Rotherham - Yorkshire - England

Nice parkland course, well maintained and decent greens. Nothing outstanding, but still nice non-the-less.

Great to read the lead review by the editors of this website. The 8th a signature hole.....mmmm...a 2nd shot over a hill to a blind green...really....not sure about that. However, Rotherham, is without doubt a very good course which can now be described as '"parkland" but probably, like many others, was more "heathland" when it was designed/opened over 100 years ago. All in all I found it a great test of golf, wander off line and you'll find not too deep rough but your ball will settle down making control difficult. The greens, when we played, were excellent and very difficult to hole out from anything greater than 4 foot. The holes themselves vary in elevation from tee to green, have some lovely soft, and in places hard dog legs, with good bunkering around the greens. Overall, well worth a visit and very enjoyable.

I try to play Rotherham once every year and enjoy the while experience every time, from the proshop to the course and the grand 19th hole. I only play it in the summer months and can only say it has always been presented in a lovely condition. The greens i find are very tricky to read and the test is a strong fair test. It does have a couple of weeak holes mainly on the back nine but generally there is plenty of interest and difficulty to make this a great day out and worth the trip. The whole place has a lovely feeling to it, go play.

This is a nice enough parkland track set against the backdrop of Thrybergh Hall but there is nothing here to get my pulses racing. The backdrop of the Hall is probably the best part as I find the course relatively uninteresting, albeit it is over rolling parkland with some drives (the 12th) across the ravine. That is a good hole with a dog left right. In fact 10th -12th is probably the best stretch after a rather bland start.

After the 12th you tee down the side of the driveway in and then you follow this with a short par 3 across the drive obscured by trees rather close to the tee. It’s followed by a par 4 14th which is a difficult drive through a narrow opening back across the driveway where you need to make sure your tee shot is straight! I like the par 3 15th after that, but overall this isn’t a course I would rush back to, as there are significantly better courses to play within the area.

Rotherham is a really enjoyable parkland golf course located in the heart of South Yorkshire.

The layout of the holes is very interesting and the changes in elevation, on this established tree-lined property, are negotiated nicely.

The magnificently appointed gothic clubhouse, with practice putting green in front, is a grand spot to be on a hot summer's day and whenever I've played here in the Lee Westwood Trophy there has always been a good vibe around the place.

The course is not without its faults but the 18 holes at Rotherham rise and fall beautifully over springy turf and the greens ensure that the challenge is significant throughout. The putting surfaces on my most recent visit were quick, true and if you got above the hole it led to all kinds of trouble. Being able to play from the fairway is crucial because trying to hold the greens from the lush semi-rough is twice as difficult.

There are a number of short to medium-length par fours throughout the round but each requires you to shape the ball differently from the tee and into the greens.

The greens can be terrifying when quick as they slope quite a lot. They complement the relatively short nature of the course nicely and will often dictate your final score.

Ed is the founder of Golf Empire – click the link to read his full review.

Have to say, slightly disappointed with Rotherham. Yes it is a fairly nice looking park-land course but not many holes inspired me to be honest. The front nine is a little up and down with many holes adjacent to each other – for me the par-3 3rd stood out, around 170 yards uphill and plenty of protection but the par 3 9th is not good at all – 200 yards of carry and not a pretty looking hole. The start of the back nine is the best part of the course…Par 5 10th turning right and then a drivable par-4 at the 11th – The 12th is a nice par 4 with a drive over the valley but it is the last third of the course that is very ordinary. The par 3 14th requires a tee shot to be hit over trees that are only 50 yards from the tee, a little strange – rather than go through the rest of the holes one by one, I’ll just say they did not inspire me that much. On a positive note, the staff and the members are very friendly and welcome visitors with open arms – It would be interesting to see what others think of the course.