England

North

Royal Lytham and Saint Annes Royal Lytham & St Annes
Lytham. This is one of the great seaside championship links of the British Isles, and one of the seven where the British Open is held regularly. A true links course, with fast running fairways, ground gathering towards strategically placed bunkers, and no end of trouble for the wayward shot. The club is rich in history, dating back to its foundation in 1886 and there is a charming air of timeless respectability.

Royal Birkdale
Southport. Birkdale's fairways are flat but they form valleys between mighty sand dunes, providing a sturdy frame to a landscape embellished by a profusion of tenacious buckthorn and willow scrub. In the last 30 years, no club has hosted more major events, a clear mark of recognition, particularly among the professionals, that its lack of the eccentricities of some other seaside links is more to their liking.

Royal Liverpool
Hoylake. The great Hoylake is seldom a question of love at first sight. As is the case with so many championship links courses, it is not physically attractive and rarely endears itself to the average golfer. However, it is without question a very grand links, and a life-long bond of respect and admiration soon begins to establish itself.

Southport & Ainsdale Golf Club
Southport. This is another of the fine championship courses for which this part of the country is famed. This club has staged many important events and offers golf of the highest order.

Formby Golf Club
Formby. This is a championship links course which runs through sandhills and partly through pine trees and plays well throughout the year.

Hillside Golf Club
Southport. This is a championship links course with natural hazards which is open to strong winds.

Berwick-upon-Tweed Golf Club
Berwick-upon-Tweed. This is a natural seaside links course with undulating fairways, elevated tees and good greens.

Central

Brabazon Golf Course
The Belfry. The Belfry is the headquarters of the PGA and is situated in a 370 acre park, only 10 miles northeast of Birmingham. The two 18-hole courses, the Brabazon and the Derby, have been designed by Peter Alliss and Dave Thomas. The Brabazon, a demanding championship course, has eleven holes on which one has to negotiate water. Streams and lakes are features of the courses and spectators have been taken into account.

Woodhall Spa Golf Club
Woodhall Spa. This is one of the country's greatest and most beautiful heathland courses, founded in 1905 and originally laid out by Harry Vardon. It provides flat, easy walking amongst heather and tree-lined fairways and is renowned for its vast bunkers and clubhouse atmosphere.

South

Wentworth Golf Club
Virginia Water. Of all the inland courses in England, Wentworth is the most revered. Host to the Ryder Cup, the World Match Play, Dunlop Masters and so on, it personifies great inland golf the world over. the challenge, in terms of sheer yards, is enormous. But the qualities go beyond this, and include the atmosphere, the heathland, the silver birch and the fairway side homes.

Sunningdale Golf Club
Ascot. Sunningdale is a masterpiece. There can be few courses anywhere which have given such untold pleasure to so many golfers. The springy turf is remarkable, and the wonderful combination of heather, bracken, pine and silver birch makes for truly great scenic beauty.

Walton Heath Golf Club
Walton-on-the-Hill. On an exposed heathland setting, some 700 feet above sea level and covered with bracken and heather, the courses are undoubtedly two of the finest of their type in England. Both are at the mercy of the winds which sweep across the Downs and both have wide greens, merciless bunkers and awkward rough.

Royal St Georges Golf Club
Sandwich. This course is the truest links you will find in all England and the Royal & Ancient, in its wisdom, chose this as one of The Open venues, knowing it will find the pedigree player at the end of a week. Close to the sea, overlooking Pegwell Bay, any kind of wind can make this man-size test even tougher. The sweeping rough at the 1 st can be daunting, so can the bunkers and the huge sand hills. But there are classic shots here.

Prince's Golf Club
Sandwich. This is a 27-hole championship links of the highest calibre built in 3 loops of 9 holes from a modern clubhouse. The course represents all that is best in traditional links golf in the use of depression ridges and broken ground on a predominantly flat surface, with as little protection from the wind as possible. The three 18 hole combinations all demand the highest standard of distance judgment.

Royal Jersey Golf Club
Grouville. This is a seaside links, historic because of its age - it was founded in 1878. It is also famous for the fact that Britain's greatest golfer, Harry Vardon, was born in a little cottage on the edge of the course and learned his golf here.

Royal Cinque Ports Golf Club
Deal. This is a famous championship seaside links, windy but with easy walking. The outward nine is generally considered the easier. The inward nine is longer and includes the renowned 16th, perhaps the most difficult hole. On a fine day there are wonderful views across the Channel.

Rye Golf Club
Rye. This is a typical links golf course with superb greens and spectacular views.

East Sussex National Golf Club
Uckfield. Created with a $45 million budget, the East Sussex National, which runs around the elegant Horsted Place Hotel, is a wonderful creation for golfers and is planned to be one of the most luxurious golf clubs in the world. Its two courses have been created with tournaments in mind and the 18th green has been designed so that 50,000 spectators can see.

Royal Ashdown Forest Golf Club
Forest Row. This is an undulating heathland course with long carries of the tees and magnificent views over the forest. This is not a course for the high handicapper.

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