Walton Heath Golf Club Old & New #27 & #28

Walton Heath Golf Club sits at the heart of the Surrey sandbelt, and it feels every bit the heavyweight when you arrive: two heathland golf courses woven together on the same land, major pedigree, and a history that includes Ryder Cup composite routing and recent elite women’s events. Our Walton Heath Golf Club review comes from a two-day pairs event that quickly turned into a story about how conditions, pressure, and course design shape your day. With the Old Course ranked inside the UK top 100 courses and the New Course also highly rated, the obvious question becomes simple: which is the better test, and which is the better time?

We played during a genuine British heatwave, and the course was, in a word, baked. The fairways ran forever, the turf looked scorched, and the usual visual cues between fairway and rough blurred into one brown canvas. That changes decision-making off the tee and into the greens, because extra run can be a gift or a trap depending on the landing zone. Pace of play also became part of the experience, with long waits and a marathon round that made hydration and energy management feel as important as club selection. Even so, the greens held up well, proving how much conditioning matters when the weather turns extreme.

Design-wise, Walton Heath is defined by two hazards that keep coming back: heather and bunkers. The heather here is not a gentle penalty; it is a genuine shot-stopper that can mean a lost ball or multiple hacks just to escape. That brutality is part of why the Old Course plays as a sterner test, even when holes look “straight” on a planner. Meanwhile, the bunkering is strategic rather than decorative: fairway bunkers sit right where you want to land, and green-side bunkers demand commitment to carries, especially when the ground is rock hard and approaches bounce on. It is classic heathland golf that rewards patience, conservative targets, and a plan for misses.

Comparing the Old Course and New Course, we found the Old to be tougher and the New to be more playable, with more short par fours that invite you to have a go. The Old Course builds into a superb closing stretch, while the New Course offers more obvious scoring chances but still punishes lazy lines with heather and cleverly placed sand. Add in signature hole challenges, match play swings, and the reality that the same venue can feel completely different in lush spring conditions versus a parched summer, and the biggest takeaway is this: Walton Heath is a thinking golfer’s venue, best enjoyed when you embrace strategy, accept the odd bad break, and come ready for a proper test of ball-striking and nerve.