The Inspiration

[Springveldt]

I don't know why people always get their panties in a twist over this though, it's only a marketing phrase. It doesn't mean much more than there's no trees and it drains well. They can call it what they like.

Thought there looked like loads of trees around on Shiels video of it.

 

[Orikoru]

Thought there looked like loads of trees around on Shiels video of it.

One or two perhaps. Nothing compared to the courses I normally play which are covered with them.

 

[VVega]

With all the rain, how is the course holding up? Any/many waterlogged areas? Standing water in bunkers?

More generally, what’s the course maintenance routine? How often the greens are cut (to what height)? Are the bunkers raked by the team daily? Just curious in case they share this with the members

 

[IanM]

...and what's the sell by date on the cheese and onion crisps?

 

[VVega]

...and what's the sell by date on the cheese and onion crisps?

How much is the sausage roll at the halfway hut and is it better than Sunningdale’s?

 

[3 jabber]

I've seen a couple of videos of the course, doesn't look very inspirational to me. It needs definition such as trees but then it wouldn't be an 'inland links' of course. Seems a bit like Stockley Park across the road from Heathrow that opened to great acclaim years ago but is now struggling.

 

[VVega]

I've seen a couple of videos of the course, doesn't look very inspirational to me. It needs definition such as trees but then it wouldn't be an 'inland links' of course. Seems a bit like Stockley Park across the road from Heathrow that opened to great acclaim years ago but is now struggling.

FWIW, the owners run the Shire quite successfully as far as I’m aware. Tastes may vary but personally I’ll take good conditioning over any subjective features like “definition”. The greens complexes look interesting and are running fast and true - enough for me to want to come and play it.

 

[VVega]

With all the rain, how is the course holding up? Any/many waterlogged areas? Standing water in bunkers?

Any members could share on the above?

 

[IanM]

@LIG ? Have you played after "all this rain?"

Turn up after a wet week in January and that'll be the acid test. I wonder how it'll be?

Rain in July , even lots of it, lands on dry ground with a low water table and maximum opportunities for evaporation!

 

[howbow88]

I've played 9 holes in the last couple of days on 2 courses that aren't the best draining. Usually by July of course, that's never an issue. But both courses had some pretty soggy areas.

I always think people exaggerate about how bad the weather is, but it has been ridiculously wet in the South East this year.

 

[LIG]

With all the rain, how is the course holding up? Any/many waterlogged areas? Standing water in bunkers?

More generally, what’s the course maintenance routine? How often the greens are cut (to what height)? Are the bunkers raked by the team daily? Just curious in case they share this with the members

Any members could share on the above?

@LIG ? Have you played after "all this rain?"

Turn up after a wet week in January and that'll be the acid test. I wonder how it'll be?

Rain in July , even lots of it, lands on dry ground with a low water table and maximum opportunities for evaporation!

The rain was quite persistant and heavy over a few days but where other local courses I've played would have been wet (and boggy) in places with standing (casual) water, all that's happened here is that the course has soaked up what it needed and the contouring/drainage has done its job. Fairways are now firm rather than hard; Rough has become thicker in more areas; Greens are as good as ever. The latter is probably because they are looked after daily just like the bunkers.
Immediately after the really heavy rain the sand in the bunkers was, well heavy but the bunkers were back to normal the next day. All in all the course dealt with all the rain much as I had already expected (prior to its opening, I'd walked the course immediately after two days of torrential rain and it had been in superb condition except for some residual water running off slowly in a couple of places).
After six weeks of play, the only two places where the recent rain left noticeable areas of water "damage" were one obvious drainage channel failure and a second where the contouring needed to be adjusted so that a pathway did not flood. I suspect these areas will be looked at on Monday week, when "course maintenance" means the course is not open for play until 10am.

Although the usual work on the course is carried out daily by the greens staff it is apparent that improvements and adjustments are being made/considered regularly. Not only is the Head Greenkeeper on top of the needs of the course, I've seen various groups inspecting the overall operation, taking copious notes. I spoke with one group in passing - they were there to review how the temp clubhouse was running and considering kitchen upgrades.

All in all I'm

 

[VVega]

The rain was quite persistant and heavy over a few days but where other local courses I've played would have been wet (and boggy) in places with standing (casual) water, all that's happened here is that the course has soaked up what it needed and the contouring/drainage has done its job. Fairways are now firm rather than hard; Rough has become thicker in more areas; Greens are as good as ever. The latter is probably because they are looked after daily just like the bunkers.
Immediately after the really heavy rain the sand in the bunkers was, well heavy but the bunkers were back to normal the next day. All in all the course dealt with all the rain much as I had already expected (prior to its opening, I'd walked the course immediately after two days of torrential rain and it had been in superb condition except for some residual water running off slowly in a couple of places).
After six weeks of play, the only two places where the recent rain left noticeable areas of water "damage" were one obvious drainage channel failure and a second where the contouring needed to be adjusted so that a pathway did not flood. I suspect these areas will be looked at on Monday week, when "course maintenance" means the course is not open for play until 10am.

Although the usual work on the course is carried out daily by the greens staff it is apparent that improvements and adjustments are being made/considered regularly. Not only is the Head Greenkeeper on top of the needs of the course, I've seen various groups inspecting the overall operation, taking copious notes. I spoke with one group in passing - they were there to review how the temp clubhouse was running and considering kitchen upgrades.

All in all I'm

Amazing, thanks for sharing!

 

[4LEX]

I've seen a couple of videos of the course, doesn't look very inspirational to me. It needs definition such as trees but then it wouldn't be an 'inland links' of course. Seems a bit like Stockley Park across the road from Heathrow that opened to great acclaim years ago but is now struggling.

If it's anything like Stockley Park I'll give it a swerve! That place is the worst course I've ever played.

 

[LIG]

If it's anything like Stockley Park I'll give it a swerve! That place is the worst course I've ever played.

If you've played Stockley Park anytime in the last 20 years or so then I'd agree with you. I played Stockley about a couple of years after it opened and it was (then) a really well designed and conditioned parkland course. It's claim to fame was that it hosted a Seniors Tour event shortly after opening. All downhill from then, because they priced themselves as a Championship Course but didn't get all the corporate memberships they were anticipating from the surrounding business park, and the local market was well serviced by munis of above average standard.
Sadly, the local council decision to allow some "contouring" and redesigning to squeeze in a "driving range" left half the course without of its much character. The scheme was simply to dump spoil and waste from the big London construction projects. Worse, was the fact that it took years for the leaseholder to be forced to do remedial works to correct the disaster; even then all they did was pay lip service to the court order. I gather that the council then decided not to spend further on litigation so what remained is as you see it layout wise. I haven't played there in years due to the high chance of damaging my clubs from all the stones just beneath the surface (of anywhere except fairway) - one 7-iron still bears the scars!! The 4 holes over the road/bridge were still original at that time and by far the best conditioned. I wonder if they still are?

Anyway, don't compare The Inspiration with Stockley Park - even in it's short heyday, Stockley was still likely to be damp after rain - they're chalk and cheese!

 

[4LEX]

If you've played Stockley Park anytime in the last 20 years or so then I'd agree with you. I played Stockley about a couple of years after it opened and it was (then) a really well designed and conditioned parkland course. It's claim to fame was that it hosted a Seniors Tour event shortly after opening. All downhill from then, because they priced themselves as a Championship Course but didn't get all the corporate memberships they were anticipating from the surrounding business park, and the local market was well serviced by munis of above average standard.
Sadly, the local council decision to allow some "contouring" and redesigning to squeeze in a "driving range" left half the course without of its much character. The scheme was simply to dump spoil and waste from the big London construction projects. Worse, was the fact that it took years for the leaseholder to be forced to do remedial works to correct the disaster; even then all they did was pay lip service to the court order. I gather that the council then decided not to spend further on litigation so what remained is as you see it layout wise. I haven't played there in years due to the high chance of damaging my clubs from all the stones just beneath the surface (of anywhere except fairway) - one 7-iron still bears the scars!! The 4 holes over the road/bridge were still original at that time and by far the best conditioned. I wonder if they still are?

Anyway, don't compare The Inspiration with Stockley Park - even in it's short heyday, Stockley was still likely to be damp after rain - they're chalk and cheese!

I've played it around 4/5 times but all between 2012-2016 so miles after it was at it's peak. It had some decent holes but the condition was shocking. I think I know what you mean about the rubbish dump, the hole that sticks out was to the left of the car park and was a dog leg, left to right par 4 with a huge man made mountain, which was obviously the landfill! The fairway was full of stones, bricks and concrete!

I like playing all sorts of courses so might check it out again later in the year. Will do The Inspiration too.

 

[sjw]

If you've played Stockley Park anytime in the last 20 years or so then I'd agree with you. I played Stockley about a couple of years after it opened and it was (then) a really well designed and conditioned parkland course. It's claim to fame was that it hosted a Seniors Tour event shortly after opening. All downhill from then, because they priced themselves as a Championship Course but didn't get all the corporate memberships they were anticipating from the surrounding business park, and the local market was well serviced by munis of above average standard.
Sadly, the local council decision to allow some "contouring" and redesigning to squeeze in a "driving range" left half the course without of its much character. The scheme was simply to dump spoil and waste from the big London construction projects. Worse, was the fact that it took years for the leaseholder to be forced to do remedial works to correct the disaster; even then all they did was pay lip service to the court order. I gather that the council then decided not to spend further on litigation so what remained is as you see it layout wise. I haven't played there in years due to the high chance of damaging my clubs from all the stones just beneath the surface (of anywhere except fairway) - one 7-iron still bears the scars!! The 4 holes over the road/bridge were still original at that time and by far the best conditioned. I wonder if they still are?

Anyway, don't compare The Inspiration with Stockley Park - even in it's short heyday, Stockley was still likely to be damp after rain - they're chalk and cheese!

Or chalk and clay

 

[sunshine]

I've played it around 4/5 times but all between 2012-2016 so miles after it was at it's peak. It had some decent holes but the condition was shocking. I think I know what you mean about the rubbish dump, the hole that sticks out was to the left of the car park and was a dog leg, left to right par 4 with a huge man made mountain, which was obviously the landfill! The fairway was full of stones, bricks and concrete!

I like playing all sorts of courses so might check it out again later in the year. Will do The Inspiration too.

All the holes around the clubhouse were ruined, as LIG explained, in order to fit a range in front of the clubhouse. I used to play there regularly around 20 years ago and it was excellent: good drainage, quality greens and a really challenging layout from the back tees. Looking on google maps, a lot of the back tees look disused today.

Stockley was originally a superb course. The architect was Robert Trent Jones, who also designed Valderrama, Sotogrande and many other tournament courses. It was opened by Nick Faldo and hosted a European Seniors Tour event early on. That was mid-90's, I was playing it 10 years later by which time it had matured nicely. I likened it to the type of championship course you play on holiday in Spain, really different from anything else in the area. Sadly the management team never successfully marketed it, the location makes it very difficult.

 

[VVega]

Played the Inspiration today, here is some quick notes.


All green complexes are nicely contoured with roll off areas mowed tighter than fairways. I liked the greens a lot as they require to use your imagination, especially as some putts could be 20+ yds with multiple breaks.

Greens were tinned a few weeks ago and were also a bit soft so were not their fastest, but still rolled nicely. Unfortunately, the greens are also showing the scars of not repaired pitchmarks, which is only going to get worse

The course does play like the links especially as there is a lot of holes playing into the wind. They might have overdone it a bit as there is almost never a flat lie, every fairway is like a moguls run

In my view the fairways are not overly generous, as a lot of landing areas were around 35 yds wide, so it’s definitely not “bomb and gouge” course. Scoring is tough as the approach shots need to be very well placed.

My favourite hole was no.5 it’s the widest fairway allowing to “go for it” with the bunkers in the middle of the fairway and the elevated green (a bit like Hunstanton’s 6th)- just pure fun

The most difficult in my view is the par 3 13th - it’s just mean with the water hazard around and the bunker, playing into the wind

All in all, a well-designed challenging course which I’d be happy to play any day.

 

[VVega]

@LIG Would be interesting to hear how the course is now and what plans if any there are for the winter.