Golf forum

Looking down the 12th at Pedham Place.

One of my Favourite courses. In good nick for end of season, and the twilight starts at 12, and only costs £10.

They call it an inland links, which I dont like. Links courses have to be played on links land. I prefer links style.

When the wind blows, its the nearest thing you'll get to a links 70 miles from the coast. 

Depends when you want to play...

We will be travelling to Surrey, sometime between now and Christmas...So it should be possible to combine the two.  Just need a bit of notice.... 

Check out the site.

It has some tough par 3's

I would need to confirm with "She who must be obeyed"...

My wife wants to go to the Egyptian Exhibition at the O2 in Greenwich, she also wants to visit her Mum in Surrey...The only dilema at the moment, is when.   She is currently working extra hours, so I can't say for sure when it would be.....

The onlt thing I can suggest, is that you two organise when you want to play and I will do the usual of trying to keep everybody happy ! 

At the moment John, and like Danny, I can't say for absolute certain when it will be.

Quite often my wife will suddenly say...I am going to see my Mum in 2 days time. Then something happens that will alter the situation.

If it were just you and I playing at Winchester, for example, I can make a definate arrangement, as I wouldn't have to base things on if's, but's and maybe's from a third party. Like you said earlier, the distance I would have to travel is quite considerable, and I would have rather combined a trip if at all possible.

I am only trying to keep everybody happy. Why does life have to be so complicated?

Dave & John,

I'd be interested to know what you think when you travel to play Pedham. I must confess that it is my least favourite course in the area. Granted it has very good greens all year round, but for me that's about all I can say it has going for it. Also on the occasions where I have played there, my playing partners didn't think much of it either.

Don't get me wrong, I'd play there again and the price is good for a twilight game. But I can think of many other places in the area I'd rather play; especially in winter. i.e. Pedham is windy even in the summer. In the winter it can be like playing golf in an aerospace wind tunnel.

Perhaps my impression of Pedham has been tarnished by my not liking that so many of the holes are a blind dogleg, or in some type of man made valley. But if someone else from outside the area says they travelled a great distance to play Pedham and felt it was worth it, I may happily give it another chance.

I have never played there , Keith, so cannot offer any comment at all as to whether the course is worth playing or not. I like the idea of the inland links, myself, as I play a similar one at South Winchester.

I always base my views on a course by the condition of the greens as without good greens it is always going to be a struggle to play to ones handicap.

Keith, do you like the 12th, picture above? If not, then its probably links golf you don't like. If you think Pedham is windy, never play princes at Sandwich in February.

I really like pedham, the only thing that lets it down is the Clubportacabin. 

Being a GolfSnob as well as a GolfBully for many years I drove past Pedham Place to play Darenth Valley. October last year I played it for the first time on a 2-fore-1.

I think its terrific. The "clubhouse" is basic to say the least but the course more than makes up for that. There are blind shots and severe dog legs but that adds to the charm in my opinion. I've played there 3 times now and on only one of those days was the wind blowing although I expect its more often a factor than not. I enjoyed the course just as much though.

It's a 75 mile round trip for me but well worth it.

I must admin that when I just saw the term ‘Golf Bully’ I immediately imagined an oversized 12 year old on the golf course with a wrong attitude, poor etiquette, playing dangerously close to the players in front and a flaccid ego possibly brought about by the knowledge that they wet the bed every night.  Basically anything with the word ‘bully’ in it can’t be good or acceptable on the golf course ……. Could it?

Then I Googled the words I found a whole line of inspiring children’s books covering all manners of sporting activities.  i.e. Soccer Bully, Tennis Bully, Golf Bully, etc where ‘Bully’ was the name of the nice main character who looks like a wooden spoon.

Looking at your photo Adam and the positive comments, I presume you are likening yourself to the book character and not one of the morons we too often come across on the course? 

Thanks for your input everyone, I may give Pedham yet another chance over the coming weeks.

OK, I played Pedham Place again (solo) on Sunday 9th March and I think it is that Links courses are not for me. I’m not saying I didn’t have a good time; after all we are talking about golf are we not :-)

I had an eye out for the 12th and yes it is a challenging hole. I think the 8th and the 17th holes also are worth a mention for their interest.

In summary I feel Pedham is a little too challenging for my current game and high handicap; and in scenery not what I look for in a golf course. I can however see the appeal for the better golfers and on looking at their website feel their membership packages are a bargain (for low handicappers).