Traditions

The brilliant 13th green, viewed from the back right, falls away towards a creek

Course name: Traditions
Location: Woking, Surrey
Four Word Course Review: Gathers momentum after turn

The great thing about seeing new golf courses is that you walk onto he 1st tee with no idea what is waiting out there for you. The good, the bad, the ugly and the awe-inspiring. Into the latter category falls the 13th green at Traditions.

The 380-odd-yard hole doglegged right around a lake to a skyline green. The back half of the green fell away dramatically. There was a creek about 10 yards behind the back of the green, so if you went far too hard, the green would run the ball off into the creek, but if you ran it gentle over the crest of the green, it would feed down and settle on the back of the green.

The green surrounds had some nice shaping and it was just the kind of green you could have fun on for hours.

The rest of the course? Hit and miss. There were a couple of absolute stinkers, a lot of decent holes and other than the 13th, two or three other cracking golf holes.

Just a pity there were giant steel power towers running through the course, and what seemed to be a high water table on the holes in the wooded part of the property that meant those holes were far damper than they should be.

But all in all, I walked away having seen something that I'd never seen on the other 101 courses I've played, so I'd call that four hours well spent!