Woking Golf Club

Favorite Hole

No. 4, par 4, 352 yards

There are more beautiful holes at Woking than the fourth, such as the resplendent sixth and eighth. There are also several holes with more interesting greens: just take your pick from the stretch of Nos. 12-15. But no other hole on the course matches the strategic tension that the fourth generates. 

The story behind the design of No. 4 at Woking is famous. Initially, the hole was a straightforward par 4 right out of Tom Dunn’s playbook. The fairway was wide, bordered by heather on the left and the London and Southampton Railway on the right. A single cross bunker guarded the front of the green.

In 1901, likely under the influence of ideas promoted by Woking resident John Low, Stuart Paton made two simple yet seismic changes to the hole: he dug a pair of bunkers into the middle of the fairway, and he replaced the cross bunker with a pair of small bunkers (now a single bunker) cut into the front-left corner of the green. The hole now resembled the 16th at St. Andrews. Players had to commit to a strategy from the tee: either place their tee shot between the "Principal's Nose" bunkers and the railroad for a clean look at the green, or play left, trading immediate safety for a difficult approach over the green-side bunkers.

The concept still works. Because of how severely the green pitches away from the front-left bunker and toward the back-right bunkers, even high-ball hitters will find themselves shaky-kneed over wedges from the left half of the fairway. The advantage of being on the right side is as unmistakable as the risk.

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‍Overall Thoughts

Recently, I spoke with the writer Geoff Shackelford about his novel system for evaluating golf courses, which he laid out in his 2023 book “Golf Architecture for Normal People.” After he plays a new course, he asks three questions, each represented by a letter:

R — Can you Remember something about each hole?
E — Could you play the course Every day and never tire of it?
D — Is this a course where you would gladly take a Dog for a walk?

I like that the “RED” system focuses on enduring pleasure rather than immediate excitement. Mainstream top-100 rankings tend to overrate traits that impress at first but don't tend to resonate on repeat visits: championship scale, glossy conditioning, photogenic fields of bunkers. It’s useful to remind ourselves that lasting enjoyment in golf usually comes from humbler sources.

Woking might not fare well in the rankings, but it is a killer “RED” course. Let’s go letter by letter:

R — Can you remember something about each hole?

A moderately attentive golfer won’t have trouble remembering every hole at Woking after playing the course once.

The routing finds excellent variety in the land. On the front nine, most of the holes either play into or off of a large ridge running northeast to southwest through the property. Each hole uses this dominant landform slightly differently. The back nine sits on top of the ridge, winding through the rolling heathland. Until Nos. 17 and 18, no two consecutive holes play in the same direction.

Woking's architecture balances subtlety and boldness. The holes are simple and unadorned but typically have one feature that sticks in the memory. 

On the par-4 third hole, for example, the fairway is broad and un-bunkered, traveling along the base of the central ridge before turning right and climbing to the green. What golfers will remember, though, is the wonderfully inventive green complex. A heather-rimmed bunker sits front and center, concealing most of the putting surface. But savvy players will note a kicker slope feeding onto the green from the right. Any decently accurate low-trajectory approach will ride this slope around the bunker and toward the center of the green. It’s an outrageously fun shot.

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E — Could you play the course every day and never tire of it?

Woking excels as an everyday course. It is eminently playable — with generous fairways and greens, and a maximum length of 6,606 yards — yet challenging and strategically sophisticated enough to retain the attention of a skilled golfer over many rounds. While the course may yield low scores, it doesn’t feel completely solvable. Players will want to go back over and over to try to hit the perfect running approach on the third hole, or figure out the right answer to the question posed by the center-line bunkers on the fourth, or find the right section of the double plateau 13th green, or keep their ball from skidding through the ferocious fallaway 17th green.

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The club is also the kind of place I wouldn’t mind visiting seven times a week. It’s elegant but not opulent, rooted in tradition but not stuffy.

D — Is this a course where you would gladly take a dog for a walk?

Woking’s varied topography, Goldilocks scale (not too big, not too small), mixture of wooded and open areas, and lived-in naturalness make it an ideal environment for a dog walk. During my round last October, I saw several residents with their four-legged companions, taking advantage of the walking trails that run along several of the holes. Heathland, like linksland, has been used for this purpose for centuries.

Woking couldn’t host a men’s major championship. It doesn’t pop on Instagram, and it will likely never be a darling of magazine rating panels. But Geoff Shackelford’s “RED” criteria help us see the course for what it is: a place where average golfers might actually enjoy themselves.

2 Eggs

(How We Rate Courses)

Compared to fully realized heathland masterpieces like the Old and New courses at Sunningdale or the Red/Blue 18 at St. George’s Hill, Woking is a bit inconsistent. Some holes are slightly dull off the tee (1, 12, 15); others a touch too modernized (7, 9, 10). But the highs are high, and the property — modestly but effectively maintained by the club’s staff, and recently opened up through tree removal — is ineffably charming. I’m giving it two Eggs for strengths across the categories of land, design, and presentation.

Course Tour

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Additional Content

The Bunker That Changed Golf (Article)

Golf Architecture 101: Golden Age (Designing Golf Podcast)

Robert Crosby on the Influence of John Low (Fried Egg Golf Podcast)