Reason for a Oulton Hall Golf Club review
We were invited to do a stay and play review of the hotel facilities and the course courtesy of Q Hotels.
Where is it?
Oulton Hall is just a couple of miles drive south west of Leeds City Centre in the area of Rothwell.
What to expect
A really good test of golf with some challenging holes and tee shots. You don’t often expect a high standard golf course that is attached to a hotel, but Oulton offers 27 of the finest holes in the area.
The opening 9 holes, according to a member we were playing with, was the warm up to holes 10-18 where the golf course grits its teeth a little more.
The two long par 3’s (11th &14th) are a couple of holes that you would take your par and run to the next tee. Both straight with no real trouble, but a 3 wood minimum is required on the 14th to even reach the front edge of the green.
You then come to a drivable dogleg par 4, 305 yards down hill. The sensible choice is to lay up but many will want to test their driving skills and go for the green. A real signature part of the golf course.
When you get to holes 19-27 two par 5’s in a row offers a real chance of getting your round going with a possible birdie on both, followed by a couple of really strategical holes where position off the tee is paramount.
My best bit
A chip in at the par 3 2nd hole and then a stiff approach to the 5th gave me two birdies in the opening 5 holes.
A nice run of pars followed but a missed put at the 9th hole stopped me from breaking 40 which was a little frustrating.
What to look out for
The trees, there’s a lot of them. Being sensible off the tee will help you get around the course without much stress.
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If you aren’t a great driver off the ball it’s not the course to be spraying it about.
And watch out for the spectacular clubhouse looking over the 18th green. If you play the hole correctly you’ll have an uphill pitch shot to finish, so make sure you don’t thin it straight into the glass windows.
When I go back
I’ll definitely take a new putter. Six 3-putts in 18 holes stopped me from breaking 80 pretty comfortably. It’s a tough old game.
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