Copthorne Golf Club Top 100 Review

Copthorne Golf Club was founded in 1892 in the village of Copthorne, West Sussex, though full records date from 1903 when the club was formally reconstituted with a new nine-hole layout on the west part of Copthorne Common. By 1908 the course had been extended to 18 holes. The course in play today is a composite of different eras of design, playing to a par of 72 over approximately 6,654 yards. Eight holes trace their origins to the earliest years of the club, while ten holes were designed by Bill Cox between 1976 and 1984 following the acquisition of Forestry Commission land to replace ground lost to the widening of the A264. The most significant historical design intervention came in 1930 when five-time Open Champion James Braid was invited to revise the layout after the club acquired manorial rights to the common land. Braid retained only four existing holes and produced a substantially reworked course; his influence survives most clearly in the current fourth, ninth, tenth, and eighteenth holes.

The course occupies a combination of heathland, woodland, and parkland ground, laid out on clay soil that can sit wet in winter but provides firm, fast conditions in summer. The layout is split by the A264, with the first and eighteenth holes occupying ground to the north of the road close to the clubhouse, while holes two through seventeen lie to the south, accessed via a traffic light-controlled road crossing. The tree-lined fairways demand accuracy from the tee throughout, and a network of ditches and streams comes into play on several holes, particularly for those unfamiliar with the course. The par-5 eighth, a slight dogleg left with a water hazard, is noted by regular visitors as one of the stronger and more rewarding holes on the card.

The club celebrated its 125th anniversary in 2017, the same year the course hosted the Finals of the Sussex Amateur Championship. It has also previously hosted the English Boys County Championships and regional finals of the Junior European Open, establishing it as a venue of some standing within county and regional golf in the south of England.