Pine Ridge Golf Club Course Review

Pine Ridge Golf Club Course Review
GF Round: £39wd, £45we
Par 72, 6,458 yards
Slope 123
GM Verdict An affordable and welcoming, lightly-bunkered, tree-lined pay-and-play in an area of top-quality golf
Favourite Hole The 408 yard, SI,1 par-4 10th which heads through the pines into the prevailing breeze

With a smallish membership, Pine Ridge near Camberley in Surrey is effectively a pay-and-play course that welcomes golfers of all standards. It was purchased by the Crown Golf group in 2007, a small chain of clubs that includes the excellent courses at St Mellion in Cornwall. It is arguably one of the best such courses in the country, and it opened for play in 1992, a year after the popular driving range.

The free-draining course is carved from a dense pine forest and its par of 72 features four par 5s and four par 3s evenly spaced over the two returning nines. An early highlight is the 404-yard 2nd, a tough two-shotter where a drive down the right will offer the best line in. A pond and bunker await on the left, and the approach is played over an angled ditch roughly 70 yards short of the green.

The tree-lined nature of the course means that while there are few views outside of the golf, there are some similarities with other pine-clad designs such as Woburn and Blairgowrie. Depending on the tee chosen, it is playable and more importantly enjoyable, for players of all standards with some tough par 4s such as the SI1 10th which is played into the prevailing breeze to a green with a steep drop-off behind.

Opportunities await on the closing three holes with the 16th just about driveable by the very longest hitters. A birdie chance is still on offer for those who play an accurate lay-up.

The penultimate hole is a delightful little par 3, no distance at all but with a tricky green that will test your touch. The closing hole is a shortish par 5 which means that many will be hoping for a birdie, or par at worst, to finish.

In a county packed with leading courses, any list of the best golf courses in Surrey will be dominated by those that are in the Top 100 and Next 100. Despite that, Pine Ridge is a very pleasing and playable layout, all the more affordable, but still with much in common with its more illustrious neighbours.