Unique amongst golf courses in the United Kingdom, Knole Park Golf Club is located within 1000 acres of outstanding parkland, home to the finest deer herd in the South East. Knole House, one of the greatest National Trust properties in the country, together with Knole Park itself, provides the perfect backdrop to this challenging course that was designed by J Abercromby in consultation with James Braid and has been enjoyed by its members and visitors since 1924. The layout was lengthened a little in the 1960s, but apart from changes made at that time, the course is more or less the one that Abercromby designed
The 18 holes start with a short par 3 first hole that looks easy, but don’t be fooled. They don’t have many bunkers on the course — about 52.
The course has its own built-in hazards, especially once the bracken gets up to horrendous heights in the summer. Then, all of a sudden, the course takes on an entirely different look. With fast-running fairways the ball can easily run off into the bracken and you’ll be lucky to find the ball at all.
Knole Park Golf Club is an out-and-back walking course. No golf carts are allowed as the golf club is governed by the constraints put on them by the Sackville Estate; in any event the slopes are not suitable and would undoubtedly cause problems for buggies.
The course isn’t the longest in the world at 6,246 yards from the back tees (5,952 off the yellows), so it’s all about positional play. It rarely plays the same depending on the vagaries of the ground conditions and wind direction; it doesn’t take much difference in wind direction or strength to make some holes play completely differently, especially climbing up the sixth and seventh into a prevailing wind.
There’s not a lot of water on the course — just two ponds down the left of the short eighth hole. One is located between the ninth and 11th, and one just to the right of the 13th.
The course drains well even in the winter as it’s fortunate enough to be built on a sandy, which runs across the normally clay-based county, and there are no temporary winter tees or winter greens. The par-4 sixth (399 yards) is a good challenging hole with a tricky sloping green and a bunker strategically placed right in the middle of the fairway so if there is a prevailing wind that a problem.
Another tricky but large green is on the par-3 12th, tiered and running from left to right. Putting can be a golfer nightmare if the pin is on the right.
It is a course steeped in history and a truly inspiring place to play. Regularly named as one of the top 100 courses in England by golf magazines, it’s the home of the Kent Cob Open competition, and has hosted the British Senior Amateur and the English Girls championships in recent years and is hosting the Tillman Trophy in 2017.
Knole Park Golf Club welcomes societies and visitors with current handicap certificates