Cams Hall  Estate Golf Club

www.crown-golf.co.uk

Cams Hall 
 tee1up rating 8/10 a great course well worth a visit.   
Cams Hall is just south of M27 near Fareham in Hampshire and is part of the Crown Golf Group. It has a eighteen hole course called the Creek and an additional nine holes The Park course each of which are a fair test of golf. You can also mix the nines to make three different eighteen-hole courses each with a par in excess of 71 however only the Creek back nine and the Park take you above 6000 yards. I have played these courses many times now and always enjoy playing the Park as a separate nine holes and the Creek as it was designed as eighteen holes. The Creek course overlooks the Fareham estuary with its main feature the lakes but is made harder by the winds which can hit you from all directions and as you will soon find out. 
Each of the holes has been named on the and the first is called Way Ahead and is a gentle straight par four which is banked on both sides to a raised green which is protected on the left by a bunker. You shouldn’t leave it short on this hole as putting up the green is the only really difficult part of this hole. The second Home Farm takes you back to the first tee another par four with a slight dogleg right your drive off this hole is met by a bunker just to the left of the fairway and the tiger line is jut over the mound on your right which will leave you a easy shot into the green. The third Itchy Bow is a short dog leg right you will see a large mound on your right hand side with OB close by it if you keep just to the left of this mark you will have a easy wedge into a green down the hill. Now the fun starts the fourth Prisoner is well named especially off the back tee but even of the yellows this hole is a real test. It measures 197 yards over a large lake and the wind can be straight in your face. The green is positioned on it narrow part with a tier in the middle sloping left to right; all I will say is take more club, as your ball will drop like a brick when it hits the wind over the water. The fifth Power House is also a lovely par four hole 323 yards long, which take you back over part of the same lake as the previous hole. If the wind blowing hard and is behind you then its possible to go for the green but you will need a long shot to avoid two large bunkers in the front, the better line is from the middle of the fairway from the mid point of the lake. The green is protected at the back by a high bank and the green has some evil contours from back to front.  Reward the sixth is the first of the three par fives on this course a nice long tee shot sets you up well on this one head for the high point to the left and watch your ball sweep round to the right even if it stay there you have a easy shot down the fairway to the green. This green also has some large contours and if the pin is at the front putting is a nightmare. Rag Island hole 7 is a short par three up hill about 124 yards the green slopes from back to front with a tier in the mid point getting you par on this hole is not easy. Hole eight Port Ten is a great driving hole if only you took the trouble to walk off the front of the tee to your left and have a look over the mound. Last time I played it I had a crack at the green and was just short at the front edge leaving me a simple wedge up to the green. Hole nine is the only disappointing hole on this course a par four at 246 yards. I think it should be a par three as the green is easily reached off the tee and the only trouble is the bunker to the right and the lake a little further right to catch slicers. Having said that it should be a par three if the wind is blowing it is difficult. Harbour View hole ten takes you along side the first hole of the Park course there is a small bunker on your left other than that it’s a fairly straight forward hole. The eleventh Valley Side a difficult par three over a valley to a raised green which is protected on both sides by bunkers and a hidden one at the back to catch the long ball. You need to club up on this one as the wind swirls in the valley and it plays a lot longer than it looks. Skylark Hills is will named in the summer this is all you will here as the swoop over the mounds protecting the fairways of the course. This twelve hole takes you back towards the clubhouse and the best position off the tee is right of middle of the fairway but don’t over cook it as the fairway soon runs out to the large lake. Your next a short shot over the corner of the lake into the green watch out for the bunker to the left. Not sure why they called the thirteenth Oystercatcher as it is in the middle of the course and a long way from the estuary but I guess you can see it from the elevated tee. This hole is a short dogleg right and be warned cutting the corner off could leave you into some deep rough. You next shot is to a very narrow green. The fourteenth Duck Flight is the hardest hole on the course; your tee shot is however straight forward apart from having to miss the telegraph wires overhead. You will have a long shot it to the green probably off an uneven lie from the fairway the green is partly protected on the right by a large mound but is long enough. Bandits End the fifteenth is a lovely par five from the tee you will see that you tee shot takes you over a lake and you have OB on the left. Everything slopes right to left then there is a large oak and a stream right across the fairway that stops you going for a long second shot, if do you leave it to short your third to the green on the other side on the stream up and up the hill is a pig of a shot. Hole sixteen Long reach needs a straight shot of the tee the estuary runs down the right hand side of this hole and you will need to be over that side to have a shot through the small bushes on either side of the fairway on the extent of you second shot. Grass mounds cup the green and the putting surface is all over the place. Wicor the seventeenth a par three is deceptively long hole at 188 yards you are almost certainly playing into wind on this hole. The eighteen Swanlake is a great finishing hole it mimics the twelve a little but is slightly longer and your second shot takes you right over the lake to a green that slope from back to front, the only escape shot on this hole is on the right.
Kevin Burnett-Whalley