If it’s charm that you are looking for, then you need look no further than West Hill Golf Club. This is a truly delightful golf course.
If it’s charm that you are looking for, then you need look no further than West Hill Golf Club. This is a truly delightful golf course.
4.5
West Hill is a course of natural beauty in the heart of the Surrey heathland. I have been lucky enough to play the course a couple of times and the feeling remains the same. This is a great course that uses the natural topography to make the most of a relatively small parcel of land. The routing is creative and creates a real variety throughout the course. The conditioning is excellent and while the heather features strongly throughout I feel that green complexes run firm and true even if they seem simpler than neighbouring Woking.
The first is an innocuous starting hole where you’ll want to take less than driver to ensure you’re short of the ditch, leaving you with a short iron in. The second is a challenging par 4 especially into the wind. You’ll need to get away a good drive and be mindful of the heather hugging the left hand side. The green is inviting and while it is large enough to offer options in its approach, the subtle green ensures that you’re likely to find a challenging putt.
I think the stretch of holes 3-8 are an example of excellent routing. Butchart navigates the natural elevation change to showcase a great variety of challenging but enjoyable holes.
The third is a long par four easing from right to left down the hill and will take a solid drive followed by a long second into a challenging green with water just short. The fourth is a solid test of a par 3 and while there is nothing particularly interesting about the hole, nothing short of a well executed long iron will do. Five demands a solid drive up the hill with what remains still unknown to the golfer. As you crest the hill, the rest of the gettable par 5 unveils itself. The hole offers you a choice, take on the green in 2 but a well struck wood might struggle to hold the green and bring the back bunker into play. Lay up and place a premium on precision. It’s a great par five and the playability for all players should be lauded.
Butchart, masterfully uses elevation change over the next 3 holes with the sixth starting with a blind tee shot up the hill before once more unveiling itself like the fifth. However, you’ll be greeted by a relatively short par four with run-offs to the left and trouble down the right. The seventh is a par 3 that can be taken on with a mid iron but with run-aways either side of an elevated green, accuracy is still key. This leads to the uphill eighth and one of the best holes on the course, in my opinion. Driver off the tee gives you short iron in to an elevated green but with bunkering protecting the front right half of the green, beware the short right pin. 3 wood or driving iron demands a longer approach and while many will have to play out the left for safety from the bunkers, it brings into play tree trouble. It’s a stretch of holes that marries strategy, nuisance and a variety of holes. It’s top drawer golf routing and architecture.
Ten is an excellent hole with a slight dog leg left. Get away a strong drive and you’ll be greeted with a long iron approach to a green 45 degrees on the angle. The visual is broken up by a set of fairway bunkers and trees that dissect the fairway. The green site pitches front to back and the back pin is difficult to access.
I feel the course loses itself a little through the middle of the course. Short par 4’s are often my favourite holes but the twelfth lacks the level of risk reward or the green complex that make them attractive. Nine and thirteen are relatively nondescript par 3’s and while the fourteenth can be considered a difficult par 4 it’s more a result of a house on property that cannot be moved. You are advised not to cut the dog leg and if you play driver out to the left, you can find yourself in rough. Play less than driver and you leave yourself a long iron into a difficult green complex. It’s something I know the club would love to address but do their best to navigate.
The fifteenth is well covered as an excellent par three and you are rewarded for taking on the pin. Miss and you’ll be challenged with a putt over a ridge through the centre line of the green. Sixteen and Seventeen are good holes that offer something to both the longer and shorter hitters. Sixteen green has a swale on the left side best avoided and short right offers and easier putt but brings green side bunkers into play. Heather creates a natural break in seventeenth where only the longest hitters will be able to make the carry. The shorter hitters will be forced into the three shot play. You’ll be mindful to take on the green from the left hand side but it’s well protected by shrewdly positioned bunker.
Eighteen is a fantastic finishing hole with visual intrigue throughout. Longer hitters will be concerned with the well placed centre line bunker. The second requires an equally well struck shot into a three tiered green which is the most interesting on the course and well well guarded by bunkers. The back pin brings in flirtation with OOB on the patio but a par here and you’ll be falling into a chair and enjoying a drink about five yards off the back of the green.
Although some might question the amount of blind tee shots early in the round, the fairways are more than generous and they are not concealing any hidden hazards. It provides a nice variety to play. Over the past year the club have brought in Tim Lobb & Partners to improve the bunkering. I think, in time, this will prove to be a shrewd decision by the club, as it felt lacking compared to the rest of the design features of the course.
It is an excellent course and I’ve always enjoyed a chance to play there. The course continues to improve conditioning and surrounds and i’m sure the subtle changes that they continue to make will be well received. It’s a club that merits the high regard with which it is held.
Kelham O'Hanlon
The latest ranking of the Top 100 Golf Courses in the World serves as the ultimate global golf bucket list. Most members of our World Top 100 Panel are seasoned golfers, each playing 20-30 of these courses annually while travelling extensively over decades to form their opinions on others. We recognise that opinions vary—even among our panel members. Rankings are subjective, and there are undoubtedly 50 or more courses in the UK and USA alone that could easily fit onto this list. Links Golf Pilgrimages The rankings
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Overall rating
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