West Sussex - Sussex - England

West Sussex deserves all the plaudits it gets. We played early November this year and the course was in fantastic condition given the harsh Winter/Summer combination we’ve had in the UK in the past year.

West Sussex is just packed to the rafters with memorable holes. I loved the early sequence of 3, 4, 5 and 6 - a tough par 4 littered with bunkers, a clever short dog leg left par 4 followed by two fantastic par 3’s.

The heather at West Sussex is not penal, rather hole-ending. Having played Swinley earlier this year I’m no stranger to heather but I felt that whilst at a Swinley it’s a lost shot, the heather at West Sussex was a little out of control in my opinion. Obviously this gives the course tremendous shape but did cause issues for our group having not played the course before.

All in all this is a well deserved world top 100 course. The club were incredibly welcoming and even allowed us to play on a Saturday - a rarity amongst top courses.

I could find only one previous review here by an American. When I pointed out to a member that West Sussex was not on many people’s radar in the States, his reply was quick: “Yes, and that’s fine with us.” This was not a xenophobic anti-American thought but rather an attempt to keep a splendid little secret to himself and his clubmates. The greatest strength of West Sussex is its tee shots. The best example is the 10th, a shortish par 4 that swings left around a menacing bunker complex. Bite off enough of the dogleg and a wedge to the green is your reward. Take the more conservative route and you’ll approach with a longer club. And time and again, the golfer stands on the tee pondering just where to position her/his tee ball. The line of charm is most always in evidence as one decides just how much risk to take to receive the best possible reward.

The routing is also quite ingenious. The property is long and narrow, but instead of a simple out and back configuration, holes run in a variety of directions, creating a variety of challenges when the wind blows. The greens here don’t match the rest of the course as too many are flat and featureless……..a small negative. And I found too many footprints in the bunkers, though I suspect that may be to keep the visitor population down. West Sussex was otherwise a delightful golf experience. It’s not much more than an hour’s drive from the great courses of Surrey and definitely worth the trip.

Well, we all like it shaved. Don’t we? The fashion these days is to strip away the superfluous bush and leave just the solid oak and juicy heather.

The last time I played here twenty years ago each hole was framed with gorse and shrub. Now, like so many courses there is a concerted program to clear the vista across the course from one horizon to the other. Breathe course, breathe.

I arrived to this quintessence of an English golfing Elysium on a Monday and took a light lunch in the club before assailing the first tee. All good thus far.

From the arts and crafts clubhouse, the course looks underwhelming for a top 100 in the world layout. A little flat, a little bit obvious. A deception majeur. However gentle the start maybe, it just keeps ratcheting up the challenge. This course keeps its powder dry until the back nine. If you don’t have a score by the 8th, then by the 18th you will be enjoying only the weather.

What is striking here is the contrast to the somewhat ubiquitous Harry Colt Heathland classic. This is a serious golf course. Harry lures you into fancying it, having a go. Here they ask, “think twice sir.” Do you have the necessary? There are plenty of gulps. You can bail, but you pay double with long shots in to well-guarded greens. This course asks you how much can you chew? How good are your approaches? There is interest and strategic decision making to be had on every hole. No two are remotely alike. The language is the same however. I love a course that presents all golfers with a challenge, whether they hit it 200 or 300 from the tee. Tick. So many courses have a pool of interest at a given yardage. Not here. The 17th was my favourite but only just.

Well routed, cherished and timeless. West Sussex will delight you. The largely flat ground is surprisingly, naturally contoured and undulating. The heather is typically unforgiving. each hole has interest from tee to green. You won’t be disappointed.

JCB LAY

West Sussex is truly a majestic place. There’s a real feeling of grandeur about this golf club and the scene is set on arrival with a beautiful clubhouse and wonderful practice facilities all set in a property on the edge the South Downs National Park.

The first three holes are played in a loop. Fooling you into a false sense of security, the opener is a short par 5. Only par 3s and 4s follow making a low score difficult despite the modest yardage shown on the scorecard. The bunkering here is absolutely faultless, from their positioning, to the sand they use, the way they’re shaped, their appearance and general playing condition, West Sussex has some of the best bunkering I’ve seen on a UK inland course.

The set of par 3s are a real highlight with all of them except for the short 15th presenting strong challenges to make par, two of them measuring in excess of 220 yards. Holes 5 through 8 unusually sees you play three par 3s in the space of four holes, interspersed with the only truly blind drive that comes on the par four 7th. I played my best shot of the day on the downhill 226 yard 6th so I probably didn’t get the full “experience” of that hole, but I’d expect that most members here have memories of real disasters as you play across a pond with cabbage to the left, a high heather clad bank flanking one side of the green and bunkers to the right to capture any golfer who decides to bail out.

The back nine comes with four tremendous dogleg-right par 4s, starting at the 11th. The 13th is like a mini-Augusta and where the bunkering around the green is at its beautiful best. Playing in August, the heather was offering a severe punishment, and it was relentless around this area of the course. The heather lies just off the fairways, so whilst the fairways themselves are reasonably roomy, miss them by fractions and you can easily end up with a lost ball.

The last three holes of West Sussex were particularly memorable, it’s a course that keeps getting better and better the deeper you go into your round. The 16th was probably my favourite hole of the whole layout with two heather covered mounds placed left and right in front of the green, just behind a deep valley at the end of the fairway and a wickedly shaped green.

The course conditioning around West Sussex is top notch and I loved the subtle run-off areas that were a characteristic around most of the greens. I defy anyone not to enjoy their day’s golf here, it’s a classy club. Ranked amongst the top 20 in England means that it's rated amongst weighty company. I find it near impossible to compare inland and links courses, but if I was to consider my favourite inland layouts in the UK, West Sussex would certainly be part of that discussion.

Before I even begin to tell you how good this golf course is I want to let you know just how perfect the entire set-up at West Sussex is.

If I can arrive in a car park, enter the clubhouse, have breakfast (from one of the most extensive morning menus I’ve seen), read the newspaper, register for a competition, visit the locker-room, nip into the pro-shop, stroke a few balls on the practice putting green, clip a couple of balls onto a chipping area, fire a handful of drives away on the range, wander to the first tee and do all of that having walked less than 100 paces then there’s a very good chance I’m going to write nice things about your golf club.

You could throw a blanket over all of this at West Sussex but importantly everything is exactly where you would expect to discover them and also in the order you would hope to find it all. I’ve lost count of how many venues I’ve visited that have irritated me before I’ve even reached the first tee because of a ridiculous layout. I’ve circled clubhouses on arrival trying to gain access to the building and once inside opened doors that I’d expect to lead into a lounge only to be confronted with the cleaner’s cupboard. I've circled woodland trying to locate a practice ground and doubled back on myself umpteen times in order do everything you need to do before you even strike a ball. West Sussex has it down to a tee. Rant over.

The golf course is no less perfect. West Sussex, on the edge of the South Downs, is quite simply a wonderful place and a magnificent location to golf. The flow of this private members course is exceptional and very few can match it from a visual perspective either.

Popularly known as Pulborough it was officially opened in 1931 having been designed by two outstanding golf architects, Guy Campbell and Cecil Hutchison although very recently Stafford Hotchkin has also been attributed to West Sussex. These men are acknowledged to have created one of the most natural and aesthetically pleasing golf courses in England. I can’t disagree.

West Sussex is close enough to the famed courses on the Surrey/Berkshire sandbelt to be compared favourably to them but detached enough for it not to be lost in the crowd. It has its own identity, one that I very much like.

Ed is the founder of Golf Empire – click the link to read his full review.

This course blew me away! It’s one world-beater hole after hole. My playing companion hadn’t played the course in about five years, and the two of us quickly concluded that this gem south of London could very well appear on a World 100 list.

Don’t come here expecting 7,000+ yards of challenge, but come here to witness a beautiful golf course on an outstanding piece of rolling land. The holes couldn’t be better placed each being a magnificent work of art. Campbell/Hutchison routed the holes superbly across valleys and ravines towards often jaw-dropping green-sites.

The seclusion and slow pace of the club is truly wonderful and I would place this course in the Top 12 in all of England, which in itself, is a testament to how fabulous this course is. You have to see it to believe it – and after playing Pulborough, you’ll remember the course for life. It’s yet another example of a club which goes under the radar, but those who break away from playing the usual suspects around London, will unearth a course which could be the best you’ll play all year.

Beautiful golf course, which in my view, as a guide is a touch better the 3Ws and they are seriously good courses. The par of 68 is tough with just the one par 5. As a consequence, naturally, there is less variety to the course – is there room to maybe convert a couple of par 4s into 5s ? Maybe the 11th, although the other holes that are closest to a par 5 length are magnificent holes. Standout holes 3, 4, 5, 7 (wow), 13, 14 & 16. The finishing 2 holes are as good a pair as I have played (85 of top 100).

This course is astonishing. I am a member of Walton Heath and am somewhat fussy with other courses whilst playing away matches for the club, but certainly not this one! I played two matches here last summer and played it again a fortnight ago, and was amazed by the standard of the course. Especially two weeks ago after the huge amounts of rain there has been over the winter, even if the weather was perfect when we played. Although the course gets off to a boring start with a straight forward and short par 5, there is an excellent stretch of par 4's that easily make up for it, most of all the fourth- a 90 degree dog leg left over a huge bunker with the back fairway and the green sheltered by towering trees. But my favourite hole on the course was easily the 6th- a long, picturesque and breathtaking par 3 over a small lake. Deep bunkers on the right and a heather-covered mound to the right means that with such a view you will want to be waiting on the tee for once- no matter how long for. Through the mid-section of the course there are some extremely challenging par 4's including the 441-yard 7th and the 458-yard 11th. The end to the course is easily as impressive as the rest, the 13th and 14th are fantastic par 4's and the 15th is a grand-looking short par 3, with 3 difficult par 4's to finish. But don't worry because when your round has finished you will want to stay to eat with the fantastic food and first-class service the club has to offer, with outside seating giving great views of the course. To play at West Sussex you will have to 'splash out' but once you have played and eaten you will soon have realised it was thoroughly worth it

Played here on 13 11 2012. Overall course condition was very good. Sward on the greens excellent. Bunkers kept beautifully.Easily the equal of any other heathland course in the country.Pro shop helpful bar staff efficient. We had a great day.

On Wednesday the 13th of June I had the honor of playing West Sussex together with a member who is an accomplished golf course architect. The round was quite special for me considering it was my first ever round of golf in England, first of many, of course. Why, you might ask, especially if you are English, I don’t really have a valid answer, just for some reason I always thought I’d save England for last, living in The Netherlands because it was so close by.

One of the things I loved about the set up of West Sussex upon arrival was the fact that the clubhouse, driving range and warm up facility was just right there. The clubhouse was quaint and understated for an old private club and fit perfect into the setting.

I found it interesting that the course had been set up as a two-ball course but understand that often the members also play foursomes matches. My initial instinct was to think the course was really quite short and would therefore be quite easy and require a bit more target golf. However, quickly I came to realize that while it certainly required hitting the right targets, with a par of 68 the course was anything but a pushover. We were lucky to catch the course on a perfectly sunny day but with a nice breeze in the opposite of the prevailing direction.

The course starts rather gently with a short par 5, however, that quickly became my should of , would of, could of hole for the rest of the round as it’s perhaps the only real “easy” scoring opportunity and the ONLY par 5. I failed to score on it after hitting two 3 woods pin high.

To the naked the eye the holes seem very wide and spacious until you start taking away space covered by heather and bunkers which is certainly a beautiful site but a bit less fun to try and play out of. I didn’t end up in the heather too much and was fairly fortunate when I did but I’m use to hacking the ball out of the rough at my home club de Noordwijkse. I guess if you are hacking the ball back to the fairway it’s really all the same. The heather served it’s purpose.

This will sound strange to most and familiar to some but I always face this challenge of being an American (although having spent 20 years in Europe and learned to golf here) who plays golf each week in meters and then attempts to go play in the UK or US in yards and ends up with all distances being wrong. Sure I know it’s a 10% difference in favor of meters but how come my 7 iron that goes 150 meters only seems to manage 50 yards? This was hugely challenging for me at West Sussex, I calculated the distance over and over and kept coming up short all the time. I think that’s something you have to get use to on a particular course and it wasn’t until well into the back 9 I was getting the hang of it on this day.

Notable on the front 9 is the fact that there are three par 3’s and only one par 5. The par 3 5th is a shortish 158 yd par 3 requiring a well struck tee shot. The green being guarded by 4 bunkers in front and on the left side. The 6th is a tough long par 3 of 226 yds with a carry over water with heather to the left of the green. The right side has a bit of a bail out but to well placed bunkers to catch errand tee shots. The chip from the right as I learned is also rather tricky with a steep slope to maneuver and the added challenge that I’d short-sided myself on the day in question. The 8th was another example of a testing par 3, at 185 yds and playing almost straight into the wind, slightly uphill with bunkers protecting the left and right side front. Walking off this hole with par felt like an accomplishment on that day.

The rest of holes were par 4’s, I wouldn’t say any of them were easy although I believe I only hit one driver from the back tees. My playing companion hit a nice little draw on every hole and I’d have to say most of the holes on the front 9 seem to favor a draw. Certainly 3,4, 7 and 9. 1 and 2 can go either way although on 2 I was hitting a light fade into a right to left cross-wind which is not ideal on a fairly long par 4. It worked. The 7th was playing really tough at 441 yds with a blind tee shot and straight into the wind. We played this as a par 5 and both walked off with par.

The back 9 started with another draw hole, I faded my driver instead but ended up with a very playable lie all be it longer approach. The par 4 11th really set up perfectly for me so it was a shame to watch my drive carry 247 of the 249 yds required to carry the 2nd bunker leaving me with a lay up instead of a very short iron in. The green is protected by a large bunker on the right side so requires a middle to left of the green shot to be safe.

The 12th is another challenging short hole at 227 yds. Since you don’t want to miss right due to heather and bunkers, I thought I’d play right to test this theory. Confirmed, keep your tee shots left. 13 was a short par 4, although it was playing straight into the wind so it served up quite a challenge but that did make the long (433 yds) and tricky 14th which set up well for my fade a lot easier to handle. 15 was a beautiful little short hole of 145 yds over water to a two tiered green which fell off to the front and right sides.

16,17 and 18 present a great and challenging finish to a course full of par 4’s. 16 had a blind tee shot with a hit or miss second over a bit of a hollow for lack of a better word. 17 was a long par 4 of 440 yds that set up for a slight fade, even wind helping it was a challenge to get home in two while avoiding both the fairway bunkers to the right as well as the greenside bunkers protecting the right side. 18 was another challenging hole playing straight into the wind at 414 yds. The tees shot as well as the approach needed to be carefully placed do to the bunkers.

A couple points I think are worthy to mention. Several holes reminded me of holes that I could of encountered on the famous sandbelt courses of Melbourne. I noticed that West Sussex seemed to be experimenting with some different bunkering shapes in terms of having some clean cut more modern bunkers with sharply cut edges which remind me far more of American courses mixed in with the classical more natural bunker forms. Personally I would strongly encourage the course to maintain the classic bunker shapes that aesthetically blend into the course and add to the charm. It would be a shame to “litter” the course with these American style bunkers and greatly take away from the beauty and history of West Sussex. If you ever have the chance to go play this gem by all means do. It’s well worth the trip. I certainly look forward to having another go at it one day.