Tyrrells Wood Golf Club

Tyrrells Wood Golf Club: with its sweeping views of the golf course and picturesque Surrey Downs beyond, a palatial red-brick clubhouse befits this classy Surrey golf club. So too its excellently maintained, stylish course. Sitting on an easy-draining chalk-base, this parkland-downland course largely retains its original design, for which we can thank two legends of golf course architecture ... James Braid and Harry Colt.

Although a bit compact in places, the layout is full of character. Ever-undulating and always testing and probing, here you'll find a wonderful variety of holes. Within the two characterful nine-hole loops, are some enjoyably elevated teeing grounds, as well as a few blind shots to be made. At 6, 7, 12 and 13, you'll need to cope with tricky side-sloping fairways, while the 7th and 13th tees offer longer-range "Surrey Hills" views.

The lightly tree-lined layout continually probes your game. Although accurate shot-making is often required, many holes encourage a less intimidating larrup from the tee. The opening trio are all short par-4s, with six more relative "shorties" to follow. Leading away from the resplendent clubhouse, are two of the short par-4s. The 1st is downhill and blind, the 2nd uphill and also blind.

Several holes are attractively bunkered around their respective greens, while fairway bunkering also adds character on many occasions. There's no shortage of greens, some of them two-tier, perched above the fairways, making approach play all the more testing.

Pick of the holes: with great variety throughout, a possible flag-bearer for Tyrrells Wood is the downhill par-4 14th. This attractive straightaway hole plays down from a nicely elevated tee, to a stylishly bunker-defended fairway and green.