Berkhamsted Golf Club

Berkhamsted Golf Club is laid out on open common land in Hertfordshire, on the edge of the town from which it takes its name. The course follows the classic pattern of common-land golf in England, played across ground shared with public access rather than an enclosed private estate, with gorse and bracken standing in for the bunkering found on most other courses. At 6,605 yards from the back tees and playing to a par of 71, the layout includes three par fives beyond 500 yards, four par threes, and a set of par fours ranging from a modest 335 yards up to a considerably tougher 459. The course has produced strong amateur results over the years; Tom Lewis, a Hertfordshire golfer who went on to win twice on the European Tour, took the club's own Berkhamsted Trophy in 2009 with a nine-under-par total that remains the lowest recorded in the event's history. The absence of bunkers and the open, heathy character of the common give Berkhamsted a distinctive test compared with more conventional parkland courses nearby. The town of Berkhamsted itself sits in the Bulbourne valley in west Hertfordshire, within easy reach of the Chiltern Hills, and the golf club forms a long-established part of its local landscape.