tee time on Sunday morning, and found a couple of groups ahead of us. The pace of play for the opening nine holes was very slow. The impression we got was it was a block booking for a local group competition. As a two ball with a buggy, and we're pretty swift, there were long periods of waiting at times behind a two/three fourball groups. 2) The other issue we had was course appearance. Ansty is usually fairly well maintained, certainly that has been the case on previous visits. On this occasion it seems the grass hadn't been cut recently. Some of the tee boxes were very rough, and it was luck of the draw on some fairways, where you could hit the middle and still find yourself in a semi rough or rough lie. The bunkers were a bit iffy too, the one I found in the day was full of stones, my cousin reported similar in some of the ones he visited, and a hard/lack of sand lie in some too.
Small points, but enough to niggle on a course we usually enjoy. I hope they do get the standard back up and it was just unusual circumstances that led to the course maintenance being overlooked.
The staff in the shop were very helpful though, sorting us out with a buggy when it initially seemed a mix up had been made with our booking, and swiftly replacing the buggy at halfway when the battery seemed to have drained quicker than expected. Can't fault them for their helpfulness on that.

We'll visit again, no doubt, at the moment it's part of our circulation of course that we play, but if the maintenance levels are iffy like they seemed on this occasion, it would be a put off for future visits. We would recommend it, it's a good test and a pleasure to play when looked after properly.