dufferman
Journeyman Pro
I know there have been a few posts on here re: saving Blue Mountain, but thought I'd give an update as I played there last night!
Many people think the course is now closed. It's not - it's just that Crown Golf who ran it are now no longer running it, it is (I presume) run by the council.
The pro shop, bar & function rooms are now fully closed. You pay for your round at a small window where the driving range is - all they sell are bottle of drink. They've blocked off the main car park with cement blocks, I guess to stop travellers / teenagers doing donuts in their Corsa's / drug deals / anything else you can think of that goes on in an empty car park from happening.
The course itself is a bit of a mess. The fairways are now growing long and have lots of weeds growing out of them. Still playable.
They've let the rough grow around the course, making it a tougher course. I was firing 4 woods towards what I thought was fairway only to walk to where my ball landed and find knee high rough.
The greens are awful. They clearly are not watering them, so 50% of the greens are dead grass, brown and cracked. No consistency. Some holes where the pin is in the dead stuff the ball is flying. Where the pins are on the un-dead grass, it's slow, because the grass is long.
It's a real shame, I really enjoyed playing that course. There are posters up in the driving range bit saying that you can get a "play as much golf as you can 'till it closes" membership for £500... which expires when it closes (they don't know when that is) or by April 2016 - I guess they needed a cut off in case it takes 2 years or so for the course to close. I presume that there will be no comps etc so it's not a full membership for handicaps etc. Looking at the course, it's not worth joining as things will only get worse I fear.
We paid a huge £10 last night, so for a knock about on a beautiful summers eve in 28 degree heat, it was great fun & worth the money (2 birdies!). But, even if the campaign to keep it open wins, I fear the damage has been done and that it will never be the course it was 2 years ago. :mmm:
Many people think the course is now closed. It's not - it's just that Crown Golf who ran it are now no longer running it, it is (I presume) run by the council.
The pro shop, bar & function rooms are now fully closed. You pay for your round at a small window where the driving range is - all they sell are bottle of drink. They've blocked off the main car park with cement blocks, I guess to stop travellers / teenagers doing donuts in their Corsa's / drug deals / anything else you can think of that goes on in an empty car park from happening.
The course itself is a bit of a mess. The fairways are now growing long and have lots of weeds growing out of them. Still playable.
They've let the rough grow around the course, making it a tougher course. I was firing 4 woods towards what I thought was fairway only to walk to where my ball landed and find knee high rough.
The greens are awful. They clearly are not watering them, so 50% of the greens are dead grass, brown and cracked. No consistency. Some holes where the pin is in the dead stuff the ball is flying. Where the pins are on the un-dead grass, it's slow, because the grass is long.
It's a real shame, I really enjoyed playing that course. There are posters up in the driving range bit saying that you can get a "play as much golf as you can 'till it closes" membership for £500... which expires when it closes (they don't know when that is) or by April 2016 - I guess they needed a cut off in case it takes 2 years or so for the course to close. I presume that there will be no comps etc so it's not a full membership for handicaps etc. Looking at the course, it's not worth joining as things will only get worse I fear.
We paid a huge £10 last night, so for a knock about on a beautiful summers eve in 28 degree heat, it was great fun & worth the money (2 birdies!). But, even if the campaign to keep it open wins, I fear the damage has been done and that it will never be the course it was 2 years ago. :mmm:
