Waterlooville GC is a parkland style member's course in Waterlooville, Hampshire! Just a little north of Portsmouth!
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The club / course was founded in 1907, initially as a 9 holer! It was extended to 18 holes in 1962! Thereafter a complete redesign of the course to its current layout took place in 1976/77! Sir Henry Cotton was the architect!
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The course is a par 72 off the white and yellow mens tees, and is a par 73 from the ladies red tees!
There are 5 par 3s, 8 par 4s and 5 par 5s! The SSSs are 71, 72 and 73 respectively!
The white, yellow and red yardages are 6,542, 6,371 and 5,722!
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This review belatedly follows my playing in the club's annual Seniors Open Stableford competition, in July 2018 last year!
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The course opens and closes with challenging par 5s!
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The greens
My total putts for the round was 31, ie 5 singles, 10 doubles and 2 triples! This was a very good outcome but with room for a moderate improvement! Putting wasn't the weak area of my game!
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The par 3s
My outturn score for the 5 par 3s was +8, ie 2 bogeys and 3 double bogeys! A 2 shot penalty for a tee shot infringement accounted for one double! I put myself in 3 greenside bunkers off the tee!
Only one shot received for the 5 holes! Par 3s were the real weakness of my game this day!
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The par 4s
The index 2 8th (420 yards) and the index 1 12th (429 yards were well over 400 yards and so unreachable for me in regulation! My bogey 5s were very good scores!
The index 5 10th and index 7 14th were not far behind!
My outturn score for the 8 par 4s was +8, ie 1 par, 6 bogeys and 1 double bogey!
This was only +2 shots too many against my handicap after taking into account my 6 shots! A respectable outcome!
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The par 5s
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My competition Stableford points off my club handicap was only 28pts, including 2 blob holes and 6 1 point holes!
The winning score was xx points! I finished xth of xx competitors!
This outturn was +7 shots too many! Only 3 pars against my expectation of 6-8 pars! My 2 shot penalty for teeing off outside of the tee marker on one of the par 3s didn't help matters!
I always give myself an allowance in my mind of +5 shots to account for the unfamiliarity with the course layout, holes, greens, bunkers etc, when measuring my performance outcomes on a new course played for the first time, especially under the pressure of a qualifying competition round!
With that in mind my overall performance was not too bad! A next time playing with my new found course knowledge, should result in a much better (lower) gross score outcome!
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The clubhouse was good! The host members were very welcoming and helpful! One of my playing partners was a club member!
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The 2019 Visitors green fees are £42.50, £27.50 as a member guest, or £32. 50 with a County Card! Cheaper rates apply after 1pm and then 4pm!
As much as I enjoyed the course and the general ambience of the club, I would only want to play it again if it was no more than £30 golf only!
I do recommend it to any TSGer contemplating playing in the area!
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There is a moderate pro-shop! The club did not provide a course planner booklet!
Date Sunday, 22, September 2019
