It wasn't WPII's idea to build a golf course at Sunningdale, it was the Roberts brothers, and the housing potential was a major factor. The house builders of London discovered the benefits of well drained soil before the golf course-makers.
Tom would you like to clarify what you mean here? My thinking is that these heathlands were not valuable farming land and therefore cheap. Hence they were attractive to house speculators and The London Necropolis Company (Woking).
Tony
No doubt the speculators sought cheap land, but before the speculators there were individuals who moved out into those areas and built homes, and the main attraction for the architects was well drained land. Mr. T. Roberts built a house out there before he decided to take the dive.
I remember reading somewhere that there is a sandy ridge that runs through that part of England, perhaps there are two ridges, I don't recall. You probably know more about that than I. But anyway from what I understood the areas along those ridges is where the development concertrated. I think one of the ridges runs through Surrey and Berkshire, and perhaps the other one is a little further south down around Woking. As you know the railroads and rail stations were another important factor for speculators (which is largely why Huntercombe failed as a venture).
I wonder at what point the sandy suburbian areas hit the tipping point, going from cheap land to prime real estate. Do you know?
In a sense it was only a matter of time before the railways brought people out to the heathlands. This table (quickly constructed using Google Earth) shows the expansion of golf away from the centre of London. Also those who don’t know their local history should understand that it is believed tens in Britain developed to wards the south and west for the affluent. This (so the theory goes) this meant they lived upwind of the factories that provided them with the means to buy their rich houses surrounded by playing fields. As time goes by the significant new inland courses become further from the centre as people move out. In London’s case the affluent were moving towards the heathland areas, and the suitability of the land for golf was a mere accident when the overall demographics are considered.
Distance from Charing Cross the traditional way of measuring distance to London.
Blackheath 1608 6 miles (although at the time Greenwich Palace was less than a mile away)
Wimbledon/London Scottish 1864 7.5 Miles
Redhill 1887 18 miles
Epping Forrest 1888 11 miles
Mitcham (Princes ) 1890? 7.5miles
Mid Surrey 1892 8 miles (this is on the same gravel based land that Kew Gardens sits on, free draining but flat).
Woking 1893 22 Miles
Sunnigdale 1901 23 miles
Walton Heath 1903 15 miles
Huntercombe 1903 38 miles
Coombe Hill 1911 8 Miles - one of the few exceptions being a significant later development inside the ever growing circles.
Not sure what year these clubs started but they are NLE because the land became too valuable.
Clapham Common 3.5 miles
Tooting Bec 5 miles
Chiswick – 9 holes - 6 miles.
Tom the two belts of gravel are (I believe) the Surrey/Berkshire golf home and one in the midlands.