Some courses have natural advantages, firm ground and elevation being two that characterise a number of downland courses, both on the North and South Downs to the south of London. Effingham has a further advantage - that of space. Thus, particularly on the front nine, each hole is played in significant isolation.

Thankfully that space has not been compromised by a course management choosing to narrow playing corridors by planting trees. Yes, there are trees, but, for the most part, these act as a backdrop to each hole rather than framing each one. The course management has also remembered that wispy grass interspersed by downland flowers is a now a rare habitat and should be preserved. Much of that preservation is to the side of the fairway on for example both sides of the second, on the left of the fifth and much of the way down both sides of the seventeenth.

The room also allows the many greens to be surrounded, not by trees and shrubs, but by decent sized, tightly mown roll-off areas. Miss the green, have a longer shot back, but one to offer a putt, a chip and run and lob wedge as an option. If I had one, conditioning style criticism in late July 2025 it would be that the greens felt a little two-paced. There's clearly work going on with grass types; it's not quite the finished product. And finally the course was well-bunkered, something particularly noticeable on the 9th, where the best line was to go left of four fairway bunkers, and the safest line was to stay short and right of them.

Overall I'd highly recommend playing at Effingham. Downland courses are rather out of fashion at the moment, but Effingham and the not too far away Cuddington offer players a chance to play good examples which have judiciously removed trees, used the newly created rough to retain challenges and made the course more playable throughout the year.