Review's of Blakes Golf Club
Clubhouse/Hospitality
Quality of Course
Practice Facilities
Value for Money
NICE LAYOUT, POOR GREENS & LIKE A GHOST TOWN
How do I best sum up Blakes Golf Club. When you first arrive you're greeted with a dozen prestige cars all neatly lined up in the car park, like a car showroom and then half a dozen cars in the visitors part. We paid our green fees and were greeted by a very nice lady but no one else, no pro (on holiday), no catering staff and most surprisingly, no golfers, not a single person in the bar !! Onto the course, which has a good layout, I especially loved the Par 3 8th which has an island green, great fun. The tee boxes and fairways are all fine but the greens were very poor, all suffering from some sort of disease which made them very bobbly; I could imagine if they were all in good condition, they would run very true and then this would be a superb course. It all just feels a little unloved not only by the staff, which there weren't any of, but also by the lack of golfers, which I really don't understand as it was £10 for 18 holes and £10 for the buggy, Cheap As Chips. I will be back in the Summer, so long as they have sorted the greens out by then :-)
Clubhouse/Hospitality
Quality of Course
Practice Facilities
Value for Money
What might have been?
Blakes was built to be a championship course, it was going to outshine its neighbour Toot Hill but ended up the ugly sister. This is the third time I have played Blakes in 9 years. It was possibly in the best condition I have seen it yet. The Club house is a nice three story building but no lift! The pro shop and toilets are in the basement which is really annoying as the bar is on the third floor! The milk provided for the teas and coffees was sour but the bacon/sausage rolls were excellent. I did not use the practise facilities as it was raining.
Blakes is long very long, some of the holes are 500 yards apart, so if your going to walk you need to be aware this is a very long track. There is a buggy path around the whole course so buggies are never banned, which is a plus as I need one. The course was designed to be an inland links so no trees just a few bushes. The fairways are wide but undulating, you need to be big off the tee as most of the par fours are well over 400yds and the par 3's are far from short other than the 8th which is the courses feature hole, a 120 yard pitch into a green surrounded by water.
Blakes back nine is more challenging but lack of signage makes navigating a tad difficult, although following the trolley path is the safest bet. Be careful not to set off in the wrong direction as that can be really annoying on such a large course.
The greens leave a lot to be desired and let the course down badly. They are slow and bobbly with crowned pins which makes the shortest of putts a challenge. In summary Blakes could/should be an outstanding course, but its not. Membership is £500 per annum which is so cheap, buggies are only £10 a round, our deal with a steak pie meal was £25 so very good value. If Blakes was a little more local I might join it....but I think the greens would drive me crazy, they need so much work. For a cheap golf day Blakes is a great package but for quality Toot Hill is only five minutes away!
Clubhouse/Hospitality
Quality of Course
Practice Facilities
Value for Money
Inland links course in Essex...
Blakes is a links type course that I like despite its rugged appearance and maybe lack of TLC. Some previous reviews present Blakes as unappealing but it has some very fine holes. The layout is good and flowing, the deep bunkers, sometimes lined with sleepers can be a real threat to your scorecard if you land in them. There are fine views of the surrounding Essex fields still being farmed. A nice place to blow the cobwebs away & get refreshed with clean air after a hard week's work.
Fairways have bumps & mounds as to be expected from a Links type course, rough deep and will hide the little white ball, even with your name on it!!!! A few blind holes (always quite exciting if you don't know the course) with guiding posts. Water comes into play as well and it provides some of the finest holes on the course.
So here are my favourites:
8th (Par 3) island green: How can one not like this hole ? Accuracy and nerves of steel can provide a Birdie of Par, if no wind in the air. There is a dropping zone for the unlucky.
17th (Par 3), over a pond, with sloping & rough bit of fairway.
A special mention for the 16th, with OOB on the Left hand side where I found some lovely stray golf balls.
18th (Par 5), with 2 or 3 ponds to negotiate, depending on the colour of your Tee, uphill most of the time with sloping fairways and bushes and one more pond before you
reach the green.
The greens were good and surprisingly fast but interesting. There were a few missed "easy" putts on the day.Large
Car Park with Open air driving range adjacent to it. Clubhouse is quite attractive, modern, the Proshop/Golf Bar is now upstairs, very large room with lots of natural light and lovely views of the golf course and Essex. NO food was available on the day (3.8.2013), but directly opposite there is a very nice eating place whose name I don't remember (sort of garden centre, children play ground), and where one can have a delicious breakfast made with local organic produce, very popular with families on a Sunday morning... I recommend you pay a visit. There is a gym, spa etc on the premises, it seems a rather a busy & pleasant place.
Today we had an "Ed's special", so excellent value for a pleasant 4 balls even if the course is not in tip-top condition, a great time was had by all. Photos were posted a few weeks ago.
That is THE END...
Clubhouse/Hospitality
Quality of Course
Practice Facilities
Value for Money
Blakes is a quirky place
We paid £20 for a round at 10:00 on Sunday. When I booked the tee-time, only fours day ahead, I could have had any time I wanted. This was a warning sign.
Having played Blakes before we knew about the quirky club house that seems to be designed for the restaurant rather than golfers with the changing rooms and pro shop in the basement. It seems that Blakes now do a Sunday carvery, which looked very good and popular with the locals, but unusual for a golf club?
Anyway, from past experience, Blakes is quick draining and stands up well to the winter weather, we made our way to the first tee, stopping off at the practise green. The putting green was in poor condition. It had been vandalized by someone pouring petrol or weed killer leaving patches of blackened grass.
The tees at Blakes are excellent, large, very flat and well maintained. After a few holes it became clear that the vandals had not stopped at the practise green, many of the greens had severe damage, all from something like liquid weed killer.
The course at Blakes has always been a quixotic attempt to recreate an authentic links course in Essex. The use of exotic (to Essex anyway) grasses was always going to be a tilt at a greenkeeping windmill when the course is surrounded by fields containing native grasses.
Said grasses are reclaiming Blakes and that is not the end of the world. The more immediate concern is the vandalism of the greens. They do not detract much from the putting in winter conditions but are not pleasant to look at! It will be a different story in summer.
I have always enjoyed the course at Blakes. Where else can you find a Sawgrass 17th Island green replica hole on on inland links?
I wish the greekeepers every success in returning this course to the condition it deserves.
The practice facilities are very good with a chipping green with practice bunker as well as a range.
I have given Blakes a 4/5 for VFM as even in current condition, £20 for a teetime on Sunday at 10:00, is good value.
Clubhouse/Hospitality
Quality of Course
Practice Facilities
Value for Money
1st time at Blakes
we had to pay £12 to play this course, and well worth the money in my opnion. I play off of 11.5 and on this course that is an advantage of the 18 handicap player on this course, lots of slopey fairways. The greens are very fast indeed, they were at their worst today, full of holes and sandy as most courses are doing about the same sort of time. that being said, in my 3 ball not one of complained of a bad roll in that condition for the entired round, they run very true, and did I mention VERY fast. but it is almost impossible to hold a ball on the green, the ball just wont bite on the surface, the sand maybe? no idea but they bounded on.
The fairways the grass is uneven, and a couple more blind tee shots than I would prefer, (buy the course book is a good tip I didn't and it cost me a couple). The shape and layout I think is good and is a challenge with some opportunities to birdie out there too. but it does need more work on the fairways and cleaning up the surrunding off fairway bits, but a good challenging course. I bet it's a real git when the wind gets up though :o) but for 12 quid, worth a bash indeed. Did I mention how FAST the greens are?
Clubhouse/Hospitality
Quality of Course
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Value for Money
Blakes GC
Nice, large modern clubhouse.
Very good practice/warm-up facilities, including a open range, chipping area, bunker, and putting green.
Tees and fairways are poor, but the greens are good despite looking like they are a bit sparse where the grass is concerned, but a true putt is obtained.
Bunkers were good, with sand! Although a few of the people who are playing might like to learn how to use a rake.
Very open, interesting course with very few trees, and those that are there are small. If the wind is blowing you'll feel it on this course.
I would go back and play there again.
Russ
