Hatfield London Country Club

This course has changed its name to Essendon Golf after a recent change in ownership. There are 2 fabulous courses here, the old and the new. We've played the old course many times and it's a tremendous track.Nice and long off the back tees. It used to be impossible to get on the new course unless you were a member, but they have changed that policy, and you can play it any time. We played it today and it also excellent.perhaps slightly less hard than the old, but not much in it. Both courses in great condition.the clubhouse has been redecorated very nicely ,and the food was great. Highly recommended.

Played here on the Old course as part of a small Society a couple of weeks ago. It was nicely presented and the greens were reasonably quick and true. There are many varied holes, often quite undulating, and some par threes that are quite testing. A number of the longer holes have clearings where a misplaced drive can be found relatively easily and the overall setup does lend itself to good scores being possible. We stayed on for a very pleasant carvery meal in the evening and were well looked after by the staff. A very pleasant afternoon for a Society.

Played today and was surpried at how good the Old Course is,now having plyed both I dont find much between them. The clubhouse is big but not impersonal and I found the service impeccable,the chagning facilities are also five star. The course itself is not over taxing but is is really enjoybale,soem reachable par 5s,great par threes and tricky par fours make up somewhere its worth travelling to play,and after 11am its a steal at 76.00 for a fourball Loved it

Played the Old Course over the Easter weekend, and found we had the place to ourselves. Everyone must have been watching the Masters. Have played here a few times, and this course never fails to please. The fairways were very lush, and the greens were very true - easily the best I've played so far this year. The greens were a little slow, which is understandable given recent rain and the fact it is only April, but usually they roll at a nice pace. The course is undulating with a number of water hazards but generally wide fairways, and with five par fives there is a nice mix of holes. With four separate tees, the course can stretch itself to nearly 7000 yards. We played off the white's, which was long enough given the lack of roll on the fairways. My only gripe is that the 18th is a very lame finishing hole. There are 2 uphill par 5's which run parallel to each other and share a huge multi-tiered double green. I assume these used to be the 9th / 18th until they built a clubhouse on the other side of the course - these would be fantastic finishing holes.

Nice course but a bit soggy underfoot in quite a few areas. There are a good variety of holes with some fairways fairly wide and some fairly tight. Was very dissapointed with the tee areas, they were in poor condition. Makes me wonder if the New course gets a fair bit more attention than this one due to it being members only. Played 2 fore 1 so for £12.50 I can't grumble too much.

Played the old course yesterday, there has been a lot of rain in the area over the past week, fairways and greens have held up well, in fact the greens were fast and flat. Some of the tees were suffering and off the fairways in some places it was quite soft. The course was interesting to play with only a couple of holes which were tight. Off the yellows par generious. A pleasure to play. The club has excellent low cost winter society packages, we paid £12 for bacon roll and coffee 18 holes and pie and chips, towels supplied for showers. All 16 of us had a great day and are booking another, not one complaint.

2 superb courses in the Hertfordshire countryside. The Old Course is a stern but fair test of golf, with a great variety of holes winding through the established grounds of the old manor house. 5 par 5's and 5 par 3's make for a change to the norm. Almost always in superb condition (except when really wet when can be a little soft underfoot) the public can play here anytime, although at £35 for the weekends it tends to put off the hackers. For the members there's a second course; and what a treat. Built 15 years ago by the Japanese as a Corporate Course it is superbly maintained. One of the most unique features is that each hole has 2 greens; play in the middle of winter and you'll be putting on a billiard table. Off the back tees the course measures 7000 yards with 2 par 5's over 600 yards. A number of shorter par 4's but, when they grow the rough up, don't expect any gimmes! Very American/Japanese in that water features on over half the holes. If you can get on with a member or as part of a society it's a golfing round to behold. Cracking clubhouse with Spa and Saunas in the changing room. Great food inc a full Japanese menu; a lovely environment for a post round beer.

Played here 17th Sept 06 on the old course. Was a beautiul course. Tree Lined, luch fairways and receptive true greens. My only gripe was the tee boxes. Some of them were shocking but overall, a course thoroughly enjoyed. Mind you, I did tot up 44 stabledford points ... thats helps muchly!

had the miss fortune of playing the old course this week end. Tee to green was fine but the conditions of the greens was awful....bumpy...all running at different speeds...and full of pitch marks. If people are going to play golf they need to understand the rules of repairing pitch marks. One to avoid till they sort out this mess.

Played the new course last week, and although the course itself was very wet, the greens were in very good condition. you could see that in the summer these greens will be very slick. We played it off the whites,and even then it felt very short (and thats with no run on the fairways)We had the winter package- Coffee,Bacon roll,18 holes and steak pie chips and peas. All for the amazing value price of only £18. We are returning in the summer, and hope to see course at its best.Very enjoyable course.

Played here last week(Jan)in a group of 16,it is quite simply the best value in the country. The course itself was a little boggy on the fairways and teeing areas but nothing unplayable but the greens were first class,in fact there are two greens on each hole on the "new".Holes vary between short but tricky to long and difficult with some good par threes thrown in for good measure After have a reasonable meal of steak pi,chips and peas served by a very friendly waitress. All this for 16.00 yup thats right 16.00 all in Maybe give it a swerve when it has been wet but if in the area make the time.course like this need supporting,others could learn something,we have booked for 40+ in the Summer at full rate on the strength

Played the old course in October 2005. Groundsman told me that the private new course is less hilly but the old course is more mature. Lovely course, i liked it as there was plenty of par 5's and 3's which makes a change from most courses which tend to be mainly 4's. Nice greens, fairways etc, might be boggy in the winter. Clubhouse does some top Japanese grub if you fancy it. Little Expensive for me at £35 for around at the weekend.

Have been a member of this club for a year now and used to be a member back in the days when they gave you vouchers equivalent to the joining fee - bring back those days! The old course is more undulating and maturer but can get quite boggie in winter time, despite attempts to improve drainage. Some water, but generally few hazards and is good for the higher handicapers. The new course (members only) has been well built - back in the days when the Japanese had plenty of money to throw at golf course design!) and the dual greens ensure the surfaces get plenty of rest, particularly since they rarely invoke temporaries during the winter. However, greens are currently suffering from disease which makes them pot-marked and not always consistant and true, but it's a small price to pay in the winter months. Watch out for the par-5 4th hole if the wind is blowing! Measures some 640 yds off the blues and to add to your pleasure a lake/stream protects the green! The round finishes with one of the hardest finishing holes you will find in Hertfordshire; some 450 yds uphill with an elevated green. A par here well deserves a beer in the bar!

Played this course about 2 years ago in the summer and was well impressed, although we picked a day when the temperature didn't drop below 95 all day, which counted for most of us suffering heat exhaustion by 9 holes (made up for it in the bar later though). Played again on 27th Dec 2002, and after all the rain there had been the weeks before thought that it would be soaked, but we were pleasently surpised, apart from one or two areas the course had coped admirably. The old club house was closed (turning into flats?) and so the new clubhouse at the back of the course was used, and very nice it is too. Clubhouse staf also very pleasant, will be going back when the weathers better definitely

The Hat is a decent track alright. I do however have some constructive comments: 1)They have a practice putting green that is always closed, why? 2)A board should be placed on 1st tee to reinforce proper golf etiqutte, including letting people play through 3) Simple and effective drainage pipes should be installed to extend course playability from 5 to 9 mths 4) Water bubblers should be installed (per my playing partner Bolts who is a big unit)5) The pond on the 12th is 50yards short of the green. This should be extended up to the green 6) 15/16/17th holes, something should be done so that I can par at least 1 of the holes.

Some clarity on green fees - I understand the weekend green fee is £27 before noon, £24 after. We now include this course as one of our favourites and visit regularly. It has a terrific variety of holes and is very well maintained. Without a doubt, one of the best visitor-friendly courses in the area.

I have played this course a couple times now, the price for a weekend round is currently £24. We played it first in March 2002 after 2 weeks of horrific weather, and we thought the course coped admirably considering the amount of water it must have soaked up. We played it again in July 2002 and it was in first class condition. It is very well looked after, with some very challenging holes, and the greens are the best I have seen. Lightning fast is an understatement. We received a friendly welcome both times, and can find nothing to complain about apart from the standard of golf! They have over 40 buggies, buggy paths all the way around, and with the rolling landscape I would suggest one is used, (£16 per buggy with £20 deposit). We will definately be playing here in the future and would have no hesitation in recommending it to fellow golfers. High handicappers might struggle on some of the long holes with the speed of greens, but then so might the low handicappers!

This is my regular course and a very enjoyable one too. Set in some of Hertfordshire best countryside (the views from the 3rd and 15th tees are very picturesque on a bright day) this is a fair test of golf. Hilly in places with excellent greens - watch out for the superb double green (9th & 18th) in front of the clubhouse.Green fees are quite steep at £27 on the weekend when it can be quite busy. Much cheaper in the week.

A long and hilly but otherwise player friendly course. An enjoyable round, spoilt only by the inevitable first-time fourball in front and the muddy conditions (not surprising given recent weather). At £24, a bargain for the area.

Muddy! I'm afraid Hatfield does not cope well with damp conditions, as we unfortunately discovered on our first visit today. Also, there are no yardage markers and they had sold out of strokesavers. Overall, a miserable round. We'll go back, because it looks a nice course, but not until the Summer.

This course is probably the best we've seen all year. The greens are carpet like and have no pitch or repair marks & the widish well watered fairways have the majority of divots replaced. The setting (behind a lovely country mansion) & views of the surrounding areas are lovely. I think the course is relatively short ( even off the white ) and could be classified as a par 70; a couple of the par 5's seemed easily achieveable. However the fast greens brake violently in multitude of directions and cause lots of problems. Good use of water at a few holes. The price at £27 effects me psycologically & so unfortunately bring the rating down to a 8 out of 10 (for some reason £27 is too close to £30) but thinking about it now i'd rather pay £2 more and play here than at an avergage £25 course ). London-Hatfield - put the price down to £24.99 and my brain will say it's ok to come here every week !

Good course with some very challenging holes. SOme variety of holes with some quite long par-3's. Only problem is that it is very easy to loose sight to the ball at certain times of the day (even on the fairway !) Worth booking but spend a little extra and book a buggy.

Lovely, excellent condition golf course. Good variety of holes. Good for players of all levels. Check cost before booking - seems to change quite frequently

A very nice course, always pleasant to come back and play. Lots of blind holes, so a bit tricky for visitors. Great dogleg hole with big oak tree in the middle. Very Very difficult from the black tees. Also rather tiring, you may need a buggy!

Two great course,if you get a chance to play both on a society day do so you wont regret it.Old course hilly towards end,new course easier on legs.