XXXVIII: St George's Hill
St George, the valiant patron saint of England, is most commonly depicted atop a white horse slaying a dragon – an image with bravery, courage and triumph at its core. For a golf club to audaciously attach itself by name and logo to one of its country’s most gallant martyrs, they had better have something spectacular, bold and inspiring at their doorstep.
Undoubtedly the most handsome of the London heathlands and with a daring ethos amidst an adventurous style of the game, St George’s Hill makes as compelling a case as any for such a heroic attachment to its layout.
The royal clubhouse of SGH
Few clubhouses in the golfing world harbour the grandeur and aura of the red brick castle perched atop the uppermost vantage point at St George’s Hill, but it’s the land which spills from its terrace which stands as the club’s most majestic asset. Amongst postcodes blessed with remarkable grounds for golf, St George’s Hill rumbles, dives and climbs across Surrey’s most dynamic and severe terrain. Everything at St George’s Hill is big, bold and in your face – steep climbs, ski slope falls and sweeping contours flood the site, presenting lofty opportunities and complex challenges in routing the course.
At the hands of Harry Colt and through the genius of his two returning nines, the immense hills, valleys and plateaus which could be problematic in the routing of a lesser architect, are the foundations of some of the UK’s most interesting shots and the hallmarks of the layout’s allure. When land this loud falls in a lap of such golfing acumen, golfers find themselves in the heart of one of the sport’s most engaging and attractive puzzles.
The opening tee offers whiffs of its teeing excellence
The rare breed of course where its collection of tee shots may well be more engaging than its approaches, the strategy and appeal of St George’s Hill’s elevated opening tee as it plunges to a valley below provides a glimpse of Colt’s impending brilliance. With appropriate width and space, an intelligent range of bunkers cutting into fairways and resting in their hearts, and sharp spines kicking balls off-line, the predicaments and considerations are broad and it’s the diversity of the tee shots which make them so brilliant, each presenting an entirely different look, angle and strategy – there are options which scale the risk continuum from every block and the constant calculations in attempting to marry up a line and distance stands far from an exact science.
Width and conundrums at the second
Much like Colt’s ‘least bad course’ down the road at Swinley Forest, much of St George’s Hill’s brilliance is found in the exceptional diversity of its two-shot holes. Maximising the natural landforms and topography to balance challenge and intrigue, the par fours explore a range of avenues to captivate golfers – the aforementioned teeing strategy at its heart. Each in its own right delivers a singular feature, strategy or challenge of note, but as a collection there are a handful of holes which best showcase the breadth of their excellence:
Colt's handiwork busies fairways
The 4th
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The enchanting downhill fourth touches an awkward and forgotten yardage in the game, tipping out at around 260 yards it stands as the type of hole which has been swept under the rug by par. With a domed, double-tiered and triangular green wearing a necklace of traps it lies as an elusive target at a vulnerable and enticing yardage. Yielding an incredibly wide range of possible outcomes, the fourth is one of the most unique short fours golfers will encounter.
The dialled up 4th green complex
The 5th
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The long uphill fifth pieces together a cluster of Colt’s trademark features. One of the most appealing tee shots at St George’s Hill, a long cross-bunker slices the fairway much closer to the green than it appears, messing with golfers’ depth perception. As the fairway gently rises, its short grass blends seamlessly with the green to form a devious false front – known for his love of uphill approaches, Colt located a brilliant one at the fifth.
The string of bunkers confusing the 5th tee shot
The 9th
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The elevated ninth tee unravels one of inland golf’s finest views back towards the clubhouse. Partially blind to a fairway below which dives quickly left, two bunkers muddle up the driving line with golfers met with the sharpest uphill approach of the day. With its green tilted hard left, holding the green is much more easily achieved from a tee shot which contends with the pair of fairway traps.
One of inland golf's most majestic views at the 9th
The 10th
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Moving across the most compellingly scaled terrain, the tenth is undoubtedly the finest hole of the layout. The half par hole in the direction which hurts opens with a forced carry over heather to a semi-blind bowl in the fairway, but it’s the approach which garners most interest. With a heath-laden ridge cutting into the fairway combining with a pair of Colt hazards and a tumultuous green which banks hard to the right, there is an overwhelming amount for golfers to process and enjoy.
Looking back down the 10th
The 17th
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The back nine is scattered with a handful of wonderful contours and the spine residing in the middle of the 17th fairway is central to its strategy, kicking balls left where the best angle of approach is right. The fairway careens downhill to a gorgeous greensite tucked behind a bunker and flourish of heather. Attractive, dynamic and strategic, the 17th is a pretty accurate encapsulation of the qualities of St George’s Hill.
The commanding ridge slicing through the 17th fairway
Amongst the talk of its two shot excellence, given Colt’s handiwork around the world it should come as no surprise that at St George’s Hill he has delivered an excellent set of one-shot holes. With a notorious ability to sniff out perfect plateaus for par three putting surfaces, Colt located two of his most dramatic expressions amongst the hills of SGH.
The most famous arrives at the downhill 8th which plays theatrically from plateau to plateau as bunkers scale the hillside encroaching on the front of the green.
The delightfully daunting 8th
At the 11th golfers are posed with a more delicate proposition- the 100 yard flick comfortably the shortest of the day, but its tiny target perilously suspended atop a knob accepts nothing but excellence from the tee.
With a light touch Colt seamlessly carved out two dramatically different do or die shots in quick succession, commanding precision and injecting flashes of electricity into the heart of the loop where a seemingly straightforward three can quickly escalate to golfers scrambling for five.
A let-up in distance only at the 11th
Fittingly, St George’s Hill finishes in majestic fashion, playing to a fairway riding a hulking ridge and its green hanging at the foot of the castle. Like the majority of the best courses on the planet, St George’s Hill cuts its teeth across compelling grounds for golf – its rambunctious nature the catalyst for gripping and thrilling shots. Most memorable however, is Colt’s ability to uncover and route par fours of captivating diversity and connect them with meaningful one-shotters. There are few inland layouts with the ability to simultaneously take golfers’ breath away with attraction and dynamism and hold their attention with strategy and variety quite like St George’s Hill.