Tandridge

Going out, the topography is relatively flat but the golfing test is nevertheless significant with a par five and two challenging par fours to start. The drama really starts on the homeward nine which delightfully changes elevation as holes traverse the hills. “One of the best par threes in Surrey” is how the 223-yard 13th has been described. The green is surrounded by trees and ringed around with bunkers. There’s also an alarming fall off to the right hand side of the green which will kick the ball deep into the woods if you miss the green on this side.

Tandridge has quite rightly earned a reputation as a traditional but very friendly member’s club that specialises in society and corporate days but also welcomes individual visitors. Clubs such as Tandridge are few and far between and those with better cuisine are as rare as the dodo.

Frank Pont was engaged by the club in 2009 to oversee a course restoration project which lasted the best part of a decade. Tim Lobb was then appointed in 2019 to continue the course evolution work that was started by Frank Pont. The club provided us with these comments from Tim Lobb in the spring of 2022:

"My first task, along with my team, was to understand the history of Tandridge. This we did by gathering extensive historical data on the course, including aerial photography from English Heritage. Along with our own drone aerial mapping, this allowed us to look back some seventy years and see how the course and design had changed over that period. Quite clearly, many of the fairways had narrowed, trees encroached onto the playing surfaces and the original Colt design compromised.

Our aim was, and is, to bring back the Colt design and philosophy that had been lost over the years – the risk and reward that is essential on any top-class golf course – whilst ensuring that it meets the standards of all modern courses from a construction, playability and maintenance view. This is particularly important when considering the bunkers, which will number around eighty by the time our work is done.

We decided to adopt a hole-by-hole strategy to minimise disruption to members. As of 2022, despite the difficulties encountered through covid, we have already completed work on several holes which have been upgraded and/or reinstated to the original design philosophy. This is evident on the 1st , 2nd, 5th and 13th and we have have opened up some beautiful views that had been lost for decades due to a lack of woodland management. A woodland management plan is now in place, under the watchful eye of John Nicholson.

In the winter of 2022 a new and fully comprehensive irrigation system is being installed across the course, the practice holes and the turf nursery by Lakes & Greens. This will only enhance the condition and reputation of an already superb golf course”.