Golf

[The Bear]

1 hour ago, Izzy said:

-31 was outrageous. Byron Nelson would be turning in his grave with such a Mickey Mouse course holding a tournament in his name.

 

Gotta say I've always found Scottie a bit bland/vanilla and quite closed when interviewed.

 

But then I watched his round on YT with Grant Horvat today and it's changed my perception now having a bit of an insight into his personality.

 

Seems like a really nice guy (apart from the weird little exchange about God/faith) and clearly a well grounded family man.

 

 

Horvat gives me Lizard People vibes, as well as being a god-squadder. Probably a Trump fan too, he just looks the sort. 

[HowardsBulletHeader]

Played Royal Porthcawl last week and thinking about it it's up there with the best courses I've played. 

 

Interested to hear anyone's top courses so I can try play them, I've branched out a lot more in recent years from just playing at my home course.

 

Personal favourites so far in no particular order:

Royal Porthcawl

Princes

Saunton

Ganton

Gullane

North Berwick

St Andrews (Old) - obviously 

 

Also played some decent lesser known/lower ranked ones:

The Vale 

Rolls of Monmouth 

Edgbaston

 

There's more if I had the time to think about it properly but what recommendations have we all got? 

[The Year Of The Fox]

Hear many a good thing about Beau Desert, but haven’t played it 

 

The Cavendish is well worth a go 

 

Played The Vale a few years ago 

[The Bear]

4 hours ago, HowardsBulletHeader said:

Played Royal Porthcawl last week and thinking about it it's up there with the best courses I've played. 

 

Interested to hear anyone's top courses so I can try play them, I've branched out a lot more in recent years from just playing at my home course.

 

Personal favourites so far in no particular order:

Royal Porthcawl

Princes

Saunton

Ganton

Gullane

North Berwick

St Andrews (Old) - obviously 

 

Also played some decent lesser known/lower ranked ones:

The Vale 

Rolls of Monmouth 

Edgbaston

 

There's more if I had the time to think about it properly but what recommendations have we all got? 

Looked up Edgbaston as that's closest to me. £125 even on Mon-Fri.....

 

[Guest Lako42]

Not payed in a year and even then only a couple of rounds. 

 

Playing Minehead links next Tuesday and never played links

 

Today's driving range visit suggests I shouldn't... 

[HowardsBulletHeader]

38 minutes ago, The Bear said:

Looked up Edgbaston as that's closest to me. £125 even on Mon-Fri.....

 

It is good, but isn't worth that in my mind, when I played it was free for the university golf team against Birmingham! Golf course prices have gone mad for visitors. 

 

The best way to play these courses is to get in their opens, for example Royal Porthcawl is £225/£250 per round.. we played at the end of April in their open at £130pp including coffee and bacon roll before, 2 course meal afterwards. Still pricey but at least you feel you've got a good deal! 

[HowardsBulletHeader]

2 hours ago, The Year Of The Fox said:

Hear many a good thing about Beau Desert, but haven’t played it 

 

The Cavendish is well worth a go 

 

Played The Vale a few years ago 

Played Beau Desert, its absolutely fabulous. Well worth it if you get a chance.

 

Not got to Cavendish so will check it out. 

[Izzy]

6 hours ago, HowardsBulletHeader said:

Played Royal Porthcawl last week and thinking about it it's up there with the best courses I've played. 

 

Interested to hear anyone's top courses so I can try play them, I've branched out a lot more in recent years from just playing at my home course.

 

Personal favourites so far in no particular order:

Royal Porthcawl

Princes

Saunton

Ganton

Gullane

North Berwick

St Andrews (Old) - obviously 

 

Also played some decent lesser known/lower ranked ones:

The Vale 

Rolls of Monmouth 

Edgbaston

 

There's more if I had the time to think about it properly but what recommendations have we all got? 

Nice list and great that you played Royal Porthcawl. I think the Womens British Open is being held there this year?

 

The only one from your list I've played is The Vale (assume you mean Vale Resort/Wales National & Lakes courses?)

 

Some of the favorites I've played would be:

 

The Berkshire (Blue) - local wisdom is it's on a par with Sunningdale, Walton Heath etc. Stunning course

Woburn Marquess - amazing condition but tough

Forest of Arden - love the deer just wandering around

Belfry Brabazon - brilliant design but a slog for me

Celtic Manor (Roman Road) lost about six balls in the water!

The Grove - beautifully manicured but a rip off

The Oxfordshire - potential to be class if it had decent owners

Manor House (Castle Combe) Peter Allis design, spectacular

 

Mate of mine has just been appointed assistant pro at Ryal St Georges and he can get us on for free so hoping to get that booked soon.

 

Will do the whole Scotland/Ireland golf trips when I retire - something to look forward to 

 

[Mike Oxlong]

Try the Bournemouth area 

 

Parkstone

Broadstone 

Remedy Oak 

 

All fabulous 

 

Also further afield 

 

Alwoodley in Leeds

Burnham and Berrow

Dornoch

Nairn 

Hillside (Southport)

Castletown (Isle of Man)

Hollinwell, Sherwood Forest and Coxmoor (all Notts) 

Glasgow Gailes

Western Gailes

Ladybank (Fife)

Edited 7 May 2025 by Mike Oxlong

[The Bear]

Any in the Midlands that are around £50 or less and decent? 

 

The Manor Uttoxeter was decent that I played recently (if a bit hilly), and Stratford Park was really good with very true and quick greens. 

[The Year Of The Fox]

5 minutes ago, The Bear said:

Any in the Midlands that are around £50 or less and decent? 

 

The Manor Uttoxeter was decent that I played recently (if a bit hilly), and Stratford Park was really good with very true and quick greens. 

Happy to get you on at Longcliffe for £25ish if you ever fancy 

[HowardsBulletHeader]

52 minutes ago, Izzy said:

Nice list and great that you played Royal Porthcawl. I think the Womens British Open is being held there this year?

 

The only one from your list I've played is The Vale (assume you mean Vale Resort/Wales National & Lakes courses?)

 

Some of the favorites I've played would be:

 

The Berkshire (Blue) - local wisdom is it's on a par with Sunningdale, Walton Heath etc. Stunning course

Woburn Marquess - amazing condition but tough

Forest of Arden - love the deer just wandering around

Belfry Brabazon - brilliant design but a slog for me

Celtic Manor (Roman Road) lost about six balls in the water!

The Grove - beautifully manicured but a rip off

The Oxfordshire - potential to be class if it had decent owners

Manor House (Castle Combe) Peter Allis design, spectacular

 

Mate of mine has just been appointed assistant pro at Ryal St Georges and he can get us on for free so hoping to get that booked soon.

 

Will do the whole Scotland/Ireland golf trips when I retire - something to look forward to 

 

Yep they've got the Women's Open, will be a test for sure. 

 

You mentioned a few others I've played that slipped my mind from my initial message:

 

Walton Heath 

Forest of Arden

The Oxfordshire

Belfry Brab (already commented on it, think it's nothing special apart from 10 & 18, there's a good par 3 on the back too, over the water, might be 13)..

 

Think the back 9 is great at the Arden, with the deer as you say, front 9 is fairly average though. 

 

St George's is next door to Princes and Royal Cinque Ports, doing all 3 would be amazing but would highly recommend Princes if you fancy another one in that neck of the woods, its absolutely brilliant. Close to being my no.1 course between that and Saunton. We stayed on-site as well, the accommodation is great. Haven't done RSG or Cinque Ports so hopefully will do all 3 in a trip one day. There's a open you can play with all 3 in it, but think it's either February or November which for 3 links courses is dicey weather wise. Albeit I'd imagine the courses would still be in amazing condition for that time of year. 

[HowardsBulletHeader]

23 minutes ago, The Bear said:

Any in the Midlands that are around £50 or less and decent? 

 

The Manor Uttoxeter was decent that I played recently (if a bit hilly), and Stratford Park was really good with very true and quick greens. 

Not sure how much it is but Luffenham Heath is superb, but £25 at Longcliffe I'd snap up, think that's probably the best in Leicestershire (not counting Luffenham with its PE postcode). 

[HowardsBulletHeader]

36 minutes ago, Mike Oxlong said:

Try the Bournemouth area 

 

Parkstone

Broadstone 

Remedy Oak 

 

All fabulous 

 

Also further afield 

 

Alwoodley in Leeds

Burnham and Berrow

Dornoch

Nairn 

Hillside (Southport)

Castletown (Isle of Man)

Hollinwell, Sherwood Forest and Coxmoor (all Notts) 

Glasgow Gailes

Western Gailes

Ladybank (Fife)

Another one I missed from my list Burnham and Berrow, another great track.

 

Really want to play Alwoodley and Hillside from your list above. 

[Izzy]

1 hour ago, The Bear said:

Any in the Midlands that are around £50 or less and decent? 

 

The Manor Uttoxeter was decent that I played recently (if a bit hilly), and Stratford Park was really good with very true and quick greens. 

I'd highly recommend Hawkstone Park - if you class Shrewsbury as in the Midlands? Bit of a trek but well worth it.

 

Sandy Lyle learnt to play there and his Dad was the head pro. Two wonderful courses (Hawkstone and Championship)

 

Think you might have to tee off after 1pm to get it for around £50 though

[Ric Flair]

Sunningdale Old is the best course I have ever played, mind blowing. 

 

Other very good courses:

 

Woburn - love all three courses but Duke's my favourite

Ganton (played it for a bargain £30 on the way up to St Andrews to watch The Open in 2015)

Woodhall Spa - Hotchkin (horribly hard)

Walton Heath - pure class

West Hill

Emporda and Pal in Spain

Sun City - South Africa

 

PGA is far better than Brabazon at The Belfry IMO.

 

Really want to play Saunton this summer, I'm back in North Devon for two weeks in July and drove past it several times last year and it looks spell binding.

 

 

[HowardsBulletHeader]

13 hours ago, Ric Flair said:

Sunningdale Old is the best course I have ever played, mind blowing. 

 

Other very good courses:

 

Woburn - love all three courses but Duke's my favourite

Ganton (played it for a bargain £30 on the way up to St Andrews to watch The Open in 2015)

Woodhall Spa - Hotchkin (horribly hard)

Walton Heath - pure class

West Hill

Emporda and Pal in Spain

Sun City - South Africa

 

PGA is far better than Brabazon at The Belfry IMO.

 

Really want to play Saunton this summer, I'm back in North Devon for two weeks in July and drove past it several times last year and it looks spell binding.

 

 

Saunton is so good, played it last year for the first time. East is better than West but they're both top courses. 

 

Playing Woodhall Spa this year for the first time, so thanks for that review too, really appreciate it! 🤣

[Robo61]

3 hours ago, HowardsBulletHeader said:

Saunton is so good, played it last year for the first time. East is better than West but they're both top courses. 

 

Playing Woodhall Spa this year for the first time, so thanks for that review too, really appreciate it! 🤣

Played a large number (over 350) of course in the last 20 years my favorites being in no particular order:

Royal Dornoch

St Andrews Old

Turnbury (before Trump)

Brora

Blairgowrie

Royal County Down

Portrush

Woodhall Spa Hotchkin

Cruden Bay

Enniscronie

Saunton  East & West

[HowardsBulletHeader]

21 hours ago, Robo61 said:

Played a large number (over 350) of course in the last 20 years my favorites being in no particular order:

Royal Dornoch

St Andrews Old

Turnbury (before Trump)

Brora

Blairgowrie

Royal County Down

Portrush

Woodhall Spa Hotchkin

Cruden Bay

Enniscronie

Saunton  East & West

Some list that.. County Down looks fabulous and Portrush too, would love to get to them both. 

[Robo61]

8 hours ago, HowardsBulletHeader said:

Some list that.. County Down looks fabulous and Portrush too, would love to get to them both. 

They let us play off the back tee's at RCD,  as we were all single figures.  On a benign day weather wise the winning score was 22 pts,  brute of a course with carries to some fairways of circa 250yds. Conversley the winning score at Portrush was 44,  off the yellows. Have politly declined the back tee's at top courses ever since.

[tom27111]

On 07/05/2025 at 20:20, Izzy said:

Mate of mine has just been appointed assistant pro at Ryal St Georges and he can get us on for free so hoping to get that booked soon.

 

We need to talk 

[Izzy]

1 hour ago, Robo61 said:

They let us play off the back tee's at RCD,  as we were all single figures.  On a benign day weather wise the winning score was 22 pts,  brute of a course with carries to some fairways of circa 250yds. Conversley the winning score at Portrush was 44,  off the yellows. Have politly declined the back tee's at top courses ever since.

Interesting point you make here. Mate of mine is off 1.4 handicap and he played Turnberry and Troon recently with three other single figure golfers.

 

They played Turnberry off the back tees and it kicked them all in the nuts so hard that apparently it wasn't much fun.

 

Troon would only let them play off the yellows and they all played well and had a much more enjoyable round.

 

[skolfoxes]

Great topic!

 

Just got back from a week golfing down in Kent. Did St George's on Tuesday followed by two rounds at Princes next door on the Wednesday and Thursday. RSG is a very good test of golf, as you would imagine very tough! But in my opinion there weren't a lot of features to make the holes stand out, I'd struggle now to visualize all of them less than a week later. Was over the moon to shoot 81 (6.0 index gets you 10 shots off the weekday tees) for 35 points. Princes next door is great, stayed in the Lodges on site which are excellent. Played the Himalayas and Shore routing on the Wednesday followed by Shore and Dunes routing on the Thursday, would have to agree with the consensus that the Shore and Dunes routing is the better of them. Was really windy all three days on the coast, I hit 6 iron in to a 125 yard par 3 at one point, but it was great fun. Stopped at a course called Wrotham Heath on the way back on Friday, a really fun course and probably had the best greens of the week, worth playing if you're ever down that way.

 

My list would be: 

1. Woking

2. Royal St Georges

3. Ganton

4. Princes (Shore and Dunes)

5. Alwoodly

6. Ferndown

7. Hankley Common

8. West Hill

9. Broadstone

10. Wrotham Heath

 

Really need to get down to Wales and the Southwest at some point, as well as up to Southport. Have never played any of the big three Nottinghamshire courses either which is an oversight considering they are only 45 mins away, might do Coxmoor's open in June. Same with courses like Enville, Beau Desert and Little Aston, which are maybe a little further. 

 

What are people's thoughts on JCB? I've never played it, but a really hard parkland golf doesn't do it for me, which from the sounds of it is what it is. Would much prefer a heathland or links. Of course would love to find out for myself though.

[skolfoxes]

On 09/05/2025 at 23:57, Izzy said:

Interesting point you make here. Mate of mine is off 1.4 handicap and he played Turnberry and Troon recently with three other single figure golfers.

 

They played Turnberry off the back tees and it kicked them all in the nuts so hard that apparently it wasn't much fun.

 

Troon would only let them play off the yellows and they all played well and had a much more enjoyable round.

 

Definitely worth playing the correct tees.

 

So many people pay good money to go to great championship golf courses and make it way too hard for themselves, to the point they can't enjoy it. It's no fun for anyone having to hit 4/5 irons or even fairway woods in to all of the par 4s.

 

There's nothing to be gained by shooting in the 90's whilst trying to play tees designed to protect the course from Rory and Bryson et al.

[HowardsBulletHeader]

2 hours ago, skolfoxes said:

Great topic!

 

Just got back from a week golfing down in Kent. Did St George's on Tuesday followed by two rounds at Princes next door on the Wednesday and Thursday. RSG is a very good test of golf, as you would imagine very tough! But in my opinion there weren't a lot of features to make the holes stand out, I'd struggle now to visualize all of them less than a week later. Was over the moon to shoot 81 (6.0 index gets you 10 shots off the weekday tees) for 35 points. Princes next door is great, stayed in the Lodges on site which are excellent. Played the Himalayas and Shore routing on the Wednesday followed by Shore and Dunes routing on the Thursday, would have to agree with the consensus that the Shore and Dunes routing is the better of them. Was really windy all three days on the coast, I hit 6 iron in to a 125 yard par 3 at one point, but it was great fun. Stopped at a course called Wrotham Heath on the way back on Friday, a really fun course and probably had the best greens of the week, worth playing if you're ever down that way.

 

My list would be: 

1. Woking

2. Royal St Georges

3. Ganton

4. Princes (Shore and Dunes)

5. Alwoodly

6. Ferndown

7. Hankley Common

8. West Hill

9. Broadstone

10. Wrotham Heath

 

Really need to get down to Wales and the Southwest at some point, as well as up to Southport. Have never played any of the big three Nottinghamshire courses either which is an oversight considering they are only 45 mins away, might do Coxmoor's open in June. Same with courses like Enville, Beau Desert and Little Aston, which are maybe a little further. 

 

What are people's thoughts on JCB? I've never played it, but a really hard parkland golf doesn't do it for me, which from the sounds of it is what it is. Would much prefer a heathland or links. Of course would love to find out for myself though.

Absolutely loved Princes, surprised you have Ganton above it having played both myself. All opinions of course! I want to do the 54 there one day, but think the dates are Feb and November which is dangerous for links golf! You're asking for trouble! 

 

Heard that Beau Desert have lost the greens currently due to fusarium, so avoid that for now. A real shame because that's a great golf course. 

 

Not played JCB so can't help you there, people say it's immense but just long, too long for most amateurs. All comes back to the tee box comments made in relation to other top courses, playing the correct tee box really increases your enjoyment.