Surrey’s Hardest Golf Course
No, not Wentworth - let me introduce Bletchingley to the uninitiated.
A bit of context. I am off 7, and my last 3 rounds have been 78, 75 and 80. So I’m not a vanity handicap.
I have played there twice this summer. I have lost 6 full sleeves of balls, and my combined score over par is +63.
I play strict rules of golf. If it’s OB, it’s reload. No favourable dropping, mulligans etc.
This place is absolutely insane. Completely unplayable. There is no respite from impossible holes anywhere. A few holes are *literally* impossible. There is nobody out there - everyone else has too much common sense.
A few highlights from my experiences:
- a nice, welcoming first hole with out of bounds both sides and the white tees at 438 yards. Hit my second shot to a back pin, landed 6 feet away and it repelled off the green violently 80 yards down a hill into some bushes.
- the 3rd hole is a 485 yard par 4 where you are hitting diagonally across a fairway. If you don’t fade it, it will hit the ground and run OB. Took 3 goes to get this in play.
- the 5th hole. Oh my god. 445 hard par 4 and it turns sharp left. You have to hit a ball *exactly* 210 to run to the perfect spot between two trees to hit a 230 yard approach to a green that slopes more than Augusta National. I hit a 5 iron right down the middle - the fairway repelled it left and it went in the brook. What???? Did I mention it’s OB a yard right off the fairway off the tee?
- the 7th hole is a 239 yard par 3, 100ft above the hole with a green opening of about 4 yards. I don’t think anyone has ever hit that in regulation.
- the 11th hole is a par 5 where you can only hit the fairway if you hit a 45 yard fade, but if you hit a 50 yard fade it’s OB. Otherwise you have to hit a PW 125 off the tee to the start of the fairway.
- the 15th hole has a fairway that *cannot* be hit. It slopes down to the left where it is OB 2 yards off the fairway. Any ball that lands in the fairway is repelled left OB every single time. You have to hit the ball in the bunker to be in play. It took me 4 goes.
- the 16th is a 480 yard par 4 where there is a 15 yard gap between trees to hit the fairway. If you miss it, it is OB both sides one yard off the fairway.
Beyond this, on both occasions I played there were 4 illegal pins at least. On two occasions, it looked like the group in front hadn’t replaced the flag properly, but it turned out that it was on such a steep slope the flag was leaning in the hole.
Completely and utterly mad. I rarely refuse to hand in a card, but I drew the line here.