5.5 hours to play The Belfry

[Svenska]

I played the PGA at The Belfry yesterday and it took 5 and a half hours to get round. They'd let x 3 lots of 2 balls off before us and had stacked up way more tee times than they should have done. I've played there a few times and it seems to be getting worse. I can't fault the courses, they are usually in very good condition but I can't help feel this £5 million revamp of the hotel and facilities has led to them trying to cram as many people in to play as possible.

The course marshal was a waste of space as well, he didn't seem to think that some of these 2 balls joining up to make 4 ball's would have made any difference? Bizarre.

I shot 76 gross though so perhaps I should be made to wait 10 minutes on most shots more often!! Anyone else suffered similar playing times there? It's put me off going there now.

 

[Green Bay Hacker]

Not the news I wanted to hear. Eight of us have got 3 rounds booked there at the end on April.

 

[Beezerk]

Not that bad but had a 4 ball holding up the entire course on Friday, wouldn't let anyone through. Held us up quite badly but it was chaos behind us, I saw 2 x 2 balls waiting on the tee behind us at one point.
2 ball in front of us gave up after 6 holes, we waited on every shot a good 5 minutes until they packed in after 14!

 

[CMAC]

I played the PGA at The Belfry yesterday and it took 5 and a half hours to get round. They'd let x 3 lots of 2 balls off before us and had stacked up way more tee times than they should have done. I've played there a few times and it seems to be getting worse. I can't fault the courses, they are usually in very good condition but I can't help feel this £5 million revamp of the hotel and facilities has led to them trying to cram as many people in to play as possible.

The course marshal was a waste of space as well, he didn't seem to think that some of these 2 balls joining up to make 4 ball's would have made any difference? Bizarre.

I shot 76 gross though so perhaps I should be made to wait 10 minutes on most shots more often!! Anyone else suffered similar playing times there? It's put me off going there now.

#HumbleBrag post of the week

 

[Scotty Cameron]

Looks like its a place i would not want to visit. Over 5 hours for a round is totally unacceptable in this day and age when golf is losing clubs and players all over the country. If you want to attract new players to the sport then this is not the way to do it,

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Has always been slow when I've played and that's before the refurb. Not sure of the point of a marshal if they aren't going to do anything about the pace of play. It's a shame as I like the place, especially the PGA. Not a huge Brabazon fan but nice to have played it a few times and got it ticked off the famous courses to play

 

[3565]

76... Nice, well played.

Isn't it about lowest score and not the quickest round?

 

[Wabinez]

I fully expect places like this to be slower than usual, as people take time to play, as well as it being unfamiliar. The fact that there could be 'non-regular' players playing as they have gone away for a society outing, or just a group of people, then standards could be low. As long as the weather is OK, then fine.

Now, more importantly, what are the course conditions like, as heading there next weekend!

 

[Tashyboy]

Had the chance of two free rounds this week at the Belfrey....
The Derby course. Played it and no thanks.

played the Brabazon last year and a few of the holes were quality. The course was immaculate but a lot of the Brabazon was in memorable and expensive.

the lads who go regular prefer the PGA course of the three.

 

[SteveBonners]

It would appear that nothing changes then so far as pace of play at the belfry is concerned. I last played there 15 years ago and our round took 5 hours and 45 minutes!

It really was an endurance, with long waits on just about every shot. Thankfully, it was in May so there was sufficient day light, but it was not something I would ever want to repeat.

 

[JohnnyDee]

Had a siimilar experience when playing there 6-7 years ago.

The firm I worked for at the time had a Corporate Membership but I had no desire to make use of it after that particular experience. We were around 5 hours too!

 

[snell]

Thats a long round of golf! But on the flipside its not exactly a bad way to spend 5 and a half hours!

 

[Deleted member 18588]

Had the chance of two free rounds this week at the Belfrey....
The Derby course. Played it and no thanks.

played the Brabazon last year and a few of the holes were quality. The course was immaculate but a lot of the Brabazon was in memorable and expensive.

the lads who go regular prefer the PGA course of the three.

Just goes to show it is all about opinions.

Have played there a number of times but quite honestly I find the PGA featureless and boring without even one memorable hole.

At least nobody pretends that the Derby is a great course.

 

[Svenska]

I fully expect places like this to be slower than usual, as people take time to play, as well as it being unfamiliar. The fact that there could be 'non-regular' players playing as they have gone away for a society outing, or just a group of people, then standards could be low. As long as the weather is OK, then fine.

Now, more importantly, what are the course conditions like, as heading there next weekend!

The PGA was in good condition, greens were a decent pace and you got some good control when hitting approaches. They didn't plug but stopped quickly so you could be confident you could hit it several yards short of the flag and it would be close. You'll enjoy it should it be a little less packed.

 

[Merv_swerve]

The one time I played the Brabazon was a shotgun start. Obviously time was not really an issue that way.
Recommend looking for shotgun start deals at The Belfry.

 

[GB72]

The one time I played it was 5 hour rounds on the PGA on day one and the same on the Brabazon on day 2 and that was on a GM event, first GM arranged forum meet.

 

[hovis]

I'm a member and i avoid this place at weekends at all costs.
Saying that, its not the clubs fault its the stupid groups that want to take a selfie on every hole and spend half an hour looking for one of the pro v 1's they've just baught with the belfry logo on it.

I often see the marshals approaching groups of slow golfers just to get a barrage of abuse from said idiots.

It gets particularly busy this time if the year as all the xmas green fee vouchers have to be used by march so you tend to a get a deluge of golfers. My advice would be "never go there durring the weekends" ever!!!!!