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The Old Course

"Walton Heath Golf Club is one of the true classic golf courses in the world today.
My favourite hole on the Old Course is the par 4, 6th."

Ernie Els

The Old Course has played host to many of the golfing elite who have experienced countless thrills and disappointments, but it has captured their hearts as well as those of its members and visitors. It has something special to offer: an expertly crafted heathland beauty with crisp turf giving it a links feel. The bunkers are large and fringed by heather, the greens big and consistent in pace.

This is a par 72 championship course that stretches to 7462 yards, SSS 75. Off the daily tees it plays to a more accommodating 6361 yards. There are many really strong holes on the Old Course. It begins with a long par 3 then moves over the road for the 2nd a 475 yard par 4 which sweeps down into a gentle valley where the fairway narrows. From here it is about 180 yards uphill to the right. The 5th is a cracking par 4 that can be played from 381 up to 485 yards. It demands a solid drive that must avoid the heather that frames the downhill fairway, and a second to an undulating green guarded by a pair of deep bunkers.

The 12th is shorter par 4 of 343 to 396 yards, with a sharp dogleg to the right and a shallow green. In the golden age of professional challenge matches Henry Cotton cut the corner to almost drive the green and set up a birdie.

Tom Weiskopf reckons the closing sequence is as good as any. It starts at the 13th with a strong 548 yard, par 5 curving to the right. The 14th is another par 5, a straight hole where the challenge is to avoid the fairway bunkers. Playing into the prevailing wind, the 15th punishes the slice severely and the green slopes left to right. The 16th is a classic, with a superb shot to the green. Bernard Darwin describes it thus: "The second shot is the thing - a full shot right home on to a flat green that crowns the top of a sloping bank. To the right the face of the hill is excavated in a deep and terrible bunker, and a ball ever so slightly sliced will run into that bunker as sure as fate." This is a 535 yard par 5 that is played as a 475 yard par 4 for professional tournaments.

The par 3, 17th plays over a gentle valley to an ‘island’ green with a large, curving front bunker. The finishing hole is a straight par 4 of 387 to 479 yards. The bunkers that cut into the fairway on the left and cross short of the green, are to be avoided to complete a memorable round

For a more detailed look at the course please view the hole-by-hole Course Guide