Sussex Golfer

Review of Mannings Heath Golf Club

Mannings Heath Golf Club is a part parkland, part ...

Mannings Heath Golf Club is a part parkland, part heathland course, situated just a few minutes east of Horsham, and easily accessed by the A23 from a large catchment area across Sussex and beyond.

Widely regarded as one of the finest courses in the county- regularly playing host to PGA Europro Tour events, the Waterfall course, dating back to 1905, definitely has a substantial amount of character and challenge, and was considerably more undulating than I was expecting! As you might expect with it not being the longest of courses at just over 6000 yards from the standard Yellow tees (stretching out to over 6700 yards from the tips), the emphasis is typically on finding fairways rather than trying to overpower the course.

Overlooked by the magnificent bright pink 17th century clubhouse, the course gets off to a fairly gentle start on the first, and this theme continues for the opening few holes, before really coming to life with the beautiful 'punch bowl' par 3 5th, a very unique short hole with the green seemingly carved into the terrain.

A solid string of par 4s and 5s between the 6th and 9th help to round out the front 9, with the approach shot in to the 6th, and the tee shot on the 9th being the highlights photogenically! The par 3 10th is another interesting short hole, with a large elevation change to a small green.

The 11th is fantastic golf hole. Visually from the tee (particularly from the tips) there is almost no room to hit your tee shot, hitting down a chute, with water running up the left side of the hole, especially if you struggle with a right to left ball flight! Once on the fairway, the work still isn't done, as you may need to shape your approach into a fairly large green to avoid overhanging trees. A cracking par 4.

The next standout hole is the tricky par 5 13th. Whilst it appears to be a decent birdie (or better) opportunity on the card, the approach shot into the green plays steeply uphill which will prevent all but the longest and highest ball hitters from having any chance of being on in two. Once on the green (after catching your breath and trying not to be distracted by the view back!) a two putt par will be close out a tricky hole!

Three of the next four holes yield reasonable scoring opportunities, with the short par 3 14th to its narrow green, the short uphill (and potentially driveable) par 4 15th, as well as the short par 5 17th. The course finishes with the fantastic par 4 18th. A downhill tee shot to the fairway with a long iron or hybrid will set up a mid to short iron approach over the valley and up the hill to a well guarded green. Many a scorecard (including my own) will be ruined by this hole!

Overall, The Waterfall course is a challenging test, in fantastic condition (as one would expect!), at a venue which oozes class. Whilst the course boasts a number of stand out holes (5th, 9th, 11th, 13th, 18th), for my liking there are a few too many filler holes which prevent it from being higher up in my list of must plays in Sussex!

For more course reviews across Sussex and beyond, check out my website or Social Media pages!

@TheSussexGolfer