Windsor Park shares the same relationship with its next door neighbour Randpark, as the Lost City does with Gary Player Country Club - its the resort course to its bigger, bolder and somewhat nastier brother. Its a compromise course that the players who aren't quite as serious are gently nudged towards, the course the ladies, the mixed pairs, the hackers and the pensioners are encouraged play so they don't snarl up the tee boxes on 'real' golf course.
Don't get me wrong, its not a bad golf course, but you do get the sense that, when you are playing it, that you are a somewhat lesser mortal in the eyes of the staff and the members - why else would they put what course your playing on the piece of paper that they slip into the window of the cart? To make sure the good carts go onto the other course, to make sure the 'good' players don't mix with the rabble, I dont't know.
It probably is a prejudice on my behalf, but I never did like the way Randpark Golf Club is run, and how they treat those that aren't in the in crowd (and how they cling to some of the archaic rules regarding ladies and members guests on the weekend).
The biggest problem I have in sitting and writing this review is that there is not a lot that I found memorable about the Windsor Park course; yes, it is a pretty looking course but by the same token there are a bunch holes that run near Republic Road and it is gets really noisy. It has ample fairways, but when the stroke holes are not difficult, just long, you get a sense that the club had the idea in their heads that they had the land and too many members (or hackers) so perhaps they should build a course for those golfers snarling up their showpiece.
In any other location and with a bit of work to toughen it up (narrowing the fairways, growing up the rough, speeding up the greens, maybe making them a little smaller in places and the addition/moving of the bunkers) this would be a great golf course, probably in the top 25 in the country.
Please don't read this as a negative review of the course, its a great place to play if you are just getting going with the game (but don't expect the management or staff to help - what kind of narrow minded fool doesn't allow slops on an outside terrace at the high of summer in Africa) or don't really want to concern yourself with thinking your way round a golf course, it is forgiving in most places and just a little mean in others, it is a straight forward, honest and open layout but I suspect it could get very discouraging due for the higher handicap golfer due to the length of some of the holes and the sheer number of shots required to get onto the green on them.
From the first to the last the course is in immaculate condition and hardly a fault can be found with it, the bunkers are great with nice, soft, stone free sand (and decent looking drainage given all the rain we have had of late) that give you a chance to get your ball close to the hole, the greens are even (if a little slow and pock-marked, seems this club also has players with a phobia for fixing pitch marks) and easy enough to read albeit a little on the slow side. The trees don't get in the way all that much and if you stray of the fairway by a metre or two you won't find yourself to severely punished.
There are a couple of eye-sores on the course, the caddies and groundstaff that assault you out of the undergrowth between the first green and the second tee with offers of lost balls, the intersection of Judges and Republic next the the 5th, 6th, 12th and 13th holes and the dirty, great, grey, banking bunker that is visible from nearly all of the holes on the course despite its abundant covering of trees.
I came off the course without any sense of accomplishment, excitement or even disappointment for that matter - I kind of just hit the ball around, eventually getting it into the hole and then moved onto the next tee box; there was nothing that made me stand still, take a look around and admire a specific feature or aspect of the layout. I walked off the course not really having felt that I had had the usual challenge I enjoy so much from a game of golf, if I made a mistake it was of my own doing rather than having been forced into a difficult position or having made a risky shot selection. Other than a few blind or round the corner tee shots, there is not much in the way of exciting choice to work with.
If anything the only hole that really stood out for me was the par 4, stroke 3, 7th and that was primarily because of the tee shot - it requires the ability to shape the ball (draw) off the tee with a long iron or wood, around a collection of oak (I think) trees down the left of and overhanging the fairway 200m or so from the tee. You have a narrow gap to aim for between the edge of the trees and a bunker down the right in the landing area. Once you have successfully negotiated your tee shot, you are left with a fairly easy pitch into a deepish green with no real danger other than water off the back left (which forms a hazard for the next hole).
In faint praise, I think the best way to describe the Windsor Park experience is nice. The course is nice, the greens are nice, the fairways are nice, the toilets are nice and clean, the starter and the staff in the halfway house where nice (if somewhat indifferent) - a nice experience, but not one that I would necessarily be excited about repeating.
So then, not much to report, but then not that much bad to say either - I will probably play the course again, but will probably always prefer to test my game against Randpark.
For more info, contact details, etc you can visit www.randpark.co.za
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