Finchley Golf Club — Restaurant in London

I paid the green fee expecting to play the course in full. Nowhere during the booking process, nor on the club’s website, was there any mention of tee restrictions for visitors. I teed off from the whites, only to have someone from the pro shop run out onto the 1st tee to inform me they’re for members only, something that could’ve easily been communicated before taking my money. The course is already short at just over 6300ft from the tips, and being forced onto the yellows made it feel like a pitch and putt. Several par 4s already play like long par 3s, so don’t bother bringing out your driver. It’s not like they’re concerned about pace of play either, no handicaps are required when booking, and the round was slow regardless. And it’s not as if the white tees were closed for reseeding. If the tee spike is in the ground, it should be playable. This just felt like petty gatekeeping, and charging full price to play a restricted version of the course, not as the designers intended, feels pretty close to robbery. Oh, and forget about playing fast. The foursome in carts ahead of us teed off from the whites, took their sweet time shanking balls barely past the red tees, wandered around for a while, then took drops from the middle of the fairway. But sure, visitors are the problem. Snobbish attitude, slow pace of play, and a clear sense that visitors are...

Unfortunately I need to share this experience because my emails to them are just being ignored. I recently got invited to a golf day so I replied and secured my place weeks in advance. I would be playing with a current member of the club. 2 days before the golf day I check in with the member whether he’s still able to play and so I find out through the grapevine that we’re now ineligible to play as we did not have a handicap. Throughout this entire process the membership manager had not once let me know that I was no longer able to play and had I not done my own checks, I probably would’ve turned up on the day not knowing I couldn’t play. I emailed the membership manager on the 22nd March - ignored. I sent a follow up email on the 2nd April - ignored. I’m not sure why I’m even surprised as this is not the first time I’ve had a run in with the membership manager. A few months ago he tried to charge me a higher membership fee than someone of the same age as me who was also getting a membership at the same time. The other person was a male and I’m a female. The academy is a great way to learn golf but anything else after that is rubbish, it’s like they really don’t want you to be a part of the club. They never once reached out to me to discuss this matter despite having all my...

Played here today as part of a reciprocal arrangement. Although we'd prebooked our booking was not found (we had travelled from an hour and a half away). "Luckily" for us we could still play! Only one smartgolfer network booking per day although course was not exactly busy, guess they are not keen on taking bar revenue. I understand this policy when busy but when not, why not allow more network golfers to maximise bar takings? A few extra golfers on the course is neither here nor there. The lady in the bar was friendly and we had a good omelette and drinks before we played. On course, fairways are poor and still struggling from last summer, hopefully this will get turned around sooner rather than later. Greens were good. Enjoyed the course routing, a good variety of holes. I would guess they have a lot lower handicap players here, course is scoreable. Would like to play again once fairways have recovered but will ask for email confirmation of booking! With fairways in good condition this course would have...