Welcome to UK-GolfGuide's page which contains feedback from site users who have played at Cray Valley Golf Club.

Whilst UK-GolfGuide.com attempts to turf out the more unhelpful or just plain daft contributions, some may slip through. If you have played the course or hold a different opinion to those of the contributors, feel free to use the Add your Comments icon to provide a broader spread of views. If you have a gripe with the club then take it up with them directly - please don't use this facility for airing grievances!.

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brandon lee (England) 27/02/08

I played here last september and playing on the 18 hole golf course of 23 as a 14 year old i expected it to be a challange. However it is very open and very wide so grip it and rip it on most if not all holes. In summer the green roll nice yet the bunkers and fairways could be a little nicer. Quite a short course and one for the begginier

Off 23 i shot just +10 so if your are a single figure expect to break par!

Value for Money	6
Challenge	3
Off Course	5

D.K Oni (England) 17/12/07

I played at Cray Valley on the 16th December 2007.

I have to say that the course was in a total and utter dreadful condition.

I have played on many a course in the past years during the month of December so I know what to expect from maintaining a course at this time of year, but I have never played on greens so badly damaged and so poorly maintained such as Cray. The amount of pitch marks as well dotted around the greens was astounding and is frankly an insult to anyone who knows even the basics mechanic and expectations of a golf course. For goodness sake, at least hand out free or very cheap pitchmark repairers.

I can understand and accept that these are winter conditions and that they cannot be frequently cut but one should expect the greens at least to be rolled occasionally. I consider it to be a complete farce and a total rip-off also for this course to charge £24 per player with such terrible conditions such as these. The tee boxes were in even worse condition than they are normally. The fact that we also paid £25 for a buggy with a GPS system which didn’t actually work also was a joke.

I need to really stress that this course needs to be shut down for a period of around 6 months for total refurbishment. The club house at both Ruxley and Cray are a joke, the driving range is on its last legs and the greens need to be totally re-layed because the drainage is terrible and as for the bunkers, they are so bad, they provide the only motivation to keep the ball on the fairway. Any decent course would change the sad in it’s bunkers once its seen that the levels have become so bad. Even the cutting of the wholes on the greens are 3rd rate at best with chunks of turf sticking out around the cup.

The course does have some real potential to be a fun course to play on, but with so many faults being ignored and the management team not really caring about maintaining it, yet happy to take the green fees, I nor my friends who used to play on these courses, will no longer bother to play here or be coned into parting with our money or time again until a genuine effort is made to improve this course.

The steadily decline over these courses over the last 3 years has not gone unnoticed and I’m afraid to let the management of Cray and Ruxley know, that there are some people who play at these 2 sub-standard courses who actually know what to expect from a golf course.

Sort your act out, get your priorities straight and stop kidding yourself in thinking that this is actually accepted.

There should either be a totally new team installed and drastic changes made because if these people actually know anything about golf, they wouldn't allow this to happen.

Value for Money	1
Challenge	7
Off Course	2

Brian Bloomfield (England) 05/06/07

Have now played the 9 hole course with my wife 4 times since she has taken the game up. Exellent course for beginners and bearing in mind the spongy greens in March the turnaround by the green keepers is nothing short of a miracle. Yes the clubhouse is basic, but staff are friendly and have always found the shop staff helpful to. Some odd people do get on the course, however it is public and everyones' got to start somewhere.

Value for Money	8
Challenge	5
Off Course	6

gary thomas (England) 17/04/07

played this course a month or so ago, i have to say we wont be returning, the fairways were in poor condition no replaced divots, their were pitch marks un repaired on the greens.

groups of people playing in more than 4 wearing tracksuits and football shirts, who would make as much noise as possible when you were trying to take a shot.

not a good advert for 1 of your courses crown, if all the repairs could be done to the course and a bit of etiquete brought to the fairways then this could be a nice challenge to play.

fairly expensive for a pay and play.

Value for Money	1
Challenge	5
Off Course	3

robert graham (England) 29/11/06

played the course today and what a round paid 17 pound for 18 hole and i was held up from the first tee to the ninth waiting appox 10 mins per hole by three ball in front after the ninth i went to see managment to get a refund for the last nine i did not play they told me they did not give refunds and were extremley unhelpfull.

the course is very short and the greens are absolutey saturated yet i still saw the greens being watered by greenkeepers in buggys travelling over the green !!!!!!!!!!!!

i definetly will not be going back to this course

Value for Money	1
Challenge	3
Off Course	3

Keith Bateman (England) 17/01/06

Cray Valley is part of the Orpington Golf Centre and boasts its own 18 and 9 holes course. I have not played the 9 hole course, but at some points it interleaves with the 18 hole course and seems very popular. Here is my review of the Cray Valley 18 hole course:

As part of the Orpington Golf Centre, it is disappointing that the Ruxley Park course at the bottom of the hill is not maintained to the same level as its Sister course at the top of the hill. I am presuming the maintenance staff are the same, but the Cray Valley course’s level of upkeep is far superior to the Ruxley Course.

This is a great course for all levels of play and particularly for the mid to high handicapper. This being due to wide open fairways and wide light rough. In fact, you really have to ‘go in deep’ to be get beyond the light rough.

There is a large fleet of buggies for those who need transport and most bunkers have rakes. The course does not have any mountainous holes for those who like to walk but cannot climb hills too well.

General player etiquette on the days I have played seems high. Though the greens were soaking, not much evidence of players walking off the green without attempting to repair their pitch marks, etc. Though play was not particularly fast and some waiting was required, good will and patience was shared between groups of players.

I would strongly advise you buy a Course/Hole/Distance guide, as some of the tees are a long way from the previous greens; you may have difficulty knowing where your next tee is otherwise. Booklet price is £2.50.

The clubhouse is large but I have only visited the Pro Shop to pay green fees. The Pro Shop is reasonably sized and have friendly staff. I have looked through the window to the bar areas and it seems clean and pleasant. There also appears to be a bright open and largish room for meals/presentations for Society Days.

My only criticisms are:

*/ All the greens were saturated with water. Even though they were highly perforated by the green staff, they were like walking on wet sponges. This caused extremely slow/bumpy putting, large splats when pitching on, large deep pitch marks to repair, obvious footmarks and squelching underfoot when walked on. I have seen that previous explanations of this on this site. I.e. due to the course being below the surrounding farms’ water table. But I would dispute the shared 9th & 18th green at the very top of the course are below any water table. Another comment on this, how comes the greens are saturated with water, but the fairways and bunkers are not? It had not been raining particually hard the previous days either.

*/ Though there are signs pointing from greens to the next tees, they could be better. Some times the next tee is so far away you need to walk past other tees and greens to get there. This should be clearer to tell you to “keep going, you’re nearly there”

*/ Some blind holes need ‘all clear’ bells for safety.

*/ Though a well maintained course, I felt £25 was a little steep for a basic pay & play course. Owned by Crown (American Golf).

Apart from that, I fully recommend this course.

Value for Money	5
Challenge	3
Off Course	7