Mardyke Valley Golf Club

For over 60's a half breakfast and round of golf for £22.50. Course presented very playable after so much rain, distinct lack of mud and/or standing water made it a joy to play. Friendly pro and efficient waiting staff. Practice green and practice nets in very good order. What's not too like.

Haven't played here in a few years,,, the fairways and tee boxes still a little below expectations at £25 for the round. But the greens so much improved, for a change you could hold the greens with approach play and ran quite nicely. Didn't use the practice areas at all so cannot comment on these, and didn't use the clubhouse other than paying, but it looks as it did previously which is quite nice with a decent outside seating area.
Fairways very tufty and at times little grass visible, causing a few issues with seconds shots being easier from the first cut of rough than the fairways

Some fairly non- descript holes mixed with some really interesting holes around the various ponds and ditches. First time playing and will definitely go back. Fairly short of the yellows but Some tricky holes require good positional play. Greens very good indeed for Feb, although 6th and 8th very sloping, No chance to stop an approach put from above the hole, must be like crazy golf in the summer.

really impressed with this course but I made hard work of it

This is a course that probably doesn't give a great first impression, with a lot of holes visable from the front of the club house. The holes on view look very up and down (adjacent fairways), very flat, and seperated by recently planted trees. Indeed, a lot of the holes aren't especially memorable, but there are some nice holes here. The par 4 17th is probably the standout hole here, and it's one that will really test your game. The fairway is certainly narrow, and there's a lot of water to cross before you reach the green.

The greens had all recently been spiked when I played here, but I can imagine that they'll be very good once the holes have closed up. The (mostly wide) fairways aren't the best though. They were very dry and there wasn't a lot of grass underneath the ball.

Course portraits to be easy but once the wind comes up the fun and games begin. Played here a few times and course is kept in a good condition.

brekkie was nice and the staff were pleasant.we booked for 11:00 o'clock tee off but had to wait for another society to finish teeing off and then during the game was shouted at telling us to speed up wtf. the 5th hole was agreat challenge and some of the holes are blind. there is water on some holes aswell. I would play this course again.

I agree with all that Steve has written in his review

Mardyke is a fraction over 5,700 yards off the yellows with two par 5's and four par 3's. Just a couple of the 4's are over 400 yards so plenty of shortish par 4's too.

There were three things that stood out for me. Firstly, most of the greens have plenty of natural contours and borrows left in them and plenty of fairways are also sloping - this isn't necessarily a bad thing and can add more character than where the designers simply flatten everything.

Secondly, there are a large number of holes where the layout is far from 'normal' and the holes have been fitted to the land available - this can also be a good thing, somewhere like Pedham comes to mind with it's sometimes quirky holes - but somehow, at least for me, it doesn't really work at Mardyke. Perhaps there are simply too many of them, or the holes themselves are simply not attractive enough to get away with the unusual (cheap?) design.

The third thing to stand out, and sadly I feel the one that detracts greatly from the other two, is the condition of the course. I can't recall the last time I saw greens with so many un-repaired pitch marks on them. If the greens were largely flat this would be a shame, but where the greens are already fairly tough, putting becomes a real lottery.

For me the greatest example of a hole that simply doesn't work is the 17th, but the 16th and first are equally peculiar - where are you supposed to land the ball on a 414-yard par 4 with a line of trees left and right encroaching on the fairway at 270 yards? Don't get me started on putting the pin on 17 on the lower tier sloping back toward the water....

There's a simple driving range a short trek through the fields away, with buckets of ropey balls available in the pro shop. The range works well as I've never seen anyone else use it so hitting off of grass- not flat, but that should prepare you for your round - is possible, though there are some oldish looking mats too. There's a decent putting area with space to chip from too, in front of the modern, small (but fine) clubhouse.

If the condition of the greens and fairways was improved, the quirkiness of the layout would at least be tolerable. I'm not sure condition alone would be enough to ever make this an appealing course, I think a bit of earth-moving might be needed too.

The facilities when you first arrive are very friendly, you are made very welcome. The course is a thinking course and needs long drives and but its very fair, I found it very well marked out and very good condition, Greens could have been softer to hold the ball or was I coming in to LOW..

Mardyke Valley Golf Club, A nice course not to hilly :-) I will be playing this one again ! A good Tips Keep it out of the rough it's taller than me ! once in its goodbye to mr Golf ball even snakes keep out of the rough (they can't find there way home).17 th very interesting called The watery Grave !Tip when playing this hole use golf balls that Float :-) Greens fine ! Club house and staff nice.Tip Try an 9 hole Breakfast £5 very tasty..

Very good value online. Don't pay full price. I think it is an average course and the greens were quite bumpy. But we only paid 13 quid each. I would add that we played just after the torrential rain at the start of May this year but you wouldn't have known that from the overall condition of the course.

Great parkland course, lots of up's and down's. Some great hole's like the 16th,(High Point) or the 17th,(Watery Grave)it really is a grave for your balls if you,re not careful. Weather was wet and windy but great fun. Clubhouse is nice and new and the staff are friendly. Driving range needs some work as it seems to be just a field with some markers and awfull mats to hit off. putting green though was fine. Will be playing again for sure. Hopefully in better weather.

Played off yellow boxes, which makes it a bit short.Not bad condition, greens were ok, a bit wooly so a bit slow.A couple of interesting holes, worth a visit

Despite teeing-off in blind fog, I really enjoyed this course! Mostly flat but with some tight small greens, it does require very straight shots to score well. The greens were great for the time of year, especially given the snow we had last week and the signiture 17th hole is well worth the visit alone. The club has a very nice new dining area too and they did a mean Ham, Egg and Chips at very resonable prices AND the staff were friendly! Looking forward to going back in warmer weather.....

Well i for one will be going back again.Its not the longest course you will find but very enjoyable

This is one of my least favourite courses.

I've played here twice and the greens were not good, hard the first time I played and bumpy the second time.

The grass on the fairways was too long or the fairway was bare.

There is a gem of a hole on this course, the 17th, if only it could be cut out and put onto another course!

They have a driving range which is really a large area of waste land. I didn't want to hit my irons from the grass for fear of what I might find just underneath.

Russ