High Elms Golf Club

April 2016. The ownership of the course has gone through some changes of management of late... and for the better. The course is in good shape and the holes are nicely varied - designer was Fred W Hawtree, one hole is called Hawtree Hill. The fairways are wide, the bunkers small and the holes widely spaced. On our sunny day it was very peaceful. Definitely worth a visit at the green fees on offer. Functional clubhouse.

First visit back for a few years. Booked via teetimes, so got a good deal. Don't think it would be worth the full value. Greens a bit bumpy with lots of pitch marks, but ultimately it is a muni so this is what you would expect. Play was a bit slow so could do with a Marshall or warden moving players on. Despite there being many players out in the course the bar was in the process of last orders. However, nice setting and all in all an enjoyable round of golf.

Played High Elms on Friday 28 May 2010, the first time our society played the course. We found the members friendly and the course in great shape, some of the greens a little bumpy! but this could be due to the winter we've had. As this was a new course for us we could have used a course planner / stroke saver but the pro shop had none, but this was the only drawback to the whole day. Overall I would play this course again and enjoy it even though it is quite tight and not too long.

Another Tee Off Times bargain at £10. I found the course in excellent condition. The greens were very true if a little slow and though many are flattish they are not straightforward. The bunkering of the greens is good so scoring is not easy after the friendly opening 3 holes. The 2nd nine are the more difficult with the best hole being the 13th. Not only is it 233 yards and uphill but if you do clear the ring of bunkers just short of the green the green slopes away so par is not a formality. Other good holes are 10th,14th & (from the white tees) 17th. The downhill short par 5 12th would be a much better 450 yard par 4! I played a couple of times many years ago at another council owned course owned by Bromley Council and was thus a little apprehensive about visiting another. My fears were unfounded. Play was slow but when I saw the age of the ladies playing a match who seemed to be responsible I was surprised they lasted the whole round. Seriously you should allow at least 4 hours to make sure you get round.

highelms is quite a challenging course onse you get to no it i have been an albatross member there for 2 years so i get it fo free i play 2 times a week friday nights and saturday morning maybe even sundays

High Elms is my favourite pay and play course across Kent & Surrey and i have played most of them. Green fee at £27 seems a bit steep but so does every thing else based in South East / London Area. Course has always been in decent condition, see my notes on the greens below. Tree lined course with some elevation to add interest. Not overly long but with a number of risk and reward type tee shots you will get to use most of your irons when approaching greens rather than drive/wedge which seems to blight a lot of local pay & play courses. I have found the greens here to be deceptively fast and very slopey. You can play a round here and never have a straight putt. 20 foot putts with 6 foot of break are the norm here. This is now essentially my home course and i have developed a putting style which 'lags' approach putts to the hole. You can very rarely be aggressive on approach putts. A lot of the greens seem to slope from front to back and i have seen many a good approach shot role through the back of greens even with short irons. I have found a bump & run style to be very effective on this course in summer. I'm in 2 minds as to whether the difficulty of the greens add or detracts to the course, they made me think i was a bad putter until i played somewhere else and was draining everything on their relatively flat greens. Overall its adds to the challenge and i guess that is a good thing. Any way, you will enjoy the course, let us know what you think!

High Elms is my favourite pay and play course across Kent & Surrey and i have played most of them. Green fee at £27 seems a bit steep but so does every thing else based in South East / London Area. Course has always been in decent condition, see my notes on the greens below. Tree lined course with some elevation to add interest. Not overly long but with a number of risk and reward type tee shots you will get to use most of your irons when approaching greens rather than drive/wedge which seems to blight a lot of local pay & play courses. I have found the greens here to be deceptively fast and very slopey. You can play a round here and never have a straight putt. 20 foot putts with 6 foot of break are the norm here. This is now essentially my home course and i have developed a putting style which 'lags' approach putts to the hole. You can very rarely be aggressive on approach putts. A lot of the greens seem to slope from front to back and i have seen many a good approach shot role through the back of greens even with short irons. I have found a bump & run style to be very effective on this course in summer. I'm in 2 minds as to whether the difficulty of the greens add or detracts to the course, they made me think i was a bad putter until i played somewhere else and was draining everything on their relatively flat greens. Overall its adds to the challenge and i guess that is a good thing. Any way, you will enjoy the course, let us know what you think!

I am a senior, I am a 28 handicap, I am a regular on this course, so what do I know! Well, the Winter was a little damp underfoot but so were most local courses at least you could play and use a trolley, now the start of better weather the course is playing very well and the views are lovely. This course is suited to my handicap and to very good golfers,(try the 13th Hole). The Pro Shop staff are very helpful and friendly and the Clubhouse has been refurbished, so you can enjoy a good drink and pleasant food in comfortable surroundings. I find the Green Fees cheaper than most of the local clubs, so my advice is 'give this course a try'

My friends and I played a fourball last Saturday. Not only were we shocked that the price had been hiked to £25pp, but the course was in terrible condition. Bad tee boxes, poorly tended fairways and awful greens. This is a pretty course with some challenging holes, but nowhere near worth £25. We won't be returning. And the kitchen was closed when we got to the bar!

This is a pretty course close to central London. I believe it is councilowned and like so many councils they are getting greedy. At £25 for a weekend round this is simply not value for money. The greens are very poor and the bunkers worse. It is unmarshalled and play is very slow with a number of hackers on the course. I think the only value to be had is with some kind of 2 for 1 deal played mid week. When we are striving to get fit in our fast food society why are outdoor activities so heavily priced by local government. Don't shoot the goose! I noticed a car in the car park with reg "pro" - it was a newish TVR - does the pro really make that much money?!

Very good course, especially for a council run place. Only downfall is 2 for 1 vouchers are not accepted til 11 o'clock. Enjoyable round.

Just returned from the annual society bash at High Elms, and as usual, the course was playing well. Greens were true, but FAST. Three putting in all groups was the norm. Its a pity the speed of play from other users of course wasn't a fast, but a public course is always going to suffer from that disease. Good grub, good beer, good day. The course feels like a quality private club without the extortionate costs and would recommend High Elms to anyone.

Just returned from the annual society bash at High Elms, and as usual, the course was playing well. Greens were true, but FAST. Three putting in all groups was the norm. Its a pity the speed of play from other users of course wasn't a fast, but a public course is always going to suffer from that disease. Good grub, good beer, good day. The course feels like a quality private club without the extortionate costs and would recommend High Elms to anyone.

Played the course a few weeks ago with a couple of friends. Good friendly pro shop, but on the whole a little disappointed by the course. It was in fairly good condition, but not excellent. Not too many divots or pitch marks but the grass on the tees, greens and fairways was perhaps a touch long and too many of the tees were on too much of a slope, as is a lot of the course. Too many of the holes were a bit bland with little creativity in the lanscaping, there were however some nice holes and for a saturday afternoon in summer the course was very quiet, we hardly noticed anyone else on the back nine. Would not rule out playing the course again though, if only because I had to pay £2.50 for a yardage book! otherwise fairly cheap and quiet like I said.

High Elms is a good course on the whole. Greens are pretty good in summer, but in the harsher months they aren't up to much, often having many blemishes and uneven patches. For sheer entertainment value the course is ideal. None of the holes are boring, especially the par 3 13th... thats very hard. 14th hole is my favourite with a lovely sweeping downhill dogleg which rewards accurate tee shots handsomely. Feels very isolated in the local woods, with little traffic noise. Beware of those trees though!

I have played High Elms on many occasions and found it a good challenge every time. The course is always in good condition. I have played in all weathers and enjoyed it everytime. The course is very well laid out and there are some long par 4's and a tough par 3! Excellent price, under £20 at weekends. Under £15 during the week!! One of the best courses in the South East!

On the 9th of May I played a round of golf with my son and brother in law. This was the first time I had played at this course for 20 plus years.I must thank the staff in the pro shop who took my phone booking with a friendly manner. On arrival at the course we where over an hour early for our tee off, but on talking to the staff at reception we where told we could tee off straight away. The course was in good condition both fairways and greens, and at the 9th thw cart came around with refreshments which we could by. After being away for so long we will be playing this course very soon.

Great Course, good greens and apart from the first which was very slow, the rest were very similar in roll and speed. Friendly Pro-Shop and good food in the bar afterwards :) Only gripe was that tee boxes were in play, but if that means that the next time I go, they will be anywhere near as good as they looked, then I'll put up with it :)

A nice course with a good variety of holes but we played it on 4/4/04 and the greens were in terrible condition. So much so that it ruined the round - it was impossible to roll a putt & given the fact that some of the greens have significant contours, 3-putting was all too prevalent.

Lovely course, excellent value for money. Looking forward to going back there soon.

I have just been to the course for the first time and was incredibly impressed with what I saw. We had breakfast first in the restaurant, which wasn't great, but what do you expect for £3.50? The Course is in fabulous condition, perfect fairways and the greens are like Glass in the drier areas. Challenging, but not too difficult, this course is a pleasure to play, some long par 5's and a couple of great par 3's (yes, the 13th is worth going for, even if you do land in the bunker) it is a collection of simple and difficult holes which make it thoroughly enjoyable. The best thing though is the value for money...our regular course put their rates up by a fortune to play on badly prepared tees and divot-ridden fairways and this is cheaper, more professional and in a beautiful setting. Excellent!

From entering the car park to walking to the pro shop (putter area and driving nets to right) you feel like you have entered a pretty good private course rather than a public one. The course it’s self is in very good condition, Tee’s could be moved a bit more often, fairways in very good condition, the semi-rough about the length you would want and the greens A1 and fast. Like the other comments I found the course an enjoyable challenge. I would disagree with the comments about the 13th, yes it’s long and any shot short will end up down the hill, with the second shot over a bunker. It would be possible to play through the green to the flat well cut area behind which will give a lot easier second shot. I would advise buying a course plan from the pro shop before playing (I did not) and paid the price with wrong club selection a few times. I played the course using the 2fore1 but would play it again paying full price.

I should start out by saying that I am the kind of player who loves the game but does not get out very often to play- i.e., although I occasionally hit a nice shot, I generally hit around 95-105. For me, High Elms is a challenging but rewarding course to play: there are some seriously tough holes, such as the par 3 13th (if my round is anywhere near decent at this point I always lay up); but there are lots of easier holes, too, such as the short dog-leg 2nd (perfect for right-handed slicers like me). There is a good variety of landscaping, which is mostly successful: the big, curving downhill of the 14th, the tough uphill green of the 15th, the elevated tee of the par 3 16th, the links-like ripples of the 17th fairway. The one mistake is the 11th hole, which has a dam-like change in elevation halfway up the fairway - it looks very artificial, and not of a piece with the generally rolling downland course. Still, it's definitely nice to play an easy hole after the 10th, where the approach shot to a crested, guarded green really tests the nerves (I usually top it straight into one of the front bunkers). It's a public course, so the greens are well-used, although certainly not terrible. The price is more than reasonable- I think it's under 15 GBP during the week. And the clubhouse does a good sausage and chips. All in all, a personal favourite. Gavin Drummond

Excellent course for the money, nice layout with some interesting holes particularily the 13th & 14th. Also liked the fact the very few holes were alongside each other so the scenery was constantly changing. Greens were in fairly poor condition due in part to the time of year but I think they need some work and the bunkers need to be re-worked but for £15.30 for non-members it still offers great value for the area

A wonderful, inexpensive, and picturesque course. Holes to challenge and excite you, especially the long par-4 12th, and the tough 13th (described by Tony Jacklin as the toughest one-shotter in England) Thumbs up all round!