Sunningdale Ladies Golf Club

The ground occupied by Sunningdale Ladies Golf Club has a history stretching back centuries before any golf was played on it, having originally formed part of Windsor Forest. St John's College, Cambridge acquired the land in 1524 and has retained ownership of it ever since, making the college's tenure one of the longest continuous land holdings connected with any golf course in the country. In the college's early ownership, Sunningdale was sparsely populated, consisting largely of common land covered in gorse and heather with only scattered trees, very different from the residential area that surrounds the course today. The construction of the railway line between Woking and Staines cut through the estate, physically dividing the land and setting the pattern for later development, as sections on either side of the new line were gradually sold off. That railway-driven division shaped the growth of Sunningdale village itself as much as it shaped the golf club's eventual site. Set within the Berkshire heathland belt the wider Sunningdale area is known for, the club's course occupies ground with a documented ownership history running back nearly five hundred years, longer than almost any golf course elsewhere in England.