- Course Type – Parkland
- Green Fees – £30-35
- Par – 69
- Length – Back 5511y, Middle 5154y and Front 4503y.
Overview:
Located just east of Southampton and next to the Ageas Bowl (home of Hampshire Cricket and host to many England cricket matches), is the aptly named Boundary Lakes golf course.
Driving in is quite a cool experience; you see the stadium in front of you, a gym to your right and the golf course to your left. This is a venue where sports collide and its a great backdrop to play golf.
Not something we talk about much at WTP, but the long game warm up facility at Boundary Lakes is different. Think of a 30 yard long driving range with a massive net around it. I’ve never seen this before, but I liked it. If space is an issue this is a great way for golf courses to go. You get to see more ball flight and this feedback is great when warming up. The balls are also free – result!
The course itself has a par of 69 and looks short at 5511y off the back tees. But, as you’ll see when you read on, it plays a LOT tougher!
The greens are built to USGA standards and have some severe undulations. Which means if you get pin positions like we had, you’ll rarely see an uphill putt all day. In truth, they would feel like the primary defence of Boundary Lakes. This is due to most being built up with large drop offs all around. As a result, any missed green turns into a really tough up and down.
On the day we played the greens were a little bumpy and the grass a little long. But this felt necessary to give you any chance of holding your ball on them.
The course layout is a little confusing with many long walks between holes. By the end of the round you’ll feel like a member of the Proclaimers, as you need to walk 500 miles to get to where you wanna go.
The architectural design feels quite man made due to the built up greens and attempts to flatten some fairways. I’m not a fan of this personally and I think it only added to my perception that some of the holes felt a bit like full length crazy golf holes.
However, the seven Par 3’s are all visually appealing and this is what makes the course worth playing. Each is unique, with a variety of lengths and hazards meaning you need to stand up and hit a good mid-iron to wedge tee shot. Exactly what a Par 3 should be in my opinion.
Another plus is that, despite their length, all of the Par 5’s are reachable with two good shots. This means eagle opportunities exist for most handicap golfers. Although I think the design of all of them is confusing and makes them the worst holes on the course.
A little disclaimer…
Before we get into the hole by hole review its worth noting that we played Boundary Lakes in mid-July. This was following a really dry spell and where the footfall on the course has been incredibly high.
Consequently, the course looked and played more like a rock hard links course but without the design features to make it playable. As a result it felt like we were getting our own taste of the 2018 US Open at Shinnecock Hills. You know the one where they “lost the course” and Phil Mickelson chased after and putted his moving ball!
In addition, it appeared that many of the golfers who had played before us didn’t seem to respect the course. The result was bunkers that looked like a school sand pit and lots of un-repaired pitchmarks.
There’s nothing the club could do about these last points. But this was a surprise as I’ve not experienced this at other courses recently.
Please consider this when reading on! Whilst it influences this review it feels an unfair reflection of Boundary Lakes based on pictures we’ve seen.
Right, onto the detail…
The Front 9:
The course opens with a short Par 4 that looks far more intimidating off the tee than it is. A mid-iron at the bunker in the distance will leave a wedge in. However anything right will splosh into the beautiful lake that guards the 1st, 2nd and 18th. The green is tough and anything right will also roll off into the lake. So play for the middle of the green and a par is on the cards.
Second up is the first of the stunning Par 3’s. 110 yards with just the lake separating tee and green. Be warned anything long isn’t that safe either due to a steep drop off. Trust me I was there…
The 3rd and 4th are reverse dog leg Par 4’s with the 3rd slightly longer. Take a 200y club off both tees and flick a mid-iron and wedge in.
The 5th is a mid-length Par 3 with a wide green and a large tree protecting the left half. Our pin position was behind the tree requiring a lofted shot that lands softly or a bail out right.
The 6th is the first of the Par 5’s which dog legs massively right. Aim your tee shot straight ahead and let the cycling velodrome-esque slope feed it round the corner. Following that you have a choice: lay up or go for it. But be warned if you choose to take on the green you need to be pinpoint accurate. Because anything short or right kicks into a small wooded area and trust us its not fun down there.
This is followed by the 7th; it probably has the best looking green on the course right now, so enjoy it. It’s almost the same design as the 3rd and 4th, therefore play it the same.
After comes the second Par 5. This is where things changed for me. The tee shot is relatively simple, hit driver as far up the slope as you can, avoiding the fairway bunkers. But from there it gets a little silly. Anything over the brow of the hill, that isn’t aiming right of the fairway at the trees, will fall off the edge of a cliff into a red staked area.
Our advice here is take just enough club to reach the top of the hill and accept 150y in. A member of the group behind us hit a chip down the cart path from here. We’re not sure if it was intentional, but in hindsight it was the safe play. I think this justifies my comments on some of the design.
If you do go for the green with your second then be warned. Taking your shot over the stake might leave you on the next tee box, so please shout ‘FORE’. There’s a few points at Boundary Lakes where this unknowingly happens, even when hitting over the guiding stakes. As a result we nearly got hit or could have hit people. Maybe a few signs on the course could mitigate this risk?
The 9th is another lovely Par 3 requiring a short iron or wedge. The trees right encourage you to aim left but the drop off is significant. So be brave and hit it down the right or you’ll join me in blobbing a simple hole!
The Back 9:
The 10th is the Marmite of golf holes. You’ll either love it or hate it. I hated it. Neil made eagle, so you won’t be surprised to hear that he loved it.
At 280 yards down a severe hill it plays more like a long Par 3 rather than a Par 4. However the green is built up so much that only a mountain goat would be happy on the drop offs. This makes the hole play to its par. Especially as anything aimed at the middle of the green kicks left into a red staked area. We love risk/reward holes but I felt this one was a little clumsy. Turning the hole around to play up the hill would be a good design move!
The good news however, is that you follow it up with a beautiful Par 3. 100y long over a deep drop to a large sloping green. Anything in the middle of the green will feed right. So the landing spot is bigger than you think, more so if the pin is to the right side.
The 12th is the epitome of Boundary Lakes – its a bit of a rollercoaster. At over 520y and with a blind tee shot over the hill you assume its safe to hit driver. But just like Oblivion at Alton Towers, as you walk over the hill ‘Don’t look down!’. Because all of our tee shots rolled out to 400y into a pond. This is crazy when we all used clubs that shouldn’t go past 250.
You are then left dropping on a downslope to a thin green with red stakes around most of it. Our advice is to skim your shot across the pond like Neil did (yeah right!). Otherwise, just accept its unplayable right now…
Following on from the least memorable par 3, you reach the 14th, which is a beautiful tee box setting set back in a wooded area. Take driver or fairway wood and hit up the hill, avoiding the cross bunkers. The result is a mid-iron into an elevated green. Definitely one of the prettier holes.
Following this is the toughest and longest Par 3 at 170+ yards. If the pin is behind the bunker bail out left as everything feeds in from there. Sadly we only learnt this after my shot landed in the bunker protecting the right side!
The 16th is another hole that probably plays much better in different conditions. At 280y downhill it felt like a hole you should be excited to attack and go for the green. However by now we’d learnt to be defensive in the conditions and took less club off the tee. Because of that the eagle chance is taken away… *sigh*
The 17th felt like I’d been bowled middle stump by Jimmy Anderson! And just like a cricketer whose had his stumps ripped out, I was ready to walk off at this point. Why? Because its impossible to see the line off the tee, even with the GPS app helping you.
Either take a mid iron (crazy I know on a Par 5) or aim anything longer tight down the left. Anything straight and more than 200y is likely to be on the 3rd green. From there on in, the hole is fine, so play for safety off the tee and let your innings continue.
Finally, you’ve got a Par 3 18th which has the opening lake down the right side and a bunker protecting the left side to catch the bail out. The green is large so play for the middle distance and you should have enough margin for error.
Or if you were mentally beaten up like me take on the back pin, nearly hit a hole in one, miss the birdie putt and make par. Actually, that hole sums this place up quite nicely!
Overall:
Unlike the neighbouring stadium, right now, this place is just not cricket! It has suffered from a largely dry spell, a lack of water and high footfall. As a result it is playing more like a day five test pitch.
However, we recognise that Boundary Lakes would be much better in the spring or autumn. Lush green grass, softer bounces, defined rough and smoother greens would all make a huge difference. Just looking at the pictures on their website shows what this place is capable of. We just picked the wrong time to go play it! Sorry Boundary Lakes!
As a result we all said we would like to go back and re-rate it with those conditions and some course knowledge. We predict it could then score into the low 20’s if it met expectations!
So please don’t be put off – try it for yourself. The par 3’s are brilliant and its clearly very busy so lots of other golfers disagree with some of my views. Neil, our single figure player who shot +1 gross and certainly made me be more objective…
Finally, lets just say the number of 6’s on my card would have been much more useful if I was playing in the stadium next door…
Click here to book and see if you can you can bat yourself through a session a Boundary Lakes!
WHAT DID OTHER MEMBERS OF THE TEAM THINK?
Neil (our single figure player):
Don’t be fooled by the scorecard, it may look short on paper but that does not make Boundary Lakes easy! With the steep slopes, blind shots, water hazards and severely undulating greens making up for its lack of length. Also the pins were tucked in some seriously tough places too.
However, the course style and conditions took its quirkiness to the extreme and reduced the fun factor. To experience this course to its potential you need to play at a time of year when it is softer and with someone who knows the course. It will save you a few shots! The Par 3 11th was my favourite hole. A beautiful short Par 3 that still requires a good shot to hit the green”
John (our bogey golfer):
“On paper Boundary Lakes is a lovely course. But in reality a severe test for the mid-high handicapper in current conditions. One major gripe for me was the lack of a course map on the scorecard. As a result, even with a GPS mobile app, we weren’t sure where the holes really went. Add to this the number of blind shots over huge slopes, with nothing but the hole length to guide your club choices, and you can spend ages looking in the wrong places for your ball.
Despite this, the Par 3‘s are all great and different whilst the Par 5s are all reachable. My favourite hole was the Par 3 5th. Depending on pin location, it can require a fantastic shot over a towering tree guarding one side of the green. Obviously, I did just that!”
WEEKEND TOUR PROS RATING:
- Fun Factor: 6.5
- Quality of the Course: 6
- Value for Money: 5.5