At the request of Bob Huntley I’m starting with Flackwell Heath.
Part of the course is clearly visible from the M40 Motorway as it passes High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire. Most of the course is on flat ground on the same level as the clubhouse and is nothing to write home about. However there is a Spion Kop hole (the 4th) and the par-5 7th and short 8th (the holes visible from the motorway) are the most memorable. The club was quite highly regarded in the early days and had a regular rail service from London (no longer extant) and an active artisans’ club.
If you play any of the courses in this area you are likely to see Red Kite which have been very successfully introduced to the Chilterns. We went to a 60th birthday party at Beaconsfield Golf Club on Saturday and drove along the country lanes on our way home on Sunday. My wife counted 144 of these majestic birds between Gerrards Cross and Thame!
This is Beaconsfield, a very handsome Harry Colt course on which the young Luke Donald learned to play. The ground is nicely undulating and there are any number of really satisfying holes. The clubhouse is very comfortable and the food and wine at our friends’ party was first rate. There are many connections with the Pilgrim Fathers and other influential early Americans in the area. The club is very conveniently served by Seer Green and Jordans station on the Chiltern line into London Marylebone. Golf club members who work in London are able to leave their car at the golf club all day for free instead of paying a fortune at Beaconsfield or Gerrards Cross stations. I imagine they recoup their club membership in a matter of months!
On the same railway line, slightly closer to London is Denham Golf Club which has its own Denham Golf Club station, the only one remaining in the country. This, too, is a Colt course with good bunkering and another fine clubhouse. Donald Steel was a member here for many years. It is quite easy to slice a ball onto the neighbouring airfield! The only remaining airworthy De Havilland Mosquito crashed onto the golf course a few years ago, killing the pilot and destroying the aircraft.
One station nearer still to London is The Buckinghamshire a modern course by John Jacobs. I really liked it on the one occasion I played it. I played it on the same trip that I also played The Oxfordshire (Rees Jones) and both courses at The London Club (Nicklaus), and The Buckinghamshire won hands down for me.
This is Gerrards Cross, one of the more scenic courses in the area. I don’t know who designed it, but it is refreshingly varied and there are some exceptional houses in the immediate surroundings. Par is only 69.
One of my favourite courses in this region is Burnham Beeches. Once again I do not know who designed it, but it has huge variety. I have always been made to feel very welcome.
Highest profile in the area is Stoke Park, now a hideously expensive resort. The historic clubhouse is undoubtedly aristocratic and James Bond did his bit to make it familiar to those who knew nothing of golf. Recently a great deal of money has been spent on ‘restoration’ and no doubt the courses are in immaculate condition, but a little of Colt’s original work has been lost. It is said that the 12th at Augusta was modelled on Stoke Park’s 7th.
There are a number of better than average pay-and-play facilities nearby such as Farnham Park and Wexford Park, but you’ll need connections in high places to play this course:
This is the golf course of the Royal Household in the grounds of Windsor Castle.