Samuel Johnson, the worldly-wise 18th century scribe, once
declared: “When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life.” Applying this
maxim to the English capital’s most venerated, century-old golf club, one might
suggest that the golfer who wearies of playing at Sunningdale should seriously
consider a different sport.
Located 25 miles southwest of London center, both Sunningdale
courses are staunch members of the Berkshire-Surrey “heathland club”: sandy
underfoot, elegant pine and silver birch trees, swaths of heather, and a dash of
gorse and rhododendron for good measure. Either 18 could justifiably lay claim
to the title of “best inland golf course in the British Isles,” although most
critics regard the more intimate and more characterful Old course, designed in
1901 by Willie Park Jr. and refined over the ensuing decade by the club’s first
secretary, Harry Colt, as the jewel in Sunningdale’s crown.
The Old witnessed what is often hailed as the finest single round
of golf ever played: Bobby Jones’ 66 (comprising 33 shots from tee to green and
33 putts) in a qualifying event for the 1926 British Open, a performance
succinctly described at the time by Bernard Darwin as “incredible and
indecent.”
The full splendor of Sunningdale is encapsulated by the view from
the 4th green and adjacent 5th tee. Stretching out below, in the midst of two
dark green, wooded oceans, are the emerald fairways of the 5th and 6th. Heather,
which can appear rusty brown or purple depending on the season, a fair
sprinkling of those silver sand bunkers, and an attractive pond complete the
picture.
Although the 419-yard 5th is properly a right-to-left dogleg, a
good drive can flirt with the trees on the left. The pond to the right of the
fairway shouldn’t come into play but has historical interest: It is thought to
be golf’s first manmade water hazard.
