This is where it all began.   Our first golf lesson.  Our first golf game.  Our first round of dog golf.  Our first companion dog golfing.  Harleyford Golf Club.

Harleyford is our “local”.  The only golf course in our home town of Marlow.  Many of our friends play there.  And it was the logical place to start when Lori decided that, with all the invitations to golf days back in my corporate life, I should know how to make my way around a course (so she bought me a set of golf lessons there).  I did indeed enjoy the game and thought Lori would, too.  So the following Christmas, I bought her the same set of lessons at Harleyford, as well.  We had played there a couple of times as guests of friends, but it wasn’t until we joined black lab, Bella, for a round that our eyes opened to the possibilities of dog golf.

Bella is, in many ways, the perfect golfing dog.  Quiet and calm, she ambles from hole to hole with Jane and Stewart plopping, herself down on the side of the greens or fairways while they take their shots.  She even impressed us with her in-the-ruff ball sniffing skills (which sparked our imagination…more to come).

So once DogGolf.info got set up, it was just a matter of (short) time before we got Rusty and Grace out onto this elegant course.  The reasonably wide fairways are framed with relatively long grass.  So plenty of opportunity for Grace to practice her ball sniffing skills.  Stewart was impressed with her going 4 for 4 in finding balls hit deep in the rough.  They did have their patience tested (as did we) having to sit off to the side while Lori and I wrestled with the sloping, undulating greens, taking extra time trying to line up the tricky reads and far too many 3 putts.

Harleyford was our first and definitely won’t be our last time there.

Walk:  The course is perched atop the Thames-side Chiltern Hills so you get some significant inclines to traipse at various points.  The literal “upside” is that there are some pretty spectacular vistas to enjoy overlooking the Thames Valley.

Water:  No water hazards and being on a hill, not a lot of standing water.  The 9^th hole has a rest building with toilets and vending machines, so you can get water for the dogs there.

Pennyhill Park is the trustfarian of golf courses – a pint-sized progeny of rich, elegant parents rebelling with a dishevelled coif which can’t hide the natural, inherited good looks underneath.

Pennyhill Park is a gem of a hotel and spa. We have visited there a number of times. The facilities are top flight, but they actually have pretty affordable pricing. Especially, since they regularly run promotions which offer even better value. The food in the restaurants is delicious gourmet quality. And the spa features these heated gel beds that we have never seen anywhere else. Talk about turbo-charged relaxation. A while back, Lori settled into this “nap room” for a kindergarten-like decadently midday snooze, and what a sleep. Face-creasing, leg-twitching, drool on the pillow lack of consciousness.

The golf course is not quite up to these 5-star standards. Sort of the renegade black sheep of the family. The setting is just as charming as the rest of the property, but the course is simply not maintained rigorously. The fairways are a bit grown out (so don’t count on any bonus forward rolling from your drives), and the greens are downright shaggy. The green is more the length of a fringe. Even the bunkers are more grass than sand.

If Pennyhill Park were closer and the green maintained a bit better, I think we would highly consider a membership at Pennyhill. Not just for the dog golfing, but for the whole collection of facilities and luxury amenities. The range on offer is just one of the reasons to look at Pennyhill for a round of dog golfing…

• Apprehensive Novice Dog Golfers – If you are new to dog golfing and are worried about how your pups will fare on the fairway, then Pennyhill is a great maiden outing. Especially, if you prefer to try the off-lead experience. It has an extremely casual vibe (they don’t even have the typical dress codes of golf clubs so you can wear what you like). People playing the course will be out for a bit of relaxation and fun so a stray bark from your canine companion won’t be putting them off any tournament quality play.
• Neglected Golf Widow(er) – While your other-half might forgive you a bit for taking hours out of the day indulging your passion because you are also taking care of walking Fido, they still might feel a bit neglected from losing out on such prime time hours. If so, invite them along for a treatment and then meet up after your round and their spa for a charming lunch on the veranda.
• · Risk Aversion – The round cost is modest and I get the sense that if you are staying at the hotel or buying other services at the hotel, you can possibly get a discount (like I said, Pennyhill does a number of promotions so it is worth asking).
• Complete Package – As we sat on the garden deck sipping our elegant cocktails (finer than any we would find at a local doggie pub), we thought of a fantasy get-away: Arrive in evening, have a lovely dinner outside (with the dogs at our feet), spend the night in luxury (for all 4 of us as Pennyhill Park’s hotel is also dog friendly), wake up to an al fresco breakfast, hit 9 holes, have a garden lunch, and finish putting the pups in the room while we have a spa treatment (arrange for late check out). Very few places in the UK can provide such a dog-friendly, luxury weekend.
• Engish Rugby Fan – Pennyhill Park has a long standing partnership with England Rugby. Over the years when I have visited there, I have often bumped into renowned ruggers (like Will Carling) roaming the grounds. Recently, England Rugby built a training facility on the grounds so even more props and backs will be running around the property

Despite being only 9 holes, the course is considerably more than your executive pitch-and-putt. The average length is over 200 yards. And the holes ain’t easy. In addition to the ball-halting hirsute landscape, many of the holes (especially the deceptively close Par 3s) are placed at the end of unforgivingly claustrophobic couloirs of towering trees.

So plenty of opportunity for ball hunting by the hounds. In fact, Grace displayed a bit of a milestone for her ball-in-the-rough-finding skills. Lori hit a ball into some long grass so we walked Grace to the edge and said “find the ball, Grace”. We could see a bit of white poking under a leaf and Grace walked right up to it a sniffed it. But she left it there! She now knows that she gets treats if she finds a ball and if very enthusiastic when we play the find-the-ball game. Thinking she had had a heat-induced concentration gap, we went up to the ball and pointed at it directly. She sniffed again and left it. Then we noticed that it wasn’t actually Lori’s ball. A few seconds later, Grace was pointing at something a few feet away quite eagerly. THAT was Lori’s ball. Good girl!

Walk: Modest length (especially if you just play the 9 holes once) with several hilly bits.

Water: Small pond by the 7^th hole green. Not to mention the water dish offered and served on a silver plater by our fine waiter at the outdoor restaurant (See photo below).

We may have found our new dog golfing home – Temple Golf Club. We think we might just join Temple Golf Club in Temple, Berkshire for the following reasons:

• Proximity – It is right across the Thames River from our home in Marlow.
• Value – They have a range of membership packages that are scaled to your use. For us it’s not just the affordability, but just the practicality since we do a lot of golfing at assorted courses either as guests of friends or investigating other dog-friendly courses.
• Dog-Friendliness – At first we were a bit worried about Temple being in the “Lead Required” group of dog-friendly clubs as our dogs do enjoy an off-lead romp, but Rusty and Grace fared very well on our outing there and were quite happy to just be along with us even if tethered throughout.

One thing that has sold us was the pro in the pro-shop who really exuded dog-friendliness. He himself has a dog and he noted that several of the board members for the club golf with their dogs too. Some clubs do allow dogs, but you get the sense that it is a rarely exploited courtesy and the members aren’t really that accustomed to canine companions on the fairways. But the pro noted that golfers with dogs were quite regular at Temple (we didn’t see any during our round, but the weather was a bit questionable and there weren’t many golfers out full stop).

Walk:  The course is a modest length (5700 yards) but does have quite a bit of hilliness which will give your walk a bit of effort.

Water:  There are 3 water fountains along the course including one equipped with a dog bowl on the 17^th hole (see below).

For our post-pins provender took us back across the river to our home town of Marlow and the popular Prince of Wales pub. It has a very fine Thai restaurant, the Thai Princess, attached to it. Dogs aren’t allowed in the restaurant, but they are very welcome in the main bar area which has ample and comfortable seating with tables and the restaurant is happy to serve you there. The “POW” also has a special “Gin Bar” with a wide selection of premium gins if you are looking for the special G&T to celebrate (or console) your round.

A bit of water only enhanced this expansive course a few miles to the northwest of Oxford. We went up to Whitney Lakes this weekend despite calls for some periodic showers. The showers did come, but it didn’t really impinge on our game too much. After getting a bit damp on the 4^th hole, we absconded to one of the shelters on the course by the tee on the 5^th to enjoy some snacks while the darkest clouds blew over. In a few minutes, the weather had cleared and we not only enjoy bright sunshine, but a last afternoon rainbow (see below).

Welcome:  Whitney recommends and prefers that dogs be kept on leads, but if the dogs are very biddable and well-behaved and the course has light usage (like it did when we played due to the inclement weather), they are happy for the dogs to be let off for a well-controlled freer amble.

Water:  Even on dry days there is plenty of water on the Whitney course with 3 big ponds on the grounds. Fortunately, only one stands between you and the tee on hole #8, but the other sit tauntingly adjacent to the fairways eager to swallow up stray slicing shots. Rusty and Grace enjoyed a cooling romp and tasty drink in one (until a huge, resident swan in one decided he wasn’t in the mood for visitors and chased them out).

Walk:  Whitney offers a good, long walk. There are three Par 5s (mercifully all followed by Par 3s) as well as mostly 350+ yard Par 4s adding up to a longish 6460 yard ramble. It might be a long walk, but it sits virtually all flat on the Oxford Plain. Good for the guys – long, wide, open fairways. Good for gals – red tees are 50-100 years in front of yellow.

Wind Down:  On the way home, we stopped for dinner at The Butchers Arms in Headington. Not just a dog-friendly pub, but simply one of the most all around friendly pubs we have been to. The owners are gregarious and welcoming as are the two resident cats who wander around (completely unfazed by any of the visiting canine customers). The food is superbly well-prepared and it is a great post-round water hole between Whitney Lakes and the M40.

Redhill and Reigate Golf Club was our very first “solo” outing with Rusty and Grace.  And it might be one of the best courses around for trying out doggie golf.

We had been golfing with friends who were accompanied by their well trained Labrador so we were acquainted with the dynamics of a tail-wagger tagging along.  Our two Hungarian Vizslas (Rusty , above, and Grace, in the logo) are very well behaved and reasonably well trained.  But you just never know how they will respond to a new environment.  What is acceptable behavior in the dog park or rambling trails, might not conform as well to the courtesies of the golf course.  In particular, Grace is quite a vocal dog who starts her whines when we hesitate too long on a walk or give attention to other people or, even worse, other dogs.  One of the key conventions of golf is keeping quiet at the appropriate times.

We chose RRGC for a number of reasons…

• Proximity – Within an hour’s drive from our home.
• Price – Lower priced (so if it all went wrong, we could simply pack up and come home without too much of a financial loss).
• Personality – More relaxed atmosphere which often seems to go hand-in-hand with value pricing.

The big win was the dogginess of the whole grounds.  The course shares public land.  As a result, the public don’t just have access to the area via walking paths, but they are also welcome to walk across the course wherever they like.  The entire 18 holes were just swarming with canines and their accompanying dog walkers.  They were all very courteous and deferential to not interfere with our play, but it made a huge difference in us not feeling out of place.  We did appear to be the only golfers there with dogs.

Welcome:  The reception told me that they preferred if the dogs were kept on the lead, but there doesn’t appear to be a hard rule on this matter.  And most of the dog walkers were off lead anyway.

Walk:  The course had only a couple of moderate inclines to manage.  It did require you to cross a fairly busy road a few times.  The Clubhouse does not allow dogs, but it does have a fenced-off outdoor patio for eating where dogs can go if you fancy a post- or mid-game refreshment.

Water:  A few streams provided a sip of water around the course.

Dog amenities – Poo bag containers (hole 1 and 6)