In the 19th century the land occupied by the golf course was part of Temple Park,[a] in which many specimen trees had been planted.

[1] A reviewer in 1920 wrote, "It may fairly be asserted that very few English golf links possess the beauties of Temple as regards the surroundings.

[4] According to Henry Cotton, "Temple is tricky to score on, simply because no green is set up for the golf shot, so the ball goes forward off the pitch if incorrectly flighted and over hit.

"[5] Donald Steel said the course is "challenging enough to keep good players at full stretch without diminishing the enjoyment of the rank and file.

According to BIGGA Judge Dr. Keith Duff, chief scientist at English Nature, "Temple provides the elusive feel good factor (often intangibly) when you play a course which both challenges the skills of the golfer, and at the same time, inspires you with its setting.

[7] The Temple Golf Club was founded in 1909 by some local landowners and army officers, including Colonel F. C. Ricardo, said to be the inspiration for Mr. Toad in Kenneth Grahame's The Wind in the Willows.

[10] Players included Sam Snead, Lawson Little, Cyril Tolley, Bobby Locke, Peter Thomson, Joe Carr, Michael Bonallack and Henry Cotton.

However, a dry summer did not burn the natural bent and fescue grasses that dominated the turf when the course opened.

[13] The traditional hay meadows were destroyed, reducing the numbers of insects, butterflies, moths, birds and small mammals.

Cuttings were removed to avoid build-up of nutrients and thus to encourage growth of wild flowers rather than weed grasses.

[17] The roughs and semi-roughs were studied in a report for the Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Naturalist Trust and the Windsor and Maidenhead Wildlife Group.