Hertfordshire is parkland territory through and through. Of the county's 59 clubs, 33 are classified as parkland, set against woodland, lakes and rolling farmland from Berkhamsted in the west to Bishop's Stortford in the east. Add four heathland courses and a single links layout into the mix and you get a county that rewards straight, considered golf rather than the wind-battered improvisation of the coast. What ties it together is proximity to London: the M1, M25 and A1(M) run through or around the county, and clubs from Aldenham near junction 5 of the M1 to Brickendon Grange five miles north of the M25 lean on that access for their membership and their visitor trade.
Tree-Lined Parkland at Its Best
Ashridge Golf Club, laid out over 350 acres near Berkhamsted in 1932 by Major C K Hutchison, Sir Guy Campbell and Colonel S V Hotchkin, is the county's standard-bearer. It has hosted R&A Open Championship Regional Qualifying, the R&A Women's Senior Amateur Championship and the English Men's Open Seniors, and it turns up regularly in lists of the UK's top hundred courses. Brickendon Grange, designed by C.K. Cotton across 160 acres of mature countryside, is known for a single hole — the 17th, the Ace of Herts, has been named the finest amateur golf hole in the country. Bishops Stortford, founded in 1910 with James Braid's influence on its gently undulating layout, and Harpenden Golf Club, shaped by Frederic Hawtree and John Henry Taylor after the club moved to Hammonds End in 1931, both carry that same tradition of tree-framed fairways built for a proper test of accuracy. East Herts, near Buntingford, plays through trees planted around the Hamels Mansion estate in the late eighteenth century, while Knebworth's parkland is notable off the course too, with a Grade II listed clubhouse designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens.
Heathland Pockets and Newer Arrivals
Boxx Golf at Berkhamsted is the pick of the county's four heathland courses, sitting in an area of outstanding natural beauty with gorse and heather standing in for bunkers — there isn't a single sand trap on the course. It has hosted the Berkhamsted Trophy, a world-ranking amateur event dating back to 1959, with past visitors including Sandy Lyle and Gary Wolstenholme. Hertfordshire's one links course sits apart from all this as something of an anomaly for an inland county, a change of texture for anyone used to the parkland norm. More recent additions show a different side of the county's golf. Centurion Club, opened near St Albans in 2013, has become a fixture of the professional calendar, hosting LIV Golf's inaugural event in 2022 and 2023, the Aramco Team Series, and the upcoming PIF Championship. Hanbury Manor in Ware, designed by Jack Nicklaus II across 200 acres, is often described as one of the leading courses in the South East, and Brocket Hall's twin courses near Welwyn Garden City — shaped by Peter Alliss and Clive Clark around a Capability Brown-inspired estate on the River Lea — even ferry golfers across to the 18th green.
Golf for Every Level and Budget
Chorleywood, founded in 1890 on common land, is Hertfordshire's oldest club and was the first in the county, and it still sits within five minutes of junction 18 of the M25 and a short walk from the station. At the other end of the scale, green fees start from as little as £15, and shorter formats give newcomers and families an easy way in — Letchworth Par 3 doubles as a practice ground for full-course players and an introduction for beginners. Clubs like Aldenham, with its 18-hole Church Course and 9-hole Village Course, keep a strong roll-up and social culture going alongside a full competition calendar, which is fairly typical of the county: serious golf and a welcoming clubhouse tend to go together here.