Swinley Forest

Today we commenced our tour at the Harry Colt designed Swinley Forest.  Not often do you head to play a course with relatively high expectations, and be blown away by how good it is.  This was definitely the case with Swinley Forest today.

Swinley Forest has always been a very exclusive club, and generally play by their own rules. Course measurements, scorecards and competitions are all only fairly recent additions here.

Handicaps for members are not obligatory, and considering they choose what they play off, are a bit of a waste of time.  But this gives you a bit of an idea of the feel around the place.  It is very old school.

Ian Paroissien fires his drive away at the short Par four 3rd hole.

One thing that is not a recent addition is the welcoming of female members.  In fact this was one of the reasons Swinley was created back in 1909.

Lord Stanley, the Earl of Derby, who was one of the founding members at Sunningdale Golf Club, was the driving force behind the development of the course.  Lady Stanley had become quite a keen golfer, however she could not play at Sunningdale as at that time women "be not allowed to play over the links".

Lord Stanley mentioned this to King Edward VII, who suggested that he should build his own course. The land, which is crown land, was provided on a nominal rent.  Lord Stanley built a clubhouse and commissioned Harry Colt, who was the secretary at Sunningdale at the time, to design the course.

Alex Knight driving with his lovely hire clubs at the par five 5th.

Bernard Cassell also driving at the 5th, on his way to a solid 33 points.

Harry Colt referred to his design here at Swinley as his "least bad course".  It definitely is one of the "least bad courses" I have played.

We could not have asked for a better day, 25 degrees and not a breath of wind.  No one else really on the course, and the late afternoon tee time meant that the shadows from the lowering sun were brilliant.

The heather around the course is in abundance, and the purple flowers are stunning.

Only in very recent times have the club been more open to visitors.  Certainly the coach we had in the car park today is a rarity.

Stunning!  There is not much more to say.

Swinley is only a fairly short course, a 6373 yard Par 69 from the back tees, but the variety of holes, and the space around the property, make it feel longer.  It is certainly a good test.

A great start to the tour.  Jenny Jones certainly thought so.  Jenny played brilliant golf, recording a win with a magnificent 44 points!

Tomorrow we head to another short and quirky heathland gem, New Zealand Golf Club.