Ramside Hall Golf Course, Durham, UK

[TheDoctor]

As a bit of a birthday surprise, Jen asked a friend to organise a round of golf for Saturday, so fingers crossed, I am hoping to also do a review of the course as well

We will be playing at Ramside Hall, which is where I usually go to use the range facilities after work. I have played here before so I do have some course knowledge, although that most likely won't help me at all once I get on to the first tee.....knowing what you need to do and actually doing it are completely different things

Just to give an idea of the place, here is a link to the golf area of the website - Ramside Hall

The course is currently split into three sets of 9 holes, of which I have only ever played the Princes and Bishops (which is what I am assuming we will be playing) but work is underway to add a further 9 holes to create a 36 hole facility along with 'executive' housing


Scorecard

Couple pictures of the entrance and practice areas

With the work going on, it appears that this is the beginning of a new short game practice area - in the background you can make out some of the landscaping work that is going on as part of the creation of the new course

This is a picture of the existing short game area with the range in the background, and the putting green

 

[TheDoctor]

Ok, let's move on to the course

1st Hole - Par 4, 440 yds, SI 4

The first hole is a dogleg right with water on the outside of the corner, so if you hit a drive too straight or too long you run the risk of ending up in the water - the ideal tee shot needs to be long enough to be past the trees running down the right side but short enough to stay away from the water, especially with the pin being in the back left corner of the green

I had no such problems as I promptly topped my first shot and hit it about 30 yds.....needless to say I was hoping the rest of the day would not continue in that manner

Once you reach the corner, you then have a relatively easy approach, although you do have water left of the green, so anything that is pulled will potentially be in the bunker or, if really badly struck, end up in the water

2nd Hole - Par 4, 433 yds, SI 12

The second hole is another slight dogleg to the right with trees and OOB running all the way up the left side of the hole to the green - there isn't really a preferred place to put your tee shot, other than the further you can hit it, the easier it makes your approach into a green with OOB left and long, and bunkers short-right

View from the fairway

View of the green to give an idea of how close the OOB actually is

3rd Hole - Par 3, 120 yds, SI 16

Despite only being 120 yds, this hole has the potential to ruin a scorecard very early in the round as it is all uphill to a 2 tier green that slopes from back to front. Previously there used to be a bunker in the middle as well as the two either side of the green, which, if some of you have read, was the cause of my worst ever score on a hole (an 11...on a par 3)

This time I managed to push my tee shot a little right and ended up on the top tier, but lagged a putt down the slope to around 18 inches which I tapped in for a par


4th Hole - Par 4, 420 yds, SI 6

After the climb up the hill on the previous hole, you then get to hit your tee shot back down again, where you have a dilemna of either hitting the ideal line straight over the top of the bunker (which I managed to hit) to give yourself a shorter iron into a green protected by a stream in front, or going over the top of the tree in the fairway but leaving a longer approach

Once you negotiate the tee shot, you are left with an approach to quite a narrow green where anything short has the potential to roll back into the stream

This hole also gave a couple of our group a few worries, nothing to do with hitting the green, but whilst stood lining up their putts, a family was walking past the back of the green and one of the parents started to wander over in their direction as a warning to stay away from the little ones.....

5th Hole - Par 4, 423 yds, SI 2

Now unfortunately, due to the time of day and the angle that the majority of hole markers were facing, I wasn't able to get pictures, but each of the holes had their own stone marker with the hole names and distances

This is a fairly straight forward tee shot, although anything wild will be punished by trees and will more than likely result in a sideways chip out back to the fairway, it is the second shot that makes this hole a little more challenging

Due to the undulations in the ground, the bunkers look closer to the green than they actually are, so you really need to trust your yardages and not your eyes as a couple of the group found out when they came up short

6th Hole - Par 4, 294 yds, SI 14

The 6th hole is the first of 2 short par 4's on the course that, when you look at a scorecard, make you wonder why they are there, but once you are stood on the tee, you realise that they are not quite as simple as you might imagine

The tee shot is a mid iron to a fairly generous landing area, followed by a wedge over water that not only sits in front of the green but also all the way along the right side, so when the pin is tucked in the front right corner, like it was for us, it is a brave (or daft) person who takes the challenge. It is also made slightly trickier by the fact that the reeds obscure the putting surface so you can not actually see all of the green

Despite the tricky pin position, three of our group all went for it and we didn't do too badly, even if I say so myself....mine is the ball to the right of the picture as you look at it - and for those of you wondering what ball I was playing, it was the Bridgestone e6 which I got to stop within a foot of where it pitched

7th Hole - Par 3, 127 yds, SI 18

A very simple par 3, across the water to a relatively unguarded green so as long as you are accurate with your wedge you could be in with a very good birdie chance. There is a bunker short and another long, but the left side of the green is very open

8th Hole - Par 4, 356 yds, SI 10

This is a hole that gives you a couple of options, you can either play left of the water if you are worried about being able to clear it, or, you can play the hero shot and try to carry it to leave yourself with a much shorter uphill approach. For me, it has always depended on how the wind is blowing - if it is into your face then I will always take the longer route in case I don't make a good contact with the tee shot, but this time it was nice and still so I took my 3w and hit it too well and ran through into the trees on the far side of the fairway

Once you have negotiated the 'pond' you are left with an uphill approach to a green guarded by bunkers short and a few trees behind

9th Hole - Par 5, 487 yds, SI 8

The first of only 3 par 5's from the tees we were playing, and most probably the highest point on the golf course, next to the 4th tee. The pond on the left doesn't come into play unless you really mess your drive, but the trees in the distance are reachable in the dry conditions as any well struck tee shot can run through the fairway if you are too far left even though the fairway will throw anything to the right once it lands

Following your drive to the corner, you are still left with a 200yd+ approach to a green guarded by bunkers short, left and right so to go for the green in two is a risky shot

The sensible approach would be to lay up and leave yourself a short wedge into the green for a chance at a birdie, or at worst a 2-putt par

 

[TheDoctor]

Front 9 completed, so let's move on to the back 9

10th Hole - Par 3, 159 yds, SI 11

Slightly uphill par 3 so it plays longer than the yardage to a quite protected green with bunkers all around the front half of the green and trees behind, but other than that, there is nothing too tricky about this hole assuming you can put it on the green

11th Hole - Par 4, 336 yds, SI 15

This is a slight dogleg left with no real worries off the tee other than trying to make sure you don't hit it through the fairway into the rough, although if you can hit a slight draw then you have got a very good chance of getting quite close to the green (as I found out)

The green is protected by 2 bunkers short and right and another to the left

After what was probably my best tee shot of the day, I was left with this approach to the green

12th Hole - Par 5, 495 yds, SI 9

This is a hole which, with local knowledge and confidence in your game, is very reachable with a good drive and, believe it or not, a mid-iron if you can cut the corner and find the fairway as it is a 90* dogleg right

From the tee, depending on the wind, you could hit a long iron/hybrid or a fairway wood over the bunkers on the right or you can hit a high cut over the trees and hopefully find yourself in the middle of the fairway when you walk round the corner

If you play to the corner, you are left with a very long approach

Which then brings the bunkers short of the green into play

The green is two tier so when playing your approach you need to try and make sure you are on the correct level


13th Hole - Par 4, 390 yds, SI 13

Dogleg to the right, with the ideal line off the tee being straight over the bunker. Anything right runs the risk of being lost or stuck in the trees

Once you reach the top of the hill, the approach is fairly simple to a green that almost sits in a bowl

14th Hole - Par 4, 390 yds, SI 1

Even though this hole is ranked as the hardest on the course, the only really difficult part is the tee shot as it is blind

If you are able to hit a straight shot over the marker post, you are left with a relatively simple approach, although anything right is severely punished by the bushes

15th Hole - Par 3, 172 yds, SI 3

There aren't many holes on this course without bunkers, but this hole definitely doesn't need them. You have water short of the green, which is only really there to mess with your head, water left of the green and bushes very close behind the green so you need to be pretty accurate with your shot into this green or you could be looking at a bad score

16th Hole - Par 4, 294 yds, SI 17

The second of the short par 4's, again with a mid-iron off the tee followed by a wedge into the green, but you need to be good with your distances to ensure you stay out of trouble

This looks a simple enough hole.....

Ok, where's my bucket and spade.....

Just to add a little more trouble, you have OOB over the back of the green


17th Hole - Par 5, 501 yds, SI 5

Again, a hole that you can shorten considerably if you have confidence in your ability and knowledge of the course. Alternatively, you play a mid-iron to the corner aiming just left of the bunker

If you do decide to try and cut the corner, you could find yourself stuck behind a rather large oak tree.....

Once you negotiate the first couple of shots, you are left with an approach to another 2 tier green where you do not want to be long as you will be on a road that runs away from the back of the green towards the hotel.....

18th Hole - Par 4, 342 yds, SI 7

A fairly easy par 4 to finish, with water and the hotel along the right side of the hole and a bunker on the left that will catch any shots that wander over that way

As long as you stay dry with your tee shot, you are left with an approach to a severely back to front sloping green and you do not want to be above the hole as you will be doing well to get inside 6 feet

 

[JoeyJoeJo]

Looking forward to this, hope the game goes well!

Had a look at the site, making no comment on the amount of water in play......

 

[TheDoctor]

Looking forward to this, hope the game goes well!

Had a look at the site, making no comment on the amount of water in play......

Cheers Joey, yeah there is a bit of water on the course and some of it is tempting you into trying to clear it to give you a much easier/shorter next shot.....

 

[El Bandito]

Cheers Joey, yeah there is a bit of water on the course and some of it is tempting you into trying to clear it to give you a much easier/shorter next shot.....

I have an excellent 'water wedge' if you are interested? Guaranteed to find water every time.....

 

[TheDoctor]

I have an excellent 'water wedge' if you are interested? Guaranteed to find water every time.....

As tempting as the offer is, I think I will pass on that one Stu

 

[DufferToo]

Looking forward to the review. I am interested in seeing the differences between the design of your various courses compared to ours on this side of the pond.

Happy Birthday and enjoy your round.

 

[amsmith61]

Looking forward to seeing the updates and pictures. Enjoy and Happy Birthday!

 

[TheDoctor]

Looking forward to the review. I am interested in seeing the differences between the design of your various courses compared to ours on this side of the pond.

Happy Birthday and enjoy your round.

I will do my best to give you an idea of how the course looks - I would consider it to be one of the nicer courses in the immediate area so it won't be the same as the cheaper ones, but it has been a while since I have played here so fingers crossed it is still in a good condition

I may not get a chance to put things together until after the weekend so apologies in advance if it takes a little while to put the review up

 

[JoeyJoeJo]

What time you out doc? Think the weather is looking ok till late afternoon according to the map I saw, fingers crossed for you as it's a birthday event as opposed to adhoc pickup game.

 

[TheDoctor]

Teed off at 7.40 this morning and had glorious weather, then BBQ this afternoon so absolutely shattered now, but I took plenty of pics so fingers crossed they are ok and I will get something put together to put up here in the next couple of days as we are out tomorrow as well

 

[DufferToo]

Teed off at 7.40 this morning and had glorious weather, then BBQ this afternoon so absolutely shattered now, but I took plenty of pics so fingers crossed they are ok and I will get something put together to put up here in the next couple of days as we are out tomorrow as well

Sounds like you had fun. Hopefully your round closely matched the weather.

Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk 4 Beta

 

[TheDoctor]

Updated the first few posts with pictures and a bit of info and here is the scorecard for the day

I was a bit disappointed with a couple of the scores, and if I had putted a bit better I could have been looking at a low 80's score I reckon, but it was good to get out and enjoy the weather

 

[JoeyJoeJo]

Nice write up sir, a few interesting challenges there, and one under 5s is pretty good in my book.

 

[El Bandito]

Looks like a good day out Glenn...and a very respectable score too! Great work.

 

[TheDoctor]

Well I am back here again tomorrow for another round, so it will be interesting to see how things go - in some ways I have got higher expectations after my last round on Sunday where I shot a lot better than I expected, but that is most likely going to be the kiss of death.....but on the other hand, with the back issues I have suffered during the week (I was at the physio yesterday evening) it might be a bit of a struggle

Hopefully the weather will be okay, currently is is grey and damp here but the forecast for tomorrow is sunny and dry so I am going to guess that the greens could be quite soft and receptive which will suit my game with the e6 as I should be able to stop it on approaches with the shorter irons

Might try and get some more pictures while we are there and if I do I will update the first few posts

 

[p7hut]

Hi Doc, I missed this topic the first time around... nice review.

While I play mostly at Roseberry as you know, this is where I go to use the driving range. I played it twice last year, the same 18 as you.

Enjoy tomorrow!

 

[TheDoctor]

Hi Doc, I missed this topic the first time around... nice review.

While I play mostly at Roseberry as you know, this is where I go to use the driving range. I played it twice last year, the same 18 as you.

Enjoy tomorrow!

Cheers,

I tend to be there at least once a week to use the range, usually a Thursday night after work rather than going home to come back out an hour or so later to head back up to Durham to the badminton club, so if ever you happen to be there between 5-7ish keep an eye out for a THP cap as that will more than likely be me

I have played here a few times, probably about half a dozen in recent years, but this will be my second time in the space of a couple months

As per my previous post, I am hoping the forecast for tomorrow is correct and that it is at least a bit sunny.....

 

[Philly Golf Guy]

Thanks for the review. I like the looks of Thirteenth. Nice score too!

 

[Agent Jay]

Doc,

Just ran across this thread for the 1st time, looks like you know your battle holes now. Time to put up some good numbers. I think you can best your last round here by at least 5 strokes. Great review and pictures, hope your next round here is just as nice as the last one in July.

Good luck!

 

[TheDoctor]

Doc,

Just ran across this thread for the 1st time, looks like you know your battle holes now. Time to put up some good numbers. I think you can best your last round here by at least 5 strokes. Great review and pictures, hope your next round here is just as nice as the last one in July.

Good luck!

Yeah, the bad holes last time were due to bad strikes, so as long as I can put a decent swing on the ball and keep it in play I know I can shoot better on this course, it is just being able to put that swing on it and staying out of trouble, as some of the rough and trees limit the chances of going for greens and give you no option other than chipping out sideways or just moving the ball forward 50yds or so