Golf Course: Wentworth West Course

The West course at Wentworth is the one that most people know as it has until recently been used for two televised tournaments each year.

Each May the BMW PGA Championship (formerly the Volvo PGA Championship) is played here and in the autumn Wentworth has long played host to the World Matchplay Championship (this is now moving to Valderama).

Whilst I had played here twice before it's been some time since then and my memory of the course was based more on what I see regularly on televison than on a previous round I've played.

It is always exciting to play a course that you've seen the pros play. For a start you are nearly always guaranteed that the condition of the course will be perfect and Wentworth was no exception.

Apart from the first 5 holes, when it was cloudy, the rest of the round was played in beautiful warm sunshine. The fairways were immaculate and the greens were in tip-top condition - fast but not ridiculously so.

We teed off quite late (15:10) but were blessed with a virtually empty course. We never saw anybody behind us and the first time we say anybody in front of us was when we caught a four-ball on the 18th. Even then they were playing their second shot and we didn't have to wait.

How enjoyable is that, having a world-class golf course to yourself?

The course has so many enjoyable holes (2, 4, 7, 8, 10, 11, 13, 17, 18 to name a few). It's a hillier course than you would think from watching it on TV. There are also a few blind landing areas so you need to watch your club selection to avoid hazards.

I played with a friend who is a member and who told me that it was safe to play a 3-wood off the 7th as the out-of-sight ditch was out of range. I promptly hit a sweet 3-wood into the ditch. Not happy with the advice!

On the 9th he advised me to hit my second shot left of the green. Again I hit a shot right out of the middle of the bat exactly on the line he indicated only to discover when I got up to the green that my ball was in the front bunker (which I couldn't see) on the left.

Definitely not happy with the advice. Needless to say I didn't listen to my friend for the rest of the round!

Most of the holes are tree-lined although the fairways weren't too tight. It's certainly a course that rewards good driving. Unfortunately I was not having my best day with the driver. My iron game was good however. Just as well as I had to play a few tricky recovery shots after going off-line from the tee.

As you would expect from the headquarters of the European PGA, the facilities at Wentworth are second to none in the UK.

Overall it was extremly enjoyable days golf. I was lucky that I was with a member as I only had to pay an £80 green fee. For a course of this quality that is a reasonable fee to pay and I would happily pay that again and again.

However if you turn up as a visitor you are going to have to pay a £280 green fee in the summer (this might explain why the course appeared so empty). I might pay that just to say that I've played Wentworth but that is not a fee I would more than once particularly as there are other fantastic courses nearby for a fraction of that cost e.g. Hankley Common at £70.

I've played all 3 courses at Wentworth on multiple occasions but I'm still not sure which one I like best. They are each excellent courses and have something different to offer.

Individually none of the courses are as good as the Old Course at Sunningdale (just down the road) but if I lived nearby I would love to be a member here and have three great courses to play.