Wentworth's World-Famous West Course Is Nicknamed 'Burma Road' - Here's Why

The Wentworth Club, which was established in 1922, boasts a long and storied history.

Decades after the Wentworths house was lived in by the brother-in-law of the 1st Duke of Wellington and later an exiled Spanish Carlist military commander, Ramón Cabrera, a golf club was formed around it.

Builder W.G. Tarrant commissioned the legendary Harry Colt to start building a golf course in the heart of the Wentworth estate and within three years the East and West courses were officially opened.

The East was actually first to open in 1924, with the West following on in 1926 as one continuous clockwise loop from the clubhouse. Since then, the Edinburgh Course and a nine-hole par-3 executive course have been built.

But it was the West Course which became known as the jewel in Wentworth's crown. Renowned course designer and two-time winner of The English Amateur Frank Pennink called it ‘the longest, most unrelenting test in the British Isles.'

Over the course of its history, the West Course has staged the 1953 Ryder Cup between the United States and Great Britain as well as the World Match Play Championship from 1964 until 2007.

It has also hosted the European Tour's PGA Championship on every occasion since 1984 as well as three tournaments between 1972-1974.

Throughout its entire history, Wentworth has remained one of the most exclusive golf clubs in the UK and remains where the European Tour's headquarters are based.

And while that is certainly common knowledge, what isn't so widely known as the nickname of Wentworth's West Course, and how it earned the moniker in the first place.

Simply put, the West Course at Wentworth is sometimes known as 'Burma Road.' Don’t bother checking your favorite internet map provider for a ‘Burma Road’ skirting the borders of the Harry Colt layout, though, because this is not how the nickname came about.

To understand exactly why and how it gained the name, we have to go back all the way to the start of World War II.

In the late 1930s, the British Army requisitioned the clubhouse and a network of underground bunkers was constructed.

It’s hard to imagine now when you look at the pristine West, but at that time the fairways were allowed to grow wild because it was feared enemy aircraft might land on the long and wide fairways.

Towards the end of the war, German prisoners were brought in from a camp nearby in Egham to clear the overgrown vegetation.

A British officer overseeing the clearance reputedly remarked that it was like clearing the “Burma Road” – a task that around 200,000 Chinese labourers set about doing whilst trying to cut a 700-mile (1,127km) inland road from Kunming in China to Lashio in Burma, now Myanmar, during the Sino-Japanese War in 1937.

There is still plenty of vegetation around the West, but the fairways that wind their way through this lush parkland are always immaculate and beautifully framed with heather, rhododendrons and a huge variety of trees including pine, birch and oak.

The West Course has changed significantly in recent years thanks to Ernie Els, first in 2010, when he lengthened it, recontoured putting surfaces and added bunkers while deepening others.

That renovation work was poorly received by some, but Els was again at the helm in 2016 for another extensive redesign, this time involving five of the greens and the removal of some bunkers to offer a challenge worthy of the prestigious BMW PGA Championship.

The course may well continue to evolve and undergo tweaks, but the nickname 'Burma Road' will always be associated with the historic venue.