Farnham Golf Club

The Sands is a charming village located around two miles to the east of Farnham in the Surrey Hills, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). In 1896, in this quiet rural English idyll, Farnham Golf Club was founded, and a 9-hole course was laid out on former farmland for the seventeen founding members.

Eight years later, in 1904, the reigning Open Champion Jack White (the then resident professional at Royal St George’s) extended the course to 18 holes, and the following year an exhibition match between White, James Braid, Harry Vardon and Vardon’s brother Tom pronounced the official opening.

Both World Wars took their toll on the club when sections of the course were turned over to food production. In fact, it was eight years after the Second World War before the course re-opened and a match between Peter Alliss and Bobby Locke marked the moment.

Affectionately known as “The Sands”, Farnham Golf Club has consistently flown under the radar, despite being regularly frequented by Gary Player. Measuring a respectable 6,613 yards from the medal tees, Farnham is a heathland cum parkland hybrid, which possibly accounts for its relative anonymity outside the local area. If the entire course occupied heathland it would be bracketed alongside many of Surrey’s household names.

The course starts and ends on the flatter, parkland ground, and the holes in between, on the opposite side of Binton Lane, are routed across the heathland where the ground movement is more stirring. The first of the heathland holes arrives at the 5th and although this is a relatively short par four on the card, the hole is a slight dogleg right uphill to a raised green. The mid-length, one-shot 6th is our pick of the quartet of par threes where finding the small green is tricky, but then reading the putt trickier still.

The last of the heathery holes arrives at #12 and it’s perhaps the best and probably the most scenic. The elevated tee affords panoramic views towards the Hog’s Back, where out of bound threatens ominously to the right on this delightful par four.

Farnham may not have the architectural provenance enjoyed by many of its higher ranked Surrey contemporaries, but it’s undeniably one of the better golf courses in England's strongest golfing county and it should be included on any aficionado’s must-play list.