Herons' Reach Golf Club

Great golf course with challenging holes. Great facility with very friendly and helpful staff working out of a well-equipped proshop.

The hotel and facilities are also great and would make for a great weekend away.

This is a review of the golf only.

I have played herons reach three times now since moving up north and whilst the course itself is well maintained and the facilities are perfectly fine, the people (golfers and staff) let it down to the point I will not return.

Herons reach is not a golf club per se, it is a gym, a bar, a hotel, and has a golf course and driving range attached to it. Which tends to get overtaken by naughty scummy teenagers running amok, stealing balls and in some cases hitting balls back toward those on the driving range! And interestingly it seems to attract upper middle class snobs who have an overinflated measure of their ability.

The day started well, until there was traffic at the first tee, the couple behind myself and my partner made an attempt to jump past us, stating the manager of the pro shop told them they would be following a four ball. The four ball in question were teeing off ahead of us. My tee time was 1149 and the couple behind were 1157. So there was just a back up and didn’t really appreciate feeling pressured.

After the second tee shot (a par 3) the same couple teed off as we we’re walking to the green. I was a little put out but let them play through.

Everything was fine for a few holes with us teeing off generally as those in front left the green. Until we got to the 7th tee.

Again we teed off and were making way to our balls when another couple, a man and his wife/mother/sister steamed onto the tee and teed off abruptly. Very very rude and this couple were not particularly good though I believe they were members. The man hit his ball directly next to mine and the lady shanked several balls down the fairway. The man also hit a bunker and just lifted his ball out and dropped it into the fairway.

We then proceeded to feel under pressure as more players arrived behind us. Bearing in mind I am an 18 handicapper and had hit plenty of greens in regulation and also parred most holes up to this point.

As we hit the 10th I hit a slice and ended up in trees. At this point the green keeper (time/date circa 14:30 / 23 may 2018) who was sat in a buggy on the fairway walked up to me and demanded we let the couple behind us play through, stating another couple had commented on our ability (the rude couple who barged through on the 7th I assume) and that perhaps we were not as proficient as the members here. I told him I understood though we had been keeping up the pace and I had hit several pars in good time. My partner then scuffed a ball because of the distraction and the green keeper threw it back at us.

We proceeded to then be held up by this same couple we’d been forced to let through For the remainder of the day, not their fault as they were happy to sit behind us. But hardly cause to force us to stand aside clearly.

The green keeper was then following us for at least two more holes (which I birdied).

In conclusion, the course is ok. Lovely in the sun. But if you have a double figure handicap and/or are not a member I would forget this course entirely and try Fleetwood/Knott End/Green Drive. These courses all value the spirit of golf and are far more welcoming. They are proper clubs with decent people who are very good at golf and value newcomers and community, not upper middle class snobs who exist on the pretence their status makes them better at golf and better people as they aspire to reach the upper echelons of society before retirement. Dare I say it I’d bank my score being better than those who insulted us and I’d also bank our take home is higher too! This club came across extremely cliquey and ruined our day. A shame after having enjoyed two rounds prior to today.

Furthermore we have been inundated with emails about becoming members and there is absolutely no chance of this happening now. The members we met today were horrid and disappointing human beings.

I hope the club manages to gain a more welcoming spirit in future else I suspect it will become another run down field filled with half cut men in tracksuits. And maybe that’s what it deserves.

Herons' Reach is an 18 hole Peter Allis and Clive Clark design close to the Blackpool coast and town.

The course is one of several Allis designs that I have played and it has great variety in its design, in fact I am fast becoming a Peter Allis fan as I can honestly say that I have never played a course of his that I could call boring or repetitive.

As with all DeVere venues they are always designed and kept well.

Its an easy walking course, but beware the first tee may set the knees a-tremble as it runs alongside Blackpool zoo so the odd roar may be heard before you sink that first par putt.

Friendly staff at bar and pro shop make the experience even more pleasant.