Clubhouse/Hospitality
Quality of Course
Practice Facilities
Value for Money
A good parkland style course
Temple GC is a parkland style course in Hurley, near Maidenhead, Berkshire! It is a members club!
*****
The club was founded in 1909 and opened in 1910!
It was designed by Willie Park Jnr! Henry Cotton was appointed Club Professional in 1954!
The course is on chalk so drains well! We played the day after heavy overnight rain with no adverse affect on the fairways or greens!
*****
The course is a par 70 off the white tees, a par 69 off the yellow tees and par 73 off the red ladies tees! There are 5 par 3s, 10 par 4s and 3 par 5s!
The SSSs are 71, 69 and 73 respectively!
The yardages are 6,210, 5,773 and 5,515!
*****
I played off the white tees in the club's inaugural Seniors Open Stableford Golf Competition!
I scored 35pts, nett par, finishing in 12th of 57 competitors!
(The CSS for the competition was 71, ie nett par!)
There were 5 players with 35pts (8th to 12th) but my back 9 15pts left me at the wrong end!
The winning score was 41pts by a Temple member! Two players finished with 40pts, also including a Temple member!
*****
The course opens with a 381 yards par 4 tee shot down from high in front of the clubhouse to a generous fairway leaving a short iron to the green! An inviting opportunity for a birdie or par!
The club state this to be one of the most spectacular opening holes in the southern counties, with panoramic views etc! A bit of an exaggeration but the golf challenge of the hole doesn't quite match up to such a claim! Still good!
Holes 1 to 12 follow the lower part of the course and after the uphill par 3 13th meander around towards the 17th and 18th holes which lead back up the highest part of the course to the clubhouse!
*****
The 5 par 3s are an interesting mix of short, long and a very long holes!
The 3rd and 10th are the standout holes!
The 5th and 13th are shortish tee shots to raised greens; guarded by at least 3 bunkers each! The 13th tee shot involves a higher uphill carry!
The 8th is a 230 yards high level tee shot down to an angled green, with options to either carry the ball full to the green with the challenge of holding the sloping 30 yards length, or landing the tee shot short left and running the ball down left to right! An interesting dilemma on a beautiful looking hole! Bogey is OK!
The 16th is a 213 yards long moderately uphill tee shot to a very long green, though not obvious from the tee box, to carry over or between 2 bunkers! Trees line the full length of the tee shot along the left boundary! Bogey is OK!
And finally the 10th hole, a 243 yards uphill tee shot to a completely sunken, and therefore blind target! The green is completely surrounded by a high sloping/undulating bank that funnels the ball down/around to the green!
The ball doesn't need to carry all the way because of the bank but!
Anything staying above the green will require either a blind pitch or long putt! A lottery!
There is a bunker front left of the green!
A 'line marker' post at the back of the green indicates the target line!
One of the most unique / unusual par 3 holes one is likely to encounter! Bogey is a very good score!
*****
The par 4s
*****
The par 5s
*****
The greens
*****
Green Fees / Competition Fee
The summer (May to October) weekday visitors green fees are £50, £55 per day, or £35 County Card!
My competition entry fee was £49, comprising coffee and bacon bap, Danish pastries, 18 holes, refreshments (tea /coffee, chocolate, biscuits or fruit) at the halfway house, a 2 course carvery meal, coffee and prizes! A great vfm package!
While I very much enjoyed playing the course, and I'm minded to possibly enter again next year, l wouldn't be prepared to pay a golf only £50 green fee! Whilst a good course it is not in the high tariff bracket!
*****
There is a moderately sized proshop, with friendly helpful staff!
A lovely course planner booklet was available! Very useful!
