# Aldersey Green, near Chester



## Driven2Distraction (Jun 9, 2012)

This was by no means my first choice course to play while away on a break in the NW while the Mrs filled her morning with spa treatments at our hotel, but with the other clubs on my list either having the tee reserved for club comps or hosting tournaments on the morning that I could play, it was here at Aldersey Green that I ended up.

On first inspection of their website the course didnâ€™t exactly fill me with excitement, but as the green fees were more than reasonable (more of that later) and as it was me on my Jack Jones filling a morning with golf rather than other holiday activities, I set off for the course looking forward to my morningâ€™s play.

On arrival at the course for my 9:07 tee time I was astonished to find the car park completely empty!  I suppose it was a Thursday morning and it was a little â€œdampâ€  but if that was my own course I would expect to find a substantial number of cars already ensconced for the day.

One Iâ€™d paid my money to the very nice club manager I pretty much had the freedom of the course until a society was due in later that morning â€“ and what a pleasant surprise it was!

Itâ€™s by no means a long course as itâ€™s only a shade over 6000 yards from the back tees, and while the two shortest par 3s (2 & 16)  are fairly bland the rest of the course  is an absolute cracker - what it lacks in length it certainly makes up for in interest & intrigue with undulating fairways on many of the tree lined holes PLENTY of water hazards with a number of ponds and streams that come into play at some point on the way round.   There are two excellent long par 3s (3 & 13) at around 215 each, 6 & 10 are two short par 4s that give the bombers a chance of the green from the tee if theyâ€™re brave enough to take them on, 5 & 12 are couple of proper 3 shot par 5s, 9 is par five that can be reached in two but needs a good straight second to a narrow green and 8 & 17 have tee shots that require you to manage your way around or over the water.

Highlights for me were

the par 4 seventh which from the tee appeared to have a row of trees growing across the fairway, but was in fact an optical illusion of the dog leg â€“ again another water choice from the tee, smash it with a driver around the corner to leave a short pitch to the green but run the risk of  either running into, or not quite carrying the stream or play it safe from the tee but leaving a mid iron without being able to see all of the green.
And

the seventeenthâ€¦â€¦ the uphill tee shot left me a bit fooled as I could see from the map on the tee box that one of the many ponds encroached halfway across the fairway at what I had thought to be driver distance so I thought I was being smart by pulling out my 3 wood only to see an almighty splash over the horizonâ€¦â€¦. Iâ€™m still not sure if I could have quite got over with the big dog
Overall itâ€™s a real risk/reward course, and while I played my driver from most of the tees, this was mostly through ignorance of the course and while it worked out for me pretty well most times, I suspect my strategy would be completely different if I was playing in a medal for a score
The course was in good condition, with the fairways excellent and while the greens were pretty slow, itâ€™s no surprise with the amount of rain that the area has been subjected to recently
While it will never match up to some of itâ€™s championship calibre neighbours  I can heartily recommend Aldersey Green as a splendidly enjoyable track! And considering it was onlyâ€¦. Â£15!!!!!! it is an complete and utter STEAL â€“ if you took me there â€œblindâ€ I would happily hand over 3 or 4 times that amount to play â€“ and their society deals look to be top notch too.  If I ever find myself in that part of the country again, Iâ€™ll definitely be booking a return visit. :thup:


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## louise_a (Jun 9, 2012)

just had a look online, only Â£10 after 3pm. Nice course planner on the website too. Only a hour from me, might be worth a trip.


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## stevelev (Jun 13, 2012)

I went there on a society day last year, was disappointed not to see it on our list of dayd out this year. As you said pleasant staff, reward / risk course. 

Glad you enjoyed it, what did you go round in? Just curious as I played it off the course book, now use my SC just wondered.


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## Stuart_C (Jun 14, 2012)

Played here a few times, its not my type of course tbh with the amount of water on the holes but value for money is superb.

Pryors Hayes isn't too far away is much better imo.


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## Liverbirdie (Jun 14, 2012)

Stuart_C said:



			Played here a few times, its not my type of course tbh with the amount of water on the holes but value for money is superb.

Pryors Hayes isn't too far away is much better imo.
		
Click to expand...

The greens were crap/very slow at Pryors 2-3 years ago when we played in this mad comp, once a month. Have you played there recently?

Vicars cross which is about 10 mins down the road, I found better, but maybe not as cheap.


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