Best Golf Courses in Surrey — Heathland Golf Capital of England

If you drew a circle of thirty miles around central London and asked which corner of that circle contains the finest golf, the answer would be overwhelmingly unanimous: Surrey. The county that stretches south-west from the capital — taking in the towns of Guildford, Woking, Farnham, and Reigate — sits on a belt of sandy, acidic heathland soil that is among the best ground in the world for building and sustaining a golf course. The result is a concentration of outstanding golf venues unmatched anywhere in England and arguably unmatched anywhere in the world outside of a handful of legendary regions in Scotland and the United States.

Sunningdale. Walton Heath. Wentworth. Hankley Common. The Berkshire. Worplesdon. Hindhead. West Surrey. These names appear with striking regularity on rankings of England’s finest courses, and they are all within roughly an hour of each other. Surrey heathland is not simply a convenient collection of clubs — it is a distinct and genuinely world-class golfing landscape that deserves to be treated as a destination in its own right.

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Why Surrey Heathland is World-Class

The geology is the starting point. Surrey’s heathland belt — running from Wentworth and Sunningdale in the north-west down through Woking, Guildford, and into the hills around Hindhead — sits on Bagshot Sand, a free-draining acidic subsoil that resists waterlogging and produces the kind of firm, fast-running fairways that golfers prize. Rain drains quickly, which means Surrey courses play well after wet weather when clay-based parkland courses further east become heavy and slow.

The surface vegetation that thrives on these soils is equally suited to golf. Heather, bracken, pine, and silver birch create a distinctive landscape that is beautiful in all seasons — the purple of flowering heather in late summer, the russet tones of bracken in autumn, the silver bark of birch against winter frost. These plantings are not cosmetic; they provide genuine rough that separates the course from the surrounding landscape and creates a playing environment of real character.

The courses were mostly built in the late Victorian and Edwardian era by the great course architects of the period — Herbert Fowler, Willie Park Jr, Harry Colt, James Braid, Tom Simpson — and many have been maintained and refined by their successors. The result is a collection of courses that feel historically settled, beautifully balanced, and entirely at home in their environment.

Walton Heath Golf Club

Walton Heath sits high on the North Downs escarpment between Reigate and Epsom, and it plays with an exposure and severity that marks it out from most other Surrey courses. The site is genuinely moorland rather than the softer heathland of Sunningdale or The Berkshire — the elevation means wind is almost always a factor, and the heather rough is as punishing as any in England.

The Old Course at Walton Heath is the one that most golfers know: a long, demanding layout that has regularly served as an Open Championship qualifying venue and that hosted the Ryder Cup in 1981 — the last time the competition was played in England before The Belfry era. The course was designed by Herbert Fowler and opened in 1904, and it retains a severity and integrity that reflects its original intent. There is no hiding place at Walton Heath: the open terrain exposes every weakness, and the course consistently produces high-quality scoring as a result.

The New Course, opened in 1913, is slightly shorter and considered by some to be the more elegant test, with better visual separation between holes. Playing thirty-six holes at Walton Heath in a day is one of the great golfing experiences available in England.

Visitor access is available but restricted. Midweek tee times are easier to secure than weekends, and booking several weeks in advance is advisable. Green fees sit at the upper end of the Surrey range.

Sunningdale Golf Club

Sunningdale may be the single most revered golf club in England. Its two courses — the Old and the New — are consistently ranked among the finest in the country, and its reputation for quality extends well beyond the borders of the British Isles. Arnold Palmer, who played the Old Course in a practice round before the 1960 Open, reportedly called it the most beautiful course he had ever seen.

The Old Course was designed by Willie Park Jr and opened in 1901, with significant revisions by Harry Colt — who also designed the New Course, which opened in 1923. The two sit side by side in gloriously heathland scenery, each with a distinct character: the Old is longer, more dramatic, and more traditionally structured; the New is considered by many to be the more architecturally nuanced, with subtler bunkering and a wider range of strategic options.

Access at Sunningdale is tightly managed. The club receives far more visitor enquiries than it can accommodate, and booking through the club directly — often months in advance — is the only reliable route. The green fees are among the highest in England and entirely justified. Sunningdale is one of those courses you play once and talk about for years.

Wentworth Club

Wentworth occupies a particular position in English golf culture: it is the course that most people who follow the sport on television know best. The BMW PGA Championship has been staged on the West Course for decades, making it one of the most watched layouts in European golf, and the autumn tournament — now the BMW PGA — draws some of the finest fields outside the majors.

The West Course was designed by Harry Colt and opened in 1926. It is a long, mature parkland layout with towering conifers lining many fairways, a playing environment that is quite different from the open heathland of Walton Heath or the birch-and-heather of Sunningdale. In summer, the tree canopy creates a dramatic green tunnel effect that is instantly recognisable to anyone who has watched European Tour coverage.

Beyond the West, Wentworth operates the East Course (the original Colt design, opened in 1924), the Edinburgh Course (redesigned by John Jacobs), and the par-three South Course. The club is a full resort operation with hotel accommodation, spa, and practice facilities.

Visitor access is available, though Wentworth operates a degree of member priority, particularly at weekends. Green fees are substantial. It is worth being clear-eyed about this: Wentworth is an outstanding and iconic course, but the experience is a corporate and high-end one rather than the intimate, traditional club atmosphere of Sunningdale or Walton Heath. That is not a criticism — just a note about character.

The Berkshire Golf Club

The Berkshire sits just inside the county boundary of — naturally — Berkshire rather than Surrey, but it belongs to the same heathland tradition and is close enough to Sunningdale and Wentworth to be considered part of the same golfing landscape. It operates two eighteen-hole loops: the Red Course and the Blue Course, which alternate in a pattern that allows two groups to start simultaneously and share practice facilities.

The Red Course is widely considered the stronger test — a par seventy-two that flows beautifully through the heather and pine, with several holes that rank among the best in the Home Counties. The Blue Course is par seventy-one and slightly shorter, but arguably more internally consistent in its best stretches. Playing both in a single day is an increasingly popular choice for visiting golfers.

The Berkshire has a genuine and deserved reputation for outstanding conditions and a welcoming approach to visitors. Green fees, while not cheap, are lower than Sunningdale or Walton Heath, and the access policy is more flexible. For those seeking their first experience of Surrey-style heathland golf, The Berkshire is an excellent entry point.

Hankley Common Golf Club

Hankley Common is one of the most natural and unspoilt heathland courses in England — a layout that feels genuinely uncontrived, as if the holes were discovered rather than designed. The course occupies a stretch of common land near Thursley in the western Surrey hills, and the playing environment is one of the most scenic in the county: expansive views across heather moorland, with the Hog’s Back ridge visible in the distance.

The course was laid out by James Braid in 1922 and has been carefully preserved in the spirit of his original design. Braid was the master of natural heathland design, and Hankley showcases his strengths: holes that follow the natural contours, bunkering that feels inevitable rather than imposed, and a sense of flow that makes the round feel organic rather than manufactured.

Hankley is less well-known internationally than Sunningdale or Walton Heath, but it is consistently cited by those in the know as one of the finest golf experiences in England. Green fees are somewhat lower than the headline Surrey venues, and visitor access is manageable.

Worplesdon Golf Club

Worplesdon Golf Club near Woking is best known in golfing circles for the Worplesdon Mixed Foursomes — an annual mixed pairs competition that has been running since 1921 and that attracts entries from top-level amateurs across the UK. The tournament has given the club a particular social cachet, but the course itself would be worthy of attention regardless of its competitive history.

The layout threads through mature heather and pine on a site that provides natural separation between holes and a sense of seclusion that is surprising given the proximity to Woking and Guildford. The course is considered a fair but thorough test, rewarding accuracy over distance and penalising wayward play through consistent, well-placed rough.

Worplesdon is a private club with visitor access available on weekdays and some weekends. It is an excellent choice for those who want the full Surrey heathland experience without the premium pricing of the most internationally famous venues.

West Surrey Golf Club

West Surrey Golf Club, situated near Godalming, is one of the county’s less-heralded but consistently impressive clubs. The course was designed by Herbert Fowler — the same hand behind Walton Heath’s Old Course — and opened in 1910. It sits on the same sandy, free-draining soil as the county’s more famous venues, with heather and birch providing the characteristic visual texture.

The course is compact by Surrey standards but thoroughly well-designed, with a range of hole lengths and angles that keeps the round varied and engaging throughout. West Surrey is a private club with visitor tee times available midweek, and the green fees are notably lower than the county’s headline courses without any significant sacrifice in quality.

Hindhead Golf Club

Hindhead occupies a site in the Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, at one of the highest points in the county near the village of Hindhead. The elevation — and the exposure that comes with it — gives Hindhead a character closer to the open moorland courses of Yorkshire or Scotland than to the enclosed heathland of the Sunningdale belt. Wind is a constant presence, and the views across the Greensand Way are exceptional.

The course was designed by Harold Hilton, the English Amateur and Open champion, and opened in 1904. It is a long, natural layout that fits the terrain with evident care, and the elevated position means it drains quickly even after heavy rain. Hindhead is one of the county’s most challenging courses in adverse conditions, and one of its most beautiful in good weather.

Visitor access is available and the club extends a genuine welcome. Green fees are reasonable for the quality, making Hindhead an underrated value proposition within the Surrey heathland landscape.

Green Fees in Surrey

Surrey is not cheap. The combination of high land values, premium maintenance standards, and strong demand from the London market means that green fees at the county’s top courses are the highest in England outside of certain Scottish links.

As a rough guide for the courses covered in this article:

West Surrey, Hindhead, Worplesdon: £70 to £120
The Berkshire, Hankley Common: £100 to £160
Wentworth: £175 to £260
Walton Heath (Old Course): £140 to £200
Sunningdale: £180 to £280+

These figures vary by season and day of the week. Twilight rates — available at some clubs from around 3pm — offer meaningful savings. Some venues also offer discounted midweek rates in the autumn and winter months.

For those on a tighter budget, Surrey also has a number of mid-range pay-and-play and semi-private courses — including Hoebridge Golf Centre near Woking and Traditions Golf Course near Guildford — that offer enjoyable golf at considerably lower cost.

Visitor Access Tips

Most Surrey heathland clubs operate some form of member-priority policy, which means weekend access for visitors is limited or unavailable at the most exclusive venues. Midweek tee times are generally more available and often cheaper.

Key tips for planning a Surrey golf trip:

Book well in advance for Sunningdale and Walton Heath — demand significantly exceeds supply, and popular slots can book out months ahead
Telephone rather than email when making initial enquiries — most traditional clubs respond faster and more flexibly to a direct call
Travel in groups of four where possible — many clubs prefer full fourballs for visitor slots and some offer marginal group discounts
Check handicap requirements — several Surrey clubs set a maximum handicap for visitors, typically 24 for men and 28 or 30 for women

Getting to Surrey from London

Surrey’s transport connections from central London are excellent, making it genuinely feasible to visit even the most prestigious courses for a day trip without needing a car, provided you plan carefully.

By train:

Sunningdale: Sunningdale station is on the South Western Railway line from Waterloo (approximately 50 minutes). The club is a short walk from the station.
Walton Heath: Tadworth station (Tattenham Corner line from London Bridge) is the nearest, with a short taxi ride to the club.
Wentworth: Virginia Water station (South Western Railway from Waterloo) is a few minutes by taxi from the club.
Worplesdon: Worplesdon station is on the South Western Railway line with frequent services from Waterloo (approximately 45 minutes).

By car: The M25 and M3 provide the main arterial routes. The A30 connects Sunningdale and the Bagshot area to central Surrey. Allow extra time for the M25 in peak hours — morning rush hour heading into Surrey can be significant.

For golfers based in London looking for a wider range of options across all price points, see our guide to golf courses near London.

When to Play Surrey Heathland

Surrey heathland courses are playable year-round — a key advantage over both links courses (which can be unplayable in winter storms) and clay-based parkland (which becomes heavy and slow after rain). The sandy subsoil drains quickly and the courses are rarely closed for weather-related reasons.

The best conditions come in late summer — from August through October — when the ground is at its firmest, the heather is at its most vivid, and the courses run fastest. Spring is also excellent, with courses recovering quickly from any winter softness. Winter golf on Surrey heathland is a genuine pleasure on a frosty, clear morning, when the ground is firm and the birch trees stand silver against a blue sky.

Surrey heathland golf is, quite simply, one of the great golfing experiences in the world. The concentration of quality within such a small geographic area is remarkable, and even a single visit to one of the courses described in this guide will demonstrate immediately why this corner of England is regarded with such reverence by golfers who have played here.

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