Cheapest Weekend Driver you've ever been on/have planned? ......... MacDonald Portal Hotel, Golf and Spa, August Sunday Driver for £135 ?

[2blue]

Have just got an email offering this from our 2025 Club Captain. 2 x rounds with an evening meal & breakfast as well as some Bar credit & discount.
Is this even possible?
My cheapest Sun Driver is planned for Teesside this Sept, playing Opens at Brass Castle £20, Cleveland £25 & staying in a Middlesborough T-Lodge single room for £41. So £86 plus Spoons for Breakfast & dinner means less than £100.

 

[2blue]

I seem to remember back in 2011 a Sun Driver at that Chesire MacDonald Portal Hotel, Golf and Spa was £105 room sharing??

 

[Arthur Wedge]

It’s ok

One course near the hotel is decent the other is ok

 

[SteveW86]

I preferred the Woodhall trip. 2 rounds on the Hotckin (wont mention the price), shared fuel and accomodation. Ignoring the spend on the nights out it was very good value.

 

[LincolnShep]

£99 pp based on two sharing at Greetham Valley. Two rounds (one on each course) plus bed and breakfast. That was a couple of years ago though and it was probably in off-season, or shoulder season at best.

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

Duh…wots a ‘weekend driver’…

Clearly a form of weekend (maybe) golf break but what’s the ‘driver’ bit about.

Just asking.

 

[2blue]

Duh…wots a ‘weekend driver’…

Clearly a form of weekend (maybe) golf break but what’s the ‘driver’ bit about.

Just asking.

'Week-end Driver' covers both the Fri-driver & the Sunday-driver that companies offer.
Don't know but I'd guess that the 'Driver' reference is because it's to do with golf.

 

[Lord Tyrion]

It's hard to compare past trips because prices are so different now. I did the Alwoodley / Moortown trip on the advice of @2blue a good few years ago, 2016 possibly?, and I think I paid under £200. I've just checked now and it is £339-£359 for this year. I'm not claiming it was cheap back then but for a round at each and a hotel it was definitely worth it.

There will be some hotel courses that offer great winter rates but that is largely because locals know they will be bogs and to avoid at all costs. Linden Hall offer cheap rates up here, I would not pay the money, no matter the bargain it may seem. Cheap is not always deceiving but in this instance, it is.

The home made driver of @2blue will take some beating for cost and quality. There is no compromise on those two courses.

 

[2blue]

It's hard to compare past trips because prices are so different now. I did the Alwoodley / Moortown trip on the advice of @2blue a good few years ago, 2016 possibly?, and I think I paid under £200. I've just checked now and it is £339-£359 for this year. I'm not claiming it was cheap back then but for a round at each and a hotel it was definitely worth it.

There will be some hotel courses that offer great winter rates but that is largely because locals know they will be bogs and to avoid at all costs. Linden Hall offer cheap rates up here, I would not pay the money, no matter the bargain it may seem. Cheap is not always deceiving but in this instance, it is.

The home made driver of @2blue will take some beating for cost and quality. There is no compromise on those two courses.

£185 comes to mind & it hardy increased up to Covid .... was a great deal back in the day.

Our other Teesside Driver at Seaton's Festival week in Aug, also takes some beating at 2 x £40 golf + £43 T/Lodge with a Spoons just 400m away..... Timmy is a t....t but the pubs are safe spots as they aren't the same as someone's local when 8 guys walk in!!

 

[Billysboots]

I may be missing the point here, but surely a weekend driver is a package - two rounds of golf and an overnight stay - at resorts such as Carden Park, The Oxfordshire and so on.

Arranging your own golf and separate accommodation doesn’t really constitute a weekend driver, and as such comparing prices is a bit misleading.

 

[2blue]

I may be missing the point here, but surely a weekend driver is a package - two rounds of golf and an overnight stay - at resorts such as Carden Park, The Oxfordshire and so on.

Arranging your own golf and separate accommodation doesn’t really constitute a weekend driver, and as such comparing prices is a bit misleading.

2 rounds, stay somewhere handy get local food..... how does that not compare just because we've cut out the middle man?

 

[Billysboots]

2 rounds, stay somewhere handy get local food..... how does that not compare just because we've cut out the middle man?

I’m simply asking the question!

You’re asking what the cheapest weekend driver deals are, and then comparing with something which isn’t a weekend driver!

 

[2blue]

I’m simply asking the question!

You’re asking what the cheapest weekend driver deals are, and then comparing with something which isn’t a weekend driver!

Who mentioned Deals??

 

[Billysboots]

Okay then. Cheapest weekend drivers. Amounts to the same thing.

To answer the question, we’ve never paid much less than £150 for a traditional weekend driver.

 

[2blue]

Okay then. Cheapest weekend drivers. Amounts to the same thing.

To answer the question, we’ve never paid much less than £150 for a traditional weekend driver.

You don't need to though! The NE is Eng new golf-coast!!

 

[Billysboots]

You don't need to though! The NE is Eng new golf-coast!!

Had our first trip up there last autumn - Alnmouth, Goswick and Bamburgh Castle. Absolutely loved it.

If you can guarantee me the weather, and the decent prices (weekend driver or otherwise ), then we will certainly be back.

 

[Arthur Wedge]

Cheapest weekend drivers are done via YGT etc

 

[IanM]

Ashbury Manor in Devon. Very cheap. Accurately priced.

 

[moogie]

You don't need to though! The NE is Eng new golf-coast!!

Keep it quiet Dave
Or us locals won't get a game anywhere at this rate

 

[Voyager EMH]

Forest of Arden Sept 2010.
Sunday, lunch, 18 holes Aylesford, evening meal, overnight, Monday breakfast, 18 holes Arden.
£99
Organised by club captain - might have been 32 of us though.

I thought that was great value back then. Same thing for Portal at £135 this year does seem exceptionally good value.

Played Portal twice in the 1990s when it was fairly new. Golf only, there and back to Leicester in a day. Corporate invitations. Cost nowt but petrol. Lucky me.