(Image credit: Future)
The Berkshire Red Course Key Information
| Header Cell – Column 0 | Header Cell – Column 1 |
|---|---|
| Address | Swinley Road, Ascot, Berkshire, SL5 8AY |
| Phone | 01344 621495 |
| Website | theberkshire.co.uk (opens in new tab) |
| golf@theberkshire.co.uk | |
| GFs | £220 Mon-Fri, £300 Weekends after midday |
| Visitor Times | All week by prior arrangement |
| Par | Men 72, Women 73 |
| Slope | White/M 131, Red/W 134 |
| Opened | 1928 |
| Architect | Herbert Fowler |
Golf Monthly Verdict
(Image credit: Kevin Murray)
With its heady mix of six short holes, six par 4s and six three-shotters, the Red Course at The Berkshire is perhaps the most varied in the Top 100. There are also probably more birdie chances here, though that’s not to say that anything is a pushover. It also has a great wealth of physical beauty, and when the heather is out in mid-late Summer, it is a real stunner.
Reasons To Play The Berkshire Red
– A brilliant pot pourri of the short (some not so), the medium, and the (not overly) long
– A new, attractive and very different challenge on every tee
– Half of one of the best 36-hole days in golf anywhere in the UK&I
Rankings
UK & Ireland Top 100 Golf Courses 2023/24 – 41
In the Golf Monthly Top 100, The Berkshire Golf Club Red Course is the senior of two wonderful Herbert Fowler designs here. Each is a real heathland beauty with the holes separated by majestic pine on a quite lovely site. Together, in a strong area for golf, they are two of the very best golf courses in Berkshire.
The Blue is almost certainly the tougher to score well on, while the Red tends to be the more talked about.
The primary reason for this is that it has a brilliant and exciting configuration made up of six of each par. It is only at the 12th that you play the same par as the previous hole – in this case, back-to-back 4s.
This ever-changing variety is happily matched by the design characteristics of the individual holes themselves.
Each of the par 5s is probably just about reachable by the longer hitters, while even those who don’t hit so far from the tee can get pretty close in two. This raises high hopes of the odd birdie or two, and perhaps even an elusive eagle.
Perhaps the hardest holes on which to score are the six quite fabulous and extremely varied par 3s. Each of them is a beauty with the first two on the back nine right up there in the premier league.
The glorious 10th is played slightly uphill over a blanket of heather where anything short or right is likely to be in big trouble. The…
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