Great Hadham Golf and Country Club

Very poor course. They have taken some construction dirt and used this to landscape some of the course. This makes it extremely stony. The driving range is far from 'state of the art' as advertised and points directly westward into the evening sun, so good luck in seeing where your ball has gone if you pop by after a day's work. Pro shop staff are not exactly friendly as they are not part of the club itself. Far better courses nearby that are much better value for money.

I don't like to be negative in my reviews, but I must be honest and state that this course is shocking. With the amount of landscaping going on there are many places where you face a mud bath. Although I was told that the mud that is on most holes was a dumping ground for the olympic sites. Seriously needs to be looked at, very disappointing and would not play here again.

19th hole is nice on a positive note.

Great Hadham has improved, however there are currently only 15 holes in play and it is very unsatisfying to play a back 6 follwed by a front 9. Very confusing and leaves you with a feeling of missing out on a real golf experience. If it rains a few days before you play, be prepared to get as muddy as a pig in a sty as where all the lorries are piling in the landscaping mud, it has turned into an almost impassable slurry between 8 ans 9! I was going to play here today but my friend has just told me that the front 9 is closed, leaving only 6 holes in play.
I live quite local and am only a 22 handicap but would not consider joining Great Hadham as it must be a year since all 18 holes have been open.
Yes the pro shop is the best in the area with price matching the big stores and informed and friendly staff, but the course is not a full course at present and I did have the worst vallue for money bacon sandwich experience to boot.
to summarise, this place is getting better and would be an ok course if they could get it open to 18 holes. I feel sorry for the members who are paying full fees for half a course!
Having said that, when the work is finished I may look at joining , as long as its better value than the food!

Played this course today and despite recent reviews the course is in generally poor condition and is significantly blighted by mountains of landfill masquerading as course improvements.it may be cheap to visit but don't bother unless you have an interest in builders rubble or dumper trucks.

Course has greatly improved , front 9 looking good and par 3 course is great value , very friendly club , the pro shop at the club is also 1 of the best I have visited stocking all the major brands at good prices , well worth a visit !

The course, as many reviews have said before is not in best condition at the moment. However, it has improved considerably over the last year. Most of the shaping of the land is now done, and come the new season, when it is grasses over, will be a nice course and a challenge to play. Without a straight drive you will be in sloping rough with little chance of making the green. 2 particular holes are a joy to play. 11 - over 550 yards against the prevailing winds with a blind shot into the green which slows away on 3 sides, and 17 -a 440 yard par 4 with 4 huge bunkers and OB on the left in driving distance, and a sloping rough hill on the right with trees and a bunker around 220 yards from the tee. Overall the fairways and greens are quite good with the introduction of a new drainage system, which provide a challenge. The greens are fair, but tricky in places, with many 2 tiered greens, while there are also challenging bunkers, especially on the 2nd, 3rd and 5th. Practice facilities are overall excellent, with a par3 course, driving range, chipping green and putting green, as well as very friendly service in the bar and pro shop. Tees times could be improved, with queues often occurring. Overall an okay course, which is upcoming and in a couple of years could be a long and challenging course. Dont give up on GHGCC, ir has a lot of potential.

Lovely friendly staff. However, The worst course I have ever played on. Truly abysmal. The course resembles a building site. Like playing in the Grand Canyon at times with a huge hill of rubble on both sides of the fairway. My friend broke his club after hitting a stone on one fairway. Dreadful, dreadful, dreadful.

There are no warnings before you go out about the state of the course so here goes. I was a member here up until last year. It is a great friendly club but the course at present ( and for i would say another 20 years) is terrible. This club is guilty of greed - being paid millions to take earth from the olympic site and dumping it on the course with very little reinvested. Now there are just mounds of earth around the course that look awful. Most fairways have stones on at some point access for trucks. The 1st green was covered in holes, the 2nd had chunks missing. Number 4 had a pile of bricks behind it. Walk along the 9th fairway past the UKs new highest peak of turd and on the left is a sign reading 'Tip Two' - no lie!!. Enough said. We played on, but eventually decided to finish at 14 when we saw what looked like a new Stansted airport relief road cutting through the last 4 holes. This course just irritates you from hole 1. We paid £20 each but were offered a free round afterwards. No thanks.

The comments regarding the condition of the course are very accurate- it is truly poor at the moment. We were given a discount as the greens and some fairways were so bad but it still cost £20! Also, Tee times need to be given some thought as there were immense queues which meant very few of us teed off at anything like the correct time, and all were subsequently held up everywhere.
Watch out for unfriendly and inconsiderate members too- we were subjected to abuse by an elderly "gent" because we hadn't played the course before (and are unlikely to again!) as 'people like you' ie: non-members 'shouldn't be here at all.' Much restraint required...

i had the misfortune to play this today. it is a building site!!! the greens had been punched the fairways were cracked and the tees are awful. they charged us 10 quid to play and that was 20 quid too much!!!!!.
i am a seasoned golfer who has played over 500 courses world wide and this is one of the worst if not the worst i have ever played.
truly awful...avoid at all cost

Have to agree with the more recent statements about the first nine holes. It is reminiscent of playing on a building site, and not really a pleasant experience. You should score pretty well on these holes, as if you miss the fairway you're almost certain to get a drop from the ground under repair, but this isn't really what I'm after!
The later holes are ok, but not enough to make up for the disappointment of the first nine.

With all the work going on at the course at the moment i honestly would tell everyone not to bother playing it until it is completed.
We gave up after the first 9 as 5 of those holes had builders rubble and soil piled up right up to the fairway.If you hit a shot of the fairway you get a free drop but you cannot retrieve your ball.
You also had to put up with trucks driving everywhere causing dust storms on the dry day we had.
It would help if the course put info on there website about what is exactly going on and how it is affecting the course.
This cost us £15pp which sounds cheap but i really felt this was too much to pay.
Very disappointed.

Having just played this course on Sunday I fealt that I needed to make a comment.
The course is under going "redevelopment" to add a par 3, 9 hole and improve the dirving range, which I have to say was fine how it was. This so called redevelopment takes the form of dumping builders rubble down the flanks of the first half a dozen holes to generate revenue for the owners.
The course is now awful to look at and any balls hit wide are lost because you dont want to wade in the bricks and mud to retrieve it.
Apparently this building work has now stalled as there is not a lot a builders rubble around due to the credit crunch with no forseable end in sight
The mid winter rate we were asked to pay for this was £28, and I cant help but conclude that this quite expensive for a course of this type and at this time of year. Other local course such as Elsenham are charging £15 for a more picturesque and challenging course with a meal thrown in.
I was very dissapointed which is a shame as I found the staff to be friendly and have used the practice facilites and proshop on many occasions in the past and found them to be good

Having read the other reports , this course has definately moved on and matured. Though very wide and open it is far from featureless and does have some interesting and challenging holes. The practice facilities are very good and I would say the bar prices are very reasonable. Chilled water is all I have ever been sold, never warm and the price is the same as previously mentioned.
The fairways are in fairly good stead and the greens are as good as any course in this class and many better ones. The greens are the best asset of this course and are tough, often two tiered and undulating , often raised but they have a lovely surface and are fair. The long 'conservation grass' is basically over harsh/unfair especially to the higher handicapper as a slightly wayward shot in to the long stuff is goodbye ball (and score).
The bunkers on this course are rough hard stoney sand and totally let the course down as they are unacceptable.
In winter this course can be closed due to heavy rain and the bunkers flood through the spring. This course does not take the rain well.
G.H.G.C has its good points and its bad ones but folk who I have invited to play there do seem to want to come back for another go.
Cheers Mas

Played in June. Fairway was poor, hard,dry and cracked so ball would not stay on there and ran into the rough. As with previous comments, one hole you do not know where you are going which needs thinking about before taking on. Course a little un-interesting apart from greens are quite varied and challenging. Nice staff.

Wide open in most places, and if you haven't played here before I advise you do it with a member just because of the 11th. We really didnt have a clue where to go on this hole, and as usual for me, the pro-shop had sold out of course guides. We did wonder why all four of the players behind us sent their tee shots miles out to the right, and it was only when we stood on the 12th fairway we worked out why. From that point you could actualy see the marker post at the back of the green. None of us trusted the yardage markers either. Freindly natives, but on a hot day and £1.10 for a 200ml bottle of warm water it was easy to see why they were laughing - all the way to the bank. Good breakfast.

New winter Tee boxes on all holes make a huge difference in the colder months. No-one likes those horrible mats! The course is fairly bland and featureless. Wide and open although the rough can be treacherous in places. This summer will be interesting as extensive work carried out on greens over the past year should bear fruit. If it is not and you play in the drier months you can almost always afford a club less in approach as there is next to no stick on the greens!

The Club offers excellent pre-round practice facilities, and although the overall look of the course will not inspire those looking for a stunning backdrop to their round, the fast running fairways and threatening rough, (2 to 3 feet high in places), will test anyone who misses fairways and greens. In all, a pleasant course.