Wheathampstead Golf Course

I learnt how to play here and still play with my son and partner. It is a great course for developing one's short game and is better than any par 3 course I have played at other bigger clubs. The greens are reasonable though they are never the standard of some of the bigger courses.

I played here recently the day following the first substantial rainfall for a while and the course had not taken it well. Every step, from start to finish,was in casual water. The fairways were especially bad, the greens less so, but were slow and mossy. The teeing grounds drained better but seemed to be too small to withstand the traffic and were on the muddy side. All that said, if I had played 24 hours earlier, moss aside I would have been making no such comments. The course itself has a bit of a "homebuilt" feel about it and a fair bit of effort has gone into building the greens. They aren't just a bit of mown fairway. Most are raised and it is the resultant contours that provide the interest for shots missing the target. There are a few bunkers and also the odd water hazard. With the longest hole measuring 310 yards, wide fairways and comparatively little rough this is a very good course for beginners and the bewildered and will give the more skilled a good workout in most departments of the game. The 1st/10th is the only hole that apears "dead flat" and although the others go up and down a hill it is easy walking. Several one shot holes are difficult due to their length with the best being one of the shorter holes, the 3rd/12th, which plays downhill to an angled, shallow green. The best par 4 is the 8th/17th which although reachable in one for some given the right conditions, provides risk and reward with the last 50 yards or so squeezed between out-of-bounds and a water hazard.The 9th/18th provides a similar challenge. There is a driving range and small clubhouse and a warm and friendly welcome. £8.50 for nine holes represents reasonable value.