Walton Heath: What’s it like to play here ahead of the Walton Heath Trophy?

England, England: This place is many things to many people, but poets and glassy-eyed golf enthusiasts alike will struggle to find a better encapsulation of its great, green heart than Walton Heath Golf Club.

It’s one of the most esteemed golfing venues close to the capital, neatly nestled in the Surrey sandbelt that is home to world-class heathland venues, and one of the most evocative landscapes close to London golfers can enjoy.

There’s great history here, and there are more famous personnel connected with the club than you can shake a sand wedge at. Golfing icon James Braid was the club's Professional for over 45 years, and it welcomed wartime Prime Ministers and kings as members in its time. Walton Heath has a rich history of hosting great tournaments in years gone by too, including the Ryder Cup in 1981, but it’s no mere relic of past glories. A stroll round the Old Course here might invoke the same romanticism contained in Constable landscapes and Enigma Variations – and, clearly, spark verbosity and sentimentality in visitors like myself – but living off nostalgia alone isn’t always enough. Thankfully, then, Walton Heath is also helping to create new sporting memories.

Walton Heath

The venue played host to the AIG Women's Open in 2023, won by Lilia Vu, and it provides a stern test of golf to challenge some of the best players in the world; my visit to this great club took place a few days before US Open qualifying, which saw Nathan Kimsey, Matthew Jordan, Angel Hidalgo, Niklas Nørgaard, Rocco Repetto Taylor, Fillipo Celli and Ugo Coussaud secure their spot at Shinnecock Hills in New York.

It’s also home to one of the most prestigious celebrations of amateur golf anywhere in the world: The Walton Heath Trophy. First formed in 2005 as the South of England Open Amateur Championship, the tournament takes place from July 21-23 this year with competitors fighting it out across 72 holes. The Jill Thornhill Rose was also launched for Women in 2024 too, and both events run alongside each other, celebrating amateur competition and equality in the modern game.

My visit to the club was part of a welcome day overseen by Walton Heath icon and Golf Club President Jill Thornhill. Not only is Jill a charming host, but a Curtis Cup player and British Amateur Champion. In fact, Jill equalled her age to win the Walton Heath Ladies Autumn Meeting a few years ago, 57 years after her first success as a 21-year-old in 1963. Jill is a wonderful ambassador for the club, and the person you want to impress more than any other on the first tee - something, sadly, I failed to do in resounding fashion…

Golf Club President Jill Thornhill with the Walton Heath TrophyWalton Heath

However well you’re playing, though, the course is a delight. An early highlight comes when turning onto the second tee across the road from the fiendishly tricky par 3 opening hole, where the sky opens up to offer the kind of views that painters would relish long afternoons capturing.

Both courses were designed by Herbert Fowler, and the designs that date back are just as enigmatic and charming as they were when the club was founded in 1903. The large greens are full of subtle breaks that will test all golfers - from the weekend warriors like me lucky enough to tee it up here to the pros hoping to make it through US Open qualifying here just a few days after my visit.

Players can expect a fine example of heathland golf, with firm, links-like turf that springs underfoot. There is devilish bunkering everywhere, and if that weren’t enough to test players, many have thick heather and gorse on the edges of the bunkers themselves. That heather in many ways comes to define both the playing experience and the views on offer around Walton Heath; think green fairways framed by thick purple and ochre, under big blue skies – an admittedly idyllic place to lose half a box of balls.

Walton Heath

Any number of holes stick in the memory, the par-3s are some of the prettiest you’ll find. The testing 17th looks like it belongs in a plush coffee-table book of picturesque golf holes, but it’s a rose with thorns - like Walton Heath in general, you might say. Miss the green and you'll be in a bunker with your head below ground level, hacking it out and wondering how such a good-looking hole can make such a mess of your scorecard.

Golf can definitely be tough round this place; it’s rare that players will get away with a bad shot at Walton Heath without facing a hack-out or at least one dropped shot. It doesn't feel punishing for the sake of it, though, with some gettable par-5s on the back and pretty par-3s on the front nine.

It all makes for a beautiful walk, with the Old and the New Course criss-crossing playfully across the grounds. The sound of the traffic from the nearby M25 is the only thing that reminds you how close you are to greater London, heard on the stretch of the course furthest away from the clubhouse, but it doesn't break Walton Heath's spell for long.

The clubhouse a little walk away from the first tee blends modernity with tradition, and the veranda that looks out across the putting green is a beautiful spot for a post round debrief. Sitting here in the glow of the English summer sun, it's only natural to think of the legends of the game that have come before you to play this enchanting course, and of the next generations that will compete and be inspired by this place in the Walton Heath Trophy; a perfect portrait of England's past and future in the game.

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