Ealing Golf Club - Middlesex

This mature parkland course is not very long but still provides a good test of golf. The rolling fairways with well defined bunkers, nicely spread tee boxes and large greens combined with the River Brent coming in to play on many of the holes make a round here an enjoyable experience.

Two straight, solid shots are required on the first hole and make sure to choose the right club for your approach to the second as you could leave yourself a long putt on the green. The only safe place to miss the third green is to come up short, while playing for the centre of the fairway is the best option on the fourth, do not be tempted to cut the corner.

The fifth is a tough hole from the back tees, the designer has been kind though and did not place a bunker directly in front of the green. The river certainly comes in to play with your approach shot to the sixth, if you don't think you can make it, lay up and try to one putt. With no bunkers along the seventh this par 5 gives a good birdie opportunity, the same can not be said of the eighth, play this hole with a zig zag line and you should stay clear of any sand. The key to the ninth is to make sure you have enough club to clear the bunkers then a birdie could follow.

Keep your drive short of the river and you should be left with an easy short approach to the tenth green, long hitters may be tempted to go for the eleventh in one but there are no less than seven bunkers awaiting a wayward tee shot. Avoid the bunkers and pond on the twelfth and you could have a great chance for a birdie, while the key to the thirteenth is to keep right for a better approach line, once again over the river.

The par 3 fourteenth is a tough hole, if you can't carry the ball the whole way there is a small gap between the bunkers to run up to the green. Take enough club to avoid the first two bunkers on the fifteenth but not so much that you reach the third one, the approach requires a straight shot to the green avoiding the bunkers on either side of the hole. If you feel you are long enough then take on the bunkers and go for the second part of the sixteenth fairway to leave a short pitch into the green. A well placed drive is needed on the penultimate hole to leave a nice approach to a bunkerless green, while missing the putting surface on the last can be very costly.

As with many of Braid's & Colt's designs, this is a thinking golfers course, you cannot just hit it as hard as you can from the tee and power your way round, if you try to do this your score will suffer.