Hampton Court Palace Golf Club

Hampton Court Palace is now part of the Get Golfing Charity group and one can see that money is getting invested both into the Clubhouse, the course & practice facilities as well.

There will be a new "posh" restaurant, Crab & Lobster, opening in May I believe, upgraded Clubhouse Bar/restaurant facility. Plan for a roof terrace overlooking the Royal Park, the present terrace is going to be extended.

Outdoor range being re-seeded and practice putting green re-laid & re-shape.

Nice to see changes & improvements, that is the 2nd Club under Get Golfing umbrella that I visited, I am impressed with their vision, all the money they make get re-invested or goes to charity.

At the moment the course is pretty much the same, the layout of the holes may revert to what it was years ago, well before my time at the Club.

At the present time, due to Covid-19 and building work, there is a "horse box" , called BOX Nineteen that serves as a Proshop, Reception & refreshments place. Very friendly staff (Steve & Jamie) who seem to look forward to their new upgraded surroundings.

If you like a well drain course, inland type feel and playing with Hampton Court Palace in the background with fallow deers roaming, this is the place to visit. By the way, local rule is: in a bunker if your ball is in a hoof mark, you can pick and place without penalty!!!!!!!!

THE END......

Brigitte

Excellent course played in a Fore Business event

Lovely course, well maintained fairways and greens. Bunkers can be a bit patchy but stay out of the rough. Lucky if you find your ball on most holes. Still, playing golf with the deer looking on and the House on the background the course is wel worth a visit

Not the best day to play the course for the first time, but good company and a reasonable score made it worthwhile! Too many temporary greens (8) and Hurricane/Storm Jonas gave us a good battering! would like to play again in better conditions, will probably have a more favourable review then! Staff were excellent, food in Clubhouse top nosh!

The greens here were in very good condition, as was the course in general, with lots of patches of long rough. Though in general, our group found the majority of the balls which didn't find the fairway. Very open to the wind, and had a kind of links feel to it in places. My only negative comment would be, as a four ball who had never played here, the signage to find your next hole was poor or mostly non-existant, to the point we played the wrong hole at one point. Something one of the guys working on the course, told us had frequently happened on that particular hole!

Thanks to the recent sunny weather the course was exceptionally dry, with very little sign of the colour green across the course. I'm guessing I didn't see it at its best. That said, a lot of other courses have handled the weather for better than this one.

I was told by my playing partners that Hampton Court Palace looks a far better course during normal British weather, but I found it very flat and featureless. On a lot of the holes the fairways just seem to be made up by cutting a route through a mass of long grass.

The greens certainly weren't the best I've played on this year, and the bunkers had barely any sand in them.

This isn't a course I will be rushing back to, and I certainly don't think anyone paying full price for their green fee would be getting value for money.

Hampton Course Palace golf course was in truly great condition on this sunny but windy Spring day.

I had an invite to join 2 friendly Crown golf members playing the course today via a connection from another TSG member (Gary C., you may remember I wrote about Gary on numerous occasions: split trousers, hit on the head by my sand shot, and hole in one....), just to mention once more how the TSG community give you the opportunity to meet new and interesting characters and today it was Per, a handsome Swedish writer (cannot wait to read his books).

The course was wearing its Spring coat: nicely cut very lush green fairways, 1st cut not too penalising, the Spring rough: well it is difficult to find one's ball once in there, the Summer is worse as the rough is not normally cut, so better to keep to fairways defined by guiding postS as this course is an inland links.

The green were truly superb: receptive, beautifully cut, a pleasure to pitch, chip or putt on them.

The bunkers are very deep, some repairs going on on some of the edges, the sand is not deep enough to my liking, but I managed my 4 sand shots very well.

Deers were present by the 4th hole: the course in on Royal parkland.

Very pleasant modern Clubhouse, excellent food choice/quality, coffee 1st class, so is the service.

Friendly reception in well appointed Proshop.

Excellent practice facilities: large open range, chipping/putting green + an extra putting green by the lovely outdoor terrace.

Part of the Crown Golf.

I have today taken a One month trial, as this course is only a few miles from my home and I like playing this challenging course but I am torn apart as I have my favourite course 40 miles further away (J6 M25), wont mention a name or I may get into trouble...but I am sure you know the one.....think TSG Champsionship day...

My score for today's game will be revealed later tonight.

THE END of a short review...

Played free as a crown member, course as rated 3/5 would play again as long as I wasn't paying the listed green fee .. nice course