Royal Automobile Club (Old Course)

It’s classically British at Woodcote Park at the exclusive Royal Automobile Club. Herbert Fowler originally designed the RAC's Old golf course and it offers a lovely parkland challenge in the heart of Surrey.

The RAC club should complete a five-year master plan in 2021, spearheaded by Mackenzie & Ebert, aimed at restoring the Old course and the shorter Coronation course to their original Herbert Fowler heritage.

The restoration of the Old course, which dates back to 1913, has now completed and this Golden Age classic should rise higher in our future Surrey Best In County rankings.

Mackenzie & Ebert commented as follows:

"The Old Course has been the focus of all the work so far with the Club stating a clear aim - to commit to a bunker refurbishment programme that will form part of a larger restoration project. A historic review of the course showed many features which were from the original Herbert Fowler layout. Almost every green and two thirds of the bunkers remained in the same position. A promotional pamphlet from 1915, when the course was opened, made it clear that it was designed on a grand scale with large golfing features and big vistas.

With many bunkers remaining in the same position, it was apparent that many were not relevant to the best players and were only succeeding in making the game harder for the shorter hitters. In October 2015 work began on the reshuffling of the bunker pack as well as the removal of a number of trees to help the course return to its Downland character.

The final change to be made to the course was the rebuilding of the par 3 13th, a short hole that had become much smaller over time. This took place in the winter of 2016/17."