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BAGSHOT, England - Travelers judge their hotel stay for all sorts of reasons - the quality of the restaurant food, the wow-factor of the lobby, the size of the rooms, how comfortable the bed is, the service, the serenity of the spa, etc.
Me? I'm leaning hard into the one thing you do every day on a golf vacation: the power of the shower. Too many hotels cheat guests out of a good pick-me-up in the morning with a shower that dribbles or doesn't get hot enough.
In 25 years of golf traveling, I've never come across a better set of showers than inside my room at Pennyhill Park Hotel & Spa, a luxury hotel in the London countryside. That's showers, plural.
I wouldn't have survived my first trip to Surrey without my horizontal shower. You read that right: a shower that lets you lie down and relax. After a handful of 36-hole days walking Surrey's magical heathland golf courses, that shower brought me back to life every evening. Check it out.
For the record, I started my days with a stand-up shower just like everybody else...but enough about my shower obsession. You're here to learn about the golf in Surrey, arguably England's premier golf destination. Surrey, a county west of London, features more Top 100-caliber courses than any other county in England.
The great news for American golfers is most of its historic, highly ranked private clubs allow visiting golfers access. Pennyhill Park offers golf packages to play at multiple, elite private clubs. I teed up 90 holes between Sunningdale, Walton Heath and West Hill - plus The Berkshire in a neighboring county - and still didn't see it all. A sample package for two in a cozy room (£460+) costing £1,922 per person (roughly $2,100) would deliver rounds at Sunningdale (£350), Walton Heath (£260-£300) and The Berkshire (£240-£330), plus breakfast is included.
Because these heathland golf courses don't host The Open Championship or other high-profile tournaments very often - Walton Heath held the 2023 AIG Women's Open - they aren't always on the radar of American golfers. That's a shame because the ball bounces around a heathland course almost like it does a seaside links. The sea views and heavy breeze are replaced, instead, with beautiful forests and scorecard-wrecking heather, all within driving distance of one of the greatest cities in the world.
I was rewarded last fall with incredible weather while staying at Pennyhill Park. Months later I'm dreaming of returning to see other highly-regarded Surrey gems like St. George's Hill, Woking and Worplesdon.
Day 1: Playing a redeye round at the Berkshire Golf Club
Fresh off a redeye flight, the hardest part of finding The Berkshire Golf Club was escaping the crushing traffic and perplexing roundabouts of Heathrow. Thankfully, the 36-hole club is a simple half-hour's drive away along pleasant country roads.
The Berkshire's two courses - the Red and Blue - are so equally regarded in the eyes of most critics that you can pick either and get a proper taste of the club. Both have their lovable quirks. The Blue is a rare famous course that begins with a par 3. The Red features a mix I love - six par 3s, six par 4s and six par 5s on more rousing terrain. It's no surprise I shot my best round of the week here.
That said, Red's par-5 first hole did introduce me to the perils of heathland golf. After a big drive, I lost my second shot right into the heather. Once you're in there, you're toast. Because the heather crawls so low to the ground, golfers can almost always find their ball. The problem is hacking it back into play. I spent the week learning a new swing - the chop-out.
Day 2: What it's like to play 36 holes at Walton Heath
I watched the AIG Women's Open closely to see if I could glean any insights on how Lilia Vu conquered Walton Heath, which also hosted the 1981 Ryder Cup and multiple overseas U.S. Open qualifiers. Large-scale events are held on a composite course at Walton Heath, where 35 of 36 holes amble in all directions on mostly flat land across a road from the charming clubhouse. The only hole by the clubhouse is the opening hole, a 235-yard par 3, on the Old Course.
Walton Heath holds the unique distinction of being the first 36-hole club in England. Architect Herbert Fowler built the New Course in 1907 three years after completing the Old. Fowler's penchant for cross-hazards, whether it be cavernous bunkers, mounding or naturally occurring hollows and depressions in the land, poked holes in my game, exposing my biggest weakness - carrying trouble. My 36-hole score looked like I played 45. Only ball-strikers like Vu thrive at Walton Heath. The rest of us simply try to survive.
Day 3: West Hill and Sunningdale
The most enjoyable heathland track of my trip turned out to be West Hill, a course short on yardage but long on charm. Discovering a place you like is almost always more enjoyable than checking off a highly-ranked course, IMO. Everybody likes pleasant surprises.
With a routing that's been mostly untouched since 1909, West Hill doesn't boast the tournament pedigree of the other Surrey courses I played. Considering it's a par 69 with five par 3s and two par 5s, the scorecard numbers (6,402 yards) suddenly don't seem so short. The round starts with a gentle handshake, a downhill tee shot, and ends with a firm slap in the face, a 436-yard grind of a par 4 that's made even scarier when you realize that the clubhouse patio is mere steps over the green.
I saved the Surrey golf's holy grail for last - a round at Sunningdale Golf Club, which only allows outside play Monday through Thursday. I teed up the New Course, a Harry Colt original from 1923 built two decades after the Old, widely considered England's best course. The course's most difficult holes - a stretch from nos. 6 through 10 - were redesigned multiple times in the 1930s to soften their difficulty. While still demanding for anybody, it's hard not to fall in love with the sheer beauty and the immaculate conditioning Sunningdale presents.
Staying at Pennyhill Park Hotel & Spa
Pennyhill Park gives off heavy college-campus vibes with its handful of ivy-covered brick buildings. With its luxury bathroom amenities, it also feels like a British cousin to Kohler's The American Club. Pennyhill Park's main country house, dating to the 19th century, sits on 120 acres of parkland. The hotel's 124 rooms are all different and within walking distance of the hotel's multiple restaurants and the separate spa building past a large outdoor pool.
The Michelin-starred Latymer is the most celebrated of the restaurants, but all of them will invigorate the taste buds. I stuck to the local tradition of ordering fish and chips at the Hillfield bar for dinner and the full English breakfast another day to fuel up for 36 holes.
The spa facilities alone are worth a long weekend. Or you can do what I did - let that horizontal shower massage your bogeys away.
Comments (3)
Great article Jason, however it’s worth pointing out that (unless access criteria has changed in the last ten years), all of these courses (I’ve played them all) are accessible to regular golfers without a hotel stay.
Unlike many USA courses, most UK courses (including most of the Open host courses) and many “private” golf courses will give you “member for a day” access allowing you to play the course as an unaccompanied guest.
There are a few courses (mostly American owned), like Loch Lomond and Queenwood that are strictly members (and guests) only, but these are comparatively few.
US golfers will also be pleasantly surprised at how inexpensive (compared to US prices) that many (non Open rota) courses charge.
Hi Michael, You are correct. You don't have to stay at Pennyhill Park to play them, but since all U.S. golfers will need a place to stay, I am merely letting U.S. golfers know that Pennyhill Park is an ideal option because of the proximity to the courses, the ease of booking and the quality of the hotel.
Hi Jason,
Thanks for the prompt reply - I understand fully and, while I’ve not needed to stay at Pennyhill (I lived in London before emigrating to the USA), I understand that it’s great (The England Rugby Team used to be / are based there when they play home games).
I simply wanted to point out that unlike many courses in the USA (like Bay Hill) you don’t HAVE to stay to play.
You’re 100% right though that as a USA visitor, you need a base and Pennyhill Park is as good as any.
Thanks again for the great articles - they really help when planning a golf vacation
Warmest regards