The Heritage golf course at the London Golf Club is a little bit of a conundrum. There are lots of great holes on it such as the par-5 6th and the par-4 last, but the pick of the bunch is the stretch from the 10th to the short par-4 14th, which is actually better off the yellow tees as you can carry the lake in front of the green if you dare. Conversely the par-3s and par-5s are better off the whites as then the risk-reward choice is more in your face.
As with most Nicklaus designed courses the par-3s are very good with raised tees and tight greens and the use of water hazards around the course is very good with all of them in play rather than being a visual ornament. The bunkering is excellent for a modern style course with big deep bunkers in the fairways and especially around the greens where you can be 10 to 15 feet below the putting surface if you are not careful. The greens were quick and obviously well constructed so year-round play should be possible here.
So what's not to like? Well, if Jack wants golf to be a half day game then he has to stop building courses like this with so much distance between holes. The 7th tee had to be 200 yards from the 6th green and that was not a one-off. You really have to take a buggy, which is slow, or walk, which will be slower still, as we reckon you will spend at least 45 minutes of your life just getting from one hole to the next during a round.
Also whilst there were a lot of excellent par-3 and par-5 holes there was also the odd bland par-4. The design felt a little formulaic and you could be anywhere, rather than being immersed in the character of the lovely rolling Kent countryside, over which it has to be said there are some great views.
On the other hand the Heritage it is a very well presented course and the atmosphere around the clubhouse and the rest of the facilities gave the impression of somewhere a little more up-market than similar modern resorts. If you are not in a hurry then the Heritage course at the London Golf Club is great fun, could be a monster off the back tees and is definitely worth a play.