Reaching Out to Our English Members as in England

[FLOG4]

Please offer up some advise regarding traveling to your Country and playing some golf.  Places to stay?  Great courses that have others in the area to allow for staying in one spot and playing for a week.  Appreciate any insights, Thank You

[sabram]

Doug - I'm not an Englishman, but I made a couple of trips there while my son was in school in London. You can't go wrong playing the Heathland courses in Surrey and Berkshire near London. There are enough world calss courses in that small area to keep you happy for more than a week. Some great 36 hole days are as follow:

Sunningdale Old and New

Walton Heath Old and New

St George's Hill (Red & Blue 9's)  and New Zealand

Woking and Worplesdon

Berkshire Red and Berkshire Blue

Wentworth West and East are overpriced and would be lower on my list

Other good choices are Hankley Common and Hindhead which are a little further south.

It is also worth a day to make a side trip to the East Coast of Kent and play Sandwich (Royal St Georges) and Deal (Royal Cinque Ports)

That's 16 of the best courses in England without going very far.

P.S. My photo on this site was taken at #9 at the top of St George's Hill. Check out the club house in the background.

http://golfcourses.weebly.com/berkshire-and-surrey-england.html

[FLOG4]

Excellent.  I'm thinking 2013 for this now I gotta convince the guys....But I'm pretty good at that.   I just got a copy of Rolex top 1000 in the world.....Over 1300 pages of golf courses.....Where am I going to find the time?

[uttexas]

Dual citizenship--last year visited Bournemouth, Dorset County, England (nice beaches/nice weather) Some of the more interesting courses in that area (be sure to bring your H.I. card) Isle of Purbeck [URL]http://www.purbeckgolf.co.uk/[/URL] Broadstone [URL]http://www.broadstonegolfclub.com/[/URL] Ferndown [URL]http://www.ferndowngolfclub.co.uk/home[/URL] Remedy Oak looks private, might have to write a letter if you want to play it [URL]http://remedyoak.com/contacts_page[/URL] Barton-on-Sea [URL]http://www.bosgc.co.uk/pages.php/index.html[/URL] Came Down [URL]http://www.camedowngolfclub.co.uk/pages.php/index.html][/URL]

[michaeljames92]

Royal Dornoch if they let you on.

[Wansteadimp]

Try the coast near Southport.

Royal Birkdale, Southport & Ainsdale, Hillside, Formby, West Lancs - Royal Lytham & St Annes not too far away, likewise Hoylake.

Lesser but still good courses in the area Formby Hall, Hesketh - in land Ormskirk is excellent if you want to get away from links style courses.

[misty_mountainhop]

Some good courses recommended already. Any of them would be excellent. Don't ignore some of these though:

If you're going to be in the midlands near me (Nottingham of Robin Hood fame), you have to think about Hollinwell ( http://www.nottsgolfclub.co.uk ) and Sherwood Forest ( http://www.sherwoodforestgolfclub.co.uk ). Hollinwell is probably the better course but its greens are not quite up to the standard of the course itself, which is exceptional. Sherwood always has excellent greens and, in the Summer, these can be like greased lightening. You should also check out Lindrick ( http://www.lindrickgolfclub.co.uk ) which hosted the '57 Ryder Cup and is generally in great condition, has decent deals and is a good all-round test. Worksop ( http://www.worksopgolfclub.com ) is also a very good course.

If you're down in the South West (something I'd really recommend), you have to think about Trevose ( http://www.trevose-gc.co.uk/ ) and St. Enedoc ( http://www.st-enodoc.co.uk ). Proper links in a fantastic setting. St. Enedoc is one of my all-time favourites. Can also check out the Nicklaus designed St. Mellion ( http://www.st-mellion.co.uk ) while in this part of the World as well. If you take in Devon (not quite as far South West as Cornwall), you have to play one or both of the links at Saunton ( http://www.sauntongolf.co.uk ); both are ranked Top 100 globally. Many more down this part of the country too.

Should say that although these courses are all enjoyable they can be tough so it might depend a bit on what you're after. Should whet your appetite though!

[FLOG4]

Originally Posted by michaeljames92

Royal Dornoch if they let you on.

Royal Dornoch is easy to get on and in the far northern reaches of Scotland. Last I played there my brother in law stood on first tee as the starter said hit away lads....He drove the green a 320 yard par 4.....The 2nd hole he crushed a drive that hit a bird in flight right in front of us....Oh what a site that was.....

[FLOG4]

Originally Posted by Wansteadimp

Try the coast near Southport.

Royal Birkdale, Southport & Ainsdale, Hillside, Formby, West Lancs - Royal Lytham & St Annes not too far away, likewise Hoylake.

Lesser but still good courses in the area Formby Hall, Hesketh - in land Ormskirk is excellent if you want to get away from links style courses.

This sounds like a must do trip....Thank You  Would there be a potential house to rent or similar. Our group prefers staying together vs BB's and Hotels.

[FLOG4]

Originally Posted by misty_mountainhop

Some good courses recommended already. Any of them would be excellent. Don't ignore some of these though:

If you're going to be in the midlands near me (Nottingham of Robin Hood fame), you have to think about Hollinwell (http://www.nottsgolfclub.co.uk) and Sherwood Forest (http://www.sherwoodforestgolfclub.co.uk). Hollinwell is probably the better course but its greens are not quite up to the standard of the course itself, which is exceptional. Sherwood always has excellent greens and, in the Summer, these can be like greased lightening. You should also check out Lindrick (http://www.lindrickgolfclub.co.uk) which hosted the '57 Ryder Cup and is generally in great condition, has decent deals and is a good all-round test. Worksop (http://www.worksopgolfclub.com) is also a very good course.

If you're down in the South West (something I'd really recommend), you have to think about Trevose (http://www.trevose-gc.co.uk/) and St. Enedoc (http://www.st-enodoc.co.uk). Proper links in a fantastic setting. St. Enedoc is one of my all-time favourites. Can also check out the Nicklaus designed St. Mellion (http://www.st-mellion.co.uk) while in this part of the World as well. If you take in Devon (not quite as far South West as Cornwall), you have to play one or both of the links at Saunton (http://www.sauntongolf.co.uk); both are ranked Top 100 globally. Many more down this part of the country too.

Should say that although these courses are all enjoyable they can be tough so it might depend a bit on what you're after. Should whet your appetite though!

These are great options.  Thank You  Will be doing some homework to decide which first. Our group is 8 and all below 15 handicaps. So we hope to play the best we can regardless of difficulty.  I personally seek out the most challenging courses. I don't play them from the tips any more but will play 6500 +/-.  All the best

[Wansteadimp]

Don't know about B&B;'s, we stayed in a hotel on the front in Southport, details of what we did: -

ACCOMMODATION Royal Clifton Hotel Southport

12 Twin Rooms

Bed & Breakfast x 3 nights

COST PER PERSON £135.00

GOLF

Thursday 7 July                       Hesketh                                   2.00pm                        £60.00pp

Friday 8 July                            Southport & Ainsdale              1.04pm                        £80.00 pp

Saturday 9 July                        Formby Hall                            2.00pm                        £60.00 pp

Sunday 10 July                         Ormskirk                                 10.00am                      £50.00 pp

COST PER PERSON £250.00

TOTAL COST PER PERSON £385.00

Excellent value, Formby Hall was busy & slow on a Saturday.

S&A; is hard, especially if you hit an unmentionable on the 1st, with no idea where it came from! (possibly out of a pint of guiness).

Been back to play Birkdale since, which is superb.

I know that the organiser had an eye on price and that the other courses I mentioned will be more than Hesketh, Formby Hall & Ormskirk. A bank paid for my trip to Birkdale so I can't help there with price.

[misty_mountainhop]

One other in the Devon area (how did I miss this one?!?) is Westward Ho! ( http://www.royalnorthdevongolfclub.co.uk ) which is another great links track in a beautiful part of the country. I miss the South West...

[misty_mountainhop]

Originally Posted by FLOG4

These are great options.  Thank You  Will be doing some homework to decide which first. Our group is 8 and all below 15 handicaps. So we hope to play the best we can regardless of difficulty.  I personally seek out the most challenging courses. I don't play them from the tips any more but will play 6500 +/-.  All the best

If you're all decent players you should find any of the ones I've mentioned a really good test. If you play any of the Devon/Cornwall tracks in the Summer (except maybe St. Mellion), expect them to be hard running with quick greens. If the wind is up.......good luck! At least there's the bar afterwards if it's been a tough day.

[buteman]

Sorry,,,had to chuck this back at you,,,,Royal Dornoch is ( and always will be ) one of the great links courses, a favourite of Mr. Nicklaus, Mr. Watson and Mr. Trevino. And also it is far removed from the ENGLISH border,,,it's a fabulous SCOTTISH links course.

I sent an e-mail to the club secretary a couple of months before departing from our home in B.C. I received a delightful reply he made arrangements for me to play an early morning round with three members.

We stayed at the Dornoch Castle Hotel,,an experience indeed,,fabulous accomodation and likewise with the food, the hotel is situated close to the golf course. The course itself could easily be used as a good test for the Open Championship but with Dornoch being such a small village it would not be able to host an event of that size.

[nevets88]

Not an Englishman, but stayed in Southport and played some of the courses on the list above. The nice thing about Southport is all these courses don't require much of a drive. Easy ride train ride from Southport to Liverpool.

I also heard Wales was good golf destination as well.