Practice Facility Review: Westminster Trails GC

Practice Facility Review
Westminster Trails Golf Club, London
by Jeffrey Reed, Editor, LondonOntarioGolf.com

Whenever a public golf club offers a practice area, it’s always a bonus. There’s nothing like slamming your trunk, doing a few stretches then taking three holes to find your game. And when a public track offers a complete practice area, you know management cares about its golfers.

This summer, I’ve been honing my skills at Westminster Trails GC in south London, part of the growing London Golf Trail and under the same ownership group at London’s East Park Golf Gardens, and Maple Ridge Golf Club. Westminster Trails (est. 1990) is a popular public course which always plays tough, thanks to wide-open fairways and constant swirling winds. You can read my course review here.

It’s not easy finding a public course which boasts all amenities necessary to not only warming up before the first tee, but also to simply spending a few hours working on every club in the bag. Westminster Trails has done things right – with the serious golfer in mind. This summer, I’ve rediscovered my wedge game, for example, thanks to a variety of pin placements at the Westminster Trails range.

The first thing you’ll appreciate at Westminster Trails is the friendly staff. They really do go out of their way to make you feel welcome. This is an all-important element of surviving in the over-saturated local golf market, yet not all clubs get it. Kudos to the staff at Westminster Trails.

I greatly appreciate the well-manicured putting green behind the Westminster Trails clubhouse. No shag carpet here: this green rolls true and fast, providing game conditions. On many occasions, I’ve spent more than an hour working on putting at Westminster Trails, and it has paid off in spades as my flat stick has been a reliable part of my game this season.

With a white flag target 50 yards from the range ropes, and space spanning 250 yards to the back of the range, the Westminster Trails practice area includes target greens at 75, 100, 150, 175 and 200 yards. There’s also a fairway bunker from which to hit shots. Toss in a beautiful rural setting, and you have the perfect spot to spend hours beating balls.

The staff at Westminster Trails also keep water buckets and brushes at many of the hitting areas so you can clean your clubs during your session at the range. And many times, I’ve seen staff pick up empty buckets and bring them back to the clubhouse without complaining one – now that’s as rare as back-to-back aces. Speaking of which, this 17 million to one feat was recently accomplished at Caradoc Sands Golf Club in Strathroy, a member of the London Golf Trail.

A place to putt, chip, pitch, hit approach shots and every shot off the tee makes the Westminster Trails GC practice facility an ace of a practice centre.

Westminster Trails GC
2465 Westminster Drive, London
519/668-6121
www.westminstertrails.com