Caversham Heath Golf Club

Caversham Heath Golf Club, Mapledurham, South East, England, RG4 7UT

01189479400 | E-mail golf course | Golf course website

21 reviews of Caversham Heath Golf Club

Well from the unassuming entrance, clean and tidy car park. To the warm cheery welcome in the pro shop, it impressed me. Full English, coffee, driving range, practice green - (I'm waiting for a disappointment). On to the first tee, we politely asked to play off white. And as a single figure handicap, this was ok. As this was the first time I've played there it was safely down the middle which left a few long shots into the dog legs. But the fairways were in excellent condition, soft to walk on but allowed a good bounce on the ball. The greens are quick...no ! They were lightning fast. Never 3 putted so many times in a round. Can't wait to go back. Played it on the 2 for1 ...

Posted by Steve Rogers on 15/10/2015
1
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  • Green conditions 1
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  • Course challenge 1
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  • Value for money 1

This is a long course, but the fairways are fairly wide so you can afford to open your shoulders. The real test is to your short game, with the greens being quick and undulating (don't remember any flat greens). Only three par 3 holes, and a lot of the par 4s are long. Felt like another par 3, and a short par 4 put into the course would 'break up' the 'long' feeling of the round and increase the interest. The condition of the course was superb, a pleasure to play off the fairways and the greens quick and true. Only downside to the would be that the sand in the bunkers could be better. Despite the few negative remarks above, the positives far outweigh them, and Caversham Heath is a pleasure to play. Will be returning.

Posted by Geraint Jones on 04/06/2015
4
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  • Green conditions 5
  • Clubhouse 4
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  • Value for money 3
  • Green conditions 5
  • Clubhouse 4
  • Course challenge 4
  • Staff service 4
  • Value for money 3

Unfortunately, it's a course very much of it's era and the 80's and 90's were not a good era for golf course architecture. With the term 'heath' in the title you'd be forgiven for thinking this was a classic heathland golf course from The Golden Age. It most certainly isn't. I'm afraid all that's on offer here is bland U.S style target golf. Leave the subtleties of your ground game at home is you find yourself playing here. This is just all golf-darts.

Posted by Steven Goodson on 31/12/2014
3
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  • Green conditions 3
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  • Value for money 3
  • Green conditions 3
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  • Course challenge 3
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  • Value for money 3

I played here midweek November ,2011 ( £14 after 1 ). This is the 2nd time i've played here,the 1st being about 8 years ago which i quite enjoyed ,but this time not so much. Overall, i thought it was more hard work than fun. There are only 3 par 3's ( two of which aren't memorable & you have to wait until the 8th for the 1st one), there's lots of walking from greens to tees & generally there was too much hitting medium/long irons/woods in for approach shots. Despite playing well it felt like a long walk round.To make it more enjoyable i felt the course could have done with another short par 3 & a couple of short ,strategic par 4's to break up the feeling of it being one long hole after another ,particularly on the back 9 where the shortest par 4 was 384 yards. The holes are actually well designed ,with bunkers in all the right places.They're also nicely quite wide so you can open your' shoulders but the courses defence ,apart from it's length ,are the large undulating greens (which were quite bumpy on the visit but usually held their line if you put a good stroke on it ). Also ,the course presentation was very good ,with lovely lush fairways & nice hole shaping. The course starts off well for the 1st 6 holes but from this point on my enjoyment levels started diminishing.It's quite a tranquil place to play & if you picked your time i wouldn't imagine it would get that busy ,as we hardly saw anyone. Good value on the twilight rate but the standard £36 green fee must be in place to detract visitors . Kevin B.

Posted by Kevin B. on 05/12/2011
3
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  • Green conditions 2
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  • Value for money 3
  • Green conditions 2
  • Clubhouse 3
  • Course challenge 3
  • Staff service 4
  • Value for money 3

A course that is super long from every tee, so be prepared to hit it hard if you want to score well here. Even once you get to the greens you have only completed half the task in hand, because some of the greens are as undulating as they come. The one downside I found was the condition of the bunkers, of which 4 of the 5 I went into were very "iffy" with regards the quantity and quality of the sand. But hey, I guess that they're supposed to be hazards, aren't they? It is certainly worth playing though, and the clubhouse is one of the better ones to discuss the day's play after the round.

Posted by Nev Smith on 04/09/2011
4
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  • Green conditions 4
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  • Course challenge 5
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  • Value for money 4
  • Green conditions 4
  • Clubhouse 4
  • Course challenge 5
  • Staff service 4
  • Value for money 4

Played at Caversham Heath on 22/8 and enjoyed the round very much. My only request would be for some drinking water taps/fountains because with the half-way hut closed midweek one can get thirsty. My playing partner felt there was not enough sand in the bunkers.

Posted by RichB on 24/08/2011

Fantastic course, quality, just play it, good golfers won't be disappointed, enjoy!

Posted by Roland Olliff on 20/08/2011

I have played caversham heath twice, this year and last both for 14 pounds twilight which is excellent value. I really like this course, it is quite open but nicely designed. the bunkering is still the main hazard even tho quite a few have been removed. On most holes you have to think about where you are playing it of the tee in order to miss the bunkers. The greens were pretty firm and rolled fine. they werent the easiest to stop the ball on, with some shots in jsut bouncing off, but we have had a period of dry weather. The fairways were good and nicely cut. The course is quite long but doesnt seem it. we played off the whites at 6800 yards and never struggled. Overall probably the best value for monay course I have played around the North Hampshire/Berkshire area.

Posted by Dan Strong on 07/07/2011

Played here Feb 14 2011 for about the 10th time and found the fairways in excellent condition. My only gripe is that they appear to be filling in 2 or 3 of the many bunkers, or converting them to grass. This is usually in order to speed up play but I think it's always detrimental. The large number of bunkers is this course's only defence against a long hitter. Regarding two previous reviews. I was very surprised by the comment about driving onto other fairways etc. There are very few places on this course where you could hit an adjoining fairway. I was also surprised by the complaint about the rough. We were two high handicappers (17 and 19) there yesterday and neither went anywhere near the rough, which in any case is very low at this time. This course has some of the widest fairways I have seen and you would have to be about 50 YARDS off line to find some proper rough. In any case I approve of penalising rough. It's the only chance a short hitter has. It is never going to be quick round such a long walking course but we got round in 3.25 hours. Chopping down rough just to speed up play and to allow wild hitting golfers to score better seems to me to be defeating the object of the exercise. I thought the course was in very good condition considering the weather we've had recently.

Posted by Barrie Sloan on 15/02/2011
4
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  • Green conditions 3
  • Clubhouse 4
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  • Staff service 5
  • Value for money 5
  • Green conditions 3
  • Clubhouse 4
  • Course challenge 4
  • Staff service 5
  • Value for money 5

I play off 11 and found the course one of the fairest I have played as there is plenty to hit to off the tee, there are greens that are accessable and a great challenge to players of any handicap. The condition of the course was good and the reception at the pro shop friendly and very helpful. Great value as 4 of us played for £25 each...really good value for such a great layout.

Posted by Desmond Kearney on 19/08/2010
5
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Overall Rating 5
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  • Clubhouse 5
  • Course challenge 4
  • Value for money 5
  • Clubhouse 5
  • Course challenge 4
  • Value for money 5

We played this course in early May this year as a three ball and had a good round of golf. The welcome at the club was very warm and we were allowed to use our 2-4-1 vouchers on a bank holiday which made the cost of the round very reasonable at just under £30. We were invited to use the changing rooms and felt that we were made to feel at home in the bar so overall a very good impression of a nicely relaxed club. The course itself wasn't that hard. Due to the lack of trees and penalising rough you could push a drive onto an adjoining fairway and still manage to make a par. The holes themselves were all interesting but not outstanding. The course is long at just under 7000 yards off the whites which made a good drive to start on most holes a must. The only downside was the state of the greens. They were poor in condition and unfortunately let the course down. I think if the greens could be improved this would be a really good golf course. Would be happy to play again but wouldn't rush back as there are many other better courses in the area.

Posted by Ben Metcalfe on 05/05/2010
4
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  • Clubhouse 5
  • Course challenge 3
  • Value for money 4
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  • Course challenge 3
  • Value for money 4

I have been reading these player reports with interest, and generally think most of them are about right. I have been a member of this club for over 4 years now and it has matured massively in this time. As someone has pointed out, you will be hard pressed to find a better winter course in the area. Due to the natural excellent drainage qualities winter golf at Caversham Heath is fantastic - albeit challenging as the course does play long during the winter months. I have played at some "so-called" top quality golf clubs in the Reading area and in the winter months some have been awful. Some house-keeping/maintenance needs to be addressed - for example improved path ways in certain areas around the course....ongoing bunker management and ball cleaners on every tee would be good. However, when you bear in mind that this course is still less than 10 years old - I dont think you will find a better all year round course in the Reading area. The fairways are generally immaculate, greens improve year on year - and are a great challenge due to their size and undulations - and with the plantations when the course was built starting to mature the definition of the course gets better and better. My only complaint....the wind! Sometimes the course can be very windy - but we cannot blame Caversham Heath for that! :-) Happy Golfing.

Posted by Steve Chambers on 07/08/2009
4
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Played this course a course a few weeks ago and, man, it seemed long ! Mind you, we teed-off in thick mist which is not ideal on an unknown course..... The course was in generally excellent condition, well looked after with just a couple of GUR areas on the back nine. The thing that I DID notice (and this is a big bug-bear of mine) is that there was a lot of unrepaired divots. On a course of this quality/expense where clearly most of the players are members....tut-tut. Once the weather cleared up, you can see why it is known for being a picturesque course. The guy in the Pro Shop was friendly & helpful. I would definitely play here again......excellent website as well !

Posted by Nick Kaye on 29/10/2008
4
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  • Clubhouse 5
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As I said in my last report I went back to Caversham mid-May and found the course in very good condition. The problems with the rough have now been firmly controlled and you will find it properly graded and setup perfectly with decent run-off areas from the fairways. Strangley there are still 2 or 3 bunkers GUR, but I'm not gonna get picky about that. The course poses a decent challenge off the yellows, but I might try the whites next time as the fairways were running well. It's good to see that somebody appears to have heeded the earlier comments, so all credit to the golf club's response.

Posted by Kevin Robinson on 21/05/2008
4
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I played Caversham Heath on Easter Monday - 9th April 2007 and it was in terrific condition. The bunkers seemed to have been cleared of the many stones that earlier contributers were referring to. The tees, fairways and greens were in great condition and if you were wayward off the tee you didn't get punished too much. The reason for this is that the secondary rough covered a fairly broad area on both sides of the fairways and the ball sat up nicely on top of it, and the primary rough hadn't really grown much as it was early in the season. It also helped that we played on a fairly still, benign warm day. Given all of the above positives I went back there on 15th August but was very disappointed with what was presented. There were a large number of bunkers that were GUR due to repair work that didn't seem to be happening. Shame that this isn't mentioned before booking. The real bugbear that spoilt our enjoyment this time was that the greenstaff have done nothing with the primary rough - it's a preverbial mess. It's been allowed to grow unchecked and you're guaranteed to loose loads of balls in there. Why oh why do courses do that; it merely annoys the punters because you spend too much time ball searching. It ruins your score and the round takes 4.5 hours or so and puts you off going back. Oh, and I suppose it saves the greenstaff a fair bit of maintenance. And doesn't it also annoy you when you mention this to the club and they say 'well you shouldn't hit the ball in there' Not easy to avoid it unless you're a single figure golfer, and our group are 15-18 h/c and we lost loads of balls. And to cap it all we had a windy showery afternoon. If this course is setup properly it has so much going for it - length if you want it 6.6k off yellow, and nearly 6.9k off whites, with championship tees at over 7.1k for cat 1's. The large undulating greens are also an enjoyable stern challenge. I'm afraid that I shan't be going back unti April next year when hopefully the rough will be back at the playable level it was this spring, and all of the bunkers will have come out of their GUR phase. Maybe if somebody from the club reads this report they will realise what they need to do to get the club back on my desirable list.

Posted by Kevin Robinson on 15/08/2007
4
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Played caversham heath on Friday 2nd of Feb and what a pleasure it was. This was the second time i have played caversham heath and was amazed at the condition of the course considering the weather has been so poor. The greens were true but not that fast but the coverage was excellent and much improved from from last time i played. The bunkers were much improved with no stones visible. Green staff were working on alot of them. The best part of the course was the fairways. Clearly the best i have played on. Well done caversham heath!!!

Posted by rob hunt on 07/02/2007
4
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  • Clubhouse 4
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  • Value for money 5
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  • Course challenge 4
  • Value for money 5

Firstly I would like to say how much we enjoyed our day at Caversham Heath Golf Club. From the moment we arrived, we were greeted with the warmest welcome. They couldn't have been nicer. Something that a lot of courses can take a good note on. The guys in the pro shop were so helpful, nothing was too much trouble.. We've been very fortunate to play at Caversham Heath on several occasions with our golf society and with a few friends from time to time. We've seen the progress over the years and found that the course has improved every year, this year hopefully looking at its best to start 2007. The lay out is fantastic!! You never seem to see anyone else in your way. Its well designed with undulating fairways (probably the best around - by far!!) and well protected greens - this I mean the bunkers, they all seem to be well positioned to catch your stray ball. I must admit, the bunkers used to be terrible. Stoney and inconsistant. I played the other day though only to find that they seemed to be working on a large number of them and the ones they've done already looked fantastic. The greens look so much better too. Still not amazingly quick, but good coverage on all. Quite true though.. The holes are all quite challenging, certainly the 7th, a long par 4. No two holes look the same. The food we had was great too. Simple, but really good value. We only had the society choice, but the main menus look very nice. Looking forward to our next outing to Caversham this summer.

Posted by Dave Jones on 05/02/2007
4
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  • Clubhouse 5
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  • Course challenge 4
  • Value for money 4

Having played here 3 times before i have to say i was a little gutted when i saw the clubs name on the fixture list for our society, but i went along with my fingers crossed that the experience would be a little different. Having read the reviews below i can only really echo what they all say. Its a very long course but thankfully due to the dry summer was playing short, greens were still painfully slow and probably in the worst condition of any i have played this year which is a shame as they are all shaped really well. Stones in the bunkers, which i can only assume have been breeding as they seem to get worse and a chronic lack of ball cleaners, which is a pet hate of mine. As people say this is a new course and it does has a great selection of holes the one problem being the shocking design of the 3 par 3's. The 8th looks to have been dumped there with no thought, 13 is squeezed in which appears needless given the size of the course, while 17 although providing a challenge, is far to easy to bail out on. From a society point of view, the welcome, food and the whole experience was, how can i put this..... bearable. Overall and i don't want to sound rude, this course and the management need to take a long hard look at themselves and decide what path they want this course to go down. respectable heathland or a big lazy letdown.

Posted by Chezza Jones on 17/08/2006
3
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  • Clubhouse 2
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  • Clubhouse 2
  • Course challenge 3
  • Value for money 3

A long and quite interesting new heathland/parkland course; with the heath and rough still maturing. Greens look interestingly sculptured, but everytime I have played the course they have been disappointingly slow. Quality of bunker maintenance is patchy with stones and sometimes a lack of sand. The par 3 17th is a particular challenge, carrying over the pond and holding the green can by tricky especially into a headwind. Good value on a 241, but I understand the club has now withdrawn from some 241 voucher schemes.

Posted by Ian Thomas on 18/07/2006
3
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  • Clubhouse 3
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  • Clubhouse 3
  • Course challenge 3
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Agree to some extent to the previous review. We just played this course for the first time and will play again. Although only 5 years old, the heathland nature makes it feel older (compared with a new parkland course). I agree it is long (par 73) with plenty of holes where long straight driving is required. Rough is long and whispy. Whilst the fairways are in excellent condition, the greens appear to have a mixture of grass, are a little bumpy and prone to pitch marks. At least there are plenty of signs requesting pitch marks to be repaired - something other courses could learn from (my suggestion is to give out free pitch repair tools at the pro shop which would further encourage it to less educated golfers). Not the worst greens I have played on though. Bunkers were only fair with many stones on the back nine. Tough and long test of golf in the wind but with 2 fore 1, we will definitely play here again.

Posted by Cameron Taylor on 26/06/2005
4
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A mate and I have just played this course and left feeling that somehow it missed the mark . In many respects it has a lot to offer starting with a 2 for 1 green fee of £18.00 per person , long well draining fairways ,nice views ,fast greens ,good bunkers ,lots of length [6800 off the yellows] and a nice clubhouse . However the greens when we played were very fast but also very bumpy making putting to say the least difficult .In addtion the wind was blowing and with little protection the long back holes become a slog . The feeling was that to many holes seemed to similar and that with the putting it was to down to luck. In short I would suggest thats its a course that needs to mature and a major improvement needs to be made with the greens .5/10

Posted by Jorden Paul on 22/10/2004

Course information

Number of holes 18
Year opened -
Designer -
Style heathland

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TeesYardsParSSS
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Men's715173
Ladies'

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Weekday round£40
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Weekend round£56
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