The Berkshire Golf Club

Wat een geweldige traditionele heide/bosbaan. In een werkelijk prachtige omgeving liggen fantastische holes. Het grondgebied behoort tot de kroondomeinen en wordt nog steeds bewaakt door de kroon. De 2 gelijkwaardige 18 holes banen werden door de beroemde Herbert Fowler in 1928 aangelegd. Tom Simpson reviseerde de baan. We speelden de Blue Course met een start bijna vanaf het terras over een heidedal naar een hoge green: 217 yards! Wat een begin met alle ogen vanaf het terras op je gericht. Hier kom ik volgend jaar zeker terug om de Red course (6 par 3's,6 par 4's en 6 par 5's!) te spelen. Greenfee is niet goedkoop 155 pond, maar het is het dubbel en dwars waard. Ik heb geen slechte hole kunnen ontdekken.

Review of the red course:

I didn't know much about The Berkshire to be honest. Perhaps because it's surrounded by some of the most famous courses in the world. Some school friends (Ed Brogan & Mike Holgate) invited Chips & Wedges down for a match. With Wedges on the sidelines I drafted in Turkey as my partner.

When you pull up to the secure gates you get a good idea of what is about to come. They obviously heard that someone slashed Chips & Wedges tyres in the Sunningdale car park and beefed up security. This is a seriously classy place. The type of place where you hide your car in the far end of the car park.

Laid out by Herbert Fowler (of Walton Heath & Cruden Bay) in 1928, it has hosted many amateur events over the years. The Berkshire is the youngest of the big three clubs, built 17 years after Sunningdale and 4 years after Wentworth.

Casually asking for a Diet Coke and a bag of tees I was informed that the tees were complimentary. We've all done it, like a Fijian grasping a rugby ball I went for it. Turning on a sixpence, I stumbled out of the pro shop leaking tees in the style of Andy Dufresne in the Shawshank yard. At this moment Turkey walked in and enquired 'how much for 25 range balls please? '... 'they're free Sir'... 'oh right, i'll have 100 then please. ' What a pair we make. Perhaps we should have studied as hard as Mr Brogan at school.

The group immediately in front were wearing some naughty clobber. The rules have recently been relaxed, you can wear short white socks with shorts now. Not sure why these chaps didn't opt for that on the hottest day of the year!

The 1st is a downhill par 5. A ridiculously tempting drive. A pushed drive into the heather was a bruising start. At this time of year it is in full bloom and therefore SW only to get out. Chips & Turkey were a combined 8 over after 1! Shocker.

Birdie on the short par 3 back up the hill settled the nerves. A great hole with a tucked away flag and large green. As the course opens up the undulations begin to reveal just how special this place is. In a style the late great Seve adopted into his course design, there are 6 of each par (3,4,5). We were so lucky to be invited in August. The heather at this time of year is the naturing occurring gloss on a British masterpiece. Although do not be deceived, the mesmeric nature of the landscape will have the Sunday hacker turning purple for all the wrong reasons.

After a reachable par 5 you are faced with the toughest hole on the course. A relatively forgiving par 3 precedes the par 4 6th, rated as one of the best 500 holes in the world.

9 is a reachable par 5 which reminds me a lot of the 17th on The West course at Wentworth.

The back nine offers up a breathtaking mixture of elevated tee shots and steep uphill approaches. There are scoring holes, but the bunkers and heather mean you have to be arrow straight to score. A particular highlight was watching Mr Brogan hit a gentleman's persuader (think Mickelson's 2 wood) followed by a 7 iron out of the heather to the par 5 14th.

Back to the match, Bernard Matthews hit a driver on 16 to 15 ft and followed up with a 4 putt! The greens are true but pacey. He immediately redeemed himself with a winning par on the brutal par 5 17th.

There's little to fault on this 1st class track. Even the halfway hut give you the cricket score. The members need to play off 14 which also means you will find some decent balls to add to your collection. On that note, I was playing with the VICE Pro ball for this first time. Definitely worth a try if you are looking for something soft that will not blow the budget.

The Berkshire Red course is a golfing dream. The whole experience is right up there. We've heard the lunch is legendary - a great excuse for us to come back and try out the blue course!

I don't have a golf membership as I don't play often enough, but if I ever decided to, and they would have me, The Berkshire would be a club I would love to join.

A traditional English members club, but a very friendly welcome, with no snobbishness towards visitors. The course was in immaculate condition, and would be a test for any player, and probably too tough for a high handicapper.

The pace of play was very respectable, at 3hrs40m for a 3-ball, and afterwards we were treated very well in the clubhouse, where the food on offer was excellent.

A full day of golf (and lunch) at The Berkshire is one of life’s little luxuries and definitely worth saving up for.

Here you will find 36 holes of excellent heathland golf that is played over some wonderful land with many memorable holes amongst a tranquil and secluded setting.

As I said earlier I much prefer the Red course but there’s no denying you have 36 holes of high quality heathland golf. However, if you could cherry pick the best 18 holes from across the property you would have a truly world-class course… but I’m inclined to think the way it is works just perfectly.

Two rounds of golf at The Berkshire is certainly one of the finer things in golf. It doesn’t quite match the sparkle of a day at Sunningdale but it’s not too far behind.

Absolute aanrader.

Op een dag zowel rood (de beste van de twee) en blauw gespeeld.

Veel hoger gelegen greens maken het spelen op deze baan een uitdaging.

Een aantal zeer fraaie imponerende par 3 holes.

de 10e van rood en de eerste van blauw..