Sunningdale, Walton Heath and Woburn history

The story and its setting

Sunningdale, Walton Heath and Woburn offer an inland route through championship golf in England. Their histories involve several designers and more than one course at each destination, with major women's championships, senior golf and international team matches all contributing to their identities. They are useful places to explore a simple point often lost behind the Open rota: important British championship history does not begin and end at the seaside.

Sunningdale: Park's Old and Colt's New

Sunningdale's origins lie in plans developed by brothers T. A. and G. A. Roberts on land belonging to St John's College, Cambridge. The club's history records a contract with Willie Park Junior on 4 December 1899 and the opening of the course on 23 September 1901. The date of the planning process should therefore be distinguished from the first day of play.

The second course followed a different route. An independent nine-hole course established nearby was taken over after financial difficulties during the First World War. Harry Colt produced the plan for its expansion, and Sunningdale's New Course opened on 10 November 1923. The word New is relative: it identifies the later of the club's two courses, not a recent addition in today's terms.

Subsequent changes continued that architectural story. The New Course's official history describes Tom Simpson's proposals in 1934 to replace a sequence of holes on different ground. The account links the new possibilities to machinery replacing horse-based maintenance. It is a useful example of design history meeting everyday working practice: where a course could be maintained helped influence where holes could go. Source: club origins; New Course development.

Bobby Jones's 1926 qualifying round

Bobby Jones shot 66 and 68 at Sunningdale during qualifying for the 1926 Open, which he subsequently won at Royal Lytham & St Annes. The club's Old Course history records the first round as thirty-three shots and thirty-three putts, without a hole taking more than four strokes. Its dedicated account dates the 66 to 16 June 1926.

The distinction between qualifying and the championship itself is essential. The round belongs to Sunningdale's history even though The Open was held elsewhere. It also illustrates why a notable score should be described with its competition and conditions. The number 66 alone does not explain why this particular performance has been remembered; the composition of the round and Jones's place in that year's championship give it meaning.

Sunningdale's own account describes Park's use of diagonal and visual hazards, with bunkers, ditches and heather helping frame the challenge. Colt later moved several greens. The present Old Course therefore combines an original design identity with later alterations, another reason not to assume every modern shot exactly reproduces Jones's route. Source: the qualifying round; course architecture and Jones.

Sunningdale's later championship life

The Senior Open first visited Sunningdale in 2009, when Loren Roberts won a play-off against Fred Funk and Mark McNulty. Marco Dawson won the 2015 edition, one stroke ahead of Bernhard Langer. Stephen Dodd won in 2021 after the intended 2020 championship was postponed during the Covid-19 pandemic. Pádraig Harrington added the 2025 title to that sequence.

The Curtis Cup supplied a different kind of finish in 2024. Great Britain and Ireland defeated the United States 10½–9½ under Catriona Matthew's captaincy. Lorna McClymont won her singles match against Megan Schofill, while Mimi Rhodes secured a half against Melanie Green. The R&A's report identifies those contributions in the closing stage of the team result.

These events demonstrate the range within the club's championship history: senior professional stroke play and elite women's amateur match play over familiar ground. A visitor can follow both without assuming that one is merely a footnote to the other. The changing fields and formats are part of what makes a repeated championship venue worth revisiting. Source: earlier Senior Opens; Harrington in 2025; 2024 Curtis Cup.

Walton Heath: Fowler and Braid

Walton Heath distinguishes its corporate foundation in 1903 from the opening of its course on 14 May 1904. Herbert Fowler designed the Old Course, and James Braid became the club's first professional in 1904. Braid remained in that role until his death in 1950. His long association links the club to a player who won five Opens, but it should not replace Fowler's credit as the course designer.

The New Course began with nine holes in 1907 and reached eighteen in 1913. Fowler also designed that course, with an emphasis on cross hazards that give players decisions about positioning and the next approach. The club's description presents it as a distinct challenge beside the Old, rather than a duplicate layout added merely to provide more tee times.

For someone visiting to understand architecture, that comparison is especially valuable. One designer worked on neighbouring ground yet produced courses with different strategic features. The history of the New also explains why founding dates can be misleading when attached to a whole club: an institution may open one course, add nine holes later and complete another eighteen years after its own establishment. Source: club chronology and Braid; Old Course design; New Course development.

Walton Heath's international stage

The United States defeated Europe 18½–9½ at Walton Heath in the 1981 Ryder Cup. The official photographic record identifies Dave Marr as the American captain and shows a team including Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson, Lee Trevino and Raymond Floyd. Nicklaus and Watson won all three of their matches together, according to the Ryder Cup's partnership record.

Later championships brought different winners and audiences. Russ Cochran won the Senior Open here in 2011; Eddie Pepperell won the British Masters in 2018. Lilia Vu won the 2023 AIG Women's Open, closing with a five-under-par 67 to finish six shots clear of Charley Hull. The last of those was Vu's second major of the year, following the Chevron Championship.

The range makes Walton Heath a useful companion to Sunningdale in a championship-history itinerary. Both hosted major women's competition and senior golf, but their results and individual scenes belong to their own courses. Follow the separate event histories for the wider championships, then use the venue guides to connect those events to the ground you can visit. Source: 1981 score; captain and team; Nicklaus and Watson; later winners; Vu's championship.

Woburn's modern development

Woburn's Duke's Course, designed by Charles Lawrie, opened in 1976. The Duchess followed, while the Marquess opened in June 2000. The club's course-specific Duchess page gives April 1978 as its opening. Other official Woburn pages contain conflicting years, including 1980 in its history and 1979 in a brochure. The course-specific date is used here, with the discrepancy retained rather than hidden.

That three-course structure is fundamental to reading Woburn's tournament past. A championship at Woburn might have used the Duke's or Marquess, and a memory attached to one should not automatically be transferred to the other. The courses belong to different development phases and offer different settings within the same estate. The name of the host club is only the start of the location.

The Duke's history records Lee Trevino's winning eagle at the 1985 British Masters, set up by a three-wood approach. The club's wider account notes that the tournament's closing hole was normally the Duke's first. That is another practical historical detail worth keeping: championship routing can differ from the order a visiting golfer plays today. Source: Woburn's course chronology; Duchess date; tournament routing; Trevino's shot.

Woburn's Women's Open chapters

The Marquess staged Ariya Jutanugarn's Women's Open victory in 2016 and Hinako Shibuno's in 2019. The official championship record gives their totals as 272 and 270 respectively. Jutanugarn became the first Thai golfer, male or female, to win a major. Shibuno's victory came in her first tournament outside Japan.

Shibuno closed with a 68 to finish one stroke ahead of Lizette Salas, whose final-round 65 had set a challenging target. The last-hole putt became the defining scene of a championship played over four rounds. That finish belongs specifically to the Marquess, while the Women's Open's earlier Woburn years included the Duke's. A course history needs both the venue and the layout to keep those chapters clear.

The three destinations together offer much more than an inland alternative to links golf. They connect Park, Colt, Fowler and Lawrie with different stages of championship development, and provide places to follow Jones, Braid, Ryder Cup teams and modern women's champions. Their histories reward comparison without requiring a single judgement about which course is greatest. Source: official winners and courses; Jutanugarn's milestone; Shibuno's final round.

A professional breakthrough at Woburn

Matthew Fitzpatrick won his first professional tournament when the British Masters returned to Woburn in 2015. Ian Poulter hosted the event on the Marquess, giving another course-specific connection within the club's wider tournament record. The club's history and its account of Poulter's involvement agree on the winner and layout.

It is a useful final link between the generations represented here. A course associated with established major champions can also become the setting for a player's first professional title. Looking back from a later career, that early victory gains significance without changing what the event was at the time. Source: club history; host and course.

Walton Heath's history also records regular US Open qualifying from 2005. Michael Campbell qualified there that year before winning the championship at Pinehurst. That connection belongs to qualifying history rather than a claim that Walton Heath hosted the US Open itself. It provides another example of an inland English course contributing to a championship whose final venue lay across the Atlantic. Source: Walton Heath chronology.

Championships hosted

Championships at Sunningdale, Walton Heath and Woburn history appear below, bringing together the competitions covered in this History section. Qualifying courses are included.

Sources and useful official links

• Confirmed: Source: club origins
• Confirmed: New Course development
• Confirmed: Source: the qualifying round
• Confirmed: course architecture and Jones
• Confirmed: Source: earlier Senior Opens
• Confirmed: Harrington in 2025
• Confirmed: 2024 Curtis Cup
• Confirmed: Source: Walton Heath chronology
• Confirmed: Old Course design
• Confirmed: New Course development
• Confirmed: Source: 1981 score
• Confirmed: captain and team
• Confirmed: Nicklaus and Watson
• Confirmed: Vu's championship
• Confirmed: Source: Woburn's course chronology
• Confirmed: Duchess date
• Confirmed: Source: club history
• Confirmed: Trevino's shot
• Confirmed: Source: official winners and courses
• Confirmed: Jutanugarn's milestone
• Confirmed: Shibuno's final round
• Confirmed: host and course
• Confirmed: Course and championship history
• Confirmed: Course and championship history
• Confirmed: Course and championship history
• Confirmed: Course and championship history
• Confirmed: Course and championship history
• Confirmed: Course and championship history
• Confirmed: Course and championship history
• Confirmed: Course and championship history
• Confirmed: Course and championship history
• Confirmed: Course and championship history
• Confirmed: Course and championship history
• Confirmed: Course and championship history
• Confirmed: Course and championship history
• Confirmed: Course and championship history
• Confirmed: Course and championship history
• Confirmed: Course and championship history
• Confirmed: Course and championship history
• Confirmed: Course and championship history
• Confirmed: Course and championship history
• Confirmed: Course and championship history
• Confirmed: Course and championship history
• Confirmed: Course and championship history

Useful reading for your visit

• AIG Women's Open 2027 at Royal St George's
• Where to stay for the BMW PGA: Virginia Water, Windsor and Surrey
• Golf history, where it happened

Visit today

• Sunningdale: a visitor’s guide
• AIG Women's Open 2027 at Royal St George's
• Where to stay for the BMW PGA: Virginia Water, Windsor and Surrey

Some links earn us a small commission at no extra cost to you. Affiliate disclosure.