Macdonald Linden Hall Golf & Country Club

Probably the worst condition greens I have ever played on! Ruined the round and overall experience. The fairways were in poor condition also.

Some tough holes that require thought (maybe not driver). Beautiful landscape and all the par3s were interesting and fabulous to look at.

Staff excellent with handing over course knowledge and clearly have a love for the course. It's getting better and better.

Booked in again!

Course was great, loads of great par 3s, and some difficult par 5s. Differing dog legs, good variety of holes.

Played as a 4 ball, and were through 9 holes in less than 2 hours, but we had let a group of 2 through, but then had another 2 one ballers behind us. We arent slow players but it seemed like everyone here wants to sprint round for the fastest round. We were struggling to find gaps to let people through.

Also, when getting to the back 9 a new group appeared in front of us out of nowhere, which in turn started holding us up. May have just got a bad day tbh, Sunday afternoon. Just a couple weeks after lockdown.

I didn't feel like our group was at a slow pace of play as we are never normally caught anywhere else. Were playing ready golf, and not even searching for "lost" balls. Just taking a drop near the area it disappeared.

Would definitely go again.

Really enjoyed the round of golf. Perfect setting for a lovely day out and the pro in the golf shop was really helpful. It’s a tough course and quite physical. So if your knocking on a bit like me a buggy might be the best bet.

Played this course about 15 years ago and it has really went down hill. Sand removed from bunkers and looked like it had been used to treat the greens? Staff friendly enough. Course with investment could be back to championship standard. It is light years away from what it used to be. I feel the green staff don't have much budget, which is a shame and don't blame them in anyway. The course is clean and well looked after to be fair. Sort the greens out and it won't be too far away from being playable. I will play again later in the season to see if it has improved. Good luck to the staff as I feel their hands are tied financially

Great course but one of them you need to play a couple of times to score well

But windy today. But course was okay, greens full of sand which were hard to play and putt on, not too bad to be fair.

Great course to return to golf with.

To get over the worse bit first, the greens aren’t yet up to the standard that the course required and deserves. Though after a long lay off and some spring growing this hopefully will just be a temporary issue.

Three of the par 3’s are played over water, which is an excellent test and a potential scorecard buster.

Fairways were in excellent condition and no easy shots are available.

The 13th maybe the signature hole but the 18th runs it close with hazards on the right with water and large trees protecting the green. An adventurous 3rd shot to the green will be well rewarded.

Looking forward to returning later in the season.

Received phone call 1hour before tee but had already set off as it’s approx 35 min journey saying no trolleys allowed As course was soaked ! We had 3 players all with trolley bags not carry bags which are not the lightest on a dry condition day course should have been close one player slipped but luckily not hurt so really dangerous course was boggy all way round won’t be going back for a very long time !!!

Got there to find out the tee boxs where put forward and the greens had been spiked full of holes no sand put in them it was very poor I tuck my friends up there thinking there would of like it but it was not to be course was very poor I’ve book twice from yous and I’ve never had any sort of discount of you

Some challenging holes especially the par 3’s nevertheless a good course

I had seen some comments on the current condition of the course but I did not see any of this when i played - Linden is a fantastic layout and was in very good condition, all in all a thoroughly enjoyable round despite the challenging conditions.

Linden Hall remains one of the best 18 hole course layouts in the north east. Today the greens were also great but overall the course was not in the best condition. Tee boxes were patchy and although cut fairways were full of weeds. The bunkers were largely unplayable, full of weeds and clearly not turned over for some time. MacDonald Hotels need to invest some money to bring the course back to its best as sadly the conditions are some way behind its main competitors at Matfen Hall, Slaley Hall and Close House.

On the plus side the scenery is magnificent, pace of play satisfactory and off course facilities pretty good.

It’s definitely worth a visit but not sure you would be happy to pay a membership at this point.

Having played this course a few times over the years I remembered it being a good test, a nice varied layout and always in good condition.

The first two remain but the course is truly in awful condition these days and really not worth playing.

Tee boxes are more like cricket pitches, greens are full of black patches and bare spots, bunkers have weeds growing in them and fringes etc are so bare that it's difficult to play off at times.

These conditions are nothing to do with covid either, it is simply neglect over a period of time.

There is no way it should be in this condition, and I definitely won't be back, nor would I recommend others do!

Played linden on a Wednesday with an 11 tee time. The pro in the shop was very friendly and pointed us to the first tee and explained there was a bit of a walk between a few of the tee boxes, but it’s easy to tell where you’re going. The rough was long and punishing but the fairways were in good condition and plenty wide enough so even realitivly strait is good enough. 3 of the 4 par 3s on the course are absolutely stunning, all playing fairly short but with a carry over water making them interesting and great fun. Probably would benefit from knowing the course a little better if you’re looking for a good score, a few holes are a bit blind and it would be easier if you knew where you could miss. All in all fantastic though.