Clubhouse/Hospitality
Quality of Course
Practice Facilities
Value for Money
An enjoyable parkland course
Magnolia Park GC is a parkland style course in Boarstall, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire! It is very close to Oxford!
*****
It is a proprietary commercial club with a small membership! There is a 40 bedroom Best Western Hotel on site! The hotel is the primary focus of the business!
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The course opened in 1999 and was designed by Jonathan Gaunt!
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The course is a par 73 for both men and ladies! The yardages are 6,946, 6,556 and 5,613 yards from the white, yellow and red tees!
The course comprises 4 par 3s, 9 par 4s and 5 par 5s!
The SSSs are 74, 73 and 74 respectively! Reflective of a difficult course!
I/we played off the yellow tees!
*****
The round opened and closed with a par 5!
Conditions were wet and windy then improved after a few holes! A very heavy shower hit as we were having coffee at the halfway hut, but the weather cleared thereafter!
Water is in play on several holes!
There are very scenic views from the course in places, including the M40!
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The greens were generally large undulating in very good condition! They were firm despite heavy morning rain!
My total putts for the round was 31 putts, ie 3 singles and 14 doubles. A very good outturn! The remaining hole was a zero putt birdie!
*****
The Par 3s
The par 3s are a mix of hole challenges :
#2: 149 yards, index 9! A challenging tee shot over a heart shaped pond, early on in the round, to an angled green, bunkers right, left and back! Messed this one up!
#7: 125 yards, index 15! Into the wind, my tee shot was short of the green! Holed for birdie!
#11: 207 yards, index 12! A long slightly uphill tee shot! I missed the green right, chipped on and 2 putts for a good bogey!
#17: 142 yards, index 10! A carry over a ravine to a raised green, with a deep ditch short front and left! Bogey is a good score!
My outturn score for the par 3s was +4, a birdie, 2 bogeys and a triple bogey! As I had 3 shots on these 4 holes, I was nett +1 too many! The triple bogey on the 2nd hole, due to my tee shot finding water, my only blob on the round!
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The Par 4s
My outturn score for the 9 par 4s was +8, ie 2 pars, 6 bogeys and 1 double bogey!
As I had 7 shots the outturn was only +1 too many! A very good outcome!
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The Par 5s are a good mix of holes:
#1: 508 yards, index 11!
#3: 439 yards, index 17!
#8: 522 yards, index 3!
#13: 477 yards, index 8!
#18: 501 yards, index 16!
My outturn score on the par 5s was +3, ie 3 pars, a bogey and a double bogey! With my 3 shots this was nett par golf! Excellent!
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Visitors green fees are £22.50 if booked via the Internet!
I entered their annual Seniors Open Stableford competition. The £35 entry fee included coffee and bacon roll, 18 holes, and a ham, egg and chips meal, and prizes! Excellent vfm!
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There is a small Pro-shop, with welcoming staff!
No course planner booklet available!
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All in all this was a very enjoyable golf experience!
The post match meal was excellent!
The disappointment for the club organisers was the low number of competitors in the field! It must have clashed with another nearby popular
Clubhouse/Hospitality
Quality of Course
Practice Facilities
Value for Money
Long and scenic, but mostly long
If you're looking at scoring well then you'd better hit it long, because this course is 6556 yards from the yellows, and six of the par 4's are 400+ yards. To be fair, the mostly wide fairways do allow you to open your shoulders, so that helps a little.
A lot of the courses I've played on recently are still struggling from last summer's heat, but that doesn't seem to be an issue with the quite lovely Magnolia Park's fairways. The greens and tees were very acceptable too.
As for the holes, there's a very scenic stretch from 5 through to 8, assuming you can block out the M40 running through the view. The 12th is a par 4 that forces you to choose between going left or right of a bunker and a line of trees that splits the fairway. Left is shorter and tighter, right is longer and wider. I chose the trees, but I suggest you don't do that. The 15th is a beast of a par 4 - 425 yards, and with a huge lake in front of the green.
I can't imagine that you'd be disappointed with a round here. Along with an excellent course, there's a clubhouse and practise facilities to match.
