Walton Heath Golf Club

As one of the world’s most highly regarded golf clubs, every England golf vacation deserves a stop at Walton Heath Golf Club. There is no finer day out in Surrey than playing the Old and New courses here, with both legendary golfing and political history on the cards.

The club has also played host to championships including the Ryder Cup and European Open. The best-known player across the heathland was none other than Winston Churchill, who frequented the club with a variety of other political friends and adversaries from 1910 until his passing in 1965.

Like The Berkshire, Walton Heath is blessed with two superb Herbert Fowler designs, giving it a deserving place in the World Top 100 Course lists. The Old course from 1903 is the longer route, stretching to 7,331 yards with smaller green targets.

Influenced by the links of Scotland, it requires a repertoire of shots that serve link players admirably, in order to score well. The New course plays over the same linksland and is a tad shorter at 7,199 yards from the tips. While it’s named the ‘new’ course, this 18-hole course only opened ten years after the Old course.

Having been built before the car became a necessary appendage, there are two holes from each course (1^st and 18^th) on the side of the road with the clubhouse and the remaining 32 holes are played across what now has become a very busy thoroughfare. The club is currently reviewing options that would relocate the clubhouse and the four holes to join the rest of the routing and avoid the potential danger of vehicular accidents.

Interestingly, while Walton Heath is the only club in England golf to have had a reigning monarch as captain, King Edward VIII in 1935, he never bestowed the Royal Charter.

The club also has a prominent place in golf history with the first pro having been James Braid, winner of five Open Championships and renowned golf architect, from 1904 until his death in 1950.  Hence the allure of Walton that one never grows tired of playing there or perhaps it’s the legendary lunch that keeps them coming back.

Among prestigious tournaments the Club has played host to; it is used as a frequent qualifier for The Open Championship, has hosted a Ryder Cup, the Senior Open, multiple European Opens, the British Masters, and hosted the Women’s Open in 2023, to great success.

The 1981 Ryder Cup was especially memorable in the 18 ½ – 9 ½ routing of the GB&I squad holding Sir Nick Faldo to only one point. Not surprising considering the U.S. Squad had 36 major wins among players that included Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson, and Larry Nelson.

The challenging heathland courses, like Walton Heath’s Old and New, that make up the best of London golf, are as bucket list-worthy as any championship links in Scotland and Ireland. Their addition will make any England golf tour a memorable one. It should be noted that, like many prestigious private clubs in Britain, Walton Heath is a two-ball club with foursomes (alternate shot) the preferred format of members and usually one course a weekday is designated as such.