Not That New Zealand
The name confuses everyone. New Zealand Golf Club sits in West Byfleet, Surrey, and takes its name from two cottages that Peter John Locke King built on land at Woodham in the early 1850s, naming the area "New Zealand" to honour his family's colonial links – Captain Henry King had led settlers from Plymouth to found New Plymouth in Taranaki, New Zealand in 1841. The course was later commissioned by Hugh Fortescue Locke King, who also built Brooklands, the world's first purpose-built motor racing circuit, just a mile away.
Mure Fergusson designed the original course, which opened on 25 May 1895. But it was Tom Simpson's major redesign between 1929 and 1931 that gave the club its current character. Simpson created new 3rd, 10th, and 17th holes and rebuilt the bunkering throughout, introducing his signature laced and diagonal fingered bunkers – a style that remains visually striking and strategically demanding.
The Course
At par 68 and just 6,075 yards, New Zealand is short by modern standards. It has only one par 5, five par 3s, and six par 4s over 400 yards. But the challenge lies in Simpson's green complexes and the micro-contoured terrain that makes every approach shot a puzzle. Harry Colt described it as the first-ever "Forest Course" – a routing that works with and through mature woodland rather than merely alongside it.
Frank Pont of Infinite Variety Golf Design has been leading an ongoing restoration since 2015, returning green complexes and bunkers to Simpson's original specifications. The work has revealed features that had been lost to decades of gradual change – including the celebrated "doughnut" bunker between the 7th and 13th greens.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Other Ghosts
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was a member – the club's most famous literary connection. The wine cellar is reputedly one of the finest at any golf club in the British Isles, a detail that says something about the character of the membership.
New Zealand is extremely private. Visitor access requires "prior agreement from the Secretary" and a measure of persistence. Those who do play it discover a course of rare individuality – short, strategic, beautifully conditioned, and quite unlike anything else in the Surrey heathland belt.