Revisiting Swinley Forest: Did It Still Live Up To The Hype?

I called Swinley Forest my number one course in the UK the first time I played it. Then I got the chance to play it twice in one day — and I wanted to know if it would still hold up.

Listen to our Swinley Forest Review

When a society day at Swinley Forest had a last-minute dropout, I jumped at the chance to go back — 36 holes, shotgun start, and a four-course carvery lunch in the middle, the kind of tradition you find at clubs like Sunningdale, Royal St George's and Walton Heath. It was my first time playing 36 holes in a day, my first shotgun start, and my first time revisiting any of the 29 courses we've played so far.

In this episode: how the society day came about, what 36 holes and a shotgun start actually feels like, the four-course carvery experience, how the club handled my gluten-free/coeliac needs, whether the course conditioning held up after a summer of heatwaves, a costly mishap on the 18th green (and the tip I learned from it), and my final verdict — does Swinley Forest still deserve the number one spot?

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