Guildford Golf Club is a private members

golf club A golf club is a club used to hit a golf ball in a game of golf. Each club is composed of a shaft with a grip and a club head. Wood (golf), Woods are mainly used for long-distance fairway or tee shots; iron (golf), irons, the most versatile class ...

located in

Merrow Merrow (from Irish ', Middle Irish ' or ') is a mermaid or merman in Irish folklore. The term is of Hiberno-English origin. The merrows supposedly require a magical cap ( ga, cochaillín draíochta; Hiberno-English: cohuleen druith) in order ...

Guildford Guildford () is a town in west Surrey, around southwest of central London. As of the 2011 census, the town has a population of about 77,000 and is the seat of the wider Borough of Guildford, which had around inhabitants in . The name "Guildf ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. Founded in 1886, it is the oldest golf club in the

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

History

Until 1870, the

golf course A golf course is the grounds on which the sport of golf is played. It consists of a series of holes, each consisting of a tee box, a fairway, the rough and other hazards, and a green with a cylindrical hole in the ground, known as a "cup". Th ...

was actually a race course. Laid out on land that was once part of the Onslow Estate, the club was founded by Colonel W. Bannatyne, Major W. Pontifex and Mr E.L. Hooper. The 4th Earl of Onslow gave his support to the project, and so became the President of the club. Originally, the course was just six holes in length, but by the early 1900s it had expanded to eighteen and the clubhouse was built.

Clubhouse

The modern

clubhouse Clubhouse may refer to: Locations * The meetinghouse of: ** A club (organization), an association of two or more people united by a common interest or goal ** In the United States, a country club ** In the United Kingdom, a gentlemen's club * A ...

was officially opened in 1998 by

Peter Alliss Peter Alliss (28 February 1931 – 5 December 2020) was an English professional golfer, television presenter, commentator, author and golf course designer. Following the death of Henry Longhurst in 1978, he was regarded by many as the "Voice of g ...

. The clubhouse looks out over the Downs, with attractive views of the 18th hole. The club website states that the clubhouse has been "widely acclaimed as one of the best in the South East of England".

The course

The course is an 18-hole parkland golf course set on the North Downs. It measures 6090 yards off the men's competition tees and has a par of 69. Being situated on

chalk Chalk is a soft, white, porous, sedimentary carbonate rock. It is a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite and originally formed deep under the sea by the compression of microscopic plankton that had settled to the sea floor. Chalk ...

, it is seen as a good all-weather course. Often, there is a fairly strong wind across the Downs, significantly increasing the difficulty of the course.

External links

Guildford Golf Club website
Golf clubs and courses in Surrey Sports venues completed in 1886 Sports venues in Guildford {{England-golfcourse-stub