Walton Heath Golf Club

I had the privilege to play this absolutely amazing course.

Thank to the very kind people at the pro shop.

Hope to play again.

I play my golf at Clandon G.C. and when I get invited to Walton Heath I feel I'm playing probably the best course(old course) you could wish to play on.

Na o.a. Liphook, Hindhead, Blackmoor en Hankley Common zou deze baan het hoogtepunt en afsluiting van onze golfweek moeten worden. Qua greenfee was het zeker het hoogtepunt, maar de baan viel ons toch tegen in vergelijking met de hiervoor genoemde banen. Geen enkele hole beklijft, het is wat variatie in lengte en bebunkering (de ouderwetse bunkers zijn wel bijzonder), maar ook vanwege de weinige ondulatie en weinig variatie in omgeving, zijn er geen echte stand-out holes waar je nog tijden enthousiast over kan zijn. Wel zijn er naar mijn mening middelmatige holes. Zo is de eerste hole van de New course weinig inspirerend, erg kort en wijd, wellicht bedoeld als makkelijke opening hole, maar deze hole zou niet misstaan op de gemiddelde Nederlandse polderbaan.

Het is vooral de geschiedenis van de baan en zijn bespelers die de baan beroemd hebben gemaakt, maar als je daar niet gevoelig voor bent zijn er naar mijn mening betere banen voor veel minder geld in de omgeving te vinden.

Over de ontvangst en het onderhoud verder geen enkele klacht, dat was perfect.

Played in December in a drizzle but the layout is very testing, you can see why they have US Open qualifiers here. Any thing off the fairway in winter conditions is at least half a shot penalty. A wide variety of holes with no weaknesses, and in great condition. A very traditional club house which is immaculate and a very warm welcome from the staff.

Walton Heath Golf Club is one of the premier heathland tracks in the south of London and rich in history. King Edward VIII was once the club captain. Winston Churchill used to be a member. And the 5 time Open Championship winner James Braid was the club professional until his death in 1950 (make sure to also visit the James Braid exhibition right next to the proshop when you are there). The club has also hosted the Ryder Cup in 1981. The club has two 18 hole courses to choose from (New and Old Course) and both are of high quality. The Old Course is consistently ranked in the top 100 golf courses in the world in most major golf magazines and I was lucky enough to play it on a mild December winter day.

The Old Course starts with a rather dull and long par 3. The hole used to be a par 4 back in the day but as the crossing street to the club got busier they had to shorten the hole and make it a par 3. After playing the first hole you need to cross another road to get to the main property of the club where the remaining 35 holes of the club are laid out. The 2nd hole is then a tough 458 yards par 4 from the medal tees with an uphill approach into the green. My favourite hole on the front 9 is the par 4 5th hole. The hole plays a little downhill. There is a well placed front bunker short of the green which makes a running approach into this green very tricky. Most of the holes on the front 9 are running clockwise along the property boarder and overall I found the front 9 harder than the back 9.

Once you reached the par 3 11th hole the course turns more into the middle part of the property and that's my favourite part of the course. The 14th is a beautiful downhill par 5 framed by heather left and right and you have great long views across both golf courses. My favourite hole on the back 9 is the par 5 16th hole. The fairway is sloped to the left which makes your tee shot hard as the best chance to attack the green in two is from the right side of the fairway. The green is guarded by a monstrous bunker on the right and I was pleased that my ball didn't end in there and I could pick up a birdie on the hole.

Overall Walton Heath is probably the closest of an inland links course I have seen so far. Even in December the course didn't play soft. It's a classic golf course but still a tough test of golf. I really liked the unique unnatural mounds found on several holes on the course. They work at Walton Heath.

And lastly: make sure to stay out of the heather. It's beautiful to look at but very hard to get out of. And at Walton Heath the heather just felt a bit more severe than on other heathland tracks I played in the area.