Hayling Golf Club
Links Lane,
Hayling Island, Hampshire P011 OBX
Tel : +44 (0)1705 463712 Fax : +44 (0)1705 464446

Tom Leatherbarrow wrote on: Mar 31, 2000

The better player will find the fairways wide and generous but this can easily lead you into a false sense of security. When I played, I hit 5 out of 9 greens on the front nine and ended the outward half at six over par. This in part is due to the greens, which are fast and at times severely canted from front to back or from one side or another. A good example of this is the fourth with its typically severe front to back slope that can make three putts a real possibility.
The back nine probably has more bite to it, with a number of the holes nestling the larger sandhills at the far end of the course. A run of great holes begins at the 11th, a superb par 3 to a tightly bunkered green, followed by the twelfth with another green nestling in the sandhills, the 13th with the infamous Widow Bunker (didn't look too intimidating to me - I was expecting a mineshaft!) and the fourteenth around the edge of what is almost a small bay.
By now we are well on our way back to the clubhouse via another couple of long par 4s and an excellent par 3 (16th) with another subtly undulating green that is characteristic of this course. The 18th, while a little easy is also a nice way to finish, with a green nestling in front of a clubhouse which bears more than a passing resemblance to the white art deco clubhouse of Royal Birkdale.

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