Oulton Park

Oulton Park, Leeds, Yorkshire and the Humber, England, LS26 8HN

0113 282 3152 | Golf course website

24 reviews of Oulton Park

I was lucky enough to be invited to play Oulton on the weekend of 4/5th August and I have to say I really enjoyed my stay at both the hotel and playing the course. The course itself is a 27 hole course. We played the 9 hole "hall" track in a texas scramble format on the saturday morning as a warm up game and as the apparently weaker 9 holes of the 27 I found it a good test with some interesting holes. I really liked the 2nd 6th and 8th on this particular stretch of course and the condition of the course was good, even though the greens had been recently sanded. On the saturday afternoon we played the "calverley" and again it didn't disappoint. Loads of dog leg lefts and rolling fairways meant finding the fairway would usually leave a short to mid iron into a green. I played well although found putting difficult on the sanded greens. Our group had arranged a longest drive and I dont know if the 16th was suggested by the clubhouse but with a fairway measuring only around 15 yards wide I found it a strange choice. Still, I managed to strike my tee shot perfectly and won the prize so I shouldnt complain too much! We were scheduled to play the same calverley track again the following day but for some reason we ended up playing the hall and the front nine of the calverley. The weekend was booked through yourgolftravel and I'm assuming there was a mix up between them and the clubhouse. Altogether though I had a thoroughly enjoyable weekend and the hotel and golf were great. It was a long trip for one night away but I would do it again next weekend if I was asked. One last thing though, if youre going to buy a round of drinks take out a second mortgage - the bar isnt cheap!!! Overall 8 out of 10

Posted by Glenn Angus on 08/08/2012
5
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Overall Rating 5
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  • Green conditions 3
  • Clubhouse 5
  • Course challenge 4
  • Staff service 5
  • Value for money 5
  • Green conditions 3
  • Clubhouse 5
  • Course challenge 4
  • Staff service 5
  • Value for money 5

14th October 2009. I have played this course many times before De Vere took over perhaps 3 to 4 years ago, this is my first game there since the take over. This used to be a £14 to £18 a round municiple, and then a £20 a round private course. Since De Vere took over it is now a whopping £60 a round midweek, and about £80 at weekend. The only changes that are visible on the course is better quality sand in the bunkers and additional drainage of some greens. Appart from that there seems to be absolutely no physical changes to the course, in terms of layout, preparation, hazards, re-shaping of holes etc. I played from white tees and played to a net 68, it is quite an easy course, wide, forgiving and not really much of a challenge. One good thing is the quality of the sand in the bunkers. Frankly speaking in terms of value this should still be a £25 a round course. The new club house is very nice, however rather than pay for the club house I'd prefer to pay to play a better course. You'd be better advised to visit a better £30 a round course twice rather than to pay over the odds here!

Posted by Andrew Grabowski on 14/10/2009
2
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Overall Rating 2
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  • Clubhouse 3
  • Course challenge 3
  • Value for money 1
  • Clubhouse 3
  • Course challenge 3
  • Value for money 1

When first entering oulton hall, it is pleasant. The clubhouse is very luxurious and has a nice pro shop. I play of 14 and went round +14 so i did well for my first time. The course was well looked after for this time of year. Mid Feb. The holes arenice with fast tricky greens. The par 3's are all similar but the par 5s and some of the 4s are nice. The 7th hole was the standout hole. It was a downhill dogleg par 5. You can see Leeds and the woods of the tee. the green is good, and well protected by bunkers. Most par 4s leave a wedge or short iron to the green, but none the less a nice day out. The prices are !!!!!!!! For an adult it is £45, which is over the top. The reason it costs a lot is it is a golf course belonging to a 5* hotel. I am a junior so it was good value, £16.

Posted by Peter Dunmore on 16/02/2009
4
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Overall Rating 4
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  • Clubhouse 5
  • Course challenge 4
  • Value for money 3
  • Clubhouse 5
  • Course challenge 4
  • Value for money 3

Had a sunday driver, 18 holes sunday, evening meal bed and breakfast then another 18 holes all for £89, good value. The course isn't difficult and not dead easy either, it was just right for a society like ours. The course was in good condition for whitson bank holiday. The hotel was very good and yes the prices at the bar were steep but you expect that at a hotel anyway, you can of course walk to the local pub 10 minuits away. Overall I would say try it,it's worth it.

Posted by Michael Holmes on 08/07/2008
4
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Overall Rating 4
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  • Clubhouse 4
  • Course challenge 3
  • Value for money 4
  • Clubhouse 4
  • Course challenge 3
  • Value for money 4

Fantastic. I played the course last weekend (13/14 May) in apalling conditions but the course remained extremely well drained and the greens were an absolute treat. The extensive building work ongoing at the clubhouse and driving range made parking tricky, but this was more than made up by the courteous and generous welcome afforded us by the concierge staff, who were always happy to help. A lot of thought has gone into making this an interesting challenge and I would highly recommend it to all grades of handicap. My favourite hole was the 15th - a 200 yard tee shot to the dogleg looking down into a secluded glade, at the bottom of which was an inviting green. Picture perfect. The consistency of the greens from 1 to 18 was remarkable and I look forward to returning very very soon. Keep up the hard work.

Posted by Kevin Gibson on 20/05/2007
4
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Overall Rating 4
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  • Clubhouse 4
  • Course challenge 4
  • Value for money 4
  • Clubhouse 4
  • Course challenge 4
  • Value for money 4

My wife and I went on a Golf Break to Oulton Hall over the Easter Hols. The Hotel is 5 Star with plenty of character and is a marvellous place to stay (it also has 5 Star prices behind the bar so be prepared !!). There were a lot of very young staff, but it must be said they were all very professional and courteous in there duties, within the Hotel and Golf Course…. Welldone !! After checking in we went to the Pro Shop to book in and found that @ present it is a well equipped Port-a-Cabin. They are currently in the middle of building a new clubhouse / pro shop, which looking @ the plans it is going to be quite a building. The weather had been fine for the previous two weeks so we were expecting the condition of the course to be in good nick. We got to the first T and we were asked if another Golfer could join us. This did not personally bother us, but it is worth noting that it is De Vere’s policy to try and make three and four balls wherever possible. I did ask for a course planner / Strokesaver but they were being printed. However the guy who joined us also hired a buggy. In the buggy was a Sat. Nav. of the course showing the layout of all the holes and greens giving appropriate yardages … very smart. This proved very useful as the only distance markers on the course were very hard to spot i.e. small painted round spots on the fairways. The Greens were in excellent condition. They are all fairly flat with subtle borrows, but were all fast. All the fairways and T boxes needed to be mown. This was a shame because it did not give the fairways any definition. We played the Park Course (Holes 1-18) on the first day and found it mildly undulating. The following day we played the Park (1-9) & Hall Course (19-27) which is undulating but we thought more challenging with water on a few holes. It was also very windy the second day as the course is obviously on higher ground. All in all a very nice stay and value for money …. considering it is a 5 Star Hotel. The courses are quite challenging (especially in the wind) with the Hall Course waiting to mature. P.S. There is also a very nice boozer (The 3 Horseshoes) about 10 minutes walk if you require cheaper prices and nice pub meal. We had a lovely meal and a drink before we played on the first day.

Posted by Pete Boyce on 17/04/2007
4
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Overall Rating 4
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  • Clubhouse 5
  • Course challenge 3
  • Value for money 5
  • Clubhouse 5
  • Course challenge 3
  • Value for money 5

Interesting reading more recent reviews of this course, one which we vowed never to go near again. Played on a Sunday driver a couple of years ago, we arrived thinking we would get a bacon sandwich or something similar in the hotel to put us on. "Sorry sir, there is no chef on site at the moment" was the reply. This is a 5 star hotel on a Sunday morning for goodness sake! The meal we had later that evening was shocking, no better than you'd expect from your "buy one get one free" specials at your local Weatherspoons. The course - what can i say? It depends what you expect or want from your money for your golf. If you want a quality course, with good greens and holes laid out that make you think a litle bit, then Oulton Hall is not the place for you. If on the other hand you like to be able to play driver/3wood off most tees to fairways the width of a football field, followed by wedge/sand wedge to greens that are patchy, bald, scuffed and peppered with unrepaired pitch marks, then this is the place for you. Awful course, I'm not sure a £5 million face lift is enough to put this place right.

Posted by Richard Lupton on 10/03/2007
1
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  • Clubhouse 1
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  • Clubhouse 1
  • Course challenge 1
  • Value for money 1

Played here on a sunday driver early septemeber. Have to say it is superb value. £80 for 2 rounds, dinner bed and breakfast and use of all facilities. plus an added bonus of 20% off in the bar which to be fair is needed as drinks are expensive, but you expect this in a 5 star hotel. The course itself was in good condition only thing i could fault would be the greens which had been heavily sanded. De VERE are spending approx 7.5 million pounds on building new facilities and improving the course and once completed it will rival many courses in the country. Leisure facilities great and the food top notch. All in all a great value trip and look forward to returning.

Posted by b brookfield on 19/09/2006
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

De vere hotels now own this course and they intend to bring it up to the same sort of standard as their other famous course, The Belfry. £5 million has been earmarked for this task and the improvements are now well underway. Firstly the holes have been changed round, with what used to be holes 1-9 now becoming 19-27 and the old 19-27 is now 1-9. this means a lot less walking between holes, which was a common complaint for this course. All the tee boxes have been re-laid, there are new tee markers, new signs and new ball washers. The fairways are lovely, all the bunkers have been re-sanded and the greens are getting close to perfect, though not quite yet. All in all, the course is now a pleasure to play. The downside to all this is the new greenfees, which are now £50 at weekends and £36.50 weekdays. However, if you apply for a Leedscard ( This is a discount card which is available to anyone whether you are from Leeds or not and costs just £6 from Leeds council offices. ) then you get a 50% discount at all times, So just £25 at weekends and £18 weekdays. This is well worth the effort if you intend to play this course regularly. More improvements are in the pipeline with a new clubhouse and new driving range to be built shortly, they have also employed a new professional to give lessons are are looking at club fitting facilities as well. No doubt you will be seeing this course holding championships on the tv in the not to distant future. I reckon that by mid summer this will be a beautiful course to play and I look forward to it.

Posted by Ian Hammond on 06/06/2006
4
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Overall Rating 4
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  • Clubhouse 3
  • Course challenge 4
  • Value for money 4
  • Clubhouse 3
  • Course challenge 4
  • Value for money 4

Played there this past weekend (£30) to play on a course with no tee boxes, they have all be dug up ready to be relaid. A lot of the bunkers were GUR!!! The greens were frozen solid and had been spiked so it made it almost impossible to put on, plus being frozen you could not repair pitch marks. It will ruin the greens unless they make some temporary frost greens! Very expensive!

Posted by Geoff Batchelor on 19/12/2005
2
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Overall Rating 2
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  • Clubhouse 1
  • Course challenge 3
  • Value for money 1
  • Clubhouse 1
  • Course challenge 3
  • Value for money 1

I went to Oulten Park Golf club in Leeds today. I went to there range and asked for 2 range token's £5. Yes Sir we have been taken over by the De Vere Hotel group was the reply. But we do have new targets to aim at. Yes sir the prices have gone up.It was £8 pounds after 2pm last Saturday when Leeds city council owned it but it's now £50 and a bargain £36.50 during the week. So I paid up and head off in anticipation expecting to see the latest golf range target's money could buy. Instead all there was were flag poles that had been stuck in the ground. The course looks exactly the same as it did before apart from the greens have been cut with pretty patterns. Alright there going to spend 5million on doing it up but as yet they have not yet spent a penny and hiked the prices up.

Posted by Harry Putter on 08/11/2005
2
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Overall Rating 2
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  • Clubhouse 1
  • Course challenge 3
  • Value for money 1
  • Clubhouse 1
  • Course challenge 3
  • Value for money 1

Laugh I almost died when I went to Oulten Park Golf club in Leeds today. I went to there range and asked for 2 range token's £5. Yes Sir we have been taken over by the De Vere Hotel group was the reply. But we do have new targets to aim at. Yes sir the prices have gone up.It was £8 pounds after 2pm last Saturday when Leeds city council owned it but it's now £50 and a bargain £36.50 during the week. So I paid up and head off in anticipation expecting to see the latest golf range target's money could buy. Instead all there was were flag poles that had been stuck in the ground. The course looks exactly the same as it did before apart from the greens have been cut with pretty patterns. Alright there going to spend 5million on doing it up but as yet they have not yet spent a penny and hiked the prices up. You could play an old ryder cup venue for £10 less that's been established for years in Leeds or this old Municiple for £50 after 2pm in Winter.

Posted by Harry Putter on 19/10/2005
2
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Overall Rating 2
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  • Clubhouse 1
  • Course challenge 3
  • Value for money 1
  • Clubhouse 1
  • Course challenge 3
  • Value for money 1

i played this course end of sept 2005 and course is in very very good condition. ive been visiting oulton park for a few months now as you would expect to pay £30 for a course this good. and it is only £9 for 9 holes and about £12 for 18. im gutted though as the last time i went(30 sep)i was informed that the de verve group who run the belfry have taken this course over. its due for a £5million pound investment shortly and the weekend green fees are now £50 for 18 holes and £17.50 if you have a leeds card. note it is no longer council owned. note the value rating ive given is not for the £50 fee

Posted by John Willis on 03/10/2005
3
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Overall Rating 3
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  • Course challenge 3
  • Value for money 5
  • Course challenge 3
  • Value for money 5

Played this course in June 2005. For only £11 per round, the course was in fantastic condition and the greens were fast and true. You would normally expect to spend around £30 for a golf course this good. The only down side was that the bar area was closed (late afternoon!!)and kids coming home from school think it's funny to nick the flags.

Posted by Ian Nuttall on 16/06/2005
3
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Overall Rating 3
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  • Clubhouse 3
  • Course challenge 2
  • Value for money 4
  • Clubhouse 3
  • Course challenge 2
  • Value for money 4

Played mid September and consider this to be the finest municipal course I have ever played and a bargin to boot. I think that you have to remember that the price is probably a third of what you would pay at a private club, and therefore you can overlook the occasional nicked flag and lack of TLC in some areas. Saying that I played all 27 holes over 2 days and had some wonderful golf, in conditions that were excellent. I might have been lucky, but I thought the greens were in good nick. The first nine wind around the hotel and are a good test of water avoidance with a park style layout. The second nine take you into the mature area of what was the grounds of the hall with some delightful holes winding into the trees. The third nine are probably the least interesting, since they bound on the edge of the park and are a little dull. All the holes are testing, with some excellent par 4s, and there were no crowds and a free choice of which holes you did.

Posted by Alistair How on 15/09/2004

Played 3rd June 2004. Course in generally poor condition but the Fairways were OK. The main problem with the course were the greens, which considering the time of year were very poor. Almost all the tees required cutting - some had clover and in some cases mushrooms growing on them, which shows how long it had been since they were cut. The first cut of rough was a reasonable length but the grass cuttings had left on top (as usual) so finding an only slightly wayward drive was very difficult. My playing partner and i always 'give the course another chance' after playing and being disappointed - we won't be making the same mistake again.

Posted by Paul Cockerham on 15/06/2004

Stayed at the Oulton Park Hotel and played both Sunday and Monday on holes 1 - 18. Very well kept course in good condition with only 1 temporary green. Looks like they may have had problems with the greens in the past (mottled areas still around) but the staff have done a superb job at getting them all up to a high standard. Plenty I would imagine, to challenge the good golfer but still an excellent course for the beginner/high handicapper. Municipal course so can get quite busy on some of the holes.

Posted by Pam Hill on 01/10/2003

I played this course yesterday(14th April 2003) with two friends. We played holes 10 to 27. The initial impression is that the course is quite big with wide fairways which was good for me since I am new to the game. The condition of the fairways, I thought, was very good. The tees were excellent. Then we come to the greens. Unfrotunately the greens were its greatest weekness. No fringe. 50% of the coverage was grass, 25% sand and the remainder was bare earth. The greens really were in poor condition the first hole definitely being the worst (10th). There were signs that the greens are worked on but my gut feeling is that they are just overused - even though it appeared that the club cycles between the available 27 holes over time. The greens, however, did not ruin the day. The overall impression is of a nicely laid out course that presented a good challenge. I didnt lose a single ball which was a bonus! Marks out of ten if the greens were in good condition? 7.5/10 As it was though - 4.0/10 I wont be in a rush to go back - which is a shame.

Posted by Phil Lowe on 14/04/2003

I returned today from a visit on the 28th and 29th of March 2003. I bought a golf break online and the hotel in the middle of the course is excellent and the package good value but the course has some terrible problems even for an amateur golfer like me. The rough and the fairways had been cut in the last few days but you could not tell which was which. The greens were disastrous, mostly brown stubby patchy grass with earth bared in many places and EVERY green was heavily spiked with holes every TWO inches across the entire surface creating ridges. It was next to impossible to accurately putt on. Finally, there were no benches or seats anywhere on any part of the course to rest on. Not one! For such a hilly course it is remarkable. I would play the course again, but only after extensive work had been carried out on the grounds maintenance department. Avoid the food in the clubhouse as well, it is overly deep fried and the cook was smoking.

Posted by aj booker on 31/03/2003

A very tidy set up, course, hotel, clubhouse etc. The course itself has a few good holes and a few more poor or indifferent holes. I always preferred the original 18, before they incorporated the 9 holes in front of the hotel. The condition of this course can vary a great deal as they have serious drainage problems, but if you catch it on a good day its an enjoyable challenge. Great value, as a municipal course should be - 5.5/10

Posted by Harry Putter on 03/01/2003

Well, where do you start ? and I mean literally.. 27 HOLES!!! but you are not always sure which 18 you will play..this depends on what the greenkeeper decides, but all 27 holes are good, and some very good. In winter some holes are a bit wet, and they set up boards on the tees, but the greens seem to be playable all year. All in all I like oulton a lot..it's in a good location, well priced, a variety of holes that will please most players most of the time, and the locals seem to respect it too, so get yourself down, have a round and make your own mind up, I don't think you'll be dissapointed...

Posted by m r taylor on 31/12/2002

An excellent and affordable golf course that caters for all levels of players ability. I enjoy playing it most weeks.

Posted by Matt Sowden on 26/10/2001

Having just returned from a golf weekend away, I have to report that the course is in dire need of some care and attention. I have played pitch and putt courses better cared for. All the Tees were on temporary boards, the course has real drainage problems, the fairways were little more than weeds and worm casts and the greens had no fringe, just 6 inches of rough. We booked the weekend away staying in the nearby hotel and in all honesty, having played it on the Saturday, did not even want to play it again on Sunday. One to miss until some serious money is spent on it.

Posted by Gill Burdett on 23/10/2001

A WELL VARIED GOLF COURSE, INCLUDING DEEP ROUGH, WOODS, WATER & PLENTY OF WILDLIFE. THIS IS THE FINEST MUNICIPAL COURSE I HAVE PLAYED.

Posted by TONY BARSTOW on 02/07/2000

Course information

Number of holes 18
Year opened -
Designer -
Style parkland

Tee information

TeesYardsParSSS
Competition
Men's647971
Ladies'

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Weekday round£35
Weekday day-
Weekend round£45
Weekend day-

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