Hellidon Lakes Golf & Spa Hotel - Red Course

Fantastic course, very challenging. Beautiful views. Great staff. I even came back a week later.

Fantastic course, very challenging. Beautiful views. Great staff.

Paid £35 to play here. Greens were pretty terrible bar one. Front 9 was a good pace of play but two groups of old boys walked on to the back 9 from the clubhouse and caused a huge log jam for the rest of the round.

Avoid this place in the winter. Shocking conditions to play a round of golf. Almost half of the greens were flooded and another 5 were unplayable.

The whole place was so soft and wet it was hateful. 3 emails were sent to the club requesting a refund yet all were ignored. So with ample opportunity to correct this, here is your review.

Tee boxes were uncared for and grass was 4 or 5 inches long on some. Fairways were long, incredibly soft underfoot and flooded and the greens.... well see above.

No pro shop was open, I was charged £4 for a 330ml bottle of water in the hotel reception.

We played at the end of the year and with the bad weather the course was what you would expect. You could tell that with a little TLC in and around the greens it could be a really great course as some of the holes are really interesting to play. If you do decide to play here I would say expect a decent walk as it is very hilly and if you can try and avoid busy times as there are a couple holes where it could back up a little.

Am keen to play here again in the summer as I think a lot of the holes will play completely different and I think for the green fee it is good value for money compared to other courses in the areas.

The course was nice and had some challenging holes. The greens were in condition. We got stuck behind some slow play in front but nothing major. Our only problem was the signage of the holes was very poor and one point we didn’t know where to go. Overall a nice course.

We had a great experience on an early start 7.30 tee time Sunday, September. Rolling countryside with expansive views over the hills. Undulating course that feels like they had fun designing it. Quirky doglegs and hillocks mid fairway, and some spectacular par 3 drops over water.

There are three 9 holes. We played the Lakes followed by the Valley. Although the course seems shorter the steep inclines on some fairways and paths means you'll get a good workout!

Overall, great fun and recommended.

I read a few reviews before playing and they were all correct with saying the greens were tip top and the fairways were ok, the biggest issue is for a top club the rough is so rough, extremely long grass, so if you’re not on the fairway, good luck finding your ball. This could be an excellent course, although challenging it’s let down by the simplistic of maintenance. Sort the rough areas out and it would be a 9 / 10, as it stands it’s a 4.

I recently played this course and had booked an early morning tee time. The previous nights weather meant it had rained heavily but the course was open so we drove the 30 mins to play.

The course simply should have not been open at all. It was in a poor state. Tee boxes were as long as the rough. 12 of the 18 greens were very very wet and of those 4 were underwater. It has amazing potential to be a great course but sadly just in a state of disrepair and after contacting the hotel, I received no correspondence back enquiring about another tee time or refund due to course conditions.

Also worth mentioning that the Pro shop was shut so refreshments after 9 were from the bar at £3 for a 400ml bottle of water.

Very very poor but yet has so much potential. Possibly a lovely course in the summer but it was far from that on my day.

No pro shop open all day to buy things or rent trolleys/buggies. Wasn’t even sure if the course was open it was so quiet.

Course was incredibly muddy, signs missing, not clear tee boxes, minimal cart paths. Second time in a row it’s just been rubbish and I’ve left thinking I don’t want to play there again

A really nice course, no hole is easy, dog legs right dog legs left, a lot of water, it’s a great course and makes you think about every shot, would highly recommend

The course was waterlogged and can’t be helped however it really should have been closed. We slipped multiple times and in one occasion actually hit the deck.

I have played the course 3 times now and all times have been a little wet. The course is fun with a couple drivable par 4s.

The hotel is awful though. £15 for the worst continental breakfast. The coffee pot is as clogged and when I wiggled the spout, it dumped a load of gunk into the cup. I didn’t dare try it.

The changing room toilets were covered in dried poo with no toilet paper. So I went to the toilets near the restaurant and they also had dried poo up the back of them and a sink full of vomit. If I had paid to stay at the hotel, I’d have been incredibly upset.

All in all, I was glad to play a game of golf but in all honesty the course was unplayable

4 4balls before us in a big group. Teeing off 40 minutes late already. All in buggies so we didn’t think it would be a problem. Took us nearly 7 hours to get around. Final few holes in near darkness so couldn’t see anything. Waiting 10-15 minutes at ever tee box.

And then we thought we’ll maybe we could at least get a drink after the 9th at the half way house, but no it was closed

We ended up walking off the course after 9 holes because we had taken over 3 hours to get through the 9 holes alone by that stage. Greens we crazy hard, and the rest of the course had cut grass all over it, tee boxes were a mess and the layout not very good either.