(This series is neither well planned or coherent. What it is, though, is the result of spending a few spare hours at Christmas 2021 looking through some recently located files of pictures, and thinking about my golfing journey to this point. I’ve been lucky to have played in some pretty special places, and made some lasting connections along the way, and year end seems as good a time to reflect back on a dozen of these as any. Who knows, it might inspire me to plan a few more exploratory trips for 2022…)
Somehow, the laid-back ambience of Swinley kicks in well before the gate starts to shift to the right, enabling the driver to join a handful of other vehicles in the otherwise deserted car park. My first visit there was in 2005 I think, as a result of the write-up Tom Doak gave it in his Confidential Guide, a rare “8” on his eponymous rating scale (at least I think it was an “8”…my treasured copy of that book is currently perched behind a fairly spiked Christmas tree).
I’d memorised the directions but didn’t trust that I was going the right way until I saw a tiny green and yellow sign perched in a shrub at the side of Coronation Road. Everything is under-stated at Swinley, and it is perhaps because it is so good, there is simply no need to shout. This is a place to just relax and play golf, nothing more.
As you swing right to park, the gorgeous clubhouse sits in front of you, overlooking the 1st and 18th holes at the top of the first and last contour of this wonderful course. These two holes feel different - less heather in evidence - but the beautiful, punishing heathland kicks in from the 2nd tee, and as you pass the carry bunker and head over the hill towards the green and railway behind, your journey through Harry Colt’s masterpiece - which he called with typical restraint his “least bad course” - is well underway.
The routing weaves through pristine pine and heather forest, the changes of direction on nearly every tee also resulting in some considerable changes in elevation. Out here, 25 miles from Marble Arch, you couldn’t guess you were within touching distance of a metropolis, so peaceful are the wide and welcoming fairways. The golfer is left alone with their thoughts, and most of those must be concerned with the challenge of getting round a layout that measures a little over 6,000 yards intact.
At par 69, with a number of shortish par 4’s in the mix, you end up hitting a lot of long and difficult approach shots, and the brilliant bunkering, combined with natural heather gulleys and open ditches make it a very easy course on which to find trouble.
The short holes are just stunning, with the long 2nd hewn from a bank of vibrant heather and the 13th a tempting short iron over a protective front trap, while longer holes like the 6th and 15th are challenging enough for any level of player. Some greens have profound internal swales and contours, while others - like the deceptive 3rd - have just delicate run-offs to catch all but the finest approach shots.
Somehow, the rhythm of Colt’s 1911 layout is perfect, a winding route never threatening this overall sense of privacy, and privilege. There are no weak holes at Swinley, and the strength of the course lies in the consistency of all 18 as a group. A couple of dozen visits later, and I hesitate to pick a favourite hole, as the subtle brilliance of the less obvious ones emerges over time. I have come to love the 14th, and the 2nd, and even the 16th, too, though I fail to par it every time. In fact, so pleasing on the eye and so strategically fascinating to play is Swinley that the feeling I sometimes get on one or two tees on lesser courses - of great excitement at the enticing shot ahead - is pretty much ubiquitous here.
The adventure through the forest always seems to end too soon, and if you are lucky enough to find time for a refreshment, sitting behind the closing hole’s green, then you can order the beverage of choice round here - the Swinley Special, a drink whose recipe is a closely guarded secret. This seems appropriate, as the Club is intentionally under the radar, and the blend of factors that make up its own recipe result in a course that seems even more than the sum of its spectacular parts.
Swinley is very, very Special, indeed.
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