Category Archives: Course Reviews

Architect: Alister MacKenzie What are the craziest greens you’ve played on? I have rolled the white ball across some quirky surfaces in my time … Woking, Deal and Sandwich spring to mind. But none compare to the theatrics we suffered on that Sunday. ‘Suffered’ may have negative connotations, but we’re used to this. Golf isContinue reading “#89 Hadley Wood”

Architect: Harry Colt I am incredibly fortunate to live in a location where, despite the amount of golf I play, there are still some local courses that have evaded me. Surrey is arguably the golfing epicentre of the country and shares county borders with Berkshire, Hampshire, Sussex and Kent – each one having impeccable golfingContinue reading “#71 Blackmoor”

Architect: Herbert Fowler I recently wrote the following of The New Course as part of the Surrey County rankings: Intertwined with The Old and only marginally less entertaining. If it wasn’t for the plethora of neighbouring class, this would be up there with its brother. Truer words have never been spoken, if I do sayContinue reading “#43 Walton Heath (New)”

Architect: George Lowe & James Braid Golf is more than just hitting a little white ball across grass. Sometimes it throws up experiences that you value for the rest of your days. Southport & Ainsdale played host to such an event. People are often at the source of said experiences, and this day we encounteredContinue reading “#44 Southport & Ainsdale”

Architect: Herbert Fowler A pot of Earl Grey, sipped out of club china. Eyes fixed on the quartet of holes displayed before us. Unremitting land movement, drawing one’s eyes to the horizon – greens glistening in the morning light with swathes of tight turf hugging each and every undulation. Delamere Forest presents a golf experienceContinue reading “#58 Delamere Forest”

Architects: Jonathan Gaunt & Jon Jacobs I often find that new courses struggle to blend into their surroundings. Aesthetics collide and the design is far from organic. The site at Remedy Oak forced Gaunt & Jacobs to be considerate and compassionate with their composition. With woodland over 100 years old, an empathetic touch was obligatory.Continue reading “#100 Remedy Oak”

Architect: Herbert Fowler It has been a very busy end to the summer. September and October brought blue skies, 20-degree sun-drenched afternoons and thus the season for shorts was elongated. Business was good, but this meant it was a little trickier to get out on those fairways myself, in conjunction with daylight deciding to playContinue reading “#12 Walton Heath (Old)”

Architects: Guy Campbell, C. K. Hutchison, S. V. Hotchkin It had been 11 years since I first visited West Sussex. I was a schoolboy – wide-eyed and not yet the golfing and course architecture lover I am today. What’s more, my previous visit was a foursomes event – never the ideal scenario to fully immerseContinue reading “#16 West Sussex”

Architect: Willie Park Jr Ah, Willie Park Jr … Undulations and historic landscapes. Mature trees funnel you along cascading fairways, past purple fringed sand traps to large, tiered and welcoming greens. Stoneham is a sleeping giant. Many other rankings place Stoneham higher than that of the 2019 Golf World List (my list). Quite rightly so.Continue reading “#72 Stoneham”

Architect: Martin Hawtree You’d think a course only 26 years old would scream juvenility. That it may be obtuse and shows a lack of discretion. Bearwood Lakes flows through 11th century hunting grounds, often graced by English nobility, and it is only now that the manicured cut grass bleeds seamlessly in amongst the towering pines,Continue reading “#81 Bearwood Lakes”