HRC99
Journeyman Pro
East Yorkshire gets very little attention - especially golfing attention. As far as the rest of the world is concerned, there's Ganton and that's pretty much it.
Part of the reason for this general lack of attention is that you never pass through East Yorkshire to go anywhere, you have to a reason to visit there.
Well, Filey Golf Club is a reason to visit.
Out on the east coast, just a few miles south of Scarborough sits Filey and, more importantly, Filey Golf Club. The course is right on the coast. You even follow signs for the beach to get to the golf club.
It is an 18 hole, par 71 course that even from it's tips only stretches to 6,112 yards. A pushover? Er, nope. Anything but.
Filey is a very interesting and unusual mix of parkland and links golf. The links theme is very much to the fore, even when you are no longer near the sea.
It is beautifully maintained with immaculate, striped and defined fairways and beautiful small, fast, tricky greens. To guarantee yourself a birdie, you have to hit it close and I mean close. The course makes you earn everything.
There are surprising changes in elevation for a course that close to the cliffs which give you many a blind shot.
The course is actually deceptively tight as the trees in the parkland section of the course are so well placed to swallow a poor tee shot. There are plentiful and tough bunkers as you might expect from a links course.
You start out towards the sea from the first tee, playing the second before you move slightly inland into the parkland part of the course. The view from the first green is spectacular with views of the bays to the north and south of the course and a sneak peek at the closing holes to whet the appetite.
Every hole was interesting and demanding. There just weren't any poor or even average holes. Every single hole presented a challenge and tested a different aspect to your game.
The wonderful thing as you head for home is that you start to hear the surf, getting louder and louder as you near the closing three holes.
As you approach the 15th green, you look to your right and there's the sea and there's the par 3 16th. By the time, you are on the 15th green, you're already playing the 16th and thinking about club selection.
At only 120 yards off the yellows and 138 yards off the white, the tee has you shooting directly out towards the sea. Club selection is everything here with your judgement of the wind's strength essential. You could imagine hitting absolutely anything to this green, all depending upon the wind - from a flick of a sand iron, up to a full-blooded crack with your driver.
The 17th and 18th run right along the cliff tops with absolutely spectacular views of the coastline and are truly fine links holes.
There is a very nice clubhouse and quite superb practice facilities - good driving range with flags at 100, 150 and 200, a dedicated chipping and pitching area and, of course, a lovely practice green. The chipping and practice greens would put many a course's greens to shame and very accurately reflected the greens out on the course.
The course is just plain lovely. Not only that it is one of the most interesting mixes of holes that I can honestly ever recall playing. It just has something for absolutely everyone.
Not only that it is an absolute steal. £26 a round or £32 for the day. And that's before you hand over a 2-Fore-1 voucher. £13 quid each, if there's two of you, for 18 fantastic holes or £16 for 36 (or more) holes. It is an absolute bargain.
So, head on over to East Yorkshire and come and play Filey, you won't be disappointed. Unless it's February and then you'd just be plain bonkers to be playing out on the cliff tops over the North Sea!
Part of the reason for this general lack of attention is that you never pass through East Yorkshire to go anywhere, you have to a reason to visit there.
Well, Filey Golf Club is a reason to visit.
Out on the east coast, just a few miles south of Scarborough sits Filey and, more importantly, Filey Golf Club. The course is right on the coast. You even follow signs for the beach to get to the golf club.
It is an 18 hole, par 71 course that even from it's tips only stretches to 6,112 yards. A pushover? Er, nope. Anything but.
Filey is a very interesting and unusual mix of parkland and links golf. The links theme is very much to the fore, even when you are no longer near the sea.
It is beautifully maintained with immaculate, striped and defined fairways and beautiful small, fast, tricky greens. To guarantee yourself a birdie, you have to hit it close and I mean close. The course makes you earn everything.
There are surprising changes in elevation for a course that close to the cliffs which give you many a blind shot.
The course is actually deceptively tight as the trees in the parkland section of the course are so well placed to swallow a poor tee shot. There are plentiful and tough bunkers as you might expect from a links course.
You start out towards the sea from the first tee, playing the second before you move slightly inland into the parkland part of the course. The view from the first green is spectacular with views of the bays to the north and south of the course and a sneak peek at the closing holes to whet the appetite.
Every hole was interesting and demanding. There just weren't any poor or even average holes. Every single hole presented a challenge and tested a different aspect to your game.
The wonderful thing as you head for home is that you start to hear the surf, getting louder and louder as you near the closing three holes.
As you approach the 15th green, you look to your right and there's the sea and there's the par 3 16th. By the time, you are on the 15th green, you're already playing the 16th and thinking about club selection.
At only 120 yards off the yellows and 138 yards off the white, the tee has you shooting directly out towards the sea. Club selection is everything here with your judgement of the wind's strength essential. You could imagine hitting absolutely anything to this green, all depending upon the wind - from a flick of a sand iron, up to a full-blooded crack with your driver.
The 17th and 18th run right along the cliff tops with absolutely spectacular views of the coastline and are truly fine links holes.
There is a very nice clubhouse and quite superb practice facilities - good driving range with flags at 100, 150 and 200, a dedicated chipping and pitching area and, of course, a lovely practice green. The chipping and practice greens would put many a course's greens to shame and very accurately reflected the greens out on the course.
The course is just plain lovely. Not only that it is one of the most interesting mixes of holes that I can honestly ever recall playing. It just has something for absolutely everyone.
Not only that it is an absolute steal. £26 a round or £32 for the day. And that's before you hand over a 2-Fore-1 voucher. £13 quid each, if there's two of you, for 18 fantastic holes or £16 for 36 (or more) holes. It is an absolute bargain.
So, head on over to East Yorkshire and come and play Filey, you won't be disappointed. Unless it's February and then you'd just be plain bonkers to be playing out on the cliff tops over the North Sea!
