Central London Golf Centre

 The 130-odd-metre 9th was the highlight, over a lake to an amphitheatre green 

Course name: Central London Golf Centre 

Location: Wandsworth, London 

Four Word Course Review: Cheap and near home

The best thing about CLGC is that it's a golf course, out in the fresh air! Walked up (20 minute walk from home) after work to try my new irons out, and it was the first time my better half had come to golf with me.

Being a cheap public facility, there were three or so groups waiting on the first tee, so we jumped onto the 9th. First swing with an S58 in my hand and first swing with The Boss there watching - eight iron into a gentle breeze to three feet, then made the birdie putt! If only it was always that easy!

The course offers four par fours and five par threes. The par fours are all driver/wedge affairs - all straight and very narrow, while the par threes vary from about 120m to 165m, and given it tends to be pretty quiet, you can hit a few balls and generally keep the cobwebs at bay.

Mounding is king at CLGC, have a look on Google Maps - it looks almost like a motocross track with all the rounded berms and jumps! At £8.50 for nine holes, it's a cheap enough place for some practice if, like me, you don't fancy bashing balls on a driving range.

The 9th was probably the only hole that would fit in on a golf course of a higher standard, a 140m or so par three over a dam to a small green in an amphitheatre.

St Enodoc

 The famed Himalaya on the sixth: the UK's biggest bunker

Tight much? The 457-yard par four 10th - just eight yards wide in the driving area - and after negotiating that, you get to hit a 200-yard hook over a creek to a green obscured by bushes!

Looking across the new green on the par five 16th to the Camel Estuary and Padstow

 

Course name: St Enodoc GC 

Location: Rock (Wadebridge) Cornwall 

Four Word Course Review: Blinder than Stevie Wonder 

Every now and then you'll be talking about music at a party or something and some muppet will say The Beatles are shite. Disbelieving looks will be exchanged and unkind things whispered behind hands.

That's what I expect when I say, not without long and stern thought, that I think St Enodoc is overrated. I still very much enjoyed the course, but the reverential tones I had heard it discussed in are, in my mind, unwarranted.

In short, I felt the combination of narrowness and blindness ruined several holes.

The green complexes were amazing, as were the surfaces themselves, and the views were other-worldly. I have never seen a course that offers vistas that take your breath away from so many holes.

The par five 1st was a great way to start the day, and walked into my lifetime composite course. Following that, I really enjoyed the 6th, 7th, 8th, 13th, 14th, 16th, 17th and 18th.

The par threes, I thought, were good without being great - the 17th rising above the other four. The par four 6th was an experience: driving towards, then pitching over the Himalaya bunker, but the other most famous hole, the 10th was long and narrow - a brutal two-shotter and a bit bland as a three-shot hole.

If I was to head back to the south west, I would definitely go back. I suspect it might be a grower, and I would love to feel the love so many others have for the course.

The welcome was very warm, but don't forget your handicap certificate!

Trevose GC

The 1st runs down towards the Atlantic, a gentle opener that can still bare its teeth

The par five 4th combines some white-knuckle blind shots and breathtaking views

The par three 3rd, with more than a hint of NSW GC back home

Course name: Trevose
Location: Padstow, Cornwall
Four word course review: Play front nine twice

Trevose was, for me, a real tale of two halves. The front nine excited me no end. Despite playing alone, I was moved by more than a few shots to exclaim aloud how wonderful they were. The back nine, however, moved to the less dramatic inland area of the property and was a bit bland on the whole.

The opening five holes was a rollicking start, the first two running towards the coast, before turning to run along the beach for the next couple then back inland and uphill on the 5th. Standing on the 6th tee, I was in heaven and I struggle to imagine a more enjoyable stretch of golf anywhere.

The 4th and 5th were just 20 yards different in length, but I hit driver, eight iron into the longer 4th, then driver, six iron, wedge into the 5th. Such is the charm of links golf, the wind ensures few holes play as their card length would suggest, and from day to day, the same hole can be two very different beasts.

The highlight of the back nine, the 14th, was a tempting little par four that saw me drive the ball into a greenside trap, just 10m from the pin, and make a seven!

Trevose lost its greens about five months ago, all 18 of them reduced, I am told, to dirt. The grass is growing back, and looks pretty good in the pics, but is still horrific to putt on, and should provide some nostalgia for anyone who played the pinball machines a lot as a kid! The ball, as it slows, cannons from tuft to tuft, making it pretty hard to hole anything longer than two feet.

The club website hosts a fantastic fly-over of each hole.