Gatton Manor

Just a quick one, but has anybody played Gatton Manor near Dorking, and if so what did you think and any tips for me?

Its a nice course, and relatively long. My tip is try not to hit the pro-shop with your approach to the 3rd green

Martin, Its a decent course with some good holes. I played there recently but the greens had just been spiked and sanded and were shocking. Also they had lots of mats on tees. If I were you I would ring beforehand and check on the greens / Tees. If there has been no spiking then well worth a round. Not quite worth £45. PS SI1 keep to the right off the tee. Dave CAC handed Geordie.

Good course when in good condition.

If they have just done the greens as Dave says then avoid for a while as it takes a long time for them to recover after being cored.

Can get very busy at weekends but apart from that I enjoyed it the times I have played there.

A cheaper option Martin that is not too far from Gatton is Rusper, although it has the hardest stretch of holes 8-14 that I have played on (will really test your game and they call them Amen corner). One of my fav courses though.

I would of also offered up Wildwood, but IMO not as nice since they turned it into three 9 hole courses.

I agree with you about Wildwood. Nigel, I stopped playing there when they introduced the third loop, completely wrecked the setup, as 27 holes usually does.

Gatton Manor suffers with the wet weather and is not worth £45. that's for sure.

Have you tried, Sweetwoods, Crowthorne and even the little gem of a nine hole at Holtye.

Yes JP I have virtually stopped playing at Wildwood like yourself. I used to play there all the time in the 90's as it was a great 18 hole course and the green fee's were very affordable.

Then in their wisdom they built 9 new (crazy golf) holes, totally ruining the course and also steeply increased the green fees!! I still play there in society events but that is it now.

Not played Holtye myself but if you recommend it then I will definitely check it out.

Personally, I love Gatton Manor. In my experience it has always been maintained well. Greens have to get treatment at some point but agree that I would be very dissappointed if I turned up, paid full price and found the greens like that. They do a reasonable twilight rate and accept 2-fore-1 vouchers, although not all day. Or join their "friends" scheme to get a discount.

3rd is a great par 4. You need a long hit to clear the water but have to be careful laying up short as it is downhill and can run on further than you think... into the water; laying up also leaves you needing a long 2nd if you're going for GIR.

4th is a par 3 over water with green sloping from back to front - just get it over the water!!

6th is a real teaser. A good hit to the ridge of the rise is needed otherwise you are blind into the green and there is all hell of trouble around it.

10th is a "pride" hole. Par 3 - get your ball on the green so you can leave your clubs at the top ready for the 11th and gloat to your mate as he carries his down.

11th is another cracker - short par 4 which will tempt you to go for the green. You'd better get it right though as anything more than a little short will end up in the ditch. Lay up for safety - but again, get your distance right or you will reach the ditch.

Water comes in again on another par 3 on the back 9 and the last is another cracker whilst I think the 17th boasts to be one of the longest par 5's in the country from the back tee. I think there are fairway markers showing distance from the back tee - first time I've seen this!!

If you are playing a comp down here then I would absolutely recommend you play a round beforehand - there is much to learn.

Echo Nigel's recommendation of Rusper. Fantastic course (even better for plane spotters due to close proximity to Gatwick!!). £10 for twilight here is an absolute bargain.

Nice breakdown of some of the holes Martin

I remember the first time I played Gatton standing on the 3rd thinking do I hit driver or play safe?

In the end hit driver, no idea if it carried the water as went out of sight as had a slight draw. Anyhow marched down the fairway and was shocked and very pleased to see it had cleared the hazard and left a short shot to the green, par obtained.

Joy to despair on the next hole though as cleared the water and the green!!! Impossible chip back and walked off with a 5!

17th off the blue!! is the longest Par5 I have played, beating West Hove's 18th - at least you get a lot of roll if you hit the fairway! All in all its a long track but most enjoyable if in good condition

I play Rusper as much as I can - use 2 for 1 vouchers and twilight rate as you say is a bargain!

"Nice breakdown of some of the holes Martin" - of course I meant Paul!! Sorry

Ha ha, no worries Simon... sorry Nigel :-)

If I recall West Hove rightly, the 18th is all downhill as you say. Gatton's 17th trumps that I reckon. Never played off the blue's but looks frightening!!

Thought I would bring this post back to the top as I played Wildwood in a society event last week.

All I can say is what on earth are they doing there?

The course was in not too bad shape, fairways were in good condition, greens were sanded but they putted quite well.

But, and the huge but! - The bunkers!!!

It was like all the proper sand had been removed and what was left was baked rock solid with lumps of sand and mud dotted about. The rakes were pointless as the sand could not be raked!!

Did not see 1 member of greenstaff out on the course at all during play

Would I join there - NO

Would I pay the green fee to play - NO

Avoid like the plague IMO - which is a huge shame as I used to love the place - very sad.

Martin Did you get to play Gatton Manor ? If so what did you think. Dave CAC handed Geordie.

i play wildwood quite a bit, and got told today the price is going up as of next week to £50 a round! i know you can get the 2.4.1 from their website, but that is really steep!

No way is wildwood worth £50 a round. It may be a similar tact as lingfield. Their green fee is £60 but ive never payed more than £25. May be a ploy to make you think you are getting a god deal. It may put off a few also. If I see a greenfee of £50 I would not scour the net looking for a deal there, I would look elsewhere. Dave CAC handed Geordie.

Dave, yeah did play lovely day and course was in generally good condition, to be honest i was a bit disappointed with the course manly because it didn't suit my game as i was disappointed with the length as i enjoy a longer course which allows me to use the Driver a bit more and at gatton i only used it 3 times due to run outs and dog legs. It is defiantly more suitable for the shorter hitter or more methodical player rather than the all out power player like myself.

All in all a well run and enjoyable course however not worth the £46 it costs.