Golf Is A Totally Addictive Sport

Once you start to play the game of golf you will very quickly realise just why it is such an absorbing the game of golf is. Chess players probably do not go home and chat to their friends in the pub about how they played the rook against the bishop, and tennis players probably don’t talk endlessly about their games, but golf has a way of getting hold of you: you do sit in the pub afterwards and chat with your fellow golfers (or not) about the shot you played at the 11th hole.

Anything to do with golf become your focus (bordering on obsession!). This is why corporate golf days and society golf days are so popular. Corporate golf days are not just a day off work and a chance to relax with people who are clients or suppliers but also an opportunity to play the sport you love (and an excuse to get a day out of the office or factory!).

They are also a great way for businesses to show appreciation of their staff and clients by raising money for a charity or cause close to you or your staff’s heart – or if this not your motivation - it gives them a day off and a chance to reward their hard work throughout the year. This is quite smart business thinking too, because those staff members will realise that they are appreciated and will work more proficiently as a result.

All sorts of well-known and not so well-known Corporate Businesses/Companies and Golf Societies hold charity golf days for members, However, some who do not play golf may come along for the ride and to find out what is so fascinating about bashing a ball into a hole with a stick. They can very quickly get roped in!

Corporate and Charity golf days are a great way of combining your love of the game with raising funds for a good cause. All sorts of individuals, clubs, and societies organise charity days, and they can be a much more fun way to raise money than a village jumble sale.  

Great Golf Courses in and Around London and the Home Counties

There are a considerable number of golf courses in and around London, with over 220 courses around London and its major orbital road – the M25. However, there are rather fewer located in the royal county of Buckinghamshire which tends to favour quality over quantity.

Beginning with golf courses Buckinghamshire, one of the more notable courses is the one of the same name as the county – The Buckinghamshire. This course is not only the home of the LPGA Women’s Tour governing body but hoe to a stunning and well-kept course. There is plenty of water to be avoided here in the shape of the River Colne and the River Misbourne on the first nine holes.

The course also plays host to some superb water features. The greens are large and there are bunkers seemingly everywhere, with the 15th proudly sporting no less than ten of them.
The 8th has a dogleg sharply to the left over a lake and can catch out the unwary, but the 9th is a beautiful par 3 to the green which is set between the clubhouse and the river.

Highgate Golf Club is another prestigious club among the golf courses of London and is a par 72 of 6,015 yards set among trees and woodland in a hilly environment. This is a private members club, but non-members are welcome with a handicap certificate midweek, Monday to Friday, and at weekends if accompanied by a member. It is set on the north side of Hampstead Heath and is only a short drive from the West end of London There is a covered driving range, putting green, and short game practice area.

Finally, we should also give a mention to one of the best Golf courses in Essex, Thorndon Park in Brentwood. Known by some as “The Wentworth of Essex”, this is another Harry Colt-designed course. This unique club is surrounded by centuries old woodland including oaks which are over 500 years of age, along with many cedar and elm trees. The turf here is springy and lush and is always very well maintained, and the greens are hard but true. The 18th century Palladian Mansion and former clubhouse is one of the most stunning sights in the last hole of golf.

Golf Clubs in Essex And London

There are some 80 golf clubs in Essex affiliated to the Essex Golf Union which was inaugurated in 1924, and around the same number in London. However, with the Essex Ladies County Golf Association founded in 1900, meaning the women’s game was nearly a quarter of a century before the men’s Union was formed.

Golf clubs in Essex include the well-known Chelmsford Golf Club which was re-modelled in 1924 by Harry Colt. The October of 1987* brought with it a rarely seen hurricane in the UK, which devastated a lot of the English countryside and damaged many golf courses.

It brought down many trees, which in turn (over time) opened things up so that there was greater air movement, and the course became much drier. It is now said to be one of the best maintained courses in the county.

Romford Golf Club can be found in Gidea Park in Essex and is a testing course of 6,383 yards with a par of 71. Everything seems reasonably straightforward until you reach the par four 4th where you are often playing into the prevailing wind. It is 477 yards and the Pro’s tip is “carry the middle bunker for the second shot, card a five and move on”. The hardest hole is the par four 14th   which is 455 yards and has a pond just short right of the green.

Other well-known Golf clubs in London include The London Club, The RAC Club, The Grove but there is some bad new, as council become even more strapped for cash, they are selling off some golf course land for housing one such club is Beckenham Place Park GC between Penge and Bromley. This was a challenging and enjoyable course meandering between the ancient trees in the park but alas, from 2016, this course no longer exists.

Meanwhile, Dulwich and Sydenham Hill Golf Club (opposite to the famous Dulwich College and is an undulating course with astounding views of London from Canary Wharf to Wembley. This is another course designed by Harry Colt in 1894, although some alterations to bunkers were made in 2007 and the tees were rebuilt. 

*The Great Storm of 1987 was a violent extratropical cyclone that occurred on the night of 15–16 October, with hurricane-force winds causing casualties in England, France and the Channel Islands as a severe depression in the Bay of Biscay moved northeast. Among the most damaged areas were Greater London, the East Anglian coast, the Home Counties, the west of Brittany and the Cotentin Peninsula of Normandy which weathered gusts typically with a return period of 1 in 200 years.