West Hill – Golf Course Review

Location: Woking, Surrey
Played: May 2026
Course Type: Heathland
Key Words: Pines | Turf | Train

Golfer’s Tips

The practice facilities are very strong, but the (excellent) turf driving range is a decent walk away from the clubhouse and short game / putting areas, including a traverse across some of the early holes.
A small ditch runs across the plot, no doubt helping its excellent drainage, but forms a notable hazard on several of the holes early and late in the round. Longer hitters should definitely consider club selection on the first and sixteenth, for example, as defaulting to woods could see your ball finding the water.

Signature Holes

3rd – a fine and testing long par four that jolts you into action after a reasonably steady start. Following a carry over heathland scrub the fairway gently turns right to left, with denser heather left and trees right, followed by a picturesque approach over a stream into a green that sits well within the corner of the woodland.
18th – an excellent hole, offering everything you ask for in a finisher – raised tee box, strategically placed bunkers, and a peak through to the clubhouse and patio behind a well-guarded green.

Review:

West Hill rounds off my experience of the fabled ‘three Ws’ in Surrey’s heathland sand belt, and what a pleasant and picturesque place to play golf it is.

Despite the fact that it is a direct neighbour of Worplesdon and Woking, West Hill very much has its own feel and characteristics, and charm is very high on the agenda. The course feels shorter and more playable than its compatriots, and far more like a gentle stroll through high quality heathland that gently undulates between the tall pines as exemplified on the club’s crest.

West Hill begins with a couple of reasonably straight forward par fours, the first playing down towards a small ditch with the fairway beyond then rising up to the green, but it is the third hole that really strikes you early on in the round. A fine long par four that plays with the busy London trainline running on your left, following a carry over heather to a fairway that then angles around to the left – the approach plays over the meandering stream into an excellent green complex that runs to the back left where dense woodland frames the far corner of the course beautifully.

The next hole is possibly the weakest of some very strong par threes, indeed two on the back nine (thirteen and fifteen) are excellent that are both picturesque and strategically challenging in equal measure. This is then followed by two holes with blind tee shots, not always a favourite, but the seventh recovers the quality with a sumptuous Colt-esque par three played over potted bunkers at the front, with the back right to front left camber spitting any mishit shots down a steep right drop off.

Putting surfaces are excellent and offer subtle borrows and undulations – reasonably large and receptive on approach, but this is only half of it as they are not an easy read and can be devilishly quick if you are the wrong side of the hole.

The eighth is a classic heathland par four, with some superb heather-lined bunkers intersecting the fairway and guarding the green, but in general the back nine possesses the stronger set of holes. The tenth and eleventh, both visible from the tenth tee owing to major tree removal undertaken a few years ago, are tricky par fours that run along the far perimeter of the course, prior to the lovely short twelfth hole which is drivable but with a severely tiered green and a litter of bunkers is certainly not a pushover.

The finish at West Hill is a strong one, and leaves you with a great feeling upon finishing, particularly if this includes the nineteenth hole patio overlooking the last green. The fifteenth is the second of two terrific par threes on the back nine, the sixteenth features a very attractive approach over the stream and beyond a plethora of bunkers to a sloped green sitting among a crescent of mature trees, and following the meandering par five seventeenth is a wonderful finishing hole with the old clubhouse visible beyond.

Alongside Woking and Worplesdon, the three W’s of Surrey represent some phenomenal golf available within easy reach of London and the M3 corridor. Opinions on a favourite are plentiful and varied, often biased towards golfer’s own performances at each, but for variety and a couple of real standout holes I would argue for Woking as the best of the three, closely followed by Worplesdon. That being said, West Hill is by no means the runt of the litter and definitely has its own charms – all three are absolutely superb and give the best impression of tranquil English heathland golf.