Essendon (New) - Hertfordshire - England

A big, modern course, featuring lots of water, buggy paths, and the unusual feature of two greens on each hole.

First, the unique greens: My understanding is that it is quite common in Japan for golf courses to have two greens on each hole: one sowed with summer grass which goes dormant in winter, and the other sowed with grass suitable in winter. The New Course was built with Japanese money for Japanese ex-pats, and this design philosophy was brought over as well. In my opinion it doesn't work: the second green is always available as a bail out and it diminishes the visual challenge as well as the strategy on many holes. And then from an agronomy perspective it's not really necessary in England. Although it is unique and part of the heritage of the course, I believe it would play a lot better if the "B greens" were removed.

The course has a nice balance of long and short holes, including some long and short par 5s which offer a good chance to score. The signature holes for me are:

7 - which requires a drive over a small lake to an angled fairway. On the tee you need to decide how bold you want to be and how much water to carry.

8 - a short par three from an elevated tee to a semi island green.

17 - a short par 4 which doglegs to the left around another pond.

All in all, it's quite a pleasant course with some attractive shots over water. Greens have always been on the slow side when I've visited (at any time of year) and there is not a huge amount of interest in the green complexes. The Old Course next door wins for me (just).

The club has decent practice facilites, a nice clubhouse and seems a progressive and welcoming place to play.

As I mentioned in my review of the Old course at Essendon, the complex here is well maintained in the main and caters for all standards of golfer. The atmosphere is relaxed and welcoming and the facilities are such that as a member, you would never get tired of the options for both on course play and practice that are available to you.

The newer offering of the two courses (you’d probably guessed that from the name), the New course has a slightly more match play leaning feel and as such, gives plenty of opportunity to hit ego boosting hero shots a plenty. Water is a significant foe throughout and asks testing questions on many of the hardest holes. There are five par 4’s that measure 350 yards or less from the white tees and a three of the par 5’s measure under 500 yards, which is where most of the fun decisions re strategy will be made.

Taking the course on its own merits, I enjoyed our summers afternoon playing in a four ball with friends. This course lends itself to social golf and fun playing formats while featuring a number of memorable golf holes. I always like to pick standout holes and the 8th, a short par 3 encircled by water was just that. It is both attractive and fun to play and not quite as menacing as it may appear from the tee. My other favourite was the 17th, a par 4 that is all about getting your tee shot in to play and avoiding the ominous looking water feature down the left side.

In terms of conditioning, I felt the New was marginally less impressive than the Old course, mainly in respect to the bunkering and surrounds of the playing surfaces being ever so slightly less manicured. This is a big property and I understand that there will be areas for development so I wouldn’t take too much from this comment other than to set your expectations appropriately. The greens were again in sound condition and the course played well. In terms of a comparison between the two courses, it will depend what you want from a golf course. If it’s excitement and fun, the New course is the one for you. If it is subtlety of design and a sterner test to par, the Old course should be your go to course at Essendon. If I could only play one course again, it would be the Old but it’s a close run thing.

Played the Old course in the morning and was yet sure whether to play the New after or not but was talked into it. Glad I was.

Despite the rankings I personally feel the New is the better of the two 18’s…. It was certainly in better condition and dealt with the rain far better than the Old (guessing from the names, the “new” has more modern effective drainage ?).

More interesting and challenging holes with more water in play and for me the pick of the course would be the closing 4 holes.

Would be much more inclined to return and play the New than the Old - although when in better (dry and maintained) condition I suspect the Old may be better than I found it yesterday ?

Personal 322nd course played in England and 463rd worldwide

If the weather has been good, then get out and play this course. There is a really nice selection of holes around a few water features to keep you on your toes, no less than the 9th which, directly in front of the clubhouse, has a nasty habit of rejecting approach shots into the water on the left if you are coming in from the right. Being left here is a lot safer.

The clubhouse is spectacular and the food top notch, even though we visited during COVID and therefore they were running a limited menu.

I'd come back here, but having played when it was slightly wet, drainage is a big issue and so I'd be checking out the weather forecast first

Superb location with two fantastic courses on site, the new is longer and slightly wider. Really good value for such a classy venue.

I liked both courses here, the new I found tougher than the old, but other people say they think the old is tougher.

We play here every year on a 36 hole society and get to do both courses on the same day late summertime, I would recommend this venue, the clubhouse is great, both courses are great, and different too which is nice to have.

main negative for me was I didn't get to use driver much as the holes don't really require it, didn't suit my long game at all. But the shorter hitters I played against loved that it made it more even of a game. Your iron game has to be on point to score well here.

CLUBHOUSE 8

FACILITIES 8

TEE BOXES 8

FAIRWAYS 8

ROUGH 6

GREEN CONDITION 8

GREEN SPEED 8

LAYOUT 7

VIEWS 7

VALUE FOR MONEY 7

OVERALL FEEL 7

TIME OF THE YEAR PLAYED - AUGUST

FAVOURITE HOLE - 4th - long par 5 - approach over water

When does a course called ‘New’ stop being new? Essendon’s New opened in 1992 and I suppose going by St. Andrews New course, now nearly 120 years old, the name New could be around for some-time. I first played here back in the mid 90’s and always found it a good alternate to the existing Old course. I have returned recently with a view to being more aware of the holes and the best ways to play them and I have to say that I enjoyed the course a lot. The opening two holes are fairly short par-4’s, which feels ok and can give your scorecard some early promise. The 7th is my favourite hole on the outward nine, around 400 yards dog-legging right and driving over water, this is a good looking hole. The 9th too is worth a mention, a par-5 with the third shot being key; strategic bunkering and water on the left of the green being the main problems. As mentioned in the above article, 16 holes on the course have got two greens, obviously one in play and the other saved for another day – my advice to the club would be to pick the best ones and lose the others – yes, having these are a talking point but in my opinion the course will improve when the course becomes a straight 18 holes. The last two holes are the strongest on the back nine, both par-4’s, both with water in play on the left and a par par finish must be celebrated, especially on the last which is on the limit for a par-4. My lasting feeling about the New is that with some extra attention to detail around the course and resolving the dual greens situation, then the course could be become pretty strong in the county.