Just 1 mile from Whitchurch, the Macdonald Hill Valley Hotel boasts a four star hotel with luxurious bedrooms, eateries and full spa and leisure facilities. Ideal for group golfing breaks, for couples stays, plus plenty of family friendly activities as well.
The bedrooms at the Hill Valley Hotel have modern decor, a seating area and bathroom with bath and shower. Some rooms have views over the golf course. Borders Restaurant offers traditional British and international dishes including a full English breakfast. The Lounge and Sports Bars serve pub food.
For the golfers, Hill Valley boasts 36 holes of gently undulating parkland golf, namely the championship Emerald Course and the shorter 'target-driven' Sapphire Course.
The Emerald Championship Course covers a total distance pf 6,714 yards and is a par 73. Emerald sweeps around undulating fairways through natural water hazards and strategically placed bunkers, presenting a real golfing challenge to all levels.
Designed by TV golfing stars Peter Alliss and Dave Thomas and created by Albert Minshall in 1975, the courses at Macdonald Hill Valley Hotel, Golf & Spa make this venue one of the Top 10 golf venues in the UK.
The four hole stretch of mid-length par fours around the turn sees The Emerald at its finest, attractive to view yet potentially tricky to conquer, with water at the eighth and at the corner of the 90 degree dog leg ninth hole. Following a trip to the lovely halfway hut by the side of the 10th take a deep breath, this is one big test of a tee shot to a narrow tree lined sloping fairway pointing towards another raised green. The 11th is all about looks, a lovely tee shot view gazing at the full picture in front of you, a little unusual for this course.
The 380-yard Par 4 is a superb closing hole to the Emerald Course and presents a double water feature to contend with. The first sits in front of the tee and shouldn't pose too much of a worry, the second though is the green fronting pond, made all the more bigger a hazard by the foliage that surrounds it. With a relatively small sized putting surface to aim at, you really need as short an iron as possible for your approach here, and all is under the gaze of the hotel bedroom terraces, take care.
The 'Sapphire' (East Course) is the shorter course at par 66, offering golfers a more leisurely, yet still challenging round. Playing to just 4,801 yards, the course is often favoured by those looking for an entertaining short game challenge, without the need for long distance from the tee.
The Sapphire course at Hill Valley has just one par five but the putting surfaces much smaller than on The Emerald. It's a very target led course, one set up to be a great test to your short game. It's just a little bit more open in places, letting in some lovely panoramic views of the surrounding area and those Welsh hills.
The Sapphire Course boasts some seriously testing holes, from short ones through incredibly tight tree clad valleys with lurking water hazards, to the longer ones which are no less of a challenge, the SI 1 ninth a case in point, quite an approach in store up to the two tiered green. Just a short course it may be but potentially big in stature too and certainly not one to take lightly, proof if proof were needed that golf doesn't necessarily need to be a long hit game to be great fun.