Shaken36

I have played Surrey National a number of times in the past and have mixed feelings about the course. The layout is good and there are a number of really interesting holes. It can be challenging but rewarding to play. The conditions yesterday really let the course down though. We played on a Sunday morning and found the greens bobbling all over the place, the fairways frankly poor and a general feeling that the course needs a bit more maintenance than it appears to be getting. The first cut rough in particular was just utterly frustrating in its length and ability to swallow balls. By all means punish an errant tee shot that is way off line, but when your shots are hitting fairways, running off into the fringe and the first cut just sends your ball to another dimension it is beyond penal. A course can be tough but it must be fair to be enjoyable.

On the positive side, the tee boxes were in good nick and also flat (how do so many course fail to achieve that?!), and the staff were very pleasant.

I think the overall experience belies this course's status as a bit of a cash cow for the operators. They stack the tee times, pace of play can be poor (although to be fair there was a marshal out on the day we played) and the price charged is on the steep side for conditions as poor as we had yesterday. Surrey National jacked their prices up hugely during the COVID-19 surge of golfers and showed that profit came first. Yesterday's round just felt like poor value for money and an extension of that money comes first mentality.

Ilford was a quirky but highly enjoyable round. The clubhouse is non-existent but it looks like a swanky new one is being built right now. The course is reached by walking over a footbridge over a busy dual carriageway, not an auspicious start to a relaxing round. However, as soon as you have crossed over you are confronted by a lovely golf course.

Conditions were absolutely excellent, with the fairways and greens in top condition. The latter were not particularly fast but ran true and featured some really brutal pin positions (the main defence of the course imho). Ilford isn't a long course so the bunkering and pin positions seem designed to combat those seeking to overpower the many short par fours.

The first few holes are quite interesting, with doglegs and water in play. There are then a few fairly straightforward long-ish tree lined holes. These would initially appear quite boring but the trees are tall and an errant tee shot will be suitably punished.

There are several really enjoyable par threes but, due to the short length of the course, not many par fives. The course itself is a par 68 but all of our group thought it a highly enjoyable round and a decent test of our games.

I can't wait to play it again, especially if the condition stays as good as it is right now.

Having played here before I knew that the course doesn't drain very well and that, after many hours of heavy rain, it was likely to be an "interesting" round. We duly arrived to the news that there were at least seven temporary greens in use. As a result we chose to play the back nine twice, as recommended by the super friendly and helpful club professional.

The back nine holes are more interesting than the front nine in my opinion anyway. After the first tee shot over a large ditch the following eight holes are a bit of a letdown. The back nine however, is much more fun. The layout becomes more quirky and water comes into play on two holes in a picturesque way. For me the signature hole is the 16th, a 160 yard par three carry over the edge of a large lake with geese and ducks crowding the tee box. It always makes me smile to have to frantically wave the birds away in order to hit my shot! The 17th is a pretty hole which requires a soft fade and plays much shorter than it looks - a real birdie opportunity.

The conditions when we played were pretty torrential. The fairways looked to be in decent shape but the greens do flood very quickly at Wanstead. Despite that they also seemed to be in good shape and rolled true and at a decent speed on the ones in play.

The pro should receive special mention for the very friendly welcome and in-depth brief on the state of the course. We didn't use the clubhouse on this occasion but previous visits have been fine and the food and drink options are decent (pre-covid at least).

The standard green fee for Wanstead is £50 - far too much, in my opinion, for a course which has a mostly uninspired layout. We paid £18 on a hot deal and despite having to play the back nine holes twice we felt that that represented very good value, even with the course suffering from the dire weather! The course condition is normally good and I feel in summer I would happily pay up to £35. In winter, with the poorly draining soil, I think £25 would be the most I'd part with. Definitely call ahead of booking to find out course conditions though, especially if it has been raining recently!

Friendly reception in the pro shop with a quick brief on the layout. Nice clubhouse and bar. The course is in decent enough shape all things considered. The greens were slightly dried out and cracked in places on a couple of holes but otherwise ran true and had some interesting and challenging undulations to deal with. Fairways were in ok condition but hard considering the recent hot weather. There were a few unlucky bounces ruining a couple of otherwise good drives. Bunkers were pretty dire, full of pebbles and weeds although there was enough sand to make a stab at it. Layout of the course in general was a little boring, mostly just straight up fairways with no real doglegs to deal with. Tee boxes were pretty tired too. Overall I thought for the price (£35) it was a decent course albeit in need of a little TLC. I'll be back though, hopefully after the course has had a little rain and attention given to the condition.

Played a four ball on a weekday at 1330 and was expecting a long round going on previous reviews. It turned out to be a very pleasant four hours as the pace of play was excellent. The condition of the course was very good too. Tee boxes and greens 4.5/5, fairways a bit hard and slightly parched but not surprising given the lack of rain. The layout is excellent with some interesting doglegs and bunkering. The greens were in very good condition although not particularly quick today. I was really impressed by Skylinks and thought it a bit of a bargain at $50. I'll definitely be back!