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31-40 Courses
31. HILLSIDE GOLF CLUB
- Location: Southport, Merseyside, England
- Founded: 1911
- Designed by: Fred Hawtree
- Green fee: £140-£250
- 23/24 ranking: No change
Venue for the 2019 British Masters hosted by Tommy Fleetwood, Hillside is a links with a twist as mature pine trees frame a number of the holes.
Also featuring are the impressive sand dunes that line the fairways. The front nine is strong at Hillside, but the course really comes to life on the back nine as the holes move up and through the sand dunes.
Elevated tees on the run in provide stunning views to the Lake District in the north and Snowdonia in the south, but these views shouldn’t distract from the sheer quality of the holes you are traversing.
- Hillside review and key info
32. OLD HEAD GOLF LINKS
- Location: Kinsale, County Cork, Ireland
- Founded: 1997
- Designed by: Ron Kirby
- Green fee: €225-€395
- 23/24 ranking: Up 1
Laid out over a vertiginous headland in County Cork, Old Head enjoys a setting that’s hard to beat.
Many holes are simply breath-taking, but the 12th and 13th , near the headland’s slender neck, sum up the experience. The 12th tee is cut into the towering cliffs and you play up to a hidden fairway, then along to a precariously narrow target. The relatively new par 3 13th is then a short but dramatic cliff-hugger.
Old Head has constantly strived to take as much of the action as possible to the cliff edge to up the drama, with that new 13th a prime example.
- Old Head review and key info
33. WALTON HEATH GOLF CLUB OLD COURSE
- Location: Walton-on-the-Hill, Surrey, England
- Opened: 1904
- Designed by: Herbert Fowler
- Green fee: £135-£395
- 23/24 ranking: Down 4
One of the great English heathland golf courses, the Old Course at Walton Heath was opened in 1904 with a match between the great triumvirate: Taylor, Vardon and Braid.
The Scot was already the club’s professional and he continued to hold the position right up to his death in 1950. This is a club with a great history.
Designed by Herbert Fowler, it’s a sandy and firm track protected by heather, an eclectic selection of trees and the notorious, swirling winds. The greens are famously excellent and feature subtle borrows. A delicate touch is essential.
- Walton Heath Old course review and key info
34. GANTON GOLF CLUB
- Location: Vale of Pickering, Yorkshire, England
- Opened: 1897
- Designed by: Tom Chisholm and Robert Bird
- Green fee: £90-£200
- 23/24 ranking: No change
Ganton has a tremendous pedigree. In 1891 Tom Chisholm of St Andrews laid out a course at Ganton that would go on to host significant events, including the Ryder Cup of 1949. Several greats have lent their expertise to alterations over the years, including Harry Vardon, James Braid, Harry Colt and Dr Alister MacKenzie.
It’s an unusual course; an inland track with links-like playing characteristics. The great amateur Sir Michael Bonallack said of Ganton, “The journey from tee to green on every hole is one of the most enjoyable golfing examinations that a player is ever likely to experience."
35. SWINLEY FOREST GOLF CLUB
- Location: Ascot, Berkshire, England
- Opened: 1909
- Designed by: Harry Colt
- Green fee: Contact club
- 23/24 ranking: Up 4
As traditional, uncommercial and private as anywhere in the Golf Monthly Top 100, Swinley Forest is a club unlike any other.
As for its very delightful Harry Colt course, then if you were asked to close your eyes and imagine in your mind a perfect, beautiful, traditional, heathland golf course as it would have been a century ago, this would be exactly it.
This is one of Colt’s greatest legacies; one that has totally stood the test of time barring the odd new back tee here or minor tweak there. Charm and character in equal measure.
- Swinley Forest review and key info
36. GLENEAGLES KING'S COURSE
- Location: Auchterarder, Perthshire, Scotland
- Founded: 1919
- Designed by: James Braid
- Green fee: £80-£450
- 23/24 ranking: Up 3
James Braid’s long-revered Perthshire masterpiece enjoys one of the most majestic settings for golf in the UK&I.
It opened in 1919 and carves through the pine trees, rising and falling over springy moorland turf. It may not be the longest, but with blind shots, humps, hollows and sloping greens, it definitely rewards precise and considered play.
There are raised greens to contend with, too, most prominently on the well-protected, mid-length par-3 5th, capable of repelling any slight miscues. In recent years, a number of long-lost Braid features have been reintroduced to maximise the course’s rich heritage.
- Gleneagles King's review and key info
37. NAIRN GOLF CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP COURSE
- Location: Nairn, Highland, Scotland
- Founded: 1887
- Designed by: Archie Simpson and Old Tom Morris
- Green fee: £50-£298
- 23/24 ranking: Down 2
Nairn delivers typical Scottish links golf. It’s an out-and-back layout with the sea visible on every hole.
Recent improvements by Tom Mackenzie have greatly enhanced the offering. The front nine forges out along the Moray Firth, an exacting start when into the wind. The course then turns at the 8th and heads slightly inland for the back nine. It delivers some interesting holes and an unexpected change in elevation up to the 13th green.
During the summer months the fairways are fast-running and covered in humps and hollows. The greens are famously true and can become perplexingly pacey.
- Nairn Golf Club review and key info
38. HOLLINWELL THE HOME OF NOTTS GC
- Location: Kirkby in Ashfield, Nottinghamshire, England
- Opened: 1901 (club founded 1887)
- Designed by: Willie Park Jr
- Green fee: £85-£225
- 23/24 ranking: Down 1
The entrance drive to this golfing oasis creates a huge sense of anticipation for what is to come - a stunning heathland layout that is considered to be one of the best golf courses in England.
This brilliant design is in part wooded and benefits from rocky outcrops, the occasional encounter with water, bracken and fern. Rarely do consecutive holes run in the same direction, and gentle slopes reward with lovely views and strategic challenge.
- Hollinwell review and key info
39. ST ENODOC GOLF CLUB CHURCH COURSE
- Location: Rock, Cornwall, England
- Opened: 1890
- Designed by: James Braid
- Green fee: £135-£145
- 23/24 ranking: Down 3
This distinctive Church layout is on Cornwall’s chiselled northern coast 50 miles from Land’s End and is easily one of the best links courses in England and also one of the most memorable.
Poet Laureate John Betjeman is buried at the far end of the course in the churchyard beside the 10th green, and the vast Himalaya bunker on the right of the superb par-4 6th is one of the most photographed in golf.
- St Enodoc review and key info
40. DUMBARNIE LINKS
- Location: Leven, Fife, Scotland
- Opened: 2020
- Designed by: Clive Clark
- Green fee: £207-£286
- 23/24 ranking: No change
Elevated tees at Dumbarnie provide great views across the layout, sweeping fairways lead to impressive, sloping green complexes while surrounding dunes have been sculpted to give a rugged feel.
This course presents a challenging but fair strategic test. On almost every tee, there’s a choice to be made and there are options for negotiating each hole.
- Dumbarnie review and key info
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