West Byfleet Golf Club

West Byfleet Golf Club: just a few miles from Surrey's famed three W's (the golf clubs of Woking, Worplesdon and West Hill), you'll find a fourth "W". Here at West Byfleet you can discover another very enjoyable and easy-walking John Abercromby design (Worplesdon is also an Abercromby!).

Located alongside the London-Portsmouth railway line, the course sits on a sandy-soil base, ensuring good drainage throughout the year. The solid parkland front-nine gives way to a stronger and more varied back-nine, where touches of gorse and heather lend a heathland feel to proceedings. The course supports much wildlife, including deer, and not least green woodpeckers, the emblem of the Club.

A number of holes lead away from, or come back to, a slight rise in the centre of the layout. From here several holes fan out along good-width tree-lined avenues of oak, Scots pine, silver birch and many other tree varieties. Neither too compact nor overly expansive, this most pleasant of golfing environments is only "disturbed" by the occasional whoosh of trains heading for the south coast.

The greens here are deftly shaped, giving fast-running surfaces with slopes and borrows that call for a variety of approach shots and skill with the "short stick". Recently renovated by the team of Mackenzie & Ebert, the stylish fairway and greenside bunkering often looms large, not least at the bunker encircled par-3 17th green.

Pick of the holes: the relatively short but testing par-3 13th sits at the far end of the course. From an elevated tee you'll need to clear a pond that fronts the handsomely bunker-defended green. On the front-nine the par-4 6th is captivating. This gently doglegging hole plays through an attractive tree-lined avenue (as most holes do). From an elevated tee you can aim your drive a touch left, setting-up a deceptively long approach to the attractively framed green.