XXXVII: Swinley Forest
In a vacuum, the concept of par and the ideologies attached to this fictional marker post for success or failure may well have been one of the most damaging notions to golf course architecture. With 72 or (at a stretch) 71 seemingly designated as par’s North Star, far too many courses bulge with excess, grappling for length and stretching beyond the merits of the land as they grasp for the magic number on the card and the casual golfer’s nod of respect in designating it a ‘proper course’. How many courses have detoured from building the most compelling lay of the land holes as a result, neglecting the game in its most interesting form?
The absence of par’s frustrations and limitations were formative in granting Harry Colt the freedom to react to the qualities of the Surrey property and lay out the 18 best holes in designing Swinley Forest, his self-proclaimed ‘least bad golf course’.
Swinley Forest - One of golf's great treats
As a par 69 tipping out at 6,400 yards, much has been written on Swinley Forest’s charms as a short, sporty and fun layout – none of which are up for discussion, however this boxed-in portrayal barely scratches the surface of the relentless quality and captivating expression of the game which Colt has shaped. Carved through the pines and heath of the Surrey sandbelt and devoid of the chaos of London’s goings-on, there is an endearing serenity which ensconces the club – a rare sense of escapism typically reserved for the seaside links.
Complete and utter escapism
A decidedly private club with a small membership, not in the snotty sense but in the way it minds its own business, Swinley Forest has little interest in media attention or tournament hosting. In many ways it is a rare club which has been blessed with the permission sleep in, frozen in time, its wooden lockers and Tudor style clubhouse seeping an old-world charm which makes it one of the most loveable venues in the game. There truly is no place quite like Swinley Forest.
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Colt’s freedom from the rules and constraints of the modern game allowed him to stake out Swinley Forest in the most engaging way he saw fit, carving out one of the game’s most captivating routings. A round which flows seamlessly is at the heart of Swinley Forest’s pleasures and falling off a green and onto the next tee quickly becomes one of Swinley Forest’s great joys as golfers waste little time backtracking to play the next hole. For all of its appealing characteristics, this seamless momentum of golf where a round can be walked in three hours has a case for being its most attractive.
The game flows effortlessly at Swinley Forest
Across a property home to a wonderful balance of the ideal landforms for golf, with ridges, undulations and mounds of varying scale heavily impacting play yet never overwhelming the site, presented Colt a canvas to route a course which chased appealing shots with appealing shots and delivers the type of pleasant walk which few courses can match.
Features like the ridge on two deliver plenty of diversity
The UK’s Finest Collection of Short Holes?
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It’s no secret that as Colt traversed the property he identified and marked out five one-shot putting surfaces as the first marker posts for the routing. By skill, luck or a combination of both, the par threes are beautifully spaced throughout the round arriving at the 4th, 8th, 10th, 13th and 17th – a key component in the joys of Swinley Forest’s pace, balance and rhythm. Colt’s greens sit beautifully atop natural plateau’s, blending into their surroundings with grace and making for a majestic and exacting set of par threes.
The brilliant Redan 4th is one of golf's great one-shotters
Stretching between 173 and 227 yards from the back markers with most playing longer than their number, Swinley Forest’s short holes are far from a pushover. The plateau redan of the uphill fourth is the loop’s first and finest short hole, its false front and menacing bunker guarding the left edge combine with a severe front to back tilt to make it one of the most elusive surfaces and most fascinating shots at Swinley Forest.
The 8th, 10th and 17th all play varying degrees uphill but pose vastly different conundrums – a hallmark of Colt’s work. The right side of the 8th green plunges away with a deep fall-off, whilst the 10th carries across a chasm to a multi-tiered surface, but the tiny pushed-up green of the 17th is probably the scariest of the lot. The 13th stands as the lone downhill approach, but with bunkers carved into its edges it is no less testing, rounding out one of the game’s most compelling, diverse and attractive set of one-shotters.
The exacting picked up green of the 17th
Two-Shot Variety
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The mastery of Colt’s routing is that even with today’s equipment, over the course of 6,400 yards he has carved out questions for every single club in the bag – a feat achieved primarily by expertly weaving in a mix of short and long half-par holes throughout the layout.
Swinley Forest’s two-shotters are elevated by a lovely spattering of eccentric hazards which drive much of their strategy; sheets of heather challenge tee shots, random mounding and heather-clad landforms crowd playing lines, ditches slice through fairways seemingly out of nowhere and Colt’s brilliant bunkering cuts into the heart of fairways- just where they should be. Combining a breadth of hazards this wide with changes in elevation and firm and fast playing surfaces produces the type of golf that satiates cravings for intrigue and entertainment.
The grandeur of the sweeping 9th
On the front side the pair of long par fours at seven and nine ooze quality. The steadily rising 7th is complicated by a broken row of heather dicing up the landing area from the tee and a cross bunker short of the green adds complication to the approach to a back to front pitched putting surface which sits beautifully on the land.
From a raised tee at the ninth we find one of heathland golf’s most handsome holes, a sweeping dogleg left flanked by heather dives downhill off the tee and climbs to a picked up green around the corner. The simplicity of a lone bunker in the centre of the fairway drives the teeing strategy, while the greenside slopes ask an exacting question of the approach.
Looking back down the 12th
Every now and then you stumble across a hole which imprints something extra in you, a captivating illustration of just what golf can be – the long twelfth at Swinley Forest does just that. Every step of the hole is layered with interest as the heather and centreline bunker provide a range of paths off the tee and the hole winds right with splendour to a surface loaded with wrinkles and bumps at the base of a hill.
Truth be told, there isn’t a bad two shot hole at Swinley Forest, their diversity of attributes, depth of strategy and balance of challenge and length is the key to linking the stunning green sites of the par threes with interest and flow.
The steadily climbing 15th
For any course being built free of the directive of hosting professional golf tournaments, Swinley Forest is the model. Punchy, lean, plenty challenging and loaded with strategic and captivating golf, Colt’s ability to present so many memorable moments, compelling conundrums and invigorating shots across 6,400 yards stands as one of the game’s great illustrations. A day at Swinley Forest leaves golfers nothing to be desired except a return in the near future.