Macdonald Portal Hotel, Golf & Spa - Premier Course

First time playing here and it was a great course, fairways and greens in very good condition. Good layout with some great views of the surrounding areas. Would recommend.

This is a great course and I can’t believe I’ve not played it before. Quick greens, good layout for a mid-handicapper with a couple of longer holes but most reachable. Only downfall is pace of play. I booked a tee time with a half hour gap in front of me because I was playing alone and didn’t want to catch the mixed 4-ball groups in front - I played the first 3 holes in 35 minutes and caught the group in front, it then took me 40 minutes to play the next hole and take my tee shot on the one after. Embarrassingly slow and walked off after 10. There are signs up after every 3 holes advising of how long it should take to reach these points so the club are obviously aware it’s a problem, membership just don’t care - just pick up the pace! Shame because it’s a course I would 100% recommend and would play regularly if they could sort it out

Really enjoyed the course but badly let down by the greens, the green staff were out catching up now we have some nice weather so some things were behind like cut ties etc but overall not bad but the greens are in dire need of attention (moss, weed grass, pitch marks and uneven pace) just to name a few, don't know if it's always been like this or just after this bad winter but sort that out and it would make the round much more enjoyable.

Played the other MacDonald courses and have been pleased. This time around the course wasnt in the best condition. Granted the weather hasn't been the best but the greens were awful, full of divots and weeds and the fairways were the length of the rough even though they had just been cut. Definitely not worth the £32 charge, we weren't the only ones in the club house with the same opinion.

Played a few McDonald courses and all of the courses have been nothing less than perfect. I don’t know how this course was open today ridiculously water logged and the greens were shocking. I imagine in the summer this would be a great course to play but I’ll avoid in the winter again.

The weather conditions over the last few weeks have been horrendous and most courses unplayable, but this course stood up well. Well Done

Go off fairways your wet but after weather over last month it good and £20 can't complain would love play it it summer 👍

Having not played this course for about 5 years i was alarmed to see it's decline.

Tees were muddy and long, farways extremely wet in parts. Greens painfully slow and bumpy.

Worst of all the rough was an absolute Joke, 1,yard off the fairway and into thick and wet rough, surely this is unnecessary and shows total neglect.

I won't be returning any time soon.

Booked a day off work and enjoyed a round of golf on the Premier course at Macdonald Portal, really nice place and the staff were very friendly, we booked a buggy (recommended) as the course is hilly.

The course its self was in excellent condition, challenging for a novice like me but a couple of my playing partners had birdy chances.

overall great value for money and next time we go we're venturing onto the championship course.

Course was well refined , greens was hard to land and stay on my ball ran on when landing. But enjoyed the game.

Very, very disappointed today.

The greens were in appalling condition, patchy, bobbily and generally just very poor indeed. Certainly wasn’t any chance to read the greens, even from short distance, the ball wouldn’t behave as it should.

Pace of play was incredibly slow, we had a three ball two parties in front of us that wouldn’t let anybody play through. The two ball behind them and in front of us gave up after the 10th, purely due to the frustration of the party in front. They were members though, and obviously they felt entitled to hold up the rest of the course.

Only plus point is that the round was only £25 on a Saturday afternoon, I can only assume that’s because the management knows how poorly the course is currently presented.

With the right care, this could be a lovely course, perhaps they should look at employing a new team of Greenkeepers?

We were a three ball, and all of us have said that we will never return, which is a shame as it is so local for us.

Very good course ignore the negative reviews, brought down by it being a hotel. Nice layout and well maintained.