London Scottish Golf Club
Windmill Enclosure, Wimbledon Common,
London, Greater London SW19 5NQ
Tel : +44 (0)20 8788 0135 Fax : +44 (0)20 8789 7517

sean regan wrote on: Feb 20, 2004

This almost intact 19th century course is a lesson in golf architecture and in the manner in which the game was once, and should still be, played.
players who want showy water features and american style landscapes moulded by big budgets and earth-movers should stay away. They will not appreciate eighteen holes embedded in the mature park- and wood-land of the common, or the subtle challenges offered by this relatively short course.
At first the layout looks innocuous -
the course appears to be scatterd over the land rather than dominating it in the imperious modern manner - but then the Americans say that of St Andrews, don't they...?
A skillfully used wedge will be at least as useful here as a titanium driver, and the Links-golf skills of craft, ingenuity and imagination will have their just reward.
If you find it an unbearable distration to have horses in your eyeline, or to see dog-walkers traverse the fairway oblivious to the iron shot for which you are preparing, then, once again, stay away. If you have the humility to be pleased that golf is only one of the ways in which common land may be shared, you may find that in the end it enhances your day.
If you can bring a red shirt, patience, imagination and a sense of history, Wimbledon Common will yield a surpisingly rich reward.

Reply