England

[Brent Carlson]

If you had 7-10 days of golf in England and wouldn't be back for a long time, where would you play? 

In my mind the Kent coast is a shoo in, but there are lots of other interesting courses.  For instance St Enodoc and Royal North Devon to the west; but also Ganton and Woodhall Spa are intriguing.  Plus there are the courses near Liverpool and the heathland near London.

As England is not as compact as Scotland it seems you cannot see most of them in one trip.  What would you do with your time?

[Scott Warren]

Is this 7-10 days of intensive golf?
How far are you happy driving in a day when you play 18 holes?
How far are you happy driving in a day when you play 36 holes?

Seeing Ganton, St Enodoc and St George's is possible on a 10-day trip, but you'd be doing some driving. England isn't as compact as Scotland, but it still isn't huge and there are more motorways and decent roads.

[John Cornish]

My two cents,

If you're venturing down to the Southwest, Saunton East, St Enodoc and Burnham and Berrow are my pick in that region. Royal North Devon would disappoint on such a short trip if you want to maximise your time on quality courses.

In Surrey / Berkshire, the courses at Sunningdale along with Swinley Forest and St Georges Hill give you a great Colt flavour.

In the NorthWest, I favoured Lytham and St Annes and Formby over Hoylake and Birkdale.

And yep - Ganton and particularly Woodhall Spa are tough to get to, but rewarding once you're there.

In if you're going Southeast, don't miss Cinque Ports.

[Sean_A]

If it were me, I would concentrate in the north because I know less about the north.  Courses such as Ganton, Alwoodley, Goswick, Seaton Carew and Silloth would be my main targets.  I would like to see some of the smaller courses like Seacroft, Seascale and possibly Cavendish and one or two others. Depending on how things panned out perhaps Formby and Woodhall Spa.  

For a first time visitor I would certainly recommend sticking to the south of England to include Londonish and either the West Country or Kent & Rye.  I wouldn't do both coasts.  There is no need to travel around that much for lovely golf.  

Ciao

[Scott Warren]

As a foreigner, I would say if you're doing one coast, do the Atlantic coast.

I know that's sacrilegious for a Cinque Ports member, but the unique culture in the West Country trumps Kent for mine and when you look at the fact that Porthcawl, Pennard, Burnham, Saunton East, Saunton West and St Enodoc are all pretty close to each other, it's hard to deny the golf might be better, too.

Having said that, if you're travelling between April and October you could easily do a 36-hole day-trip to St George's and Cinque Ports (1h45m each way on the train, about the same to drive) without raising a sweat, spend 3-4 days on the heathland, 3-4 days in the West Country and that would be a pretty awesome trip.

If you had another day, stay overnight down in Kent after playing Sandwich and Deal and play Rye the next morning before heading west to the Atlantic coast.

[James Boon]

I think Scott touched on a key point earlier. England may not be as compact as Scotland, but there are certainly more motorways to allow you to cover ground quicker.

I think someone could fly in to Heathrow and spend 7 to 10 days covering the London heathland courses and the Kent coast and leave a happy man. However, I'd probably recommend some travelling, if only to show what the rest of England looks like, but there are so many options. The London, Kent coast, south west combination mentioned is probably the best bet, but there are more than enough alternatives in the Midlands, the north west coast, Yorkshire etc.

Maybe for variety, after the London and Kent coast instead of heading south west (my turn to be sacreligous as a Burnham member), loop north to play some of the following over a few days: Royal Worlington, Brancaster, Hunstanton, Woodhall Spa & Notts?

Cheers,

James

[Jason McNamara]

Having said that, if you're travelling between April and October you could easily do a 36-hole day-trip to St George's and Cinque Ports (1h45m each way on the train, about the same to drive) without raising a sweat, spend 3-4 days on the heathland, 3-4 days in the West Country and that would be a pretty awesome trip.

If you had another day, stay overnight down in Kent after playing Sandwich and Deal and play Rye the next morning before heading west to the Atlantic coast.

One thing that might facilitate this is the overnight train from London toward Penzance.  This works especially well if you're on a Star Alliance carrier (United / Continental) and can return to the States on Continental's flight from Bristol to Newark.  You basically take the train from London to Perranporth, then make your way via St. E, Saunton, etc., to Burnham & Berrow, which is only 20 miles from BRS.

[Kevin Pallier]

If you had 7-10 days of golf in England and wouldn't be back for a long time, where would you play? 

Assuming I've played Links courses before - The Heathbelt followed by a few days on the Kent Coast

[Brent Hutto]

For a 7-day trip I'd spend the bulk of the week in one spot with several courses I wanted to play and save a day either on arrival or before departure for a course somewhere else. So for instance go directly from Gatwick/Heathrow to the Kent coast and play at Royal St. Georges, Princes and Royal Cinque Ports (with Littlestone and/or Rye also possibilities) with repeat plays at one or more of them. Leave a day early and spend a couple nights nearer the airports with a round at a Heathland course.

For a longer trip more like 9-10 days I'd do two locations. Something like 4-5 days on the Kent coast and another 4-5 days in the Heathlands belt. My first England trip in 2006 included Walton Heath on my first day (both courses) the Littlestone, Royal Cinque Ports three times (did not play at Princes and Sandwich because I was there to watch the Amateur Championship being contested on those courses) and then the long haul back to Oxfordshire to play at Huntercombe. That was one move too many and I should have done all my inland courses in one stay rather than split over two.

But for a trip at the longer end of your range I have a different suggestion. My second England trip was in the north and I thoroughly enjoyed the people, the landscape and the golf courses there while covering the entire "width" of England from the Irish Sea to the North Sea. It's not nearly so far as it sounds and there's a sense of accomplishment from having Seen It All, so to speak.

Fly into Manchester and drive directly to Formby Golf Club. Spend your first couple nights in England staying in their Dormy House. Play at Formby and at Royal Birkdale or sure and possibly even a third course among the many in that stretch of coastline. Then it's just a couple hour's drive to Leeds where you can play a couple rounds at Alwoodley. Wonderful inland golf with a rock solid MacKenzie pedigree. Then a couple hours more will take you up to Seaton Carew (or if you're more adventurous you can go further up the coast) for a day or two. Finally a lovely drive through the North Yorkshire Moors down to Ganton. I only played a few holes there which was a major oversight in planning that I intend to correct eventually. From Ganton it's an easy Motorway jaunt back to Manchester.

The disadvantage of this plan is too many moves. You'll stay at the Dormy House at Formby, an overnight in Leeds or up toward Seaton Carew, a couple more nights nearer Ganton and then probably an airport hotel the night before departure. But the windshield time includes some lovely terrain in places and you'll have seen what feels like a whole blooming country without ever having to spend more than 3 hours in a car at a stretch. And every course I mentioned is a solid winner in my book.

[Mark Chaplin]

Scott - C plus -  Have you visited Cornwall in the summer yet, it can take an hour to get from Westwood Ho! to Saunton, an hour is nothing but a pain to go 17 miles! It's 446 miles return from Sunningdale to St Enodoc, 9 hours (return) according to AA route planner and petrol is $9 a gallon

Brent - Golf in the southeast of England is of the highest quality but the trophy courses can be expensive. It is nearly always better value to play 36 at one club rather than trying to visit two different clubs on the same day. I'd aim to play two first level world class courses in Royal St Georges and Sunningdale both are expensive but of the top order.

I'd then pair RStG with Royal Cinque Ports and Rye to give you some excellent links golf over 3 days.

Take a day off golf and spend some time exploring Canterbury or take a train into London.

Now for Sunningdale's partners. I could say Walton Heath, The Berkshire or Swinley Forest but Sunningdale has broken the bank so we need the very best heaths at a more reasonable cost. Choose 2 or 3 from Hankely Common, New Zealand, Woking and Worplesdon are very traditional understated heathland courses.

Now for a couple of of inland, courses choose from West Sussex is well loved here and Knole Park with the deer wandering around the course is pretty special. Finally Royal Ashdown Forest and The Addington add some quirk to the mix.

So that's 8 or 9 days of golf with a rest day giving you the very best of links, heath and parkland golf, take a coat and tie, lunch where possible and enjoy. Others may try but I dare anyone to beat this plan!!

[Scott Warren]

Scott - B minus - where is the variation? Have you visited Cornwall in the summer yet, it can take an hour to get from Westwood Ho! to Saunton.

I have. Well, I was there in May - . To me, an hour's drive from day-to-day is nothing, and lets you see some of the world as you move from course to course.

The variation?

4-5 days of links golf,
3-4 days of heathland golf,
Maybe a round at Painswick en route from London to the Atlantic.

What more could you want?

[David_Tepper]

Brent -

I would definitely spend 3-5 days playing the heathland courses west & south of London. For starters, you could spend 3 days playing the 36-holes at Sunningdale, Walton Heath & the Berkshire.

Then I would head to either Kent or the Lancashire coast for 3-5 days of links golf.  Kent offers Deal, Sandwich, Prince's and others. If you base yourself in Southport, you can almost walk from your B&B to Birkdale, to Hillside and to Southport&Ainsdale. Formby is only 15-20 miles down the road. Open venues Royal Liverpool and Royal Lytham St. Anne's are not much more than an hour's drive from Southport.   

The good news is there are no bad choices!

DT

[Brent Carlson]

Thanks to all for the advice.  Having been to Scotland, there is really nothing like true links golf on the British Isles, and I would like to make a return trip.  Admittedly I am biased toward the links courses because they are exotic to me, but the heathland sound excellent as well.  The best way would be to live in England for a year and travel all over .  Thanks for the info!

[Brent Carlson]

Is this 7-10 days of intensive golf?
How far are you happy driving in a day when you play 18 holes?
How far are you happy driving in a day when you play 36 holes?

Seeing Ganton, St Enodoc and St George's is possible on a 10-day trip, but you'd be doing some driving. England isn't as compact as Scotland, but it still isn't huge and there are more motorways and decent roads.

Yes it would be intensive golf, a guys trip if you will.  36 holes and driving is a tall task but would depend on how many gents make the trip.

As far as access, can anyone confirm how busy the courses are in the early fall?  When I was in Scotland in October, I was able to play Dornoch, TOC, etc, etc with a phone call the day before.  The courses were certainly not busy that time of year, and the freedom of being able to play wherever was great.  Thanks again!

[Mark Chaplin]

Brent - you will need to make advance arrangements if you play south east there are more outings and most clubs have a ladies day. Weekend
play will be tough without a member.

[Scott Warren]

Admittedly I am biased toward the links courses because they are exotic to me, but the heathland sound excellent as well.

I have to say, moving over here it was the links courses I was excited about, but heathland golf may well be my favourite. There's something very magical about it and very different to other styles of inland golf.

[Ulrich Mayring]

You'll find great links courses in other places as well. Scotland isn't shabby and neither is Ireland, so if you're going to England for a short trip, why bother with Kent or the West Coast? Do what you cannot get anywhere else in that quantity and quality: heathland golf.

Ulrich

[John Mayhugh]

I could recommend this selection of courses:
West Sussex
Rye
Swinley Forest
Deal
Sandwich
Walton Heath Old

These are the only courses that I've played in England, but the variety of links & heathland was a real treat.

[Tiger_Bernhardt]

After years of doing this, I think you should pick two areas to maximize golf and minimize travel. I love St Edonoch and Ganton, but would do either Kent and Liverpool. Or Ring around London and Liverpool. 7 to ten days is not long enough to 4 corner the country even in a private plane.