Hankley Common

Overview: Hankley Common is a large Surrey heathland course built across sandy, open ground with heather, pine, birch and oak shaping the playing lines. The scale of the common gives the routing a links-like sense of space, while firm turf and wind make distance control important. Its long par fours, natural ridges and carefully placed green approaches ask for position and patience rather than a single style of attack.

History: Hankley began as a nine-hole course, officially opened in 1897 after the club's foundation meeting the previous year. Edward Turle laid out the early holes. James Braid advised on the extension towards 18 holes in the early 1920s, and Harry Colt later added the loop from the 10th through the 12th and adjusted the balance of the course.

Did You Know? Hankley Common and the surrounding land are classified as a Site of Special Scientific Interest. The heath is home to species including Dartford warbler, woodlark, nightjar and sand lizard, making the playing landscape part of a protected ecological setting as well as a golf course.