Matfen Hall Golf Club - Dewlaw Course

I was recently invited to play Matfen Hall by current members who were quite literally embarrassed by the state of the golf course — and it’s not hard to see why.

Once known for having some of the finest greens in the North East, Matfen has completely fallen into decline. The greens are a disgrace — covered in black mould, riddled with disease, pitted with holes, and so uneven that the ball won’t even roll in a straight line. The tees are in equally shocking condition — many of them resemble practice mats or poorly maintained temporary surfaces.

Despite this, the club is only replacing 9 greens out of 18, leaving the others untouched, even though they’re also in dreadful shape. Worse still, the new greens have been designed with shape and interest, while the rest are flat, uninspired and completely out of place — making for a jarring and inconsistent round.

There’s no clear communication about when the rest will be fixed, and members are being charged full fees to play on a substandard course. The management’s response is to ask for patience, while giving no details on future plans, no timeline, and no acknowledgement of just how poor the current product is. You’d expect some sort of concession or reduced fee given the course is half-finished, but instead, you’re paying top dollar for what feels like a temporary municipal set-up.

The truth is, the golf course is clearly not a priority here — it’s all about the hotel and spa. Meanwhile, those passionate about the game are being completely let down.

Avoid at all costs. There are dozens of better courses across the North East offering better conditions, better value, and more respect for the sport. This is not one of them.

Played the Standing Stone & Delaw yesterday. Incredibly disappointed in the condition, for the green fees you pay.

The tees and greens are in awful condition.

That said I have spoken to the course management and they have assured me they are working on getting it back up to the level expected for a venue such as theirs.

I truly believe they are working hard at getting the course where it needs to be, but be assured that it’s not there yet. Far better value for money in the North East at present.

Would I go again in the coming months…. Yes. Would I return tomorrow, absolutely not. Hope this aids people in spending their money wisely.

It's a shame this golf club expects us working folk to shell out £80 for a round in an average course !!!

You don't pay this kind ofoney for the Belfry!

Check on a weekend it's the only place with bookings left on this site to get a game of golf as every other course are fully booked as they aren't asking for ridiculous amounts of money !

Tyneside, Beamish & plenty other great courses charge way less for a better round of golf .

Excellent value at Matfen. Course was in great condition for March , greens running true. At £25.99 per player it was great value. No hold ups or waiting .

Hot Deal round at Matfen. Excellent value for money. Course in great condition for the time of year and as challenging as ever. . New clubhouse is modern and very stylish.

Everything is immaculate. Couldn’t have been better. I’d love to play this course all the time.

Super course so please don’t play here so we don’t get stuck behind you next time we visit. Just kidding, it’s a must play and very friendly place.

Lovely course in good condition for time of year, greens were well maintained and running nice and true and bargain price to play there!! Would recommend!!

Played here many times before, course is always kept in top notch condition. Played lovely and nice to see different little features. Always slightly on the higher side of cost but worth it for condition of play and facilities in and around club house.

Highly recommend 👍

First time playing the big courses. Played the par 3 course a load of times and that is really good. The 18 holes I played was maybe the best course I’ve played so far. Great views, walls, water hazards, bunkers etc. every hole was different and had its own challenges. The wind was crazy and didn’t spoil it at all. Made it harder yeah, but it didn’t spoil my day. I thoroughly enjoyed it and would defo go back. The sooner the better.

My son and I had an early morning start on the Douglas course. Staff were fantastic and extremely helpful. Course in great condition despite the weather over the last few weeks. Greens in superb nick. Really enjoyed our morning’s golf.

Only my second time playing on golf course. It was a very technical course with long fair way. Would definitely play again

Great value tee time fee and despite it being December, course was in pretty decent condition.

I booked the standing stone and Douglas course, only to be told on arrival that the Douglas course was closed for winter. We then had to play the delaw coutse. Standing stone was good, delaw was terrible. If I had known this, I wouldn’t have booked it. I won’t play the course again in the winter.

We had no warning that the greens had been hollow tined. However, even still they were in awful condition with 3 of the greens having so much sand on them you couldn’t even see the tined holes or even the green beneath them, so much sand. The 18th was causing the ball to bounce left and right on a straight forward putt - unplayable.

The practice area wasn’t operational so nowhere to warm up properly other than a putting green and small chipping area.

The new clubhouse looks great but the overall impression was disappointing despite spending £80 - knowing the condition now I wouldn’t play it for £10!

The course is good and the facilities are excellent, but once off the fairways it is totally overgrown and impossible to find your ball. As I highish handicapper it totally takes the fun away.

I appreciate all the rough can not be kept short, but there should be an acceptable apron bordering the fairways, that is playable.

This is my second time playing Matfen, there currently reconstructing the club house which looks amazing. Very friendly staff both in the shop and out and about, I ended up playing with a member who was very friendly and welcoming, I wasn’t aware they had so few members, around 160, I played the dewlaw and the Douglas configuration having previously played the standing stone Dewlaw. I much preferred this layout, the course itself was in fantastic condition however the greens need some serious work carried out to make it a top course, I payed £27 which i happily pay again and would recommend the course, hope to be back when the clubhouse is finished, hopefully they’ll have some spare budget for the greens