# Romsey Golf Club Review



## User20205 (Apr 18, 2011)

Romsey Golf Club 

While others were in the more salubrious surroundings of Woodhall Spa, Syr (Simon) & I had a trip to Romsey Golf Club, for a very civilised Sunday afternoon round.
Neither of us had played the course before, so didnâ€™t know what to expect form a course that only measures 5718 off the whites.

What you get is a tight, hilly, thinking mans golf course. 

The first is a fairly gentle  downhill 290 par 4.  Itâ€™s an attractive tee shot, from an elevated tee, over a stream to a tight, well bunkered fairway. If you walked off with anything less than par, you would be a bit disappointed. Needless to say we both bogied it!

After the first couple of holes the course sets off into the forest, where the changes in elevation really become apparent. The stand out holes on the front 9 for me were; 4 a 370 yard blind par 4, down into a valley & up to any elevated green. 6 a 440 yard downhill par 4 and 8, another downhill par 4, with a green protected by a stream at the front. 

The back 9 again is a mix of short tight par 4â€™s, 1 par 3 and the solitary par 5. It could get a bit samey, but there are a couple of stand out holes.  14 is a nice down hill par 4, seemingly tight from the tee, but if you manage to carry a couple of trees the fairway really opens up. The green is sunken and down hill all the way, so even fat chips turn out ok. 

16 is a cracking 360 par 4, with a blind drive, and a second shot to a small well protected green with a massive drop off to the right. 

We managed to get around in just over 3 Â¼ hours. We werenâ€™t in any kind of rush and there was no one behind us.  Simon took the spoils with a respectable 33 points off 16, while I managed to limp home with 30 points off 12. It really is a course that would benefit from being played a few times.

I liked the fact it made me think on the tee. I pulled driver out 3 times. I also liked the mix of par 3's. 4 in all, 2 around the 180 yard mark, both uphill. 1 150 yards and one downhill 100 yard to an island green surrounded by bunkers. This green wasn't very receptive to a knifed gap wedge. 

My only criticism was that the greens were really slow and bobbly, this maybe down to the fact that it is still early in the season. 

All in, good round, good company, worth a visit.


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## SyR (Apr 18, 2011)

Good review Nick, I think you got it spot on. 

After checking the card + website before playing I was expecting quite an easy, flat course. It was however much more interesting than that. You're right about having to think about each tee shot rather than just grabbing the driver on every par 4. I hit a variety of clubs from 7 iron up to driver. After a couple of rounds, it should be possible to find a good score. 

It's fair to say the condition wasn't great, especially the greens, but I think that's mainly due to the course still recovering from the winter. The mature forest that is tightly wrapped around most holes probably means it hasn't had much sun yet.

The forest made the drives tight off most tees with any stray drives (mainly mine) ending up in the woods. It was however fairly easy to find the ball and recover to at least the fairway. The large changes it elevation made for interesting club selections on some holes and it was nice to see some greens with multi-tiers to spice the putting up a bit. Once the greens are running quicker, there will be some character-building putts to be made. 

It was a very relaxing afternoons golf, despite the everest like climb up the par four 4th and 7th. 




			one downhill 100 yard to an island green surrounded by bunkers. This green wasn't very receptive to a knifed gap wedge.
		
Click to expand...

You didn't give it a chance with your 200 yard gap wedge. It held quite nicely once it returned to earth.


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