Heathland golf, hole by hole
Eighteen holes threaded through pine and heather on the Surrey sandbelt, barely altered since 1898.
Firm, free-running fairways wind between stands of Scots pine and seas of heather, the turf fast and the greens true.
Firm, free-running fairways wind between stands of Scots pine and seas of heather, the turf fast and the greens true. Position from the tee is everything — the heather asks no questions twice, and no two rounds play quite alike.
Five holes that stay with you long after the round — though the heathland, in a fresh breeze, is quick to nominate others of its own.
3rd · The Punchbowl · Par 3
A short hole of real delicacy, played from an elevated tee down to a green gathered deep within banks of heather. The putting surface funnels a well-judged iron toward the flag, yet punishes the timid: come up short and the heather claims you, go long and the ball trickles away into the sandy hollow behind. On a still evening it is the prettiest one-shotter on the sandbelt; in a stiff breeze off the pines it asks a searching question of club and nerve alike.
8th · Keeper's Field · Par 4
A classic two-shotter across open heath, and one of the truest driving holes on the card. A belt of cross-bunkers cuts the fairway at driving length, demanding an honest line and honest commitment from the tee — lay back and the long second plays all the harder across the broken ground. The green sits quietly on the far rise, framed by silver birch, and gives up its pars only to those who have thought their way down from the tee.
9th · Marchmont's · Par 5
The club's signature hole, and the one every member wants to describe first. A sweeping dogleg through the pines, named for the secretary whose quiet determination saved the course from the plough in 1946. The bold line flirts with the heather down the right and leaves the green within range for the long hitter; the prudent play out to the left and take their three shots to reach it. Either way the second-shot vista, down an avenue of Scots pine to the distant flag, is the abiding image of Ravenhall Park.
15th · The Quarry · Par 4
A stern two-shotter played across the old sand workings that first gave the course its fast, free-running turf. The drive must find a rippling fairway that tilts toward the gorse, and the second is all carry and nerve — a long iron flung over the lip of the quarry to a green set hard against the heather beyond. Par here is a score to be defended to the last, and many a promising card has come unstitched on the fifteenth.
18th · Home · Par 5
A grand closing hole beneath the clubhouse terrace, with every window watching the way in. Reachable in two for the brave and the strong, it tempts a heroic second across the last belt of heather to a green cradled below the Edwardian gables. Play it as a three-shotter and a closing birdie is there for the taking; over-reach and the round can slip away within sight of the bar. However it is played, there is no finer walk in Surrey golf than the last strides up to the eighteenth.
Scorecard
| Hole | Par | SI | White | Yellow |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. The Avenue | 4 | 5 | 421 | 393 |
| 2. Pinewood | 4 | 11 | 408 | 380 |
| 3. The Punchbowl | 3 | 17 | 182 | 154 |
| 4. The Plateau | 5 | 3 | 538 | 510 |
| 5. Sandy Lane | 4 | 1 | 446 | 418 |
| 6. The Warren | 4 | 9 | 397 | 369 |
| 7. Heather Bank | 3 | 15 | 196 | 168 |
| 8. Keeper's Field | 4 | 7 | 433 | 405 |
| 9. Marchmont's | 5 | 13 | 561 | 533 |
| 10. The Ridge | 4 | 6 | 414 | 386 |
| 11. Pine Hollow | 3 | 18 | 168 | 140 |
| 12. Broom Heath | 4 | 10 | 405 | 377 |
| 13. The Sandbelt | 5 | 4 | 552 | 524 |
| 14. Larkspur | 4 | 2 | 438 | 410 |
| 15. The Quarry | 4 | 8 | 451 | 423 |
| 16. Gorse Corner | 3 | 16 | 211 | 183 |
| 17. Heron's Walk | 4 | 12 | 419 | 391 |
| 18. Home | 5 | 14 | 547 | 519 |
Around the course
