Golfing in Kent

Looking for a little advice. Currently trying to organise a golf trip to Kent for a few guys for 2 nights and 3 rounds. Through one of the golf travel companies we have been offered Princes / Walmer & Kingsdown / London Club (International I think) or Royal Cinque Ports / Pentland Boughton / Chart Hills. The third course is to play on our way back to London. Given the choice of these two which would you choose (the second option is only £20 more expensive). Any other courses I should consider?

Hi Handicap,
Never played golf in Kent but my son played RSG, North Foreland and Canterbury a couple of times each when at Uni - he LOVED North Foreland, and it's received good reviews on here in the past. Might be worth looking at.
Good luck.

I went on a golf trip to Kent last year and we played Princes, Walmer & Kingsdown and St Augustines.

St Augustines was in poor condition and not very interesting at all so don't go there.
Princes i absolutely loved. We played the Shores and the Dunes. Probably my favourite course ive ever played so would highly recommend it to anyone.
Walmer & Kingsdown is a funny course. You turn up and the views of the sea are truly stunning, and it is nicely looked after. But, i didn't much enjoy the course (and i played quite well before anyone asks). It is set on the cliff top so is very up and down. It is a very difficult walk (if you have any older chaps going with you) and every hole seems to have a blind shot of some sort. Which means there will be plenty of times where you think you've hit a good drive/approach only to find yourself in the crap or not find it at all. It was just under a 6 hour round for us. You will never spend as much time looking for golf balls but if the scenery is what you're after this is the place for you

If i were you, from the ones you've mentioned, i'd try and wangle Princes, Royal Cinque Ports and Chart Hills

Enjoy your trip H28

Hi Handicap,
A few questions:

Firstly, why Kent? Don't get me wrong, plenty of good courses in Kent, but for your money you can get more golf by driving through Kent, going under the channel and playing in northern France.

Secondly, what time of year are you going? If it's a winter trip, links courses (Princes, RSG, Cinque Ports, Littlestone) will be in better condition.

Thirdly, what standard is the group? Cinque Ports is apparently very tough, especially the finish. Of the courses listed above, this will be the most expensive to play. Prince's was difficult too but very well maintained, really enjoyable and they have 27 holes to choose from. I remember long carries over thick rough to find the fairways, although that was off the whites. I think the yellow tees are much more friendly. Both are great to play for the history of playing an Open championship venue. I would recommend Littlestone as well as another traditional championship links course although slightly more forgiving off the tee due to wider flatter fairways. It's still a cracking challenge, although I am a bit biased as the last time I played there I finished with an albatross on 18!

The London club is a nice place to stop on your way back. The Heritage course is the premium course that hosted the European tour and is fantastic but is open only to members and guests. I played it 2 days after the European Open with the Sunday set up and it was brutal - a real eye opener! However the International is a good challenge in its own right, and has some cracking holes, including a par 5 around a lake with a split fairway: you either play safely round the right as a par 5, or go left and take on two big carries and play it as a par 4. It's a bit corporate (it was built for Japanese bankers) but they used to have a fantastic Japanese bath to relax in after your round.

I should add I've only been down to Kent a few times to play golf, but am sure there are some others on here who live there and can give you better advice. Good luck, and enjoy!

Thanks for the help.

Raycastle - looking to stick to Kent as its the first time we've tried to organise a weekend away so thought it was best to keep it simple to begin with. Not to far to drive to for all of us (London based) so means we have a bit more in the budget to spend on courses. Organising well in advance - difficult to get weekends when everybody can make it with family commitments etc so we are looking to go in May. Standard is between 10 and 16 handicap.

Dont mind a hard course too much - played a few difficult and decent courses up in Scotland off a higher handicap - most difficult being Carnoustie. Quite enjoyable in a perverse sort of way. As visitors we are not likely to be playing off the back tees so keeps the courses a bit easier.

Thinking of asking for a qoute for RCP, Princes and either Chart Hills or The London Club. Had a look at green fees if we booked ourselves - £320 + accomodation still to find. Not sure if it is cheaper / easier booking through one of the golf holiday companies. Will probably also see the price difference to include North Foreland or Littlestone instead of Princes.

When I saw your user name - Handicap 28 - I thought maybe you were a beginner... Princes or RCP would bend you over and destroy you! But 10-16 handicap range is obviously good enough for any course.

Princes has had good deals on this year. Troon golf have invested quite a bit of cash in refurbishing the course and converting the old club house into accommodation (the Lodge), so they are promoting it heavily.

The reason I mentioned France was that we went there to keep the cost down. We went to Le Touquet in September and played 3 quality courses: La Mer (championship links), Hardelot les Pins (justed hosted Euro Tour school) and Belle Dune. 3 rounds, 2 nights and euro shuttle crossing all in for £285. Mind you, the hotel was a dump, but on a golf trip with the lads its not really that important is it?

"instead of Princes" ?!

Madness!

MustPuttBetter wrote:"instead of Princes" ?!

Madness!

Would prefer to play both RCP and Princes - just in case price is an issue then I will get a quote for a cheaper option. I'm happy to pay a bit more to play some good courses for a change.

Handicap28 wrote:Looking for a little advice. Currently trying to organise a golf trip to Kent for a few guys for 2 nights and 3 rounds. Through one of the golf travel companies we have been offered Princes / Walmer & Kingsdown / London Club (International I think) or Royal Cinque Ports / Pentland Boughton / Chart Hills. The third course is to play on our way back to London. Given the choice of these two which would you choose (the second option is only £20 more expensive). Any other courses I should consider?

Being from Kent I'd strongly recommend the first option for £20 less... I would probably be happy to spend £20 more to play those three rather than the other option. Prince's and RCP are both superb (and fairly pricey) links courses, on the same area of land... not much to choose between them and a case to be made for RSG, in between the two of them, being the worst of the three. Chart Hills is decent enough - probably better than either London Club course - but both venues suffer a bit from their lack of history and slightly inflated self-importance. The balance of difficulty-to-enjoyability isn't quite right at either too, unless your group are very good golfers... chances are wherever you go on the final day you'll come away feeling more exhausted than exhilarated. Where you'll get your value for money is in the middle course. As someone else has said, Kingsdown is a very quirky course, as well as being very tucked away, quiet and little known, even among locals. Provided you all go in with an open mind, and no one in your group is renowned for moaning, you should have a fun round at a pleasant club. Boughton is completely different, a very busy, very standard-issue modern pay as you play place. Not the worst course in the world, nor in the worst condition, but not anything to write home about in either respect, and you won't feel like you know anything more about the place when you leave. Very much the sort of place to take membership and improve your game if you move down to Kent, but not somewhere high up the list on a whistlestop tour.

As others have said though, there's plenty of good courses if you hunt a little further around. Most of the best in the county (although I am biased) are the links courses, Littlestone and N Foreland are both superb. If you fancy a change of scenery and some parkland golf, one that hasn't been mentioned and is well worth a visit is Broome Park, only 25 minutes or so from the Deal/Sandwich courses.

Cheers Ned. Think we have now decided on Princes, North Foreland and Chart Hills.