Wildwood Country Club

There are three circuits of 9 holes at Wildwood, and I think you'll have to play well to score low on any one of them. The toughest, in my humble opinion, is the shortest of the three: The Woodland. It almost seems like there's more lakes on this nine than The Lakes nine. Whether there is or isn't, you will have to hit the ball straight.

The Parkland and The Lakes give you a little more room off the tee, but not a huge amount, and they are a little longer too.

The greens looked a little patchy, but I think they'd been treated recently. However, they were very good, quick, and ran true.

The prettiest hole by far is the 5th hole on the Parkland nine, but other than that the holes tend to look a little samey. Not that there aren't some really good holes here, and the course will really test you, but I wouldn't call this course scenic.

The clubhouse had great views of the course and the food was good.

I played here on a cold, windy Sunday in November. With the benefit of hindsight, not the best idea..... but we all try these crazy things sometimes!

There are three 9-hole courses, for which separate scorecards are available for each combination. That is the good part.... and also the greens should be mentioned as they are excellent in both design and condition.

Perhaps one greenkeeper is employed just to look after the greens.... for the rest of the course is not good at all. There was a distinct lack of maintenance around the course. Fairways were so poorly defined that our group all got one hole completely wrong, aiming the wrong way and so finding our balls in long grass. This is easily done here, as the long grass extends to areas surrounding some greens, where it is quite possible to lose a ball, despite being only a few feet from the putting surface. Signage is poor, so it's easy to lose your way although in our case, when we found ourselves back at the clubhouse after 12 holes, we decided enough was enough and didn't really need any more torture.....

Ok, it was cold and had started to rain, but you should get the picture.....!

Back in the clubhouse, the day improved considerably. It is a very welcoming 'barn' style with the only missing feature being a hearty fireplace. Friendly staff and delicious food from a very good menu made us all feel much better about the day..... it was just a shame about the 'golf' part.

I should perhaps add here that these are just my own opinions of what I found (Sunday, 24 Nov 13) and may not be representative of course conditions at other times. I will not return, as I think better value than the £25 we paid can be found elsewhere.

On the positive side the greens were excellent but fast and testing. Putting green was equally good, though did not use the range. Some very challenging holes, especially to start. On the negative, apart from the greens the course was quite shabby, long wooly approaches to lot of greens penalising a good shot, lot of very tatty bunkers, broken/poor directional signage and a couple of quite odd par fives. Played a number of better courses for the same money we paid, so would not rush back.

Very good course that will test every area of your game!