I had the good fortune to play another round at Wentworth golf club this week on the Edinburgh course. The thyme was blooming, daffodils were out and the weather held although it was brisk. A refreshing day for a walk.

The clubhouse is magnificent. My golf bag point and shoot camera cannot do it justice:

The 19th century house the "Wentworths" (now the club house for the club) was the home for the brother-in-law of the Duke of Wellington. It was purchased in 1850 by exiled Spanish count Ramon Cabrera, who after his death his wife bought up the surrounding lands to make the full Wentworth Estate.^[1]

In 1912, builder W.G. Tarrant had started developing St George’s Hill, Weybridge – a development of houses based on minimum one acre plots based around a golf course. In 1922 Tarrant acquired the development rights for the Wentworth Estate, getting H.S. Colt to develop a golf course around "Wentworth" house. Tarrant developed the large houses on the estate to a similar Surrey formula used at St George’s Hill. Development of Wentworth Estate ground to a halt due to the Great Depression in the late 1920s. In 1931 when the banks asked for repayment of a large debenture, Tarrant was forced to declare bankruptcy. The ownership of the land passed to Wentworth Estates Ltd, which came under the control of Sir Lindsay Parkinson & Co Ltd.^[2]

When you walk into the front hall the wall is lined with the drivers of famous golfers. You name the golfer, their club is there. A quick walk to the meeting area brings you to the Ryder Cup room which is stacked with memorabilia on loan from a member. The dinner room holds a picture of that great match where the Ryder Cup was born:

The Ryder Cup is a golf trophy contested biennially in an event called the "Ryder Cup Matches" by teams from Europe and the United States. The Matches are jointly administered by the PGA of America and the PGA European Tour.

The competition began following an exhibition match in 1926 of a team representing American professionals against a similar one representing the British PGA on the East Course, Wentworth Club, Virginia Water, Surrey, UK.

The biggest thing that I have noticed about the golfing here is the difference in the fairways. To be fair, this is based on playing 2 rounds in 8 months – something that I will be correcting this summer. The fairways at Wentworth are ‘bumpy’. They are not the pristine, long rolling fairways of North America which have been flattened with rollers over and over and over.

Is this intentional? Not sure but it does add a different dynamic to the game as your ball lie can be quite different shot to shot even if you hit the fairway. On one fairway I found myself choking down on a 5 iron because my feet were lower than my ball.

The second thing is that the Edinburgh is a nicer18 than the famous West course. Very picturesque and quite challenging. My game was all over the place ranging from a nice run of pars to a string of very high numbers (smile).

A few pictures below:

My partner seeks his ball in the dead ferns and underbrush. Good luck.

Why yes, it did land pin high although I missed the birdie.

I have no idea what this flower is but it caught my eye in the bog. A striking yellow flower in the middle of the mud.

Darren Clark was on the range as I passed chatting with what looked like a mob of press. He was there with the Taylor Made truck, so probably part of some press thing. He is a big lad.

All in all, a great day.