as many may know, Marsden has recently been taken over by a new proprietor. I have just come back in from playing the course and have to say I have never seen it looking or playing so well....the bunkers are good...fairways good and greens almost like a billiard table....club house has been refurbed as well....if you only fancy a couple of hourss its only 9 quid for 9 holes and you will receive a warm welcome...utc.

The guy who has taken over the running of the club is Neil Reeves the golf professional who a few years ago was the pro at Nelson golf club .He is a nice lad is Neil and hope he does well.

he is making a big effort up there and as you say he is a good bloke who by all accounts is a very good teacher as well....I was amazed by the greens today....hope he gets the rewards his efforts deserve....
the 9 quid for 9 holes is a midweek price btw...not sure what it is at weekends.

played Marsden a few times but not for a good few years now., like the course, glad to hear its in good nick. I might get my sticks out again.

Excellent news. He was always massively into his golf. Good to see he's made a career of it.
His sister was a regular poster on CM. But not on here.
Spent many an afternoon playing pool and pacman upstairs in the bar back in the 80s

Is Neil Reeves David's lad?

David, I think was a former captain at MP, probably 25 years ago. My dad knew him and he took me round for my handicap score when I joined as a kid.

Well over ten years since I played there but glad it's been saved. Hope Neil can make a go of it.

Neil was in my year at school. I know he has been a golf pro for a number of years and seems to be doing a good job at Marsden Park.

It's my local course and one I usually play. A decent effort has indeed been made over the last few months (the new hole marker boards on a couple of holes are a great addition which will eventually extend to all holes on the course). My only slight niggle last time I was up around a fortnight ago was the greens weren't quite up to scratch (but a fortnight is a long time for a golf course)

Thus is where I started to play. Bit played there for ten years now. Used to love it. Delighted to hear it's in good condition.

he spiked the greens and they were patchy only 2 weeks ago....unfortunately he had to grow them long in order to cut them close like they are now....only last week the greens were only 7 out of 10...they are now close to perfect so unfortunately I now have no excuses for my dodgy putting....they were fantastic today.

I used to love playing at Marsden as a kid, great steak Canadian!

TheFamilyCat wrote:Is Neil Reeves David's lad?

David, I think was a former captain at MP, probably 25 years ago. My dad knew him and he took me round for my handicap score when I joined as a kid.

Well over ten years since I played there but glad it's been saved. Hope Neil can make a go of it.

Yes Neil is David's lad. David was also a cricketer at Nelson CC and I saw them both on the Turf recently.

in fact the greens were so good today I managed to shoot a 77......next time I go though I think I will play the back 9 as well...lol...utc.

Glad to hear it's in good hands. Only played there maybe 8-9 times, buts it's been 3 years since I was there. 5-6 years ago I'd have said they had the best tee beds and greens in the area, but the last couple of times I played they had let them go. I think Towneley nicked their greenkeeper a few years ago(?), which affected MP, but helped Towneley tremendously.

TGC's greens have come good this past 2 weeks as well. It's amazing what all the prep work and the. A week of hot weather does.

Might try and get up MP for a round or two this summer.

I think the lad was called martin that went to townley...he is a real good lad....I heard that he asked for a pay rise at marsden from the local council but they wouldnt give him one....they then advertised his position at a higher rate than he was on ????
he set the standard for other groundsmen to follow and marsden has been better for it ever since.....I have played at marsden for 30 years and can only once remember the greens being as good as they were today....and that was for a major comp...utc.

MPGC is a great course with some incredible views. It's long been in excellent condition and seemingly getting better since Neil took over.
Last year it could have closed had there not been a big petition to keep it open. The CEO at the time asked all those people up in arms to, rather than sign an online petition, to simply play at MPGC and put some money into a local service. Thankfully that happened, but I imagine there's plenty of property investors still looking at the course waiting for another opportunity. Please don't give it to them. Get yourselves up there and enjoy 18-holes in this lovely weather.

Never been the biggest fan of Marsden Park in all honesty. The front nine is decent but the back nine is.....well, you can tell they just bought some land and extended the course put it that way. It's good to hear someone is now really looking after it and it's in tremedous nick though and this certainly encourages me to go and play it again.

I think the clubhouse is available for functions as well...a superb venue for a christenings etc with the balcony overlooking the 9th green and views of pendle...the front 9 gets a lot more play than the back 9 and because of this I think the greens on the back 9 are even better than the front although there cannot be much in it now judging by how good the greens on front 9 were yesterday....the 16th has to be one of the hardest par 4s around though with only the bigger hitters capable of getting to the green in 2 shots...getting a 5 on that hole no disgrace.
As someone said earlier, I think its important to try and support the course in whatever way you can...the views alone makes it worth a visit...especially from the 9th and 18th tee bed...utc.

Won my only ever Golf Tournament there........many moons ago. It was the Evening Star 4 Ball. I still have the goblet.......somewhere. It was only 9 holes when I played which was a bit of a pain. Think the pro was called Tom Gilleard ? Anybody remember him ?

Just as a matter of interest, which course is considered to be the best in the area these days ? cheers

joey13 wrote:Just as a matter of interest, which course is considered to be the best in the area these days ? cheers

I personally like Nelson, Burnley (Glen View), Wilpshire and Accrington is decent too. Played Halifax the other week and was pleasantly surprised (if that could be considered local).

Thanks Jakubs

Pleasington is a good track,

anyone played Lobden recently, do they still have fencing around the greens to keep the sheep out?

I played Marsden on Sunday, it's lovely course for a muni and has a lot of potential. Unfortunately the greens were no where near like happyclaret17 described, more like a 5/10. The grass was all different heights on the greens, (4 inch wide Mohicans), bunkers not even raked. Fairways looked like they'd not been cut for over a week. I wish the club all the luck for the future but when the course is presented in conditions like this especially for a comp I think they'll need more than luck.

FCBurnley wrote:Won my only ever Golf Tournament there........many moons ago. It was the Evening Star 4 Ball. I still have the goblet.......somewhere. It was only 9 holes when I played which was a bit of a pain. Think the pro was called Tom Gilleard ? Anybody remember him ?

I remember the pro from many moons ago, i thought his last name was Gillitt. A smallish, bald, quite stocky bloke who appeared quite grumpy in those days, but i was only a young lad then.

Spent many school summer holidays playing up there when it was a 9 hole course. Great place.

joey13 wrote:Just as a matter of interest, which course is considered to be the best in the area these days ? cheers

Nelson for me, though I am biased due to a family connection there.

Chorleynot1962 wrote:I played Marsden on Sunday, it's lovely course for a muni and has a lot of potential. Unfortunately the greens were no where near like happyclaret17 described, more like a 5/10. The grass was all different heights on the greens, (4 inch wide Mohicans), bunkers not even raked. Fairways looked like they'd not been cut for over a week. I wish the club all the luck for the future but when the course is presented in conditions like this especially for a comp I think they'll need more than luck.

I hope this place gets back on its feet soon. I've been told that they don't have qualified Greenkeepers there now, just lads who can only do bits of mowing. Good luck to the new pro/manager and all involved with the maintenance of the course.