Reading Golf Club in Berkshire, a county that is home to several courses in the Golf Monthly UK&I Top 100, has undergone many changes since starting life on a nine-hole course at Tilehurst to the west of town in 1898.
It then moved to an 18-hole layout at Emmer Green north of town in 1910, at which point it became known as The Caversham and South Oxfordshire Golf Club before reverting to Reading Golf Club in 1940.
But perhaps the biggest change of all came in 2018 when initial plans to extend the course met with opposition, so the club instead went down the route of selling its land for housing and relocating to Caversham Heath Golf Club ten miles away, which was less than 20 years old at the time.
Canadian architect Tom McBroom was enlisted to radically rework and transform the layout, with the new course, christened The Eyston, opening in April 2021. The club now goes by the full name of The Caversham, Home of Reading Golf Club.
Notable changes
Among his transformations was a realignment of the 1st hole into a reasonably generous, short uphill par 4 that turns right rather than left up to a new green, with the 2nd hole now a long par 3 playing down to the old 1st green site.
This, of course, meant that there was then one hole too many, and the one to go was the old par-3 13th. The 13th is now a good par 4 playing in the opposite direction.
Before that, the 8th is a testing par 3 over water that can stretch up to 230 yards, and then you’re into a particularly good run of holes around the turn, starting with the excellent par-4 9th, a dogleg round to the left, where a cluster of trees and a big bunker guard the apex as the hole bears left towards a testing green.
Strong start to the back nine
‘Testing green’ is a common refrain around the turn, with that theme continuing on both the 10th and 11th holes, which serve up visually attractive driving propositions from the tee, although getting out of position will make subsequent shots on both significantly harder.
On the par-5 11th, some – perhaps many – will no doubt be tempted into spurning the ‘official’ fairway route and taking things over the corner across the rough, bushes and bunker on a direct line to the green in the hopes of a birdie or better.
The course closes with a strong, but not overly long par 4, where a new green cut into the hill just below the excellent clubhouse will test both your accuracy and clubbing proficiency skills as you play up to it.
Miss right and you may well roll back down on to the surface; miss short or left and you will almost certainly end up in sand.
Essentials
The Caversham, Mapledurham, Reading, Berkshire, RG4 7UT
Stats: par 72, 6,445 yards
Green fee: £105 a round; £60-£70 twilight rate (as at August 2025)
