Nam064

Course a little wet in places but nothing unusual for this time of year. Greens in excellent condition and running pretty quickly!

Played late morning as a 2 ball starting 20mins behind a Members morning. On some courses this could have meant we were in for a long slog but massive thanks to the members who allowed us to play through with grace and good humour and ultimately enable us to complete our round in just over 3 hours. I wish this was the norm at other courses.

As for the course itself, it's in good condition for this time of year and the greens certainly above average. We're given good info on the phone the day before as didn't want to play on temp greens, it's a necessary evil to keep the putting surfaces in the good condition They were for us.

The course plays quite a bit shorter off the blue tees so good drives didn't leave big approach shots but each hole has its hazards which are fair but also a bail out if you aren't feeling positive!

Will be great to see this course mature over the next 5-10 years and it will become a tough test when some of the smaller trees grow.

I will be back regularly there is no doubt about it.

Played The Earls early on a Friday afternoon and the course was in good condition considering some recent heavy rain. Greens were slow as they had been dressed and narrow tined but as good as you can expect this time of year.

The Earls isn't for the faint hearted especially when it's heavy going, it's long even for decent hitters like my playing partner and I. But a great test and excellent value.

My only gripe is the pace of play. If you are hoping to scoot around relatively quickly forget it. I have never had what I would consider a quick round of golf here unless first off at dawn. Yesterday's issue was following a four ball from the first tee (we were two ball, both single digit handicap) and not once did they appear to consider letting us play through. Admittedly there were four in front of them but nothing in front of that. It's this inconsiderate behaviour that winds me up, growing up playing golf I was always told to allow quicker groups through especially early in the round. We were out there 90mins longer than we would have been had they let us through after a couple of holes.

Having recently returned from a golfing trip to Majorca, I can tell you busy courses are no excuse for slow play, especially with effective marshalling. The Warwickshire marshall's seem to swan about and do nothing to help the pace of play. The only thing I've ever seen them do is ask a playing partner to tuck his shirt in....ok but how about you do something about the 5hr+ rounds of golf.

To summarise, great course(and the Kings is also a good test, if not as long) but allow 5hrs+ because you will need it!