Member Review: Wycombe Heights

Wycombe Heights Vice Captain tells us all about his course in Bucks

Malcolm Aldridge (Vice Captain)
Tue, 14 Mar 2000
Member Review: Wycombe Heights

Wycombe Heights Golf Centre
Rayners Avenue
Loudwater
Bucks, HP10 9SW

Tel: 01494 812862

Wycombe Heights Golf Centre in Buckinghamshire is probably one of the most challenging pay & play courses you'll encounter anywhere in the country. Designed by the John Jacobs Associates in 1990, Wycombe is not a course that is easily mastered and one which truly tests you every time you play it - the wind is never in the same direction 2 days in a row.

Admittedly the greens are slow and are still not the best in the world (and probably never will be) but they're improving all the time.

The fairways are good and the layout keeps you interested all the way round from the intimidating par 4 1st hole, with its out of bounds on the left and woods on the right. It demands that you play a good shot right at the start of the round. Watch those players who have been bitten before reaching for their 5 iron just to put it in play at this monster 403-yard beast of a start.

Each hole requires thought and guile if you are to score to your ability, right through to the downhill 18th with a view of the green from the tee but with the ability to ruin the round of the unwary golfer who's started thinking about the bar four shots too early – this is the golfer who may discover it’s six or seven shots too early!

Other holes to note are the sixth with it's out of bounds on the left so close and intimidating that it makes golfers who have never hooked in their lives aim at the adjacent fairway on the right.
The par 3 8th is so easy standing on the tee but when the wind is blowing at this highest point on the course, be grateful for a 4. The picturesque par 4 eleventh, known as Dingle Dell, and that has nothing to do with our current Captain, has a choice of options from the tee – take a wood if you like manufacturing your approach to the green or an iron if you prefer an orthodox full shot in.

And any visitor should prepare themselves and look forward to the course signature holes - the 15th is a par four transported from a Scottish links, but with not a drop of saltwater anywhere for 80 miles or so. It is a card wrecker with a narrow fairway and trouble left and right and an even narrower entrance to the green so don't relax until you're on that dance floor. And the 16th a 174-yard par three is a beauty from an elevated tee with thick woodland on the left - play it every day for a week and you'll be playing a different club from the tee almost every time.

Give Wycombe a try and you won’t be disappointed – unless you forget to bring your game! Great value for money, a good bar, the members make you very welcome, especially on a Sunday, always a good day at Wycombe Heights. The aprés golf entertainment is something you will have to witness to believe!