London Golf Trip - Chasing Willie Park Jnr and the Heathland greats

[Jim Roth]

As club historian for Woodway Country Club in Darien CT I have long had strong interest in the architecture of Willie Park Jnr.  I have spent much time understanding and educating others at the club as to his importance in golf history and why our club should embrace his influence as we continue our restoration project under the guidance of Bruce Hepner. 

However, my playing exposure to WPjnr has been limited to his some of his US designs, so as a 50th b-day present to myself this year, as I am planning a trip to heathlands west of London to do some exploring.  While there, I am hoping to see as much as I can as it relates to Park and also better get a sense of how the great Heathland courses present themselves. 
My intention is to spend a day on Sunningdale old and new,  and clearly play huntercombe.

Are these others worth a visit as it relates to Park?
- Worplesdon
- West Hill
- Ellesborough
-kneborth
- hampton court palace
- wimbledon
- are broadstone, parkstone and stoneham worth the drive south?

if not, what else should I see west of london?  on my list of potentials were
- woking
- walton heath
- st georges hill
- Swinley forest
- burhill
- the berkshire
- Windelsham
- west sussex


would love anyone's opinions and or suggestions as to what else I should see.   

Also, if anyone has any questions/interest in learning more about Woodway i am happy to share.   

[Tony_Muldoon]

Brief reply
After Huntercombe and less so at Sunningdale, I would have thought Park feels most evident at West Hill and Stoneham. 

I would book early at Sunnningdale and pass on Hampton Court Palace. Much mucked about and on a flat site.

Enjoy

[Brett Meyer]

I'll leave it to others to say how much Park Jr. remains, but Stoneham is definitely worth the trip from London. There's a fast train from Victoria Station that gets to the nearest station to Stoneham in I think 4 stops. Then it's a short cab ride. On the merits, Stoneham just about hangs with Woking for me and I preferred it to Worplesdon and West Hill.

It sounds like you already plan to go, but one of the things that makes Sunningdale's Old Course so great is the juxtaposition of the Park holes (simpler) and the Colt holes (more mounding; greens built on ridges). I usually don't mixes of architecture within a course, but these styles work so well together on this one.

Swinley Forest is an obvious one from your 'others' list. But my second favorite of the London heathland courses after Sunningdale Old was West Sussex. There are several great holes and maybe fewer indifferent ones than all of the other London heathland courses.

[Adam Lawrence]

I'll leave it to others to say how much Park Jr. remains, but Stoneham is definitely worth the trip from London. There's a fast train from Victoria Station that gets to the nearest station to Stoneham in I think 4 stops. Then it's a short cab ride. On the merits, Stoneham just about hangs with Woking for me and I preferred it to Worplesdon and West Hill.

It sounds like you already plan to go, but one of the things that makes Sunningdale's Old Course so great is the juxtaposition of the Park holes (simpler) and the Colt holes (more mounding; greens built on ridges). I usually don't mixes of architecture within a course, but these styles work so well together on this one.

Swinley Forest is an obvious one from your 'others' list. But my second favorite of the London heathland courses after Sunningdale Old was West Sussex. There are several great holes and maybe fewer indifferent ones than all of the other London heathland courses.

Colt was at Stoneham in 1929, and made extensive alterations to the course. The club found his correspondence and drawings a few years ago.


To be absolutely honest with you, if you are looking for Park, I would go to Huntercombe and stay there. I like Burhill's Old course, and it is fairly characteristic of some Park stylings, but nothing is close to Huntercombe for authenticity.

[Jim Roth]

thank you.   The whole trip originated with the idea of visiting Huntercombe so I plan to spend a good amount of time there.  I considered Hollinwell, but not sure I want to drive that far tbh.   

[James Boon]

Jim,

You would always be welcome at Hollinwell, and I'd be happy to host you if you did choose to drive north (only a couple of hours from London which surely isnt that far for an American    ). There have been a number of changes from the original Willie Park Junior layout, but I've done a reasonable amount of searching, backed by research from my fellow archivisit, into what remains and what archaeological evidence is out there. Here is a link to a thread on here where I covered some of this...
https://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,68410.0.html

Happy to discuss further if you message me...

Cheers,

James

[Tom_Doak]

thank you.   The whole trip originated with the idea of visiting Huntercombe so I plan to spend a good amount of time there.  I considered Hollinwell, but not sure I want to drive that far tbh.   

You should definitely go to Hollinwell if your goal is to learn more about Park's design work.  Huntercombe is great but it's kind of a one-off, not very typical of his work.  Plus, James is an excellent host.

[Nigel Islam]

Huntercombe is one of the more interesting courses I have ever played. It is indeed very unique.