Marlborough Golf Club

Wow! Superb. As a seasoned player of golf on the move across Europe, this is one of the best. Magnificent condition, great food, tremendously friendly welcome. A joy. I could play it every day.

Overall the club, as a whole, has a nice feel to it, the staff were excellent, the food above average, although nothing fancy, the condition of the entire course is as good as you can get, quickish greens with plenty of undulation, tees were a bit small with little room for a variety of positions. The front nine is more parkland in nature, with considerable slopes for your approach shots, then the back nine totally changes with the wind a big factor, being high on top of the hill, but a lot flatter, having a possible moorland feel to it, without the heather, also can play very linksy after a spell of dry weather, but plenty of fir trees which seemed to have about 25 years growth. The course's biggest let down is a lack of design, with many bunkers in the wrong place, almost an afterthought, possibly put in by over zealous committee members. This course with some imaginative design could be one of the most enjoyable places to play golf in S.W. England. The routing of the holes is excellent, forever changing direction, which means the wind plays havoc. Other reviews have said the front nine is superior to the back nine, I don't feel this to be the case, they are both so different. Anyway, it's still a nice days golf but it could be a great days golf with not too much money spent on slight re- modelling, re-bunkering, changing angles off the tee, re-shaping the fairways, a few run offs by the greens, doing something with holes 8 and 9, which are badly designed, but could be good holes with not too much effort. One day Marlborough will get it right, and it will be the best course in Wiltshire. Good Luck.

Played last week for first time and was a very enjoyable round. Would recommend other to try it out - fairways and greens in good nick. Agree with most of comments that front nine is excellent and interesting and then course falls away a little over last four or five holes. Apparently the new greenkeeper is taking a lot of bunkers out - which is surprising - the course needs toughening up if anything.

Marlborough has been on my 'to play' list for some time now and with summer drawing to a close we arranged a 4-ball to see if the reputation the club has in the area is warranted. The club is based in the valleys between Swindon and Marlborough, the setting providing ever changing views. u can see the clubhouse from the main road and it certainly is a striking landmark, good or bad i'm undecided. After paying £29 we walked to the 1st tee and without doubt it was inviting. after about 4 holes the consensus amongst the group was, it was a lovely setting with a well maintained and challenging golf course, just about the worth the money. This train of thought continued till the 11th when the course just completely feel away. The contrast between the two nines is rather extreme and its a shame that the back 9 lets down what is a splendid first loop. Obviously the lay of the land plays a major factor but there is a distinct lack of imagination in the holes and while they provide by far the easer scoring opportunities i did go away feeling let down. My biggest problem is the price, they offer no incentives or deals to entice the causal golfer on a weekday at time when most clubs offer some stand out deals. Overall this course is like a relationship, bags of fun when u 1st meet each other but boring and tedious towards the end.

Marlborough is a rather different kettle of fish compared to many of the courses in the vicinity of nearby Salisbury Plain which I’ve played – and enjoyably so. It’s much more of a traditional parkland course, rather than the open, almost semi-linkslike courses of North Wilts, Upavon, West Wilts and so on. It comes with its fair share of interesting holes and, overall, presents a not inconsiderable challenge, especially off the whites. Which is something I can talk about from experience because, on the day we played, it was straight after the annual medal and we were playing right off the very back boxes. Thankfully, the course was in good nick and rewarded good shots well (not that we played too many of those!) There’s something of an oddity about Marlborough insofar as each nine both starts and ends with a par 5 (anyone know of another course where this is the case?), none of which play remotely short. The front nine is the newer nine, although you really wouldn’t be able to tell. Highlights include the tricky par 4 downhill third (401 yards), with a difficult tee shot probably best negotiated with an accurate mid to long iron; the sharply downhill par 3 fifth (177 yards) and the 485-yard par 5 ninth – which may sound short, but contains a significant hill that needs to be conquered halfway through the hole. With a good diversity of holes, it’s just a shame that the traffic noise from a busy A-road intrudes on holes 6, 7, 8 and 9. In my humble opinion, the more memorable holes are on the front nine but the older back nine was predominantly designed by no less than Tom Simpson and Herbert Fowler (albeit slightly modified since). It is much flatter than the front nine, and perhaps more exposed to the wind. One certainty is that the 191-yard par 3 seventeenth and the 532-yard par 5 eighteenth make for a stiff finish. We’re all familiar with the proliferation of facile parkland courses where you can get away with hitting your ball onto the adjacent fairway. It’s extremely unlikely you’ll get away with this at Marlborough. Many of the holes are relatively tight with trouble in the form of trees, bushes and long rough (rightly) punishing the wayward shot. Overall, it’s a good test of golf and, at around about £16 for a twilight round, very good value for money. Even though I’m not a big fan of parkland golf, I’m looking forward to returning. 7.25/10 ‘Young P’

Marlgorough is a magical golf course and I must say all the satff are really helpful especially the goodlooking bar staff. The greenkeepers do a wonderful job. The facilities are top class and are up to the standard of world class Sam Matton 12/3/02

Excellent course and facilities with fabulous views over the downs. Shorts with short white socks allowed – hurrah ! Weird looking clubhouse – would be more at home on Tracy Island in Thunderbirds. Course in excellent condition – admire the quality of the downland grass on the fairways. Stopping your ball on the greens is a real test. Chipping/pitching on and the ball will run through, chipping/pitching short for the ball to run on and the ball stops dead in the longish fringe. Toiled with this all day until I found the answer was to use a lob wedge. The third is a strange dog-legged hole where there is not really a best tee shot to play. Good food in the clubhouse. All in all a great day out.