drawboy
Tour Winner
I have just got back from a great golfing weekend in Cheshire at the McDonalds Portal hotel. I went with a group of twenty five other golfers from my home club of South Leeds G.C.
We have a weekend away every year and this has been by far my favorite venue to date. The hotel has two courses attached to the hotel. The Premiere and the Championship courses. We played the Premiere twice and the Championship course on the last day. Both courses were good, well constructed courses with a good mixture of length and strategy required to score well. The Premiere course is a typical inland parkland course with some challenging holes, well kept fast greens, well bunkered and with enough of a challenge for all standard of golfer. The Premiere course is a good distance away from the hotel but they lay on a courtesy bus which was a nice touch, they ferried us in groups of 7 to the course which in the bus was less than five minutes. The course had a nice clubhouse and bar area but strangely the drinks prices were more expensive in the clubhouse bar than they were in the hotel, I've never come across this before, it was a bit of a shock. The Championship course is a different beast altogether. It is more open in nature but it is tighter in play with narrower fairways and more punishing rough, the greens were good and fast and they putted well. Some nice par 3's over water were a nice touch and very picturesque. A good course but a lot more challenging for higher handicap players.
The hotel was clean,tidy and all you would expect from a modern hotel. The food was nice, well cooked and well presented,although service was hit and miss and could be slow. I will not hold this against the hotel though it didn't spoil the experience in any way. We paid £250 per person for bed, breakfast,evening meal and three rounds of golf. Good value in my opinion.
I can heartily recommend this hotel/golfing complex to anyone and we are thinking of returning next year.
We have a weekend away every year and this has been by far my favorite venue to date. The hotel has two courses attached to the hotel. The Premiere and the Championship courses. We played the Premiere twice and the Championship course on the last day. Both courses were good, well constructed courses with a good mixture of length and strategy required to score well. The Premiere course is a typical inland parkland course with some challenging holes, well kept fast greens, well bunkered and with enough of a challenge for all standard of golfer. The Premiere course is a good distance away from the hotel but they lay on a courtesy bus which was a nice touch, they ferried us in groups of 7 to the course which in the bus was less than five minutes. The course had a nice clubhouse and bar area but strangely the drinks prices were more expensive in the clubhouse bar than they were in the hotel, I've never come across this before, it was a bit of a shock. The Championship course is a different beast altogether. It is more open in nature but it is tighter in play with narrower fairways and more punishing rough, the greens were good and fast and they putted well. Some nice par 3's over water were a nice touch and very picturesque. A good course but a lot more challenging for higher handicap players.
The hotel was clean,tidy and all you would expect from a modern hotel. The food was nice, well cooked and well presented,although service was hit and miss and could be slow. I will not hold this against the hotel though it didn't spoil the experience in any way. We paid £250 per person for bed, breakfast,evening meal and three rounds of golf. Good value in my opinion.
I can heartily recommend this hotel/golfing complex to anyone and we are thinking of returning next year.
