South Winchester GC is a par 72 inland links style course outside of Winchester, Hampshire. It is a proprietary pay & play/members club which is part of the Crown Golf portfolio of courses.
The course was designed by Peter Alliss and Clive Clark (? when?).
The course meanders through/round numerous 'artificial' looking hillocks/mounds. There are 4 par 3s, 10 par 4s and 4 par 5s, ie a conventionally structured layout. The course is long, with Blue, White and Yellow men's tee boxes.
The Blue back tees play at 7,086 on the card, wheres the Yellow forward tees, which we played, were a mere 6,485 yards.
Four of the par 4s, ie holes 4, 9, 13 & 15, were in excess of 400 yards and 2 of the par 5s, were over 500 yards. The layout and topography of the course means that us moderate hitters found the course play a lot longer than its simple card yardage. The SSS is 71.
The course meanders away left from high above the clubhouse, returns back to the 9th green outside the clubhouse, then after a significant upward change of level to the 10th tee, meanders around to return down a par 5 dogleg left to the 18th green directly below the clubhouse verandah.
Apart from the two climbs up to the 1st and 10th tees at the clubhouse, the course is a moderately undulating walk.
The course fairways are firm, generally wide beyond some challenging carries on some holes, are slopey in places and some have some large bunkers bordering the fairway edges. The sand was generally in good condition.
A significant downside, both visually and having an actual impact on some holes, was the large number of damaged fairways/banks, caused by voracious crows!!! Whille patching was underway the extent of damage was extensive!
All of the par 3s involved tee shots hitting down from varying degrees of height. Just the way I like par 3s to look; ie you can see the pins/ball go in if you 'hole in one'!
The greens are generally very large and undulating. While putting lines were generally OK to read I struggled with their pace; some were very fast whilst others were the opposite. I three putted on six occasions, of which one was a good birdie opportunity and two were birdie longshots!
This is a course which is either particularly suited to players who are predominantly straight off the tee or the other type of hitter who simply bombs the ball over the potential trouble! The Brian Scott's of the golfing world would take the course apart unless playing off the back tees.
The pro shop staff were very helpful/welcoming.
We had a late morning tee time so were unable to sample the club catering. Arrived too late for a breakfast/lunch and the kitchen closed whilst we were still out on the course.
The bar appeared to be limited in size/narrow but they do have some high backed arm chairs in front of a an open wood fire.
The course is about a 90 minute drive from South West London via the M3. OK in daylight but not so pleasant returning in the dark! Come back summer!
I was a members guest and paid the £30 guest rate. Perhaps a little more than a simple pensioner would want to pay but OK for the workers!
I had an enjoyable day on the course among very good company, ie Brian, John and Brigitte. I look forward to another opportunity to play it but in the summertime when its at its best.
Finally I think the club website, at least the phone version, was not very informative, eg no background history, no scorecard details and no hole flyovers.
Date Monday, 26, November 2018
