Old Thorns Golf Club

Played here yesterday. Great course although it did take nearly 5 hours to get round. Some superb holes and you need to manage your way round some of the holes. Great facilities and always nice to prepare for the round with bacon rolls and cups of tea!! Drinks buggy was a welcome relief halfway round. Great deals to be had at this place. Will definately be back to play again.

Old Thorns GC is a parkland style course in Griggs Green, Liphook, Hampshire.

The course was designed by Peter Alliss and Dave Thomas, in 1982. It was formally opened by a world famous fourball match involving Jack Nicklaus, Seve Ballesteros, Isao Aoki and Bill Rogers. Isao Aoki came out on top with a 69.

*****

After a recent remodelling of the 9th hole as a short par 4 to a totally new green complex; the course is now a par 72 again!

The old 9th green is now a practice area!

*****

After the ownership of the course complex changed hands a couple of times the current ownership has invested significant sums in the enhancement of the course but also in hotel, conference, wedding, dining and a leisure centre gym/spa facility. There is also a Starbucks coffee shop on site.

*****

The Course
The course has a spectacular and partly secluded feel. There are several changes in elevation at the beginning and then at the end of the round. The walk up from the 2nd green to the 3rd teebox and then down from the 5th teebox to the green below are severe. Later there is a severe elevation change up to the 15th green, across the par 3 16th hole and then up to the 17th teebox. The use of a buggy would be recommended.

The course is 6,288 / 5,858 and 5,149 yards respectively from the white, yellow and red tees.

There are 5 par 3s, 9 par 4s and 4 par 5s.

Water is in play on at least 9 of the holes with a few lateral water filled
ditches also awaiting the really wayward tee/approach shots.

The par 4s/5s have some stunning tee shots in prospect. Severe trouble awaits those who cannot drive straight'ish on a consistent basis. The course meanders on the low level from the 6th teebox through to the 15th teebox.

Unusually, the index 1 hole on the course is the long double dogleg 18th!

This is a high quality course which I strongly consider falls into the 'must play' category. It is in particular a high quality venue for a club/society away break.

The Negative
The above said; all was not well with the condition of the course. Played in the 3rd week of March 2019 by a group of 20 Cherry Lodge Pistoleros on Sunday/Monday break; our group organiser was only informed on the Friday before our Sunday visit, that we would be using 4 temporary greens, ie the 4th, 5th, 13th and 15th holes. Reasons being that they had not recovered from winter weather damage. One of the greens OOU was their signature hole the downhill par 4 5th. The 4th green was being rebuilt. The 13th and 15th holes looked good visually but the reseeding apparently hadn't fully taken.

While winter/spring course conditions at all courses are at the mercy of the weather; and course maintenance regimes; what is not acceptable is that the problems with these 4 greens were not of an emergency nature and no reference to this was on the club website and our organiser was not informed in time to enable our group to cancel and find an alternative venue.

The absence of these 4 greens was a significant disappointment, especially for those members of our group who had not played the course before and had accepted the opinion of those who had already played it in choosing this venue ahead of other options.

Our group was on an inclusive deal of £99 for 2 rounds of golf, an evening 2 course carvery dinner, an overnight stay and breakfast. Evidently 80% of the £99 cost is applied towards the food and hotel accommodation element with only 20% applying to the 2 rounds of golf. The golf resort was obviously not prepared to put that proportion of revenue at risk!.

While the club/resort was not prepared to consider any cash refund in lieu of the inferior course condition, we did accept their offer of a free round of golf to be taken within the next 12 months.

This curtesy round was taken at the beginning of September 2019, however only 13 Pistoleros were able to take up the complimentary round!

*****

Catering

The evening meal was a multiple choice main course carvery with options of having a starter/main; a main/pudding or even a starter/pudding. The roast turkey and ham was of high quality. The breakfast was the usual combination of cereals, continental or full english.

The twin rooms in the Alliss Suite were adequate but some of our group complained about the lack of air conditioning.

*****

Tokens for the use of their driving range were provided as part of the deal, however, the range is short and only the use of irons was allowed.

The vfm for this off season break was excellent however prices for this type of deal rise significantly during the high summer season.

So, when there's a course on your bucket list and you arrange to play there, there is often a worry that you will be disappointed, not here, this course is superb! The layout meanders through rich, dense woodland and is a real test of golf for anyone.The first hole is a good indicator for the rest of the course, with a tight fairways and a quick green and it had been raining hard for few days.

Once past the second hole and over the first ridge, you are met with a beautiful and expanse of fairways, whereby you could easily be forgiven for thinking you are in Switzerland (seriously!). The next 'vista' is one I will remember for the rest of my golfing life.... we climbed to the white tees to see the view, not only of the fairway 100ft below but right across Hampshire and the New Forest. A view only matched in the UK by the 18th at Seaford Head. My oh my, I will be talking about that view for months, if not years! The rest of the course would not be out of place at either The Grove, Foxhills, Wentworth or Brocket Hall. it is excellent.

Designed by Peter Alliss and managed by his son Henry, you can a lot of love has been put into the course. However, the complex is as much a Hotel/Wedding venue as a golf venue, so don't expect to see thousands of excited golfers walking around (a la The Belfry) but you will be mingling with the odd 'outsider' but not enough to spoil your fun.

The Hotel itself is more than adequate but seems to suffer from an identity crisis, it's not sure whether it's a wedding venue/spa/nightclub or a golfers home from home.... I suspect the latter makes more money. However, for a four star hotel, I would expect some air conditioning in the rooms or the restaurant - I was sweating while eating my breakfast and not from too much alcohol the night before(?!). That said, none of the above should detract from what is a fantastic place to play golf and I look forward to playing there again sometime soon!

It is my first time playing at Old Thorns and will really want to come back to play again! The course is difficult to play but one would really like all the different type of tasks.

I will look forward to playing here in the summer. A great course, friendly helpful staff and a great all round practice centre and range.

A high quality course, with changes in elevation, shaping of holes, water features and very fast greens to challenge players of all levels - the yellows are manageable for mid handicappers. A lot of building work going on at present to upgrade hotel, clubhouse, pro shop etc - when it is finished I would expect the green fees to go up but for the time being there are some good deals to be had online. Just a couple of minutes off the A3. Recommended.

I'm not going to spoil it by telling you much, but it was worth £25 and even better coz i won 1st 9 and overall. I will be posting another game there before the end of the year, infact 2 games