Onto the railway town of Crewe, home to Bentley Motors, for a 9 hole November jaunt to Queen’s Park Golf Club. Founded in 1985, it’s located at the end of a lane a couple of miles from the centre, and next to a 45 acre park that makes for a vibrant environment. This is the sister club of Slicers’ favourite Malkins Bank, just up the road in Sandbach. Now, this is the second easiest course of 93 in Cheshire (see our ranking here), so expectations are modest, but for £9, we surely can’t go far wrong.
It’s sadly a fact that, in one of the most affluent boroughs in the country (Cheshire East), home to the 5 most expensive streets in the North, Crewe holds 7 of the top 10 spots for most deprived areas. One can therefore only imagine how much a club like Queen’s Park does for making golf accessible to the local community. We can’t help but feel a little bad for visiting on a grey and dreary November day, and encourage a glance at their website to see pictures in a more favourable light
It was all shaping up to be a somewhat pedestrian experience, as we waited our turn on a surprisingly busy 1st tee… that is, until Maurice arrived! Appearing from the direction of the 9th green, it seemed only polite to enquire if he was ‘going around again’, presuming that would afford him priority on the tee. However, this was interpreted as an invitation to join us, and having initially dissapeared (presumably to pay again), Maurice was soon shouting down the length of the 1st fairway and chasing after us!
Whilst it may have been accidental, our invitation transpired to provide a major highlight of the day! It turned out that Maurice is from Zimbabwe, having recently landed to follow his wife to the country, and playing his first golf in the UK! It also soon turned out that he was a very handy golfer, and provided an inadvertent education on swing action, as well as being extremely patient in tolerating our endless ignorant questions on his motherland.
Back to the course, and it’s all fairly flat, and mercifully short, with 4 par 4s around 250 yards to start, before a more varied ‘back 5’. All the greens were in play, and ran nicely, with winter greens mown and prepared but as yet not enforced. The highlight had to be the 7th, a 448 yard par 5 with a blind tee shot… though perhaps a pair of kick-in birdies may have curried favour (see Exhibit A, pictured).
So, did we leave Crewe with a phone full of beautiful photos, and magical memories of breathtaking holes? No… but we left educated and inspired, with cold hands but a warm heart. Not bad for 9 quid!
Key Info
Holes: 9
Par: 35
Yards: Yellow: 2,441. Red: 2,412
Slope: Yellow: 114. Red: 126
Visitor Green Fees: £9
Website: https://queensparkgc.co.uk/
Location
Prices correct at time of writing (November 2023).
Find out where this course ranks in the list of toughest courses in Cheshire here, and see our overview of Golfing in Cheshire here.
Where shall we review next? Let us know here.
