Horsley Lodge

The course at the family-owned Horsley Lodge Golf Club was laid out in the late 1980s by Bill White, the long-term professional at Coxmoor who retired from his position at the club in 1982, aged 72. Water features prominently in the design, with a couple of brooks damned during construction to create attractive water features.

Peter McEvoy was brought in a decade later to oversee a remodel that concentrated on rebuilding the greens to USGA specifications but he also re-contoured a couple of fairways, changed a few fairway bunkers and put in some new tees. Craig Cooke, who’d recently worked at Valderrama and Loch Lomond, did the shaping to produce a fine new set of greens.

Holes are arranged around a generous 164-acre property in two large, returning loops of nine, extending to 6,544 yards from the back tees. Feature holes include the sand and water-protected 4th (“Rykneld Street”) in the northeast corner of the estate and the risk/reward short par four 15th (“Bill’s Revenge”) which offers a late birdie opportunity for big hitters.