If you appreciate the sound of a sweetly-struck golf ball, head for Berkhamsted Golf Club on Thursday April 3rd this year, when 108 of the UK’s elite amateur golfers will strike their first tee shots in the 64th annual Berkhamsted Trophy.
Merely yards apart, Berkhamsted’s 1st and 10th holes will see a procession of this year’s brightest golfing talents from early in the morning as they begin their quest to follow in the shoes of Ryder Cup legends such as Sandy Lyle and Luke Donald, and greats of the amateur game such as Peter McEvoy and Gary Wolstenholme, all of whom claimed the Trophy before going on to have glittering careers in the sport.
Competitors have until 12 noon on Thursday 13th March to submit their entries to this classic event, rich in history. Golfers with a handicap of 2.1 or less are invited to apply online at www.berkhamstedgolfclub.co.uk, although the ballot is often several shots lower. In the 2024 event the ballot cutoff fell at the +2.3 mark.
TOURNAMENT FORMAT
The two-tee start signals the traditional opening 72-hole tournament of the men’s elite amateur season in England, and for the 64th time Berkhamsted’s unique, bunkerless 6,683 yard Par 71 golf course – rated among England’s Top 100 tracks – will offer itself up to a hungry pack of golfers who will expect to dominate such an apparently defenceless golf course, far shorter than they usually face in elite modern events.
Most will leave disappointed. Although it is not long, golfing connoisseurs have long held Berkhamsted’s golf course in high respect for its strategically-placed mounds and densely tree-lined fairways. As the club’s Head Greenkeeper Gerald Bruce says: “Every hole here can beat you up. There isn’t a single weak one.”
This year’s Trophy will be Bruce’s 39th and last, as he retires in May after almost four decades tending to the golf course. “This piece of land is totally and utterly unique, and in the early mornings it is one of the loveliest golf courses in the world” he said. “Each year some of the best golfers in the country drive home after playing in the Berkhamsted Trophy and ask themselves, why couldn’t I take this course apart?”
The only golfer to come close to dominating Berkhamsted was English international James Claridge who, in April 2023, became the only winner in the event’s history to shoot three successive rounds in the 60s, finishing with the lowest winning score to par (-11) in over six decades. “The way Berkhamsted plays, with gorse frequently crossing the fairway, makes you think defensively but I tried to bully it a bit. Thankfully it worked!” he said.
PAST WINNERS
Last year’s winner, Yorkshire’s Charlie Daughtrey, managed to win on his first visit to Berkhamsted. “I found Berkhamsted to be a very tough test, with the lack of bunkers meaning that you are often hitting of one of the countless fairway and greenside mounds instead” he said. “The greens are really subtle and run very true, with more break than you think.”
Such is the early-season nature of the event, Berkhamsted Trophy competitors have to be prepared to deal with bad weather. The event switched to a 72-hole format in 2016, having been a 36-hole event for many decades, but in each of the last three years the event has been curtailed to three rounds after heavy rain and sometimes even snow.
“Playing in the Berkhamsted Trophy is often a test of character, as well as golfing talent!” said Dan Blesovsky, who joined the club as its new General Manager in late 2024. “Berkhamsted Golf Club has staged the Trophy 64 times now, but it will be my first so I am looking forward to it tremendously.
“Each April this golf club steps forward and offers itself up as a springtime treat to the country’s elite golfers. The members, the professional team, the greens staff and the club management all pull together to stage one of England’s truly classic amateur tournaments, and the Trophy never fails to disappoint.
“This year we do hope for good weather so we can see all four rounds: a full 36-hole finish to the Trophy on the Saturday always creates huge excitement. Our record low 72-hole score is 277 (-7) by Charlie Thornton from Fulford, and if somebody hits form like James Claridge did a couple of years ago, that could be under threat. Hopefully this year we’ll get a thrilling finish as the sun sets on the Saturday evening. Whoever lifts the Trophy will have conquered one of English golf’s most demanding challenges.”
Blesovsky finished by posing this challenge to his members: “In 2025, after 63 years we are still looking for only our second home winner! Since David Neech won in 1962, no other Berkhamsted Golf Club member has ever lifted the Trophy. We have some superb golfers here, so maybe this is the year.”
In 2020 the Berkhamsted Trophy became the first elite traditional men’s amateur golf event in the world to announce a switch to a gender-neutral entry policy.
And in 2026 Berkhamsted Golf Club will celebrate the Centenary of James Braid’s redesign work, which he carried out with his work at Gleneagles on the King’s and Queen’s golf courses in mind.
The golf course layout has remained largely untouched for the last hundred years, although comprehensive reconditioning work has recently been carried out resulting in Berkhamsted becoming one of the best-conditioned heathland golf courses in England.
Boasting not only James Braid but also Willie Park Jnr. and Harry Colt among its architects, Berkhamsted’s golf course is laid out on common land within Hertfordshire’s largest expanse of natural gorse and heather. Over five miles of bridleways and pathways run throughout the golf course and its 530-acre estate, which is full of natural beauty.
Situated north west of London, close to the western boundary of Hertfordshire, Berkhamsted Golf Club is easily accessible from the A41, five miles west of Hemel Hempstead and just 15 minutes from M1 Junction 8 (St Albans).
See www.berkhamstedgolfclub.co.uk for all golf club details.
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