Puttenham Golf Club

The village of Puttenham lies between Guildford and Farnham in the Vale of Holmesdale, just off the A31 road that runs along the spine of a hilly ridge named the Hog’s Back. The golf club is located on rolling terrain to the west of the village, within a lovely wooded area on Puttenham Heath.

It’s one of the oldest clubs in Surrey, founded in 1894 by a group of Army Officers, Charterhouse School Masters and local businessmen. Major Howard Fairtlough, the founding Captain, and professional Albert Howlett laid out the original 9-hole course which stretched to just over 2,400 yards.

This course remained in play until 1939, when another nine holes were added. This extended layout then served the club well for another fifty years, until Donald Steel was hired in the late 1980s to revise the course and fashion five new holes inside a newly-acquired 45-acre tract known locally as Monk Grove Copse.

Puttenham’s not a particularly long course at 6,220 yards from the back tees, with fairways laid out on a pleasantly undulating landscape. It can also be tight in places as trees have matured and spread out down the years. Bunkering is light so there are only around a dozen sand traps on either nine.

Notable holes on the front nine include the 497-yard right doglegged 7th, requiring a testing tee shot over heather and the 319-yard 9th, which swings down and right to a two-tiered green.

Highlight holes on the back nine include the 443-yard 10th, the first of the new holes where the fairway sweeps left and down to the green; the 356-yard 16th, veering right and up to the putting surface; and the 176-yard 18th, the final short hole on the card which plays slightly downhill to a large, sand-protected home green.