Well as days go that was a pretty good one

[ColchesterFC]

My alarm going off at 5-30am on a Sunday might not like sound like it's the start of a good day but after a couple of coffees it was off to pick up two mates for a 2 + 1/2 hour drive down to The Grove Hotel to play the free 4 ball I'd won in a Twitter competition.

Everything about the place was quality from arriving (in a Renault Scenic) and driving through a car park full of Bentleys/Ferraris and even a Rolls, and having the car unloaded and then parked for us, clubs cleaned while hitting the free balls on the range, free tees and course guide on the 1st tee, fairways like carpets and greens like snooker tables and then being approached as we finished up on 18 by two chaps who took our clubs to be cleaned again while we went for a drink in the bar. Another nice touch was being presented with a free bag tag that had been personalised with name, tee time and date engraved on it.

The course has gone straight to the top of my list of the best courses I have ever played. It was in absolutely immaculate condition and all the little touches just made the day even more special.

Yes it is a pricey place to play golf but all of the top courses are and you get what you pay for. I am already looking at stay and play options to go back and play it again, that is how much it impressed me.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

My alarm going off at 5-30am on a Sunday might not like sound like it's the start of a good day but after a couple of coffees it was off to pick up two mates for a 2 + 1/2 hour drive down to The Grove Hotel to play the free 4 ball I'd won in a Twitter competition.

Everything about the place was quality from arriving (in a Renault Scenic) and driving through a car park full of Bentleys/Ferraris and even a Rolls, and having the car unloaded and then parked for us, clubs cleaned while hitting the free balls on the range, free tees and course guide on the 1st tee, fairways like carpets and greens like snooker tables and then being approached as we finished up on 18 by two chaps who took our clubs to be cleaned again while we went for a drink in the bar. Another nice touch was being presented with a free bag tag that had been personalised with name, tee time and date engraved on it.

The course has gone straight to the top of my list of the best courses I have ever played. It was in absolutely immaculate condition and all the little touches just made the day even more special.

Yes it is a pricey place to play golf but all of the top courses are and you get what you pay for. I am already looking at stay and play options to go back and play it again, that is how much it impressed me.

Been lucky to have played it several times including a round and a half free courtesy of GM. I enjoyed it and thought it was a good test especially for handicap golfer like me and playing off the silver tees so playing it at quite a long way back at times. The service is excellent and I treated HID to a night at the hotel when I did the NGT day there. The food and service was exquisite too. Very pricey but these set ups are but I definitely got value for money at the hotel and service second to none at the golf part

 

[Hacker Khan]

I was lucky enough to be in Homers 4 ball at the GM New Golf Thinking day and I agree, a quality set up. Very American in it's attitudes I thought, which I like.

One thing that did make me laugh though was that when I was on the excellent practice range there was a chap next to me who literally was hitting the ball about 10 yards. Me and the guy looking after the range exchanged a few smirks, and after he went the guy told me they get a lot of people on corporate freebies who are not very good, to put it politely. He said he had one person who had never played before, could not even hit the ball and asked for a lesson, 30 minutes before they were due to tee off!

 

[pbrown7582]

Sounds an excellent day and well worth the early rise. Do fancy a crack at the grove and the back to black comp is quite appealing.

 

[ColchesterFC]

Sounds an excellent day and well worth the early rise. Do fancy a crack at the grove and the back to black comp is quite appealing.

It was the Back to Black day yesterday so the course wasn't set up to be easy. We decided not to play off the blacks as we thought it might be a bit of a long slog round and had a really enjoyable day.