THE FINEST FORM OF GOLF
unningdale was the headliner on our trip to play the five clubs the recently established
refers to as but the truly staggering thing about this collection is their depth in quality. In a combined 108 holes at Sunningdale, The Berkshire Golf Club and Walton Heath, a further 27 at St. George’s Hill and 18 at Swinley Forest Golf Club, you would be hard pressed to pick out a single forgettable shot. We also played Worplesdon Golf Club near Guildford, which provided yet more evidence of the extraordinary volume of great heathland golf in the Surrey-Berkshire area. It was one of those trips where my favourite hole, and even my favourite course, changed on an hourly basis. By the time we reached the magical Swinley Forest (more on that particular gem later) I was ready to join Mike and swear a solemn allegiance only to the courses that possessed this magical combination of springy turf, heather and pine.
You might wonder why Sunningdale’s famous neighbour Wentworth is not included in the cluster. Well, the West course originally designed by Colt but subsequently transformed by Ernie Els and his design team to cater to the requirements of hosting the European Tour’s BMW PGA Championship, no longer exhibits the hallmarks of a quintessential heathland track.
Contrastingly, the courses we played have remained largely unchanged since they were first laid out by the legendary triumvirate of classic course architects between 1901 and 1928: Park Jr, Colt and Herbert Fowler. Indeed, the proliferation of pine trees at several of these clubs has prompted strategic thinning designed to restore some of the open, rolling vistas on the original layouts.
When you visit any of these five clubs you feel like you are stepping back in time, and I mean that in a good way. The very best parts of the game have been carefully preserved together with a serene ambience, but what was notable on our trip was the total absence of pretentiousness.
Positioning the heathland classics as a halfway house between parkland and links golf is probably as good a starting point as any, and the experience that most closely resembles the latter is to be found at Walton Heath Golf Club. Founded just two years after Sunningdale in 1903 and featuring two courses designed by Herbert Fowler, famed golf writer Bernard Darwin once said: “If there is something golfers want and do not get at Walton Heath, I do not know what it can be.” Sir Nick Faldo has called this the ‘finest, and most authentic’ of all the heathland courses, and it’s got a history to match.