Feedback please Beckenham Place Park

[CaroleHope4]

Hi, there is another thread about the public golf course at Beckenham Place Park promoting a petition to save it. I am starting a new thread specifically to ask for feedback from people who play or used to play on a public golf course and how valuable this experience is/was in furthering your golfing career. Some of you have already posted comments on the existing thread and I am looking for new comments without the extra baggage about arguing the pros and cons of the BPP petition. I would especially like to have comments from people who have started their golfing careers at BPP before moving on to another course, whether they moved on for negative reasons to do with BPP or other reasons it doesn't matter. Did BPP start you on your way to being the golfer you are now? Also, comments from people who may remember when the golf course was really busy and when it was well maintained. Feedback from people who have experienced its deterioration, people who still play it regardless and people who would play it if it was in better condition. Finally, I will be using these comments to feedback to Lewisham Council and will do so anonymously. If the council wants names I will check with you first. Thank you for at least reading this and I hope I get some responses.

 

[jpjeffery]

My first 18 hole round was at Beckenham Place Park on 1st August 2010 (124 shots, but with a regulation, two-putt par on the 7th!) This was preceded by seven 9-hole rounds, of which five were also at Beckenham Place Park

I've played this course far more often than any other course (at least 59 times, compared to the next most-played by me, which is 16 rounds at Bromley Golf Centre, followed by eight visits to Falconwood).

Has BPP deteriorated over that time? I'd say yes. There's certainly a notable lack of maintenance, which has the condition of many greens has got worse (the 12th, for instance, which seems to almost permanently have part of it in a bog-like condition and marked as Ground Under Repair).

The bunkers have always been a joke.

The winter tee mats were only just fit-for-purpose when I first used them, but they've never been replaced and became completely useless. If you can't keep a tee upright and/or have your feet on level ground rather than between the gaps of the three (three? why not just one?) artificial grass mats that make up the top of the base then what's the point in them? Thankfully, they've not yet been put out for use this winter.

The practice nets are now completely unusable. When I started there only one of them was only just about usable.

The pro shop has now been closed, which means all paying 'traffic' goes through the café, causing long queues at times, rather than two shorter queues of A) golfers in the pro shop, and B) hungry/thirsty people in the café.

This is why many people believe Lewisham Council have created the conditions to reduce the popularity of the course. And yet, it does still seem to be popular!

 

[Dando]

I started playing at BPP about 20 years ago, every other Saturday. my dad and myself used to get up at the crack of dawn the week before to make the 30 min drive to the course for opening time so we could book a round for the next week as trying to phone for a tee time was impossible as you could not get through. even at 6.00ish there were queues at the gate of people either waiting to play or book for the following week.
the course was in superb condition in the summer and it was always packed but it never seemed to be a course for slow play. the pro shop was like an Aladdin's cave - I cant recall who ran it but I would spend ages in there!

For various reasons (family and cricket) I didn't play BPP for a good 15 years but started playing there again as I knew I could get there at first light and get a round in be myself and be home by 9.30am. While I still love the setting and the layout (it has some great holes) it was clear that it had been badly neglected by the owners as the bunkers were virtually sand free, tee boxes uneven and the fairways left looking like the rough at some other courses. I always remember that the greens were good and even they had started to decline the last time I played in October but maybe that was due to the rain.

I will be sad if this place closes as it has the potential to once again be a great inner London course. I admit it needs some TLC and money spent on the course and house which could make a great clubhouse.

 

[Rumpokid]

My first 18 hole round was at Beckenham Place Park on 1st August 2010 (124 shots, but with a regulation, two-putt par on the 7th!) This was preceded by seven 9-hole rounds, of which five were also at Beckenham Place Park

I've played this course far more often than any other course (at least 59 times, compared to the next most-played by me, which is 16 rounds at Bromley Golf Centre, followed by eight visits to Falconwood).

Has BPP deteriorated over that time? I'd say yes. There's certainly a notable lack of maintenance, which has the condition of many greens has got worse (the 12th, for instance, which seems to almost permanently have part of it in a bog-like condition and marked as Ground Under Repair).

The bunkers have always been a joke.

The winter tee mats were only just fit-for-purpose when I first used them, but they've never been replaced and became completely useless. If you can't keep a tee upright and/or have your feet on level ground rather than between the gaps of the three (three? why not just one?) artificial grass mats that make up the top of the base then what's the point in them? Thankfully, they've not yet been put out for use this winter.

The practice nets are now completely unusable. When I started there only one of them was only just about usable.

The pro shop has now been closed, which means all paying 'traffic' goes through the café, causing long queues at times, rather than two shorter queues of A) golfers in the pro shop, and B) hungry/thirsty people in the café.

This is why many people believe Lewisham Council have created the conditions to reduce the popularity of the course. And yet, it does still seem to be popular!

Hmmm..Sounds very similar to my place, and under same stewardship...Makes you wonder eh?