The Best Golf Courses Around London: A Practical Guide
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Today
London doesn’t have a golf coast, but it sits inside the densest concentration of heathland golf in the world. Within roughly 50 minutes of the city, the Surrey and Berkshire “stockbroker belt” holds a cluster of Harry Colt and Herbert Fowler designs from golf’s Edwardian golden age, still playing on the same sandy, heather-lined ground they were cut into more than a century ago. This isn’t a beach-and-golf destination, and we won’t pretend it is. It’s a base for golfers who want serious, historic courses within striking distance of a major city, and who are prepared to plan around private members’ clubs rather than resort tee sheets.
What Makes Golf Near London Distinctive
The defining feature of London-area golf is the ground itself. The belt running from Sunningdale through Wentworth, Walton Heath, and St George’s Hill sits on a band of sandy heathland soil that drains quickly and supports heather, gorse, and Scots pine rather than the clay-based parkland found elsewhere in the Home Counties. Architecturally, this is Harry Colt territory: he laid out St George’s Hill in 1912, both courses at Wentworth in the 1920s, and reworked Sunningdale’s Old Course in 1922, and his fingerprints (strategic bunkering, tree-framed doglegs, greens that reward the correct angle rather than raw length) are what golf historians mean when they talk about the “golden age” of British course design. The trade-off is access: most of the best courses are private members’ clubs, not public resorts, so visitor golf typically means specific weekday windows, a handicap certificate, and advance booking rather than walking up and paying at a public pro shop.
The Courses Worth Building a Trip Around
Wentworth Club in Virginia Water, Surrey, is the name most golfers already know, largely from the BMW PGA Championship it has hosted on the DP World Tour since the 1980s. The West Course, Colt’s 1926 “Burma Road” design later reworked by Ernie Els’s team in 2016-17, plays to a par of 72 and around 7,280 yards from the back tees, making it one of the longest tests in the region.
The shorter East Course (par 68, roughly 6,200 yards), also Colt, is the more forgiving and cheaper alternative on the same estate. Wentworth is now largely restricted to members and their guests since its 2016 change of ownership, so visitor access typically runs through corporate days, society bookings, or a stay-and-play package rather than a simple green fee booking.
Sunningdale Golf Club, just up the road in Berkshire, is frequently ranked as England’s finest inland course. The Old Course was originally laid out by Willie Park Jr. in 1900 and remodelled by Colt in 1922; the New Course, also Colt, opened in 1923. Visitor access is limited, usually to midweek rounds and often requiring an introduction from a member, and green fees reflect that exclusivity, typically £200 or more for the Old Course in season.
Walton Heath Golf Club, near Tadworth on the North Downs, offers a slightly more accessible version of the same heathland golf. The Old Course, designed by Herbert Fowler and opened in 1904, hosted the 1981 Ryder Cup and is widely rated among the toughest tests in English golf; the New Course, also Fowler, is not far behind. Walton Heath welcomes visitors on weekdays, with green fees generally running £100-£160 depending on the season, and it maintains a traditional dress code (no denim, collared shirts required).
St George’s Hill, in Weybridge, is a 27-hole club comprising the Red, Blue, and Green nines, all designed by Colt and opened in 1913. The classic Red-and-Blue combination plays to around 6,350-6,550 yards and par 70, through heather, Scots pine, and rhododendron on a private residential estate. Visitors are accepted Monday to Thursday (and limited Friday mornings), never on weekends, and green fees for the full 18 holes run from roughly £115 up to £250 depending on season and day, with lower rates available outside peak summer months.
For golfers who want a resort experience rather than a private-club visit, Foxhills Club & Resort in Chertsey, Surrey, is the standout option. It has two 18-hole championship courses, Longcross (par 72, around 6,740 yards) and Bernard Hunt (par 72, around 6,840 yards), plus a 9-hole Manor course for a quick loop, all set within a 400-acre estate that includes a hotel, spa, and multiple restaurants. Both courses have hosted PGA Cup and International Series events and rank among England’s top 100. Green fees for visitors start from around £70 for twilight rates and rise from there depending on time and season, and unlike the members’ clubs above, Foxhills is genuinely set up for paying guests to book online.
Away from the private heathland circuit, London Golf Club in Ash, Kent, is worth knowing for anyone wanting a big-name designer credit without the members’-club gatekeeping. Its International Course is a Jack Nicklaus design, and green fees (published around £105-£225 depending on time of day and season) include use of the practice facilities and Callaway range balls.
Getting There: Airports, Transfers, and Logistics
Heathrow is the natural gateway for this cluster of courses. Foxhills is about 20-25 minutes by car from Heathrow; Wentworth, Sunningdale, and St George’s Hill are all within 30-45 minutes depending on traffic on the M25/M3 corridor. Gatwick works reasonably well too, particularly for London Golf Club in Kent, though most of the Surrey/Berkshire heathland belt is closer to Heathrow. None of these courses are realistically reachable by public transport with golf clubs in tow — a hire car or a pre-booked transfer is the practical choice, and courses close to the M25 (junction 11 for Foxhills, junction 13 for Wentworth) are the easiest to navigate to from an airport hotel or central London base. If you’re staying in the city itself and doing day trips, budget an hour each way in typical traffic and build that into your tee time planning rather than cutting it close.
Best Time to Visit
The playing season runs roughly April to October, with May through September offering the most reliable weather — mild temperatures, long daylight hours, and firm, fast-running heathland turf that suits the region’s design style. July and August bring the heather into bloom, which is when these courses look most like their photographs, but it’s also peak pricing and the busiest tee sheets. Shoulder-season visits in April-May or September-October bring lower green fees, thinner crowds, and cooler but still very playable conditions; the heathland soil drains well, so these courses stay playable even after rain in a way that clay-based parkland courses further from London do not. Winter golf is possible on frost-free days, but daylight is short, and several private clubs restrict or close visitor play in the depths of winter, so it’s worth checking with each club directly before planning a trip outside the core season.
Who This Destination Suits Best
This is a fit for golfers who care about course architecture and are happy to do some homework on visitor access, not for anyone chasing a beach-and-golf combination — there’s no coastline here, and the appeal is entirely inland heathland design. It works well as an add-on to a London city trip (a couple of rounds bookended by sightseeing, theatre, or business) rather than as a standalone golf holiday, since the courses are scattered across Surrey, Berkshire, and Kent rather than clustered around a single resort you could base yourself at for a week. Groups willing to book well ahead, respect weekday-only visitor windows, and pay heathland-appropriate green fees will get access to genuinely world-class Colt and Fowler design; golfers wanting flexible, walk-up tee times at lower prices are better served by London’s municipal courses or by looking further afield to England’s coastal links regions.
