Good Courses In Winter - Berkshire/Surrey

evolve528

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I'm getting a bit fed up of paying £30+ to play mud baths with my mates around the Berkshire/Surrey area this winter!

Does anybody know of any pay and play courses in the general area which hold up well in the winter months?

Thanks
 

Foxholer

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Camberley Heath would be my 1st choice. Not sure about Green fee these days though.
Puttenham? Not totally certain as that's from distant memory.They do suggest metal spikes over soft spikes in Winter, but that might simply be because of some of the slopes/climbs on the course.
 
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SwingsitlikeHogan

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Just as a pointer on cost, my track (Farnham) has visitors Winter green fee of £60. It’s an excellent Surrey track of a trad members club. I haven‘t looked but I imagine that we set our visitor green fees consistent with the many equivalent excellent courses in the area (I am not talking the ‘name’ courses or those that fancy themselves as being ‘a bit ahead of the pack’). But £60 per head is, I suggest, about what you need to be expecting to pay in the area for what you are looking for.
 

HomerJSimpson

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Camberley Heath would be my 1st choice. Not sure about Green fee these days though.
Puttenham? Not totally certain as that's from distant memory.They do suggest metal spikes over soft spikes in Winter, but that might simply be because of some of the slopes/climbs on the course.

Camberley only take visitors Mon-Thur and green fee a staggering £98. Not value for money imo https://www.camberleyheathgolfclub.co.uk/visitors_home

Not sure the OP will find too much on that budget that meets his needs especially at weekends. Most P&P courses locally (Silvermere, Pine Ridge, Hoebridge, Downshire etc are all very wet and muddy and pace of play will be slow
 

Oddsocks

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Camberley only take visitors Mon-Thur and green fee a staggering £98. Not value for money imo https://www.camberleyheathgolfclub.co.uk/visitors_home

Not sure the OP will find too much on that budget that meets his needs especially at weekends. Most P&P courses locally (Silvermere, Pine Ridge, Hoebridge, Downshire etc are all very wet and muddy and pace of play will be slow

And will all be more than £30 at weekends. For that budget the only dry game he would get is target golf if the silvermere driving range.
 

Ethan

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Camberley only take visitors Mon-Thur and green fee a staggering £98. Not value for money imo https://www.camberleyheathgolfclub.co.uk/visitors_home

Not sure the OP will find too much on that budget that meets his needs especially at weekends. Most P&P courses locally (Silvermere, Pine Ridge, Hoebridge, Downshire etc are all very wet and muddy and pace of play will be slow

I like CH but I wouldn't pay £98 for it on a beautiful summer's day.
 

Blakey

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if your after a cheap round have a look at Clandon (not regis) it is next door to Gulidford and also on chalk, its pay and play, and no clubhouse but a few nice holes.
 

Shooter McPowick

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Pine ridge have actually been closing the course recently to protect it. Unheard of for crown golf but bravo I say. Only trouble is it’s seriously busy all the time.

£30 is right at the bottom end of the budget - you get what you pay for. Top 100 courses are fetching in the region of £140 a round now! Makes membership seem like a bargain when I count the number of rounds I play each year.
 

SwingsitlikeHogan

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I like CH but I wouldn't pay £98 for it on a beautiful summer's day.
CH is a brilliant track, well it was the day before H4H when I played it. In truth I get the feeling that it plays rather a lot on its reputation…is a good track however £98…

The reality for Surrey is that I think about the best you can get for £30 will be somewhere like Hurtmore in Godalming. It’s O…K…. Not very long and a little bit repetitive in places, but for just under £30 this time of year it’s got some nice holes - and overall not that bad.
 
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HomerJSimpson

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£98 is extortionate for Camberley Heath. It is a decent course but not one I actually enjoy playing as there are some fiddly holes once you go under the tunnel that I think detract from the overall course and seemed crammed in.
 

evolve528

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Thanks all for your replies, in response to some somewhat snooty comments about only wanting to pay ~£30 per round, well that's more down to my playing partner who is 20+ HCP so understandably doesn't want to shell out for better courses until he improves, I'm also reluctant to pay £60+ green fees in the winter months (especially as I'm already paying membership fees at my home course), I just don't think it gives good value for money. I'd rather pay £20 more to pay the same courses in good nick in the summer.

The whole point of the post was to ask the question of IF there are any good reasonably dry winter tracks in the lower price bracket, it sounds like there are a few so thanks for your suggestions :)
 

Oddsocks

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Thanks all for your replies, in response to some somewhat snooty comments about only wanting to pay ~£30 per round, well that's more down to my playing partner who is 20+ HCP so understandably doesn't want to shell out for better courses until he improves, I'm also reluctant to pay £60+ green fees in the winter months (especially as I'm already paying membership fees at my home course), I just don't think it gives good value for money. I'd rather pay £20 more to pay the same courses in good nick in the summer.

:)

Sorry if my point offended as that wasn’t the intention. Dry courses this time of year are in very short supply, that seemed to be your main request and courses that know they dry will not be selling GF’s at 30.00-40.00.

Being from the outskirts of Greater London in Surrey, guest green fees at any local course is 40/50 minimum, even crown golf are charging 40.00 for addington court and that’s a bog…. And it’s fully booked.

Is it not cheaper to sign you pp in as a guest if you’re a member?
 

SwingsitlikeHogan

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It's more a reflection of how expensive green fees are generally, especially in Berks and Surrey!

Lots of good courses have full membership and don't really want visitors in the winter...
…plus clubs in these areas know that they can charge a bit more for member subs in order to reduce any reliance on visitor green fees. It’s not that we don’t want visitors, we do, but we don‘t want to have to rely on visitors through the door. Our subs this year are £1740…and we have as long a waiting list as anyone can remember…hence, and consistent with all equivalent clubs in the area, our Winter weekday visitors green fee is £60…£200 for a four ball, still not bad value I might suggest.
 
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