High end stay & play in Surrey

Located on London’s doorstep, less than half an hour from central London, Surrey is a lovely place to visit and is full of surprises around every corner. From award-winning vineyards, pubs, restaurants and hotels to ancient heathlands, beautiful waterways, charming historic towns, attractive villages and scenic landscapes. Surrey is England's most wooded county, with rolling hills and valleys, and some of the best English gardens in the country. 

Surrey offers quite some famous golf courses. Surrey actually offers the most highly rated golf courses of all counties in England, so if you are planning a golf trip, then Surrey should be your prime golf destination. You'll find many of the best heathland courses in Surrey, like Sunningdale, Walton Heath, Hankley Common, Queenwood, Worplesdon and Woking Golf Club; the latter golf club one of the oldest in England dating back to 1893.

If you want to play some of the top courses in Surrey and stay in luxurious hotels we have some recommendations for you. There are two hotels located in the middle of this golfing heaven. The Berkshire hotel in Ascot is located less than 10 minutes from Wentworth and Sunningdale, The Berkshire Golf Club is only 14 minutes by car. Pennyhill Park Hotel has similar distances to Sunningdale, Wentworth and The Berkshire. Swinley Forest is only 8 minutes by car.

The hotels are working with the courses to provide fantastic stay and play packages for golfers who want to play these bucket list courses. Also there are a lot of amenities for non-golfing partners or fellow travelers to enjoy in these high end hotels.

Pennyhill Park is a luxury hotel and spa in 120 acres of Surrey parkland, with an array of experiences for fun, leisure, special occasions, and meetings and events to wow guests.

Offering exceptional overnight breaks in the luxuriously furnished rooms, each individually designed with different styles, character and charm, not to mention some incredible bathrooms.

Passionate about food and drink, you can taste the delights of award-winning Michelin-starred dining in Latymer, glorious afternoon teas, brand new hyper-local casual dining in Hillfield restaurant & bar enjoying ‘farm-to-fork’ dining delights from Surrey, or a mix of healthy and indulgent dishes in the spa restaurant, Themis.

The Spa is a destination on its own, with over 20 thermal and relaxation spaces to discover, along with the incredible treatments, state-of-the-art gym equipment and fitness classes for all to enjoy.

The Royal Berkshire Hotel is located in Ascot, very close to the famous race track, also a lot of the rooms and the logo are inspired on equestrian themes and the famous race held yearly in June. The surroundings of the hotel are just as beautiful as the famous golf courses nearby. There is a wonderful garden where you can have breakfast in the morning on a sunny spring or summer day. The bar and restaurant are excellent both food & service-wise.

Swinley Forest, designed by Harry Colt in 1911, was named his ‘least bad course’ by the master himself. It's currently in the top 100 of the world. That gives you an idea of just how good the 150+ courses designed by Colt are. Swinley is a member’s course where it is quite difficult to get a tee time. Basically, the only thing that works for sure is to get an invite to play with a member. As stated in the intro the Berkshire and Pennyhill Park Hotels are cooperating with Swinley Forest to provide a limited amount of tee times if you are staying with them.

One of the hidden gems of this golf trip was recommended by an architect I know from Canada. He tipped New Zealand Golf Club, another old (est. 1895) heathland golf course tucked away on the sandy soil of Surrey. New Zealand has a relatively low par (68) and a total length of 5947 yards. That doesn’t mean that it plays easy, as it has 6 par 4’s over 400 yards! This is probably the reason why it is not in the top 100 of the world, but in my opinion, it qualifies. When entering the clubhouse, locker rooms and pro shop it’s like you are travelling back in time. The pictures, the names of former members on the lockers, and little golf paraphernalia are just wonderful.

The first course on our list was one from the trophy category, St. George's Hill (est. 1913). It has been in the top 100 of the world for ages and was also designed by the architect with the most courses in the top 100, Harry S. Colt. We played Red and Blue.

On Thursday we went to probably the most famous golf club in Surrey, Sunningdale GC. It is one of three clubs in the world - together with Cabot Links/Cliffs and Bandon Dunes - which have both courses listed in the top 100 of the world. The Old Course was designed by Willy Park Junior in 1913. The New course was designed by Harry Colt in 1923. Colt actually started as a secretary at Sunningdale and realized there that he enjoyed designing courses more than managing them. 

To play these two courses on one day with 21 degrees Celsius and a nice sandwich with a gunner (great golfers’ drink in the UK) for lunch is probably one of the best golfing days imaginable. No one who visits Sunningdale Golf Club will forget the giant oak tree standing just adjacent to the 18th and the putting green. It's huge and shines as the logo of the club, so you really can't miss it. The tree has been there since the club was founded 100+ years ago and hopefully will be there for 100s more to come.

A top tip: do not skip the Halfway house at the 10th hole of the Old Course, it's a wonderful place with great snacks and drinks. If we would summarize our experience at Sunningdale: the Old Course is a bit more scenic with more ohs and ahs. The New Course is maybe a bit better for the ‘modern’ golfer. I rated both courses with a 9.5 out of 10.  

Both courses are rightfully high in the top 100 and both are an incredible experience to play. When you play both on the same day there is a considerable reduction possible on the green fees, check the prices on the Sunningdale Club Page. But perhaps you should play them on separate days to enjoy them even more. Playing both on the same day is comparable with having lunch and dinner at a 3-star Michelin restaurant. It might be too much for just one day. For me, it was probably the best golfing day in my life so far, up there with playing Pinehurst no 2 and playing Royal Dornoch alone at twilight some years ago…