West Sussex Golf Club

Played here December 07. Based purely on it's reputation & that it's highly regarded (The Times Golf Guide puts it in it's top 50 courses in Britain & Ireland)i left here feeling slightly disappointed. Although it's a top ,pine treelined, heath & heather course i didn't think it quite had the feel or x factor of say, a Hindhead,a Woking or a Swinley Forest.It was enjoyable to play but it didn't have the magnetic pull to draw me back that the aforesaid courses have. All the ingredients are here.A good setting ,heather,ponds ,tall pine trees , classic bunkering & tranquility. The 1st hole is a comparatively mundane opener & has an out of character tee position where you tee off in a fairly open practice ground area to the side of the clubhouse.It seems as if this has been put here to add length but a tee in front of the clubhouse would be more in keeping. Holes 3 to 8 are superb & play through a fantastic pine tree setting.After this, the holes are more open in nature & this was where ,for me,interest waned a bit.The par 3 12th would be better if it was 150/160 yards instead of 190 .The holes then become treelined again at 14 & there's an enjoyable run in to the finish. There are some memorable par 3's here,some of the best i've played. The course was well presented ,with perfect speed greens.The fairways have a slightly common land feel to them. West Sussex is in the premier league of inland courses in the South, but at £60/£70 a round there are similar type courses around at better value. Kevin B.

It's unbelievable. No-one seems to talk about West Sussex. Just look at this website – no-one's posted a review of it for over seven years! And yet, according to Golf World, this is the 22nd best course in the UK and Ireland. Not to mention the sixth best inland track after Woodhall Spa, Sunningdale Old, Loch Lomond, Wentworth West and Walton Heath Old. But you know what – maintaining that under the radar existence is exactly how they like it and, frankly, thank god for that. But yet this isn't a Swinley Forest or Rye, with virtually closed doors to outsiders. The club told us they only take a certain number of visitors and yet we had no problem whatsoever in making a booking three days in advance of a baking June Saturday. There's no BS here. They're not interested in trying to extort as much of your money as possible. West Sussex is just about proper golf and respecting those who have sought out the opportunity to play there. On our arrival, we paid our £80 green for (yes that's for a day ticket at the weekend – that won't even get you 9 holes on some of the above courses), and were given free range balls, tees, course guide etc from the wonderful pro, Tim Packham – then told we could play off whatever tees we like. The course itself flows beautifully through a mixture of heath and woodland. Don't be fooled by the par of 68, or by the straightforward par 5 first hole - this is a serious test of golf. The most famous hole is the tough 223-yard par 3 sixth but perhaps my favourite is the fantastic fourth hole: a stunning dogleg par 4 with a semi-blind drive over heather and a testing approach to a green perched among the trees. This place is the real deal. And on top of everything else, it has an utterly captivating sense of calm and tranquillity. It was interesting to read the previous reviewer moaning that it's a twoball course – my reply is if you don't like it, bugger off and slog it out in a 5 hour fourball around Wentworth West instead. Some of the members call West Sussex 'the jewel in the crown' – let me tell you, they're not wrong. 9.4/10 'Young P'

Beautiful course spoilt by playing restrictions. Singles & Foursomes only.

Beautiful, challenging course with excellent par three holes and a strong finish. An added bonus were the gliders that soared overhead, courtesy of the glider club just south of the course. The pro shop staff were very accomodating. Well worth the money.