With around eighty clubs packed into a county that borders London on one side and the Surrey Hills on the other, Surrey offers more variety in a short drive than most golfers manage in a year. You can play heather and pine in the morning near Camberley and be on chalk downland above Guildford by lunchtime. Green fees start from as little as £15, so the range covers everything from modest weekday rounds to some of the most admired inland courses in England.
Heathland Around Camberley and Farnham
Surrey's heathland belt, fifteen of the eighty clubs by this count, sits mainly in the west of the county around Camberley and Farnham, where sandy soil and self-seeded pine and birch produce the kind of firm, fast golf usually associated with the Surrey-Berkshire border. Camberley Heath, laid out by Harry Colt in 1913, is regularly ranked among England's top 100 and still runs the club's long-standing Friday competitions alongside a well-attended August Club Championship. A few miles away, Hankley Common has been rated among the top 30 courses in Great Britain and Ireland, its fairways threading through heather, Scots pine and birch in a stretch of countryside that feels far removed from the M3 running nearby. Farnham Golf Club, founded in 1896 to a Jack White design, has a genuine claim on golfing history: James Braid, Harry Vardon and Tom Vardon played an exhibition match there in 1905, Bobby Locke and Gary Player were regular visitors in later decades, and member Elizabeth Price helped Great Britain and Ireland win the Curtis Cup in 1952.
Parkland Golf from the Thames to the Surrey Hills
Parkland courses make up the largest single group in the county, and they range from historic Thames-side layouts to newer designs in the Surrey Hills. Ashford Manor, founded in 1898 between Sunbury-on-Thames and Staines-upon-Thames, counted Harold Hilton as a member from 1905 and lists Matt Fitzpatrick among its honorary members today. Burhill, near Walton-on-Thames, has an Old Course dating to 1907 from Willie Park Junior, with the 18th running alongside the River Mole beneath the club's mansion house, plus a newer course added in 2001. Betchworth Park at Dorking, a Harry Colt design from 1911 set within an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, looks out towards Box Hill and has origins tracing back to a 15th-century site next to the ruins of Betchworth Castle; it will host the England Golf Women's County Finals in July 2026. Further south, Cranleigh Golf & Country Club and Drift Golf Club, the latter created by Sir Henry Cotton and designed by Robert Sandow through mature oak woodland near East Horsley, show how much of this parkland golf sits within genuinely wooded, hilly country rather than flat suburban ground. Chobham, laid out by Peter Alliss and Clive Clark in 1994 between Camberley and Woking, adds a more modern test with six lakes worked into nine holes and USGA-specification greens.
Downland and the County's Oldest Club
Surrey's six downland courses are concentrated around Guildford and Epsom, on the chalk ridges that give the North Downs their character. Guildford Golf Club, founded in 1886 on Merrow Downs to a design by J H Taylor and Hawtree, is the oldest club in the county and offers views stretching from the cathedral to Wembley Arch and Canary Wharf on a clear day. Epsom Golf Club, dating from 1889 on Epsom Downs, benefits from the same fast-draining chalk subsoil and was once ranked 14th nationally for value among courses under £35. Effingham, also downland, is recognised as a top 100 course, while the newer Clandon Golf near Guildford has taken a more experimental approach with an engineered porous bunker system designed to cope with heavy rainfall. Between the heather, the oaks and the chalk, Surrey's golf rewards anyone willing to drive between towns rather than stick to one club all year.