Cambridge Meridian

[robin]

Played here today - a very friendly and welcoming club; not too busy for a Sunday.
Very linksy feel and the need to be very strategic with water features, mounds and bunkering. 9th and 10th require you to be accuate off the tee over and round a meandering brook. 17th and 18th likewise need careful placement.
Good value for money and worth a visit.

 

[RGDave]

Looks good.

I like this photo in particular!

 

[RGDave]

No-one likes my picture ?

I think the dog is a cute addition to the course gallery.

 

[viscount17]

I was over there Saturday checking out the club fitting set-up.

Friendly pro, I cold-called, but he was prepared to spend time discussing what I was looking for and what he could do.

The pro-shop doesn't carry a lot of stock though.

I was thinking of this as a potential venue for the society next year, I haven't played it yet so the OP is useful.

 

[fade_away]

Really enjoyed this course. Excellent condition. Fast but holding greens. If they could just turn the wind down though!!!

 

[theeaglehunter]

I hate to change the positive tone so far given towards Meridian, however having played it a few times (corporate days, members guest etc) I just can't speak highly of it.

The course design itself I believe has a decent level of potential however having played the course most recently a week ago yesterday, the condition it is routinely kept in does not do it justice, and significantly lets it down. And this is agreed by all the members I know who play there.

From what I hear there is a strong sense within the club, that the purse strings (controlled by an ex LPGA tour player whose name I can't remember) are so tight it is simply not possible to present the course in a manner any better than it currently is.

Despite some sort of pro-am (to be televised on skysports apparently) being held there in the near future there still seems to be massive signs of underinvestment throughout the course. Bunkers are at best 'builders' like, with some consisting of not just stones but rocks and very little material resembling sand. Whilst the all round condition is significantly below other courses relatively near by.

The tee boxes are obviously over used (inevitable due to the nature of the course proclaiming itself as one aimed at societies) and it is a struggle particularly on par 3s to find anywhere decent to perch your ball upon. Even on some of the longer holes it is a struggle as the tee boxes are anything but flat. Oh and not that this makes the course any worse, it is simply a bugbear of mine, nearly all the tee markers are pointed at an angle to the middle of the fairway which really screws with my alignment (but as I say, that's more a point of me being a bad player than the course being of a poor standard).

The greens were incredibly spongey when I played them and although they rolled reasonably well, I was getting regular 5 iron approaches to stop within a couple of yards max, which just shouldn't happen to us amateurs despite myself having a pretty high ball flight. Also due to their soft nature they were covered in spike marks that had embedded incredibly deep into the surface making putting a real pain. Repairing pitch marks was also very difficult as the grass/ earth seemed tacky and therefore it was difficult to 'press' the squashed turf back into place (this must also explain the amount of un-repaired marks there was). Apparently this is as a result of them being over watered. Oh and many of the greens were badly disease ridden and anything but attractive.

The fairways were about the best bit of the course, and they offered a decent amount of roll and were in what I would classify as decent condition on the whole.

I suppose for the price the course charges for a round, it is not too unreasonable however the state of the course really, really lets down the design. Some of the holes really are attractive and fun to play (admittedly two that spring to mind are a stark contrast to this, but there we go!) and in general I think there is definitely scope for an enjoyable round here....

That provided you don't mind slow play, and I mean slow. When I played, there was a society out in the morning before we could tee off so we were expecting a reasonably slow round anyway. But what is most frustrating is that there is very rarely a day where a society is not booked onto the course. This means play is always slow, with other course 'users' (I refuse to refer to them as golfers / players) demonstrating very little in the way of etiquette. This isn't to say that the members are like this, it is clearly the society players who are the issue but whilst the club continue to promote and pump through as many societies as possible expect a 4 and a half hour round for a four ball to be very good going! Another matter of annoyance is the fact that I witnessed the pro or maybe assistant I don't know, sign in 3 visitors who had untucked shirts all round, one with jeans on and only two who had proper golf shoes. Now I'm not a complete snob, and think its fine for people to play like this at a muni / pitch and putt but for a course that claims to have a strict dress code this was just ludicrous.

I almost definitely will play the course again at some point (it's cheap, makes for something different to my clubs courses and friends are members) but I never turn up with any optimism of decent course condition and / or a decent speed of play. And turning up with this mentality is the only way I manage to enjoy a round there!

To summarise more briefly- the course itself is good, however the way it is set up / run is highly disappointing. It could be so much better than it is!