Stoneham - Hampshire - England

Positioned in the middle of a horseshoe of where the M3 and the M27 motorways collide, Stoneham’s location is an odd one. You wouldn’t choose to build a golf course in an area surrounded by such traffic, but considering that the club was established in 1908, I think we can safely assume that the course came first. Fortunately, you don’t hear the motorway traffic, but the heavy construction traffic that you meet on arrival isn’t something you can avoid. The club embarked upon a major remodelling project in 2012 which is now thankfully close to an end. The practice area is still under major renovation, but there was minimal disruption once out playing the course.

To my untrained eye, Stoneham visually appears to be more naturally a parkland course than heathland. This could be due to changes the club have made over the years, but recent enhancements to the course’s appearance by introducing strips of heather, particularly around the bunkers, are starting to change the appearance.

Whilst I enjoyed the opening stretch of holes, it’s from the par five 6th where Stoneham starts to shine as you play across the part of the course that takes you furthest from the clubhouse. After the charming approach to the 6th, two consecutive par threes arrive immediately thereafter, the 7th being brutally long, and the 8th, with a wooden trestle bridge over a valley to a heavily bunkered raised top green, the prettier of the two short holes.

Stoneham’s a rolling course with most holes playing downhill or up and across valleys and it’s during this middle stretch of the course where the topography is at its most distinct. The 9th is another cute hole, at 383-yards, this might not seem like a driveable green, but if you catch the downslope correctly in firm conditions, your ball will just run and run. 11 and 12 continue this splendid run of holes; the former being a par four over a stream within the same valley that was encountered earlier, again to another one of those plateau greens, and the latter being a reachable par five with a beautiful, heather topped cross bunker and a green that falls away heavily to the right hand side. After the acutely strategic tight and blind short par four 13th with its angled green, the last noteworthy hole is the 14th. Not long for a par five at 481 yards, it’s played to a steeply banked humpback fairway that’s like someone threw a grassy tablecloth over a whale.

It's been four years since I previously played at Stoneham and the improvements are significant, this has been time and money well spent. Whilst already ranked fourth in the county, I could see Stoneham climbing the Hampshire rankings as more people get to enjoy the finished product.

A very good members course. Great greens and bunkers. Fairways are what you would expect for a course without fairway watering.

However I played it with a society. Many of the tee shots are blind. We played the first nine twice and my second first nine was played quite differently. The starters advice about the fourth was misleading. The second nine was only played once and again requires a lot of local knowledge.

The club doesn't have stroke savers or hole plans on the tees.

As it stands I cannot recommend playing here.

Stoneham is a great parkland course and every time I go there I am always extremely impressed with how well the greens are rolling. The greens are extremely fast and roll so well which makes it a really nice round as you're always getting a true putt. However the greens are also quite undulating so actually with them being very fast makes it a lot harder! The course is always in great condition but is very hilly so if you're planning a 36 hole day then it will definitely tire you out. Some of my favourite holes would have to be the par 4 4th, although it is probably the hardest on the golf course, it is a beautiful looking hole, also the par 4 11th is a great hole with a good looking approach shot ahead of you. It is a nice course and well worth a place in the top 100.

We played Stoneham on a cracking day in June and were really impressed by what was an excellent track. We were lucky enough to see some wild deer and also lucky enough not to see any adders.

A delightful elevated tee box greets you off the par 5 first in front of the clubhouse looking out to a relatively blind shot towards the fairway and some fearsome looking bunkers. If you remain safe from your tee shot, the hole is eminently scoreable as its a nice ambient winding hole which doglegs left and meanders down to the hole. What we did notice was how quick the greens were! I must say the greens were very pure and a pleasure to putt on, but they were quick.

The second is a tough par 3 with trees both left and right providing a natural amphitheatre for the green which looked inviting.

The 3rd is a superb par 4 where the fairway slopes dramatically upwards giving you a nice hearty walk and doglegs left with the fairway sloping to the right.

The 4th is a stunning long par 4 which slopes steepwards down all the way to the hole with a brook running along the bottom of the fairway as you get closer to the hole. The brook and the sloped fairway have you procrastinating over the tee box club selection.

The 5th is a short scorable par 4 which doglegs right and fairway bunkers make you think about which club to hit off the tee.

The 6th is a nice par 5 that drifts to the left, leaving a lovely approach shot to a green that's protected by a dip beforehand. The 7th is a daunting long par 3 well over 200 yards and whilst I'm not a fan of very long par 3s, it is still a good hole and works well within the course. 8 is a tricky par 3 which is well protected by bunkers and 9 is a straight par 4. 10 is a longish par 3 with a big slope to the right. The 11th is a belter. It doesn't pay to be too long off the tee as the fairway slopes down into a huge valley style ditch with the green on a plateau above. The green slopes from back to front to add to the fun. 14 is a lovely par 5, 16 is a brilliant short par 3 with magnetic bunkers and a good matchplay hole and the last hole is a nice par 4 which doglegs up a significant slope left towards the clubhouse and a fitting end to a thoroughly enjoyable round of golf.

The course is going through a regeneration project, part of which is updating the bunkers to give them that natural heathland look and they did look stunning. There was no adverse impact on our round from the project and we thought the course was tremendous. There were many mutterings of "I would love to play this course again". There is no one who I can imagine wouldn't enjoy Stoneham.

Is there a course in Great Britain that has a more striking and varied collection of holes than Stoneham? I don’t think so. I should confess that Stoneham has, and always will have, a special place in my heart. I caddied for my father here in 1989 in the Pro Am and when the last team didn’t turn up I found myself teeing it up the day after I received my first handicap. Playing with Gary Stubbington, a Hampshire legend with a dream of a golf swing, the secretary of the HPGA and the assistant from the shop, still an amateur, we shot -19 and we won! So I was hooked on the game and went home with a 12 inch TV with remote control.

The last 25 years have not been kind to Stoneham. Thatch, encroaching woodland, lack of water and lack of investment took their toll. However, things have very much changed for the better. The bold and progressive work that started 2-3 years ago under the guidance of an enlightened management and expert green keeper is starting to pay off handsomely. Massive investment is underway and the work that has been undertaken on the clearance of encroaching woodland and the world class new bunkering will re elevate Stoneham to the position it rightly deserves. The greens have returned to their challenging best. True and fast. The undulating ground remains as inviting and enticing as it always was. Every hole is so different from the last but the language is the same. The finesse and intricacy with which the bunkers have been renovated and renewed will stand the test of time for generations to come. The shaping and aesthetic is world class.

The par is generous at 72 for just 6400 yards however I can imagine that being stretched comfortably in years to come. Every shot at Stoneham is inviting and requires thought and skill. It is a fair course that can reward and punish in equal measure. Consider the Men’s open in August to challenge Hampshire’s best or don’t hesitate to take your society. It’s viscerally memorable. But I can’t guarantee you’ll go home with a telly.

JCB LAY

Stoneham is a great course which was in in really good condition. The greens were curvy, fast and true. The layout is well thought through and the changes in elevation are well worked. Very few blind shots and none to greens. An all-round good test of your golfing skills in every department. It’s clear they’ve done a tremendous amount of work on the course and that has come to fruition. I look forward to going back at some point and wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it. You might want to book a buggy if you’re knees are knackered otherwise fit and healthy people will enjoy walking.

Stoneham’s biggest asset is undoubtedly its superb routing over adventurous terrain which ultimately lends itself to some unique and brilliant golf holes.

And with well over 3,000 trees recently cleared the beauty of the property can now be showcased properly which also goes hand-in-hand with greatly improved playability and better ground conditions.

Add into this a restoration of every bunker back to the original vision of the course designer, Willie Park Jnr, and it’s clear to see that this is a course heading in the right direction. A prime example of this is on the opening drive where the golfer is now greeted with three staggered, heather topped bunkers that not only look attractive but improve the strategy compared to before.

The course is not a true heathland in the strictest sense but definitely plays more heath than park and with rough management and heather regeneration in full swing it certainly leans more towards the former. Indeed, at times there is a real feel that you playing on the Surrey-Berkshire sandbelt, admittedly not too far away up the M3 motorway.

The aforementioned routing firstly takes us around the outer perimeter of the course on the front-nine with the inward-half located in the middle of the undulating property. The energetic topography is constantly used to maximum effect throughout.

A fairly unusual feature is that the course has five par 3s and five par 5s. This gives the course a little bit of a staccato effect with par. You must wait until the third before you play a par four whilst from the sixth you never play two consecutive ones! For the most part I quite liked this although there were times when it didn’t quite flow right.

If we’re discussing the best that Hampshire offers then Stoneham is right up there. Taking away the links at Hayling (always a tricky comparison) there is very little between the inlands treats of Blackmoor, Stoneham, Liphook and North Hants. My personal preference is that running order but Stoneham arguably has the best property of the quartet and if it owned the greens of Liphook then it would be a clear winner. Blackmoor strikes the perfect balance for me and has just a touch more strategy to pip its neighbours but we really are splitting hairs with all four.

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

Played a golf day here in May. Course is well laid out with some good par 5's. Think the course needs to decide if it's a parkland or Heathland as a lot of random patchy of heather have been planted. Greens had good coverage but were like putting on Velcro and were amazingly slow! All in all a good course but would choose one of the other Hampshire ones such as Liphook, Blackmoor or North Hants

We played all day on the county card for £36, and this was millionaires golf. They are in the process of making great changes to the course which do not affect play, except for the 17th. This is, or was one of the best holes in Hampshire but I believe they have made a mistake by putting in a new ditch right in the lay up area, you could possibly carry it but the severe slope would kick it into the original stream, now they have sledgehammered decision making into hitting a 4 iron instead of a 3 wood or rescue for the lay up. If they wanted to stay with Colt principles they should've taken the ditch from the front left of the green to the inside corner of the dogleg, that way you could still give the aggressive golfer enough room to hang himself, and also given all golfers an equal challenge for their second shot. There is too much going on at the dogleg now, spoiled the natural simplicity of the hole. Sorry Stoneham, still one of my favourite courses, just a bit of a blot the landscape now.

You can hear the drone from the motorway on some of the early holes, but after that it is peace and tranquillity. The par 5's are where you need to make your score as there are some tricky holes waiting around the corner for you. There are some blind tee shots, but you will only have a problem if you are very wayward. The greens weren't very quick, if they were some flag positions would be very challenging. There has been a large amount of work renovating and updating the course (it's still in progress). I will need to return when it's finished to play the end result.