Don’t let the sun go down on me…..

Next stop on my golf tour of England was 27 holes at St George’s Hill on Thursday where we lucky enough to play the Red, Blue and Green courses. The drive to the clubhouse was worth the trip alone with some of the most impressive real estate I’ve seen littering either side of the private road. There’s a good example here if you want to part with some of your kid’s inheritance! Anyway thats one for my upcoming property blog and Kevin McCloud to talk about!

The St George’s Hill clubhouse cuts a grandiose figure overlooking the three courses and was constructed in the early 1900s and served as a military hospital during World War 1. George Tarrant initially purchased the land in 1911 with a view to building a golf course amongst luxury homes, a chance encounter with colleague Charles Ambrose lead to the employment of Harry Colt and once again he was able to weave his magic in the Surrey heathlands. The similarities to Swinley Forest are certainly noticeable – established pine trees, an abundance of heather, a selection of shortish par 4s which require measured decisions instead of belting the driver (that said I hit the driver anyway) plus a spectacular set of Par 3s. The view from the 9th hole tee from the red course is breathtaking and will be hard to best during the pilgrimage. The course master commented that the course layout is largely unaltered from Colt’s design so the next 5-6 hours was a chance to step back a 100 years and experience golf from another era.

We were off the yellow tees on the Red and Blue courses and the whites on the Green. Both the Red and Blue courses were fairly busy but the pace was good and we were the only golfers playing the Green course so presented a good opportunity to record progress via Ashcam. The layout is pretty special, every hole is fairly secluded and a short distance from the last so there is a feeling of isolation on each tee. Particular stand out holes were the first tee on the Red course, Red Par 3 8th and the Blue Par 4 6th. There was an amusing moment on the stunning 9th tee where we both played up to the elevated green and had birdie putts from under 10 feet. We were were greeted on the green by the caddiemaster who bashfully told us that we had played up to the 18th. Sure enough the 9th green was behind us which was still oblivious. Uphill sand wedge and completely misjudged!

Point scoring was fairly high (mid 30s) which added to the enjoyment and this is certainly a course I would happily play for the rest of my days. I think the commute might be a little too long for me though. Believe there is a lengthy waiting list but the annual subscriptions are pretty reasonable once in. Ah to dream. St George’s Hill is currently ranked 96 in the list of top courses in the world, all I can say is that we are in for a real treat if they best this course. Darius Oliver ranks the course fairly highly in his Planet Golf website and we can see why. Hopefully the pictures and videos below do some kind of justice to the course.

Favourite Hole – The Par 8th on the Red Course. Generally considered to be the signature hole on the course is well an awesome sight from the tee. Tee shot is played downhill to an elevated green protected by bunkers and steep inclines. Miss the green and par will be a struggle. Absolute perfection.

Hardest Hole – Slightly controversial but Hole 7 on the Green course. Hole is 382y from the whites and accuracy is paramount from the tee played over copious heather. The approach shot is then played over a valley to an elevated tiny green with no margin for error. I ended up right of the green on a steep incline after hitting a perfect tee shot. We felt a number of holes on the Green course were tougher than the Red’s or Blue’s, this might have been down to tiredness though!