Hankley Common Golf Club

About the club

This course was first constructed around 1900, but South African pro Bobby Locke made Hankley Common famous during the 1950s when he came to England for the summer championships and set up shop here, declaring that time spent on Hankley's greens had made him the world's best putter. The site is a tract of heathland that was deemed unfit for farming. The original layout had become neglected and dilapidated within a few decades owing to its (at the time) relative remoteness, but renovations by Harry Colt in the 1930s established Hankley's reputation. The course now hosts Open Championship events on a regular basis, but it remains fun and challenging for all types of players, or at least for those who have the ability to maintain a true line and to drive over the hundred yards of rough that tend to appear in front of the tees at the longer holes.