Hellidon Lakes Golf & Spa Hotel - Blue Course

The course has a mix of everything; from very straightforward holes to much more challenging ones, ordinary holes and quirky ones. The biggest challenge is the very slopey greens - they were also very slow but I'm not sure they would be too playable if quick! The one big negative was pace of play which, at 5 hours for a relatively short course, was horrendous.

Staff in the hotel were good, however, it would be much better they didn't need prompting to open the "sports bar", especially with more than on larger society groups in, and if they had Sky Sports and not just TNT.

Overall, probably better than expected but could easily be improved.

The course is in the best condition its been in years. Its a tough and very different course. In the sunshine with good pace of play its a wonderful place

The staff have always been rude and this hasnt changed for years. Howevet a fun course, in good nik but dont expect good service

Not sure how the course was open let alone playable - well nobody did play. Not that I could see. Greens were all snowed under. Black ice on pavements. Couldn’t get a Tee in the ground.

Have emailed Golf now to reschedule it as I want to play it or refund me. Pictures will be provided.

A great mixture of long and short holes with hazards to catch you out, especially for the off line shot.

Greens are in excellent condition but nothing is a flat put. If playing with a competitive friend anything inside 3 feet is not a gimme

If you are in good physical condition, go and have a go , there are some very good holes on this course . Unfortunately I found the layout very sketchy . The staff were really good.

Played twice, stayed in hotel - good facilities , less crowded than Staverton up the road .

Played Helidon/Lakes layout twice. First round was really slow ( Sunday afternoon) Mondays round was much quicker. It’s a tight course in some places with some quirky holes - the “elbow!”

Greens were our downfall on first round, loads of undulations and tricky pin positions- this probably didn’t help the pace of play! We did get used to them eventually!

The views , as everyone says are fabulous and the course is recovering after the really dry year we’ve had in the UK.

Things to improve? There’s no signage to the driving range, nothing to aim at on the range ( it’s just a field) and no nets near the first tee or ProShop - evidently there is a net somewhere but we couldn’t find it .

Also no snacks, nothing even a Mars bar in the ProShop to grab after the 9th .

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.