Course frustrations..

Best 19 handicapper in the world


That Beastly Brother of yours didnt beat you again today, by any chance :whoo: #twiceinaweek

So lets look at the other clubs available, bearing in mind that we are looking at 5 day memberships currently costing £46 per month.

Aylesbury Vale: Decent course, similar price, 20 minute trip for Imurg, 45 minutes for me (tad far)
Chiltern Forest: Mountain goat country, decent course, 1 very silly hole, £79 per month, 15 minutes / 20 minutes
Western Turville err No, absolutely not
Ellesborough Very decent course, £85 pm (included joining fee, after 5 years fee is £71pm.) 15/20 minutes
Whiteleaf 9 Holes
Chartridge Park Average course, £55 pm 25/10 minutes
Magnolia Park Decent course, quite long, £60 pm, 20/40 minutes
If it was down to me id be looking at Ellesborough, although it would be much more attractive without the 5 year joining fee.
However Mrs Imurg has control of their purse strings although seeing as he has given up spending all his cash on mars bars, he should be rolling in it :)
 
Why are you still there and moaning again on GM?

Let your money talk by walking

Because we would rather stay where we are, it suits us for convenience, is cheap compared to many and is a nice little course.
However the ongoing blight of HS2 is now starting to show.

It's not a private members club, it's one up from a Muni, whether we stay or go will make no difference to the course as it is doomed. It's a case of getting out sooner, before the rest of the rats cotton on.

Besides that's what forums are for, having a whinge occasionally, sharing, asking opinions of others and chronicling the slow demise of a golf course
 
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You won't find a like for like comparison so you need to decide what the trade-offs are and what is most important to you both, then its a case of balance and go for it, the sooner you do it the quicker you'll become accustomed to the change and probably wished you'd done it earlier.
 
I went through the same thing at Malton, course tried to go green (pesticide free) but after a few years of it working OK the lack of any additional investment meant the place just fell apart, once it went down to just one greenkeeper and volunteers it fell apart. Probably back to farmland soon.
 
Played Ellesborough this morning and as prospective members we were able to get on at the members guest rate of £25.
considering the rain we has last night and the 2 flash storms today during play (1 hail) we were undoubtably seeing the course at its worst....and I think we were all suitably impressed by the condition of the course

Nice tee boxes, decent wide fairways which are as good as our greens (no joke), and nice undulating true greens, plenty of rough, but nothing that is going to hold up play while you look for a ball unless you are really wild. Lovely bunkers in fantastic nick

They have 3 tee boxes under reconstruction, so some of the holes were shorter than normal, and there seemed to be a number of par 4's in the 320-340 yard range (expect they would be longer in summer).

as it is an undulating course there were a good half dozen blind tee shots over ridges, but we only saw one warning bell. but the fairways over the ridges were wide and forgiving, so it was really hard to lose a ball. also on the front 9, it got a bit crowded in one corner where 2 greens and a tee box are virtually on top of each other

Overall we were impressed with the layout and the course condition and expect it to be a bit longer in the summer.

The facilities are also very good, the clubhouse is nicely turned out although you cant get a bacon sarnie till 11, the lunch we had was lovely (sausage, red onion and melted cheese toastie x3) changing facilities were excellent
as were the shoe cleaning air lines.

How did we play?
I ended up with 1 birdie, 6 pars and a near hole in 1 for 40 points (also had 4 x 1 pointers) Need to get my handicap down methinks.
Imurg scrambled 32 and CVG 33.

The only drawback is price, it will be double what we are paying at the moment, although you could argue that we are getting our golf very cheaply at the moment, so we are going to have a think and maybe play the course again in march
 
I play there a few times during matches and it is a cracking course

The tip is always the putts will turn from the monument

I know it's a bit more than what you would pay at Aluesbury Park but I reckon it's worth the extra

The greens get very very quick in the summer - great fun

Ps I got a hole in one on the last par 3 - 16th :D
 
I have a friend who is a member there , I have played it once , Its a course that suits my game and the greens are quick in the summer, lets know if you joined
 
Is there a waiting list at Ellesborugh or are they looking for more members? Any chnace they would waive the joining fee? You can ask and what's the worst they can say?
 
Is there a waiting list at Ellesborugh or are they looking for more members? Any chnace they would waive the joining fee? You can ask and what's the worst they can say?

No waiting list as such and we wouldn't be joining until March anyway, by which time they will have more space due to "natural wastage"...
Fragger's already enquired about the "joining fee" with no luck - no great surprise really.

My impressions of the course mirror Fragger's more or less..not overly keen on the tightness around some tees/greens - sometimes we were in range of only a slightly mishit shot.
I've never been a fan of blind shots and,as Fragger said, the fairways were wide enough, there are a couple of very drivable par 4s, especially in the summer and you simply can't see the green..!
That leads me into another aspect. Although the course is longer than AP by q couple of hundred yards it didn't seem to play longer. There was plenty of run on some downhill fairways and in the summer its going to be even more. If I could have hit a ball off the tee today I think, quite honestly, I'd have murdered the course...! Off the tee I was shocking - only way to describe it and I still managed 32 points..
We also got queue-jumped in the bar although they may, possibly, have been halfway through an order but it didn't seem like it.
Fragger is at least 5 shots too high on his handicap at the moment - laughably good at times.!

All in all it's good food for thought. Whether its worth nearly twice the price remains to be seen but it was still an enjoyable round - except when it rained and hailed and I lost all feeling in my fingers for half an hour...
 
To be honest though Phil/Ian what's the option? If you stay and pay another years subs at AVGC which will continue to deteriorate you'll resent doing it and wish you'd moved. Are there any other courses on the radar?
 
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