Malden Golf Club

The par four 7th asks for a well-placed long iron to open up the best approach to the two-tiered green

Course name: Malden Golf Club
Location: New Malden, Surrey, UK
Four Word Course Review: Charming course, but flat

Other than a couple of rounds at Miramar in Wellington when I went to the 2002 NZ Open (and was supposed to play Paraparaumu the day after the tournament until a Biblical amount of rain fell...), this was my first taste of golf outside Australia. And it showed.

As Vince says to Jules in that first scene of Pulp Fiction: "You know what the funniest thing about Europe is? It's the little differences". Converting yards to metres got old real quick, and it turns out golf balls travel A LOT less distance when it's 4°C. Pity it took me six holes to work that out.

Basically, Malden is a fair to middling suburban course, laid out by Alex Herd in 1926. The layout would probably have been a testing one in the days of hickory and the Haskell ball, but with modern clubs and balls several aspects are quite outdated, principally the fairway traps.

Still, I liked the course and it was a nice, gentle way to ease back into the game after a month off, even if it was so flat it makes Penrith seem hilly. The tight par 4 7th was a great hole, only requiring a long iron off the tee and a wedge to the green, but demanding that they be played with absolute accuracy to a two-tier green.

The 3rd, 4th, 8th, 11th, 13th and 17th were also enjoyable holes. I managed to fall in with a set of members for each nine hole loop, and they were remarkably friendly.

The only downer came when I - the only visitor there - was told by the barman that I'd have to sit in a different bar to the members I had just played with. Oh well, a nice way to ease back into the game.