Welcome to UK-GolfGuide's page which contains feedback from site users who have played at Hellidon Lakes 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!.

If you have played this course and would like to add your comments then feel free to Add a Report.

S Aleppo (England) 04/12/07

I was one of a group of 8 who played Hellidon Lakes on the first weekend of December and we were very impressed. Despite the cold, the wind and the rain, the course looked beautifully maintained, the fairways held up well and the greens were in excellent condition. I think that the fact it was fairly quiet helped. Our handicaps range from 12 to 28 and the course produced triumphs and disasters for each of us. All in all a very enjoyable weekend - the facilities at the hotel are excellent as well, especially the bowling alley! We would happily return.

Value for Money	9
Challenge	9
Off Course	9

Greg Lambert (England) 17/10/07

3x9 hole courses - extremely poor signage on all of them (in fact there aren't any!) making it rather difficult to know which hole to play next. I mean, how much does it cost for a piece of wood and some paint!! Some of the par 4's driveable with a 3 wood meaning so they are a bit of a joke. Buggies are an absolute must for the red and blue courses, not so much the green, but don't kid yourself you could play 36 holes a day - you'll be in an oxygen tent by the end of the day. Some of the holes on the red course extremely testing for high handicappers, but good fun.

Hotel is very average. Rooms are incredibly stuffy - no aircon. Staff are mostly snotty, particularly behind the outrageously expensive bar - £4.70 for a gin and tonic is daylight robbery!!! Food in the restaurant is pretty dull, tasteless and uninspiring.

All in all, a very average weekend, and you won't be surprised to hear we won't be returning.

Value for Money	3
Challenge	4
Off Course	1

Ian Taylor (England) 11/04/07

Thoroughly enjoyable round of golf. Greens are certainly not flat and will test your nerve. Not a long course but not one you can blast your way round. Put your thinking caps on and make sure you have an uphill put or else!!

Value for Money	7
Challenge	7
Off Course	7

Gary Binks (England) 29/03/07

Played the course twice over the weekend on a break. Agree that the drainage is an issue although only a couple of fairways badly affected & no temporary tees or greens in sight. The course is a real test for high handicappers & given the elevation on some holes a buggy would be a wise move for the less sprightly - particularly on the Par 5 11th (Cardiac Hill)!

Hardly a flat green in sight & plenty of mature trees to catch out the unwary. Overall we thought the course was great value, with the on-site accommodation ideal for a group break.

Will definitely play here again in the summer.

Value for Money	8
Challenge	8
Off Course	9

Simon Shaw (England) 19/02/07

Quite disappointed with this course. Played Red/Blue here as part of a society last Saturday. Ok so it's rained a lot recently but the drainage here is terrible. I've never played a course so wet.

With many temporary greens and tees, yardages were very hard to work out, even with a course guide.

There are some interesting holes but the name Hellidon Lakes is a bit of a misnomer. There are lots of lakes but only 2 actually come into play. What's the point of lots of lakes like this.

Other points. The practice facilities are non existant and the bar prices are on the high side (£3.20 for a pint of coke)

On the plus side, the locker rooms are good and the food was okay.

I'm sure it's much better in the summer but this is definitely no good in the winter.

Value for Money	1
Challenge	4
Off Course	3

Roni C (England) 01/09/06

Played Hellidon Lakes for a second time on a corporate golf day this week and thoroughly enjoyed it. I'm a very high handicapper and found that some of the fairways were quite tight, but still fair and challenging. Some really tough holes, especially the 11th, involving a blind tee shot, avoiding the lake and then steep uphill to the green. The 18th is a great little hole, par 3, over a lake, about 150 yards, in full display of the club house and bar, very nerve racking for a high handicapper (who thankfully found the green!). This is a VERY hilly course, so if fitness is any kind of an issue, I would recommend taking out one of the buggies available to hire. Well looked after by the club/hotel staff there, so would recommend to both individuals and society/corporate golf days.

Value for Money	7
Challenge	8
Off Course	8

Tim Reeve (England) 04/10/05

I played all 27 holes at Hellidon Lakes on a society golf day. The Red and Blue nines are fairly typical of parkland courses, with some tough holes. The green nine is where most of the lakes are, if you can avoid them you should be ok. There isn't much rough on this nine so it looks a little bland. The par 3 second is the exception with a lake front right and a tree and long rough capturing anything pin high and left, I wish I had laid up...

The course is well away from any main roads in the rolling Northamptonshire hills, the views are great and the layout mostly avoids slopes across the fairways. There are plenty of slopes on the greens so you will need to putt well to score. A bad day with the putter when the greens are fast would be a real struggle.

All in all our group scored slightly more points than usual and had a good day out. The food and service were good if a little clinical.

Value for Money	9
Challenge	6
Off Course	8

Trevor Legg (England) 26/08/05

Just returned from 3 days/2 nights of golf at Hellidon with a party of 7 and the general impression was OK.

The hotel is excellent with very good food (some of our party thought the lakes restaurant was a bit OTT and preferred the Terrace for eating; more like pub grub) The service in the hotel was excellent and the rooms gave no cause for complaint. The only complaint our group had was £4.50 for a G&T! Beer was pub prices though.

The golf had mixed reactions, it is very hilly and as most of our party were in their 60's buggies were a must, even the 23 year old barman said he never walked it! It could be better signed around the course and the greens were "very challenging" (any downhill putt was almost impossible and the uphill putts were very slow. The greens were also very difficult to read. We played the Red/Blue course all three days which is now the standard 18. The Green course is apparently much flatter but also much easier and according to one member we spoke to equates to a long pitch and put. The pro was very helpful although the shop is quite small and if you are going for several days you might want to take your own supply of balls as it is easy to lose them on this course. One comment from one of our group on the 8th tee was that he had lost more balls than he had scored points. He had 9 points at that stage!

All in all a good course but be prepared to add £20 per round for a buggy and beware the cost of corporate priced G&T's

Value for Money	6
Challenge	8
Off Course	9

Russ Price (England) 20/06/05

After reading some of the reviews on here I wasn’t particularly looking forward to playing at HL. I was, however, pleasantly surprised. The course is very unusual in its style and layout but if you go with an open mind (and a course planner) then you will enjoy the experience. There are several good holes, including the 18th over water to a small green in front of the terrace bar area. There is also a dogleg with a difference. You have to hit your tee shot to the corner and then almost come back on your self. The green must be about 80 yds from the tee but is guarded by tall trees so a short cut is impossible. Some of the greens are tricky, mainly due to some tough gradients, but they were never unplayable. Some thought has to be put in on most holes and, quite often, the driver needs to be left in the bag. On our first round, I screamed a drive over the fairway marker post only to find a large pond 30 yards further on! There are a number of these blind holes and so a course planner is advised. At £11 a round with 2-fore-1 vouchers I would highly recommend this course as it is a bit different to the norm.

A special mention goes to the friendly staff in the hotel who, on the whole, are prepared to go the extra mile.

Value for Money	10
Challenge	7
Off Course	8

Darren Close (England) 26/09/04

I have to echo the thoughts of the last contributor. Played 36 holes through Sunday and Monday after booking through Golfbreaks.com on the main course and was left feeling cheated. Everything points to a good weekend when you turn up but we were left disappointed. Yes, there are very good holes, but half the time I felt I was playing a giant crazy golfcourse. One hole had a green which would have graced this years US Open. We had 10ft gimmes on the second day because you just had to touch it and it rolled off the green.

The 17th doesn't seem to have a fairway until 200 yards and that was not very wide.

The course seemed to be so unforgiving for even a slightly errant shot and unless you are a very low handicapper that doesn't seem fair for the majority of us.

Again we had terrible service for dinner, so much so that they gave us all a free drink and a few bottles of wine to compensate. So not so bad after all!

Some of our group enjoyed it, but I just assume they don't play on many nice courses!

Don Miller (England) 24/09/04

Have just recovered after playing, or attempting to play, 36 holes here in the 1 day. We played the green then blue then red then blue. The whole day was very tiring. I thought the courses required a lot of thinking about shots you wished to play. Some holes were somewhat less than you would expect on a golf complex. I think however the centre is set up more for conferences than golf. Would not return. Stayed within the course hotel and the food was ish, cold starters that should have been hot, slow service because the hotel was full - surely not everyone arrived unexpectedly!!! Can the management and staff not plan for this happening with no detriment to the guest? Very expensive bar costs. 3 days later I still await some more tea bags and milk to the room!!! As per a previous poster, I am not writing sour grapes text, I won bits and pieces within our group and if any of you are reading this thinking you have made a mistake in booking to go, remember - these thoughts are subjective and my thoughts alone. Thanks for reading.

Gregg Collingham (England) 14/06/04

We have just had a party of 8 mixed golfers play this course (handicaps 0-11, with one 36). Hotel and food good; other non-golf facilities good, although no driving range. The higher single figure players found some of the holes interesting enough, although the design quality of many holes was generally felt to be somewhat unfair and "Mickey Mouse". It is one of the worst courses I have personally played (out of over 350 worldwide) - mainly due to narrow landing areas, sideways slopes, blind shots, over-frequency of lay-ups required - all exacerbated by firm greens and bouncy conditions. The 3rd nine (Green) is particularly poor in condition and in playability, both for low and high handicappers, with very badly positioned lakes!

Robert Smith (England) 09/09/03

Have just returned from a two day golfing event held at this course and have to admit it is one of the worse courses I have ever played. And it is not sour grapes either as I played quite well! In the two days I was there I did'nt see one member of green staff and the condition of the course leaves me wondering if they actually HAVE any green staff. The layout of the course also beggers belief with par 4's that you can drive together with a par 5 that even for an "average" driver of the ball is a 3 wood and a wedge to the green! I have posted many times on the site and have ALWAYS commented favourably when I can, but this course has no redeeming features at all to make me want to return. To be fair, the front 9 has two or three good golfing holes but the back 9 is an absolute joke. The tee's are scruffy, and the greens hadn't been cut for at least three days, which bearinig in mind our competition had 160 players entered is a disgrace. Very little sand in the bunkers, I could go on....

Sorry to post such a scathing report.

I hope the site keep this report posted as I feel bad courses should be reported as freely as good ones.

Stephen Mills (England) 23/06/03

Course isn't the longest, but it is quite a challenge, as previously mentioned, some very undulating fairways and rock solid greens (which are lightning fast!) make for very difficult approach shots as nothing sticks on the greens... Course is in good nick and the 18th hole (now a short par 3 over water), is a great signature hole to finish with - added pressure from the terrace bar above the green. Hotel is good, nice variety of bars, restaurant is good quality (not enough food after a round of golf!) and rooms are ok.

Bandit (UK) 27/09/01

Really liked this course which is, as the name suggests, not short of the odd spot of the wet stuff! One or two difficult holes and rather undulating fairways in places. The 8th is an abolute nightmare if you mis-hit off the tee as you only have around a 10 foot landing area for 100 or so yards before it opens out. The rest of the course is tight in places but wide and open in others and so will provide a good round for most standards. Currently undergoing some building work so might be worth checking up on the state of this before going there. Final point is that the 18th is the signature hole on this course and features a 456 yard par 4 which doglegs around a large lake. Very tough to make par by going around and so most people attempt to drive direct to the green which is a 230 yard carry over the water! Unfortunately this hole is being modified into a par 3 by changes to the 17th & 18th which is a real shame as this hole makes the course.