Review of the Month March 2019 – The Addington
Talk about an inauspicious start – a fairly tatty uphill par 3. The sweeping second might have been a better option as an opener, but in truth none of the plain sailing opening 4 or 5 holes left much of an impression on us. The Addington gets off on the wrong foot. We’d played Cuddington earlier in the day, and so far that was the better course. It was April and course conditioning was also poor. There was also a fair bit of litter around the course, either wind blown in or left on site. If you’re going to be a low IQ parkland, you could at least be a pretty one, I muttered to myself.
The Addington Golf Club photo by BB
However, this all turned out to be a calm before the perfect storm. Or one of those romantic comedies where the nerdy/bullied heroine puts on a dash of makeup and isn’t quite so bad after all, or that moment when Jerry Lewis’s Nutty Professor drinks one of his own concoctions. Anyway, a great big pit next to the 6th green (quite understandable how anyone could take up residence there) with a walkway across to the 7th teeing area, signaled the change. From here on The Addington is thrilling, challenging, and idiosyncratic in equal measure. Mercurial even. The rest of the round blew by in a variety rich maelstrom of pleasure ‘twixt with pain, until, out of breath, you reach the calm waters of the 18th. This closer brings to mind again the mundane opening few holes.
There are several highlights here and it is difficult to single one out. 12 & 13 was a great Par 5-3 combo, but so was 16 & 17. There were many challenging and exciting shots required. Some nice views of London too on the back 9, and in summer the course must see the odd purple patch. The Addington is pretty rough around the edges and has a slow start, but for a large part it is also brilliant golf and must be one of the better options within the M25.
Review of the Month March 2019 selected by Editor-in-Chief, Keith Baxter and sponsored by TaylorMade – click to read more about The Addington.
