St. Pierre Hotel Golf & Country Club
Sr Pierre Park,
Chepstow, Monmouthshire NP6 6YA
Tel : +44 (0)1291 625261 Fax : +44 (0)1291 629975

Alec Nicol wrote on: Mar 31, 2001

I played both the Old Course and the Mathern Course on Friday April the 20th, 2001.Having stayed in the on site hotel the previous evening my mate Alan and I were very much looking forward to playing a quality course.
For our days golf we had booked a buggy to take the strain over 36 holes. We had double-checked only a couple of days before we were due to arrive and were assured that we would be able to use a cart. No such luck, carts had been off limit for several weeks.
We played the Old course in the morning and although the layout and course design are excellent and a pleasure to play the overall condition of the course especially the greens were surprisingly poor for a course that has been used for many prestigious events over the years. I am aware that we have had a very bad winter and spring weather wise but I have played many courses this year that are in far better condition than this one. Having said that I still enjoyed the experience and would like to play the course again. The par 3's are absolutely fantastic, they are of the XXXX clenching variety, and they require distance and pin point accuracy. The final hole over the pond and up to an elevated green must have destroyed many good score cards, very scary.
We had a quick lunch and headed over to play the Mathern course, to cut a long story short, we very much wish that we hadn't bothered. It is a terrible course and is in very poor condition. There are many municipal courses through out the UK that are far superior to this one. The greens are awful; the layout is crazy and dangerous in many places. One can only imagine how wet it must have been in the worst of this springs weather. To be absolutely fair there are a few very good holes but I would not wish to play it again.

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Marcus Harrison wrote on: Aug 31, 1999

The first hole (par 4) is a dog-leg left, but to the left is a forest of trees, so stay right. The green is protected by a huge overhanging tree requiring a perfect approach shot to clear it and still be near the green. The second hole is a short par 3, that requires a perfectly straight tee shot, uphill, as the trees on either side are over grown and provide a corridor only a few yards wide. The third tee is an elevated tee which provides a blind tee shot, they recommend that you ensure the first green is clear, but how you are supposed to do this with the forest of shrubs in the way is beyond me. The forth hole is probably the most difficult par 5 I have ever played. A dog-leg right laid up short of the water. A second shot towards an elevated green between two more forest of trees and shrubs, and, if you are lucky, a chip shot onto the green in regulation. This may sound easy, but it is far from easy, trust me I speak from experience.
These four holes set the tone for the rest of the course, with the odd difficult hole thrown in (e.g. I think it's the 12th which is a tee shot with a dog-leg left over some trees, but the tee is right against the boundary fence, and the trees have overgrown to such an extent that they completely overhang the tee, making anything put a low shot out left with a serious draw, complete pot luck to see if you make it through the branches!).
The course is very tough, but only provides a taste for what the Old course has to offer. A challenge for any golfer, but certainly not for the faint hearted. Still, if you play it, and find that you are getting as tense as I did, don't forget to look around you and enjoy the beautiful country side, it helps!

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