St Georges Hill Golf Club

Ever wonder where the residential planned golf community originated? It was here at St George’s Hill, now referred to as the ‘Beverly Hills of England.’ Back in 1911, a local builder had the then original and ingenious idea to build fairway-side estate homes on a championship golf course. Fortunately, the preeminent golf course architect of the day, Harry Colt, was available to design the courses ensuring the success of the novel idea.

St George’s Hill Golf Club opened in 1913 and was so successful that throughout the years many celebrities such as Elton John and John Lennon have called it home. Today it is a mix of mostly international businesspeople who can afford the price of the estate homes, often over $10 million.

Named for the patron saint of England, there are no weak holes on the three nines – Red, Blue, and Green – and many demand the bravery of St George to aggressively attack and score well. For those short on time, all three nines loop back to the clubhouse. The championship 18-hole course is considered to be the combination of the Red and Blue nines, with the Green just slightly shorter.

As a tribute to Colt, the opening day of St George’s was attended by all the great players and golf architects of the era including JH Taylor, James Braid, CH Alison, and Arthur Croome.

A standout in the London golf rotation of heathland classics, St George’s Hill is recognized along with Swinley Forest as being two of Colt’s best and most original designs. Colt took full advantage of the dramatic elevation changes at St George’s, distinguishing it from other Surrey golf courses.

In 2015, Tim Lobb, a long-time design partner with Australian 5-time Open champion, Peter Thomson, carried out a course evaluation for the Club.

This suggested the tweaks previously performed on the layout were straying from Colt’s original intentions. Since then, he has worked in restoring those elements back into Colt’s masterpiece, to the delight of members and visitors alike.

In addition to the course routing taking advantage of the elevation, St George’s iconic red brick clubhouse, originally named “the Pavilion” stands like a castle overlooking the course and surrounding Surrey countryside. Amazingly, given the sizes of the “fairway-side” estate homes, they are surprisingly private and unobtrusive to sight lines. 

The Terrace bar is perhaps only rivaled in England golf by Sunningdale’s as the ultimate outdoor 19^th hole.If your England golf tour takes you to the Surrey area St George’s Hill is a “must play.”

In an area known for stunning scenery, St George’s Hill’s three nines stand out for the beautiful and treacherous purple heather that forms carpets under the trees and circles the shaggy bunkers like amethyst necklaces.