Golf Clubs in London and inside the M25

Using TheSocialGolfer.com course directory mapping tool*, we located approx. 100 golf courses can be found within the London Orbital Motorway, the M25. These consist of a combination of Private Members Clubs, Proprietary owned club and Public Golf Courses.

These include some of the more well-known courses including The Grove, The Addington, The Shire, The Richmond, The RAC Club (Royal Automobile Association) at Woodcote Park and Hampton Court Golf Club. This list also includes in the list is Royal Blackheath Golf Club, which in 2008 celebrated it 400th year in existence and is THE oldest golf club in London, and widely recognized as the Oldest Golf Club in the World….

 
By the late 16th Century, golf had been reported played in Scotland for some 150 years, and James I (James 6th of Scotland) entourage was rumoured to include several golfers and, by climbing to the higher ground at Blackheath above the palace, these courtiers could see an area on which they could pursue their sport. In addition, the Prince of Wales and James I's son is known to have started golfing in 1606. This was the first record of golf in Blackheath, and while many of these golfers belonged to Scottish nobility, Royal Blackheath was considered a Scottish club! But this golf club is in London?

The Club's own artefacts date back to as early as 1745, and the Edinburgh Almanac which has listed the dates of formation of the leading golfing societies since the early 1800s - records Blackheath as having been established "prior to 1745" from as long ago as 1830. Bernard Darwin, grandson of Charles Darwin, golf correspondent of The Times for 46 years, past Captain of the Royal & Ancient and the most revered of all golf writers, began his introduction to a guide to the Club published in the 1940s with the following words…"The Royal Blackheath Golf Club, as all the world knows, is the oldest golf club in the world."

So, if you’re looking for a golf club in London and inside the M25, why not give some of these historical and prestigious golf clubs a try!

*The Social Golfer website is an online golf club, golf society and course review site.