Wentworth Club, West Course

The verdict

Wentworth's West Course is the most televised course in British golf, the stage the DP World Tour returns to each year for the BMW PGA Championship, its flagship event. Opened in 1926 to a design by Harry Colt, the master of the English heathland, it earned the nickname the Burma Road for the long, demanding march of its routing through the pines, birches and rhododendrons of Virginia Water in Surrey's prosperous stockbroker belt.

In the modern era the West has been substantially reworked by Ernie Els, the four time major champion and the club's champion in residence, who from 2005 onward led a programme of re bunkering, selective lengthening and, crucially, a complete rebuild of every green to bentgrass over sub air drainage so the surfaces hold up to tournament traffic. The result is a par 72 of about 7,284 yards that keeps Colt's strategic bones while standing up to the modern professional. For the travelling golfer it is a bucket list round, private and exclusive, best reached through the right connection or a planned trip.

The holes worth the trip

The West asks for driving above all else. Colt's corridors are framed tightly by towering trees, and Els's re bunkering pinches the landing areas further, so position off the tee dictates everything that follows. The greens, rebuilt and quick, reward the precise approach and turn a missed angle into a genuine struggle to save par. There is no hiding a wayward long game here.

It is the finish that defines the round, and the championship. The 17th and 18th are back to back par 5s that have decided countless BMW PGA Championships, both reachable and both ringed with danger. The 17th doglegs left around the trees before a green that tempts the bold second shot, and the 18th sweeps right and uphill to a tightly bunkered green in front of the clubhouse, the stage for the trophies and the heartbreaks every September. Standing on those tees as an amateur, with the grandstand frames still in mind, is the reason a round here lingers.

Around them sits a course that never lets up: long par 4s through the pines, well defended short holes and a constant demand for shape and control. Play the West well and you have passed one of the toughest members tests in England.

Where to stay nearby

Wentworth sits in the heart of the Surrey and Berkshire heathland, so a stay here puts you within a short drive of some of the finest inland golf in the world. The luxury hotels around Ascot, Sunningdale and Egham make natural bases, with country house comfort and quick access back to the M25 and Heathrow.

For a fuller heathland trip, this corner of England rewards a few days: anchor near Wentworth and build a tour of the great Colt and Park designs that ribbon through the pines and heather of Surrey and Berkshire, with London close enough for an evening out.