Famous Puttenham Oak Tree Falls Down

published 11 May 2017

Puttenham's 150+ year-old oak tree in the middle of the first fairway has fallen down

Famous Puttenham Oak Tree Falls Down

The famous oak tree that proudly sat as a Puttenham landmark in the middle of the first fairway of the Surrey course finally succumbed to father time on Tuesday 9th May when it unexpectedly split in half and slumped to the ground.

The tree stood directly in front of the first tee some 100 yards ahead and had to be played over with the tee shot before the approach to the par-4 1st hole.

Sadly what remained standing of the tree had to be condemned and was carefully removed by greenkeepers.

The tree features in the club crest of Puttenham Golf Club and was a familiar sight to those who have played the course.

It was believed to have dated back to when Queen Victoria visited troops at Puttenham Heath in 1858.

Luckily a second specimen oak tree was planted behind its more illustrious partner on the 1st fairway in late 2002.

This tree, which was planted as a memorial to Keith Gordon, a long standing member of Puttenham Golf Club, now stands alone and takes on the mantle, hopefully for another 150 years, as “the Puttenham oak”.

Elliott Heath is our News Editor and has been with Golf Monthly since early 2016 after graduating with a degree in Sports Journalism. He manages the Golf Monthly news team as well as our large Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages. He covered the 2022 Masters from Augusta National as well as five Open Championships on-site including the 150th at St Andrews. His first Open was in 2017 at Royal Birkdale, when he walked inside the ropes with Jordan Spieth during the Texan's memorable Claret Jug triumph. He has played 35 of our Top 100 golf courses, with his favourites being both Sunningdales, Woodhall Spa, Western Gailes, Old Head and Turnberry. He has been obsessed with the sport since the age of 8 and currently plays off of a six handicap. His golfing highlights are making albatross on the 9th hole on the Hotchkin Course at Woodhall Spa, shooting an under-par round, playing in the Aramco Team Series on the Ladies European Tour and making his one and only hole-in-one at the age of 15 - a long time ago now!

Elliott is currently playing:

Driver: Titleist TSR4

3 wood: Titleist TSi2

Hybrids: Titleist 816 H1

Irons: Mizuno MP5 5-PW

Wedges: Cleveland RTX ZipCore 50, 54, 58

Putter: Odyssey White Hot OG #5

Ball: Srixon Z Star XV

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