There seems to be scarcely room to swing a golf club in London, let alone enjoy the luxury of an 18-hole golf course, but there are one or two decent places scattered around the capital. Head outside to the Home Counties though and you will be spoilt for choice with Surrey and Hertfordshire home to numerous fine clubs.
Selsdon Park (Surrey)
Designed in 1929 by John Henry Taylor, one of golf’s leading pioneers, Selsdon Park Golf Club is in the grounds of a neo-Jacobean hotel often frequented by professional footballers winding down prior to a big final at Wembley. It is a tranquil, sloping parkland course dotted with majestic trees, including silver birch, oak, sycamore and beech. It is a well-maintained course designed for accuracy rather than hard driving, with plenty of bunkers lying in wait but not much in the way of water hazards. Your aim is tested to the limit by the course’s signature 18th hole. Although visitors are welcome you will need to book in advance and to have a handicap. Green fees are around the £35 to £50 mark.
Brocket Hall (Hertfordshire)
Grade-I listed Brocket Hall, perched on Broadwater Lake and the setting for numerous film and TV scenes, is also home to a well-regarded golf club. While technically a members-only club, there is limited access for visitors. There are two championship courses in the grounds: Donald Steel’s Palmerston parkland course, lined with pines and ancient oaks, and the 1992 Melbourne course created by Ryder Cup duo Peter Alliss and Clive Clark. The Melbourne course crosses the River Lea in several places and there is even a novel ferry trip to reach the 18th hole. The picturesque Watershyppes Clubhouse and Restaurant offer fine, local food; refreshing drinks and superb changing facilities. Advance booking is essential with green fees ranging from £135 to £150, although guests of existing members can play for £50.
PlayGolf London – Northwick Park (North London)
It may provide a radical departure from convention, but PlayGolf London at Northwick Park has proved to be irresistible, voted the number one nine-hole golf course in the UK. PlayGolf London relax many of the stuffy rules that exist at traditional clubs and require no handicap, focusing on enjoyment by creating holes that are inspired by famous holes on the professional circuit. For example, hole four is described as a tribute to the ninth hole at the Belfry complete with green-side lake and a nearby waterfall designed to evoke Spain’s Valderrama Golf Club. The Open and Masters are also represented and the faithful replicas attrract the professionals as they warm-up for the real thing. There is also mini-golf and batting cages on offer.
Wentworth Club (Surrey)
Wentworth Club includes three courses including the most televised course in the UK (the Harry Colt designed West course), though only the PGA Masters is held there today (won by Rory McIlroy in May). It was also the scene of the USA’s narrow victory in the 1953 Ryder Cup. Wentworth West is a course of bunkers, trees and wickedly hidden greens which has been modified and added to many times in its long history. It even boasts underground bunkers (and not the sandy kind) after it was comandeered by the military. Green fees for visitors are, not surprisingly, very high at almost £300 with advance booking required. The 18th hole is notoriously tricky following its redesign.
The Grove (Hertfordshire)
The Grove is the Gleneagles of London, a picturesque 5-star resort on land once held by the Earls of Clarendon. Designer Kyle Phillips ensured that golfers could enjoy a taste of everything with a combination of water hazards, bunkers, deceptively undulating fairways and challenging doglegs. The greens are big and square and the fairways long although overconfidence is often met with a ball deeply embedded in the rough. Green fees at The Grove are £145 (£180 from Thursday to Saturday).
The Shire London (Hertfordshire)
In 2007, Spanish golfing star Seve Ballesteros designed two courses at the Shire, a Masters and Challenge course. The Masters course blends three distinct styles of park, the traditional gorse and fescue of links golf, the trees and lush greenery of parkland golf and the water-heavy courses favoured by the Americans. The course culminates in a Par-four 18th with a large s-shaped lake in the middle (S for Seve of course!)
The prices are a budget-friendly £50 to £65 and you will need to book in advance.
Finchley Golf Club (North London)
One of the rare quality golf courses within the Greater London boundary, Finchley golf club is a compact oasis of leisure among the expanding force of urban London. Woods may have gradually given way to houses and tube stations (there’s one behind the 15th), but Finchley golf course is still a pleasant venue characterised by tight fairways and fast-sloping greens. Many golf courses have their own ‘signature holes’, and Finchley’s is the Par-3 12th. Handicap’s are required, but if you measure up you can enjoy a round for as little as £35 to £50.
Walton Heath (Surrey)
When golf moved inland, the traditional links courses became greener with trees and grass replacing gorse and heather as parkland golf became established. Those who bemoan the loss of open fairways will be pleased to find that Walton Heath has managed to preserve that original inland golf concept. There are two 18-hole courses at Walton Heath, both designed by Herbert Fowler, with deep heather and tangled gorse bordering tight fairways and some holes bisected by roads. Edward VIII was captain of Walton Heath Golf Club when he was made king, making him the first monarch to also be captain of a golf club. In more recent times, Walton Heath hosted one of the most painful Ryder Cups (from an European perspective), with the US drubbing their rivals in the infamous 1981 whitewash. Green fees are from £135 to £165 and visitors are allowed after 9.30am weekdays and after 12pm on weekends. A handicap is required as is advance booking.
