Royal Automobile Club (Old) – Golf Course Review

Golfer’s Tips

• During the warmer months the fairways can really run, often into quite long rough and cleverly placed fairway bunkers, so it’s definitely a course to plot yourself around with something shorter than driver.
• The short par 4 5th hole may appear driveable to longer hitters, but there is no real benefit – it’s a longer hit than it measures due to the incline, and even if the required distance is met there is little to no chance of holding the green given its shallow and steeply sloped nature.

Signature Holes

• 4th – a really fun par 5. Starts with a picturesque tee shot playing uphill through a channel of trees, with bunkering cleverly placed on the left half of the fairway on driver distance, and then the incline increases as you play up to a green perched at the top of the hill.
• 18th – another par 5, this time the famous closing hole played to the green just in front of the ultra impressive clubhouse and fountain. The tee shot should be aimed for the fairway bunker on the left hand side, and from there the right fairway is your friend for the best angle into the green.

Review:

A beautiful setting, with a course that almost matches up.

The RAC Club is wonderfully located in some beautiful rolling hills in the Surrey countryside, and the clubhouse and facilities are spectacular. The Old Course is well put together and plays into the hilly terrain nicely. 

Not overly long, there are few par 4s that require driver off the tee for mid to long hitters, often with strategically placed bunkers and narrowing of the fairway on driver length, so it is more of chance to plot your way around and attempt to find the right level of some tough multi tiered greens.

The course condition (in early June) was phenomenal, but the speed of the fairways and the often severely-sloped greens provides further defence and makes scoring that much trickier.

Standout holes are two par 5s – the 4th (pictured) is a fantastic snaking hole with a raised tee and then beautiful uphill approach to a raised green, and the signature 18th is a very attractive risk-reward hole, with a second shot into the green (in front of the clubhouse) possible if you cut the corner with your drive.

Slightly more diversity and some stronger par 3s would have seen this score higher in my eyes, and might escalate the course alongside some of the ‘bigger’ Surrey names and the facility as a whole.

• “Top 100” Ranking: 30th (Surrey)
• Golfer View Rating: 66%

https://www.royalautomobileclub.co.uk/woodcote-park/golf/

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