St Georges Hill Golf Club

First opened in 1913, St Georges Hill Golf Club has long been a successful venue, and is considered one of the best golf courses in the world. Often referred to as the ‘Beverly Hills of England’, St Georges Hill Golf Club is the original residential planned golf community.

In 1911, a local builder had the ingenious idea to build fairway-side estate homes on a championship golf course. Fortunately, the preeminent golf course architect of the day, Harry Colt, was available to design the course. 

Throughout the years, many celebrities including Elton John and John Lennon have called the club home. Named after the patron saint of England, there are no weak holes on the three nines – Red, Blue, and Green – and many demand the bravery of St Georges to aggressively attack and score well.

For those short on time, all three nines loop back to the clubhouse, making this a convenient course on your England golf trip. The championship 18-hole course is considered to be the combination of the Red and Blue nines, with the Green just slightly shorter.

A standout in the London golf rotation of heathland classics, St George’s Hill is recognized along with Swinley Forest as being two of Colt’s best and most original designs. Colt took full advantage of the dramatic elevation changes at St George’s, distinguishing it from other Surrey golf courses.

In 2015, Tim Lobb, a long-time design partner with Australian 5-time Open champion, Peter Thomson, carried out a course evaluation for the Club.

This suggested the tweaks previously performed on the layout were straying from Colt’s original intentions. Since then, he has worked in restoring those elements back into Colt’s masterpiece, to the delight of members and visitors alike.

In addition to the course routing taking advantage of the elevation, St George’s iconic red brick clubhouse, originally named “the Pavilion” stands like a castle overlooking the course and surrounding Surrey countryside. Amazingly, given the sizes of the “fairway-side” estate homes, they are surprisingly private and unobtrusive to sight lines. 

The Terrace bar is perhaps only rivaled in England golf by Sunningdale’s as the ultimate outdoor 19^th hole.If your England golf tour takes you to the Surrey area St George’s Hill is a “must play.”

In an area known for stunning scenery, St George’s Hill’s three nines stand out for the beautiful and treacherous purple heather that forms carpets under the trees and circles the shaggy bunkers like amethyst necklaces.