Swinley Forest is unique, an impressive heathland course, unpretentiousness with none of the glamour of its near neighbours, Sunningdale and Wentworth.

Quoted in Nicholas Courtney’s book to celebrate the Club’s 2009 Centenary, it is said that ‘members of The Berkshire Golf Club are all gentlemen and love to play golf; all the Sunningdale members love to play golf but not all are gentlemen and all the Swinley members are gentlemen but don’t give a fig whether they play golf or not!’.

The fact that there are no obligatory handicaps and members choose what they play off says something of the membership’s attitude to life.

Harry Colt, the great golf course architect and Secretary at Sunningdale at the time, was commissioned to design Swinley. He subsequently became its Secretary, it being reported that he was ‘no easy man to serve’ but scrupulously fair and cared deeply for his staff’s welfare.

He tramped the dense woodlands avoiding the wetlands at the centre of the course and cut down some 14,000 pine trees to create vistas known as his ‘landscape aspect’ across the naturally sandy based draining fairways that are lined with trees but seldom come into play. They allow a width with many choices to be made between safety and heroism across the 179 acres.

You don’t get really tight turf on the predominantly fescue fairways at Swinley, as perhaps the members prefer the ease of the ball sitting up with some springiness. The greens are typical Colt, not a straight putt to be found but without the extreme undulations to be found on many modern target courses.

The seclusion at Swinley is said to be down to the majority of the course being on Crown Commission land and Lord Derby, who effectively created and ran the Club for his friends, being successful in not encouraging development on the periphery of the course.

There are also no large roads nearby – offering an enchanting atmosphere to test your game against the challenging Par 68 on this wonderful course.