Hayling – Golf Course Review

Golfer’s Tips

• The driving range is narrow and right next to the sea, with the wind likely to be pushing your ball hard to the right. My recommendation would be to use it to get loose, only, and don’t get too hung up on any bad shots that endanger the 1st hole to your right!
• Short on the challenging par 3 1st hole is really not a bad miss – there is a mini fairway that starts some 50 yards from the green, leaving a reasonably simple chip on with only one bunker to clear on the left-hand side. Perhaps a shorter iron that you feel comfortable keeping in play, ensuring 4 is your worst score, is not a bad tactic.
• Identifying the location and breadth of the fairway on the 13th is not easy. Aim your tee shot just to the right of the left hand hump in the distance – slightly left allows for an easier approach to the green but does bring the left danger and OOB into play.

Signature Holes

• 10th – a beautifully-framed short par 4. Reachable but with the danger level increasing as the green is neared, the hole shapes around a deep bunker on the left of the fairway, with gorse beginning to cut in on the curved right-hand side. Depending on the pin position it could still be a very tough two-putt to secure your score.
• 13th – a testing short par 4 with dramatic elevation changes. The tee shot, which should not be longer than 200 yards, is played up to the top of the dunes, to a relatively narrow stretch of fairway with OOB and the sea left, and a drop-off to scruffier territory on the right. The tricky approach shot is then played down to an undulating green that is nestled among cabins and sandy dunes on the edge of the peninsula, some 40 feet below.

Just South of Havant and across from Portsmouth, nestled away on Hayling Island, the golf club of the same name is a testing links with its exposure to the elements its greatest defence.

The South-Westerly wind howls across from the English Channel across a course that sits perched above and next to the neighbouring beach. Hayling is less dramatic and imposing than other links courses, which often feel carved into towering sand dunes and provide surfaces as uneven as they are fast. Instead, this is a club that plays upon its consistent exposure to the elements, and has a clever course setup that benefits from this jeopardy superbly. There are blind shots, there are undulating surfaces with steep run-offs and pot bunkers to catch you, but there is also more subtlety and nuance to give the golfer some chance when Mother Nature makes her presence felt.

Starting with a testing but ultimately slightly underwhelming long par 3, likely to be played into the wind coming off the sea to the left-hand side, the next three holes then absorb you into the Hayling challenge. Tee shots can be blind and are often misaligned with the forthcoming fairway, making start line and club selection absolutely paramount – especially depending on where the prevailing wind is.

The 5th hole is the second of the par 3s, and from this point, the short holes are a real strength of the course. Not overly long, but with a thin sliver of green to aim for with penal run-offs on either side, this is not one to be taken lightly. The next hole is undoubtedly the toughest, a long par 4 played into the wind, with fairway bunkers on the right and a natural hazard on the left. The second shot will then be at least a mid-iron, played over the cutting, into a subtly sloped green with two very unpleasant, kidney-shaped bunkers short and left.

The finest stretch of holes is from 11 to 13, which features the most dramatic landscape with the most extensive usage of larger sand dunes. The 11th is a beautiful yet challenging par 3, playing up to a table-top green with dangerous pot-bunkers and sharp run-offs in all directions, followed by the 12th, which is a longer par 4 with an undulating fairway turning to the right into a fantastic green nestled among some towering sand dunes. To round off this exceptional threesome, reaching out to the very tip of Hayling Island among the fishermen’s huts and harbour buildings, is the shorter, enthralling 13th hole, which encompasses the need for an accurate tee shot to the top of the hill, followed by a beguiling approach shot down a steep descent to the green.

The closing section features four of five holes that turn from right to left, with the prevailing wind with and pushing in that direction too. The 14th is a strong par 5 which sees water and gorse interject on the left-hand side of the approach up to a long, narrow green, whilst the three holes on either side of the par 3 16th, which flips back in direction, all possess cleverly-positioned fairway bunkers and larger putting surfaces with dangerous bunkers either left or right. Two well-struck and well-positioned shots can yield opportunities here, but danger awaits if your accuracy fails you.

Hayling is a great experience and a course that should be enjoyed, embracing whatever conditions are thrown at you. Perhaps other links courses have slightly more ‘wow’ factor and are a little less scruffy in places, but the rustic charm and challenge that is on offer should not be overlooked.

• “Top 100” Ranking: 2nd (Hampshire), 63rd (England)
• Golfer View Rating: 76%

https://www.haylinggolf.co.uk

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