Heathland golf in England

Heathland golf is the great inland counterpart to links — played on pockets of sandy, free-draining soil that lie inland from the coast, clad in purple heather, gorse, silver birch and Scots pine. It has much of the links character — firm, fast turf and a premium on strategy — with the shelter and beauty of trees, and England, above all the Surrey and Berkshire “sand belt” south-west of London, has the finest concentration of it anywhere on earth.

Its golden age came in the early 1900s, when architects like Harry Colt, Willie Park Jr and Herbert Fowler realised that this heathy, sandy ground — long dismissed as wasteland — could be shaped into strategic golf as good as any links. The courses they built, Sunningdale and Walton Heath among them, became the template that later shaped heathland and parkland courses all over the world, Augusta National included.

The magic is the soil. Like a links, the heathland sits on sand, so it drains almost instantly and the turf stays firm and true — which is why the great Surrey and Berkshire courses play beautifully year-round, firm underfoot in the depths of winter when heavier parkland courses are waterlogged or on temporary greens. A crisp winter round over frosted heather, at a fraction of the summer green fee, is one of golf's underrated pleasures.

The look is unmistakable too: fairways framed by banks of heather that glow purple in late summer, stands of pine and birch, and the springy, close-cropped turf that the game's purists love.

Heathland golf is a thinking game. The fairways are generous enough, but the heather that lines them is the great hazard: a ball in deep heather is often effectively unplayable, so the smart play is position off the tee, not distance. Great heathland design — Colt's especially — asks a question on every hole, angling greens and placing bunkers so that the aggressive line brings the most risk and the safe line leaves the hardest approach.

Because the turf is firm, the ground game matters here as on a links: the ball runs on landing, run-up approaches work well, and you can putt or bump from off the edge of the green. But the trees add a precision element a links doesn't have — a wayward drive that would simply run into rough by the sea can be blocked out entirely by a stand of pines here.

• Position, not power. Find the fairway and the right angle; leave the driver in the bag when it isn't needed.
• Stay out of the heather. From deep heather, wedge out sideways — a lost ball or a hacked-out double is the real card-wrecker.
• Use the firm ground. Run-up approaches and putts from off the green work beautifully.
• Mind the trees. A pushed or pulled tee shot can be dead behind a pine — favour the open side.
• Read the strategy. On a Colt or Fowler hole, the tempting line usually hides the catch.

Two things set an English heathland trip apart. First, the seasons: because they drain so well, the heaths are a genuine year-round proposition, and a winter heathland week is superb value. Second, access: several of the very greatest — Swinley Forest, Woking, St George's Hill— are private members' clubs where visitors play only on limited days or as a guest, so plan those around who you know, and book the more open ones (Sunningdale, The Berkshire, Walton Heath) well ahead.

Sunningdale's Old Course is the archetype and the perfect introduction — the heathland ideal, with the famous halfway hut and the great oak by the 18th. Walton Heath, high and exposed, plays almost like a links; the two loops of The Berkshire are among the most beautiful golf anywhere; and, up in Lincolnshire, Woodhall Spa is widely rated the finest inland course in the British Isles. See the best courses in England and the Surrey heathland guide to build a trip, and check when to go.