Top 40 Golf Courses in Surrey 2015
Surrey Best in County rankings updated
One of seven Home Counties surrounding London, Surrey is estimated to have the best economic rating (highest GDP per capita) of any county in England. Armed with that impressive statistic, it’ll come as no surprise to learn that Surrey is reckoned to have the highest proportion of millionaires in the UK living within its boundaries.
In such an affluent region, it seems only appropriate that Surrey should also be home to a significantly high percentage of prestigious, world class golfing establishments and this is certainly the case when you closely examine the Top 40 chart that we maintain for the county.
Each and every one of the county’s top twenty courses currently reside within the Top 100 for England, with thirteen of those layouts also occupying positions in our Great Britain & Ireland Top 100. Indeed, at the very top of the tree, the four highest ranked tracks in Surrey all sit inside our World Top 100 rankings, indicating the level of golfing excellence in this region.
At number 1 and 2 in the listings, we have the Old course and New course at Sunningdale where, as a combination, these layouts represent the finest 36 holes of golf on a single property in all of the British Isles. As one recent reviewer advises, “If you haven’t played here yet then do yourself a favour and treat yourself to a day here, fairly pricey but you won’t regret it.”
Rising one position to number 3, the Red and Blue nines at St George’s Hill constitute what can only be described as a Harry Colt masterpiece. The fairways on both 9-hole circuits are laid out on the canvas of a heaving heathland landscape, with each nine returning to an imposing clubhouse that looms benevolently over the property.
Swapping places with St George’s Hill, the Old course at Walton Heath drops down one place to number 4. A classic Herbert Fowler design, the heather-flanked fairways of the Old course invariably play firm and fast, allowing golfers to enjoy its links-like conditioning all year round. It’d hard to believe that James Braid was the club’s professional for almost half a century, a feat that will take some beating.
The only other significant upward movement in the top half of the revised Surrey rankings involves Woking (up three to 8) which Bernard Darwin, a member for more than sixty years, spoke about as one of London’s “stars of sand and heather” and Hindhead (up two to 12), where the club has recently completed an impressive bunker upgrading programme.
In the bottom half of the chart, a handful of courses make noteworthy moves in the right direction: the Willie Park-designed Old course at Burhill (up eleven to 23), the 18-hole Longcross layout at Foxhills (up nine to 24), the fabulous 9-holer at Reigate Heath (up thirteen to 27), the old J.H. Taylor track at Addington Palace (up eight to 29), and the Old course at the Royal Automobile Club (up six to 32).
Half a dozen tracks make their debut in the lower reaches of the revised county listings: the Outer course at Royal Mid-Surrey (number 33), the old Tom Dunn-designed 18-holes at Richmond (number 34), Cuthbert Butchart’s West Byfleet (number 35), the James Braid redesign of Barnstead Downs (number 36), Simon Gidman’s New course at Burhill (number 37), and Bramley, another Braid redesign from 1935 (number 38).
We’re grateful to everybody in the county who helped with our re-ranking process for Surrey. To view details of all the courses in our Surrey Top 40 rankings click the link. If you have extensive experience of playing across the south east region of England and would like to contribute to our next re-ranking exercise then please email Editor-in-Chief Keith Baxter at keith@top100golfcourses.com.
Jim McCann
Editor
Top 100 Golf Courses
