Worst course in the UK?

I'm nominating St.Pierre, Chepstow.

Why?

Bit of a silly question really, but I suppose I can see where s_r is coming from. Worst course could be any of a gazillion places that sprung up about 5-10 years ago when golf courses were springing up all over the place. Little pay and play places .. public courses that were not much more than pitch and putt .. and so on. I remember one opened up a few hundred yards from my own club about 10 years ago. Played there once as part of a society day and it was like playing in a field

Of the more established courses, two spring to mind.

"Traditions" in Surrey - right next to one of the really exclusive clubs in that area (my memory is stopping me from recalling which one but the kind of place Mav used to roll up to weekly). "Traditions" was meant to be a serious course but a true cabbage patch with a couple of holes that only needed a windmill or a holes through the giant's legs and it would be a permanent favourite on Brighton Beach.

The other one that comes to mind of the places that are really supposed to be good, is Forest of Arden. I actually discussed it with a guy at my club yesterday who said he liked it. To be fair there could be a couple of reasons for my dislike. When I visited it was very early season and I suppose it could have just been too early for it to be in best condition .. and also it had been talked up SO much that maybe I expected too much .. but to me it was no better than hundreds of P&P places - just far more expensive

Worst I've played is St.Neots, and staff there match it perfectly.
A travesty of a course and a pro-shop full of dufuses.

If we're talking famous courses, the Brabazon. 3 interesting holes and 15 really dull ones.

Surprised s_r isn't mentioning TOC?

It's the worst major venue without a doubt Pedro.

super_realist wrote:I'm nominating St.Pierre, Chepstow.

Any chance you could explain why you think this is the worst course in the UK?

Mac,
Thick unkempt grass like a park. Poorly designed and unimaginative holes, bad greens, uninspiring, poor condition, rubbish tees. It had ONE good hole, the 17th. Makes every hole on TOC look like a classic.

I can't believe that the course has held tour events. I've played far better muni's than this.

On the plus side, the hotel was decent, if not luxurious. Celtic Manor though is in a completely different class in every way and I'd definitely play there again.

Were you on a romantic get away?

Golf and romance don't make good bed fellows Mac.

I played the Forest of Arden is January. It was like playing golf in a swamp.

Although I thought it was a dull course with very little to commend it, I wouldn't say it was one of the worst courses in the UK. There are probably scores of municipals up and down the country which would beat FoA to that title.

George1507 wrote:I played the Forest of Arden is January. It was like playing golf in a swamp.

Although I thought it was a dull course with very little to commend it, I wouldn't say it was one of the worst courses in the UK. There are probably scores of municipals up and down the country which would beat FoA to that title.

Well for sure George - I tried to make that point in my post (obviously failed though) .. hundreds of courses I'm sure that are worse .. I was trying to pick on a course that at least has a little reputation

Hmmm, interesting choice as "worst course in UK". Have only played it twice (last time about a year and a half ago on a freebie). I wouldn't kick people out of the way to go play there but if I got offered another freebie I certainly wouldn't turn it down. Mature wooded parkland, elevation changes to keep it interesting. I liked 17 too and there's another one a couple of holes before it that also has a green down by the lake. I thought it was in pretty decent condition when I played it. Like most things Marriott though, it is overpriced for what it is (just like FoA). If Marriott as an organisation want to be a player in the golf/accommodation leisure market then they really need better advisors or need to listen more to the feedback they get from golfers. Overpriced I'd agree with but worst course in UK...nah I wouldn't go that far.

Forest of Arden is generally pretty dull, but the back nine has some nice holes through the deer park. I still wouldn't rate it highly. The second course there (I can't remember what it's called) is truly poor.

Can't comment personally, but I've heard the Carrick is awful. A de vere course trading on the reputation of nearby Loch Lomond.

Stepping away from the more reknowned courses, if you head out to the western outskirts of London you can find some real contenders:

5. Ruislip: A flat featureless clay field. Muddy in winter, rock hard in summer.

4. Horsendon Hill: not much more than a pitch and putt really, 9 holes on a hill. Main hazard on the course are chavs drinking in the trees.

3. Stockley Park: Used to be great, until they dug up the 1st, 9th and 18th holes to place a huge eyesore driving range in front of the club house.

2. Lime Trees: 9 featureless holes squeezed into a field around a driving range. Each hole has 2 sets of tees so it can be played twice to make 18 different holes - it doesn't work. If not the worst course then certainly the worst members, an incredible group of obnoxious loudmouths who believed that playing golf on a dog turd covered field next to a council estate meant that they had attained some sort of elevated social status. You would think they were members at Muirfield the way they lorded it around the place.

1. Airlinks: Probably the worst course I have played, a flat field in an industrial estate by heathrow. Surrounded by warehouses and the M4 and under the heathrow flight path. Bricks and lumps of concrete to be found littered on the course from the landfill used to sculpt the holes. Cracks on the fairways in summer, bare patches on the greens, broken beer bottles and cans of coke in the ditches. As pointless a golf course as has ever existed.

Ray, You must live very close to me! I started playing at Lime Trees and Ruilsip, before moving to STockley when it was new. Airlinks once, but that was a very long time back, and i cannot really recall it. Lime Trees is being done up now, and then a new course built over the road from it. Horsendon Hill only ever seen when walking the dog.

Ben, used to live in Ealing.

Played Airlinks once (never again), flew over it recently and noticed that there were JCBs all over it so nobody will be playing there for a long time. I know Lime Trees is being redeveloped by the guys who own the Shire in Barnet. HS2 will obliterate have of Ruislip so they are not investing any money in it. Half the members have left and it will become the next Harefield Place.

I used to love playing Stockley 10 years ago. They've ruined such a good course.

There's a theme emerging here about bulldozers and rubbish courses....

What do people think is the worst course in terms of value for money?

Wentworth West?? Would really like to play it but would NEVER pay the green fee. If it was special special (like Pebble Beach) then I'd think about it....but it just isn't. Sunningdale a couple of miles down the road has 2 better courses and at a still expensive but much more realistic price.

I've walked Wentworth West a couple of times and would hate to play it even off members' tees. As we were watching the pros off the champion tees I made a particular effort to look where the "normal" tees were .. seemed very tough to me and was MUCH more hilly than it looks on TV

McLaren wrote:What do people think is the worst course in terms of value for money?

Value is very subjective. $500 to play Sandy Lane in Barbados might seem extortionate to you but it's well worth it to me to have a peaceful round of golf without the paparazzi harassing me, especially when I'm playing with Tiger. The same goes for Queenwood, watching Hugh grant's face as I sunk the winning putt was priceless.

ray,
I played the old Sandy Lane course about 30 years ago, Gary Sobers' locker 'n all. Lovely views, but terrible course.
Better to spend one's time on the beach. Views even better.

Kwini,
Agree with you about the views! In truth, I had a stroll around the course at Sandy Lane but didn't play because $500 was not value for money!

I like that thing in the US with named lockers. Only played golf in the US once (at Kapalua) and I had Webb Simpson's locker. No bibles or crucifixes in it though.

Celtic Manor is like that Ray, you get shown into the Locker Room and every Ryder Cup player/Wales Open winner has their own locker.
We were in the Europe locker, but didn't get a players locker, just a spare one.

That's a nice touch super. I played the 2010 course a few months before the Ryder Cup and they didn't have that then.

What do you think of Celtic Manor courses?

I only played the 2010, and I thought it was excellent, superb condition for April. My type of course (bias of playing well too and coming after a day on the wretched St. Pierre)

Nice welcome where they take your clubs and park your car.

Great hotel, and I'll definitely be back to play all three courses.

Super
Not sure you'd want to play the other courses. Montgomerie has some good holes which were left over from the old championship course when they built the 2010, but the rest come from the old "executive" course and some of them are gash. Roman Road is just average, the next day you struggle to remember half of the holes.

2010 is a good course though, I enjoyed it. Plenty of other options in the area, Porthcawl, Pennard, the Vale Wales National if you like long courses.

Second course at St Pierre is rubbish but the main course was Ok in the context of a weekend away for about £120.Is harefield still open?Stockley was going to be the next best thing but unfortunately it is a tip built on a tip.
Remembering the holes is a good tip for a good course.
Lots of examples of a 'complex'with the one good track and another poor one to fill the hotel.
Several very poor municipals for obvious reasons

Best "named lockers"? New Zealand in Surrey --- with gold leaf, they cross out the former locker holder and put in the name of the current one. Just classic.

Worst course in the US? I assure you, the list would be long.

Sr,
I choose only to remember the good/fun ones. I used to play Crestwood with Tom Hovey - loved it, until you reached the 18th fairway and the loonies (sorry, politically incorrect) at the State Hospital would hurl invective, vocal and material!

Always thought that Skenandoa was a rotten course . . . . . . . but loved the first six of Alder Creek's nine.

Kwin - I have a soft spot for the Skenandoa since my father was a member there for years. But the 11th hole was one of the worst ever designed ... a tree smack dab in the middle of the fairway.

Valley View was (is?) an average track but very poorly run last time I played it.

Haven't played VV for 35 years, even tho' I could have walked to it.
Cedar Lake was one of the better 16 hole courses I ever played!
(Imagine we have some very good mutual friends among long-time Skenandoa members. Remember the Genny Open being played there once, another Judy Levi moment. Actually, Wayne Westner won there once; believe he played the World Series at Firestone shortly thereafter!)

I'm absolutely certain we know lots of the same people Kwin.

Really like Cedar Lake, too.

Do you remember the Utica College and Hamilton College 9 hole tracks? Some very "interesting" holes there, too.

Never played Hamilton (but did used to play their 1920-era squash courts) but played and practiced at UC late in summers' evening, usually after the paymaster had vamoosed. Not a bad course at all, sure beats the Holiday Inn!

dynamark wrote:
Lots of examples of a 'complex'with the one good track and another poor one to fill the hotel.

Yes... Forest of Arden and Dalmahoy.

If only Arden had one good track .. but I've already given my opinion on that so won't go on again

Never played it Davie but used to hold a tour event there for some reason.
Within a few miles you could play Drayton Park or Whittington heath(quick before HS2 goes straight through the middle of it)Many others and all below the radar.
Whittington is really good designed and built by the Staffs regiment presumably when they were a bit bored.Great history.