Somerset

England

Tom Dunn, who was the Tooting Bec professional at the time, extended Bath’s original 9-hole course on part of Hampton Down called The Warren to a full 18-hole layout in the early 1880s. J. H. Taylor recommended further expansion in 1906 – using ground from the adjoining ladies course.

Harry Colt modifications (which included the construction of the current 10th and 11th holes) were completed at the end of the 1930s to fashion the course that is still in play over eighty years later.

Sham Castle, as the club is known locally, is set out adjacent to a former stone quarry that operated on high ground overlooking the town of Bath, the course is blessed with free-draining soil that ensures fairways are normally found in tip-top condition.

With only two par fives and three short holes on the scorecard, the strength of the layout is found in its par four holes and strong sequences of these two-shotters are found at holes 1-3, 7-10 and 16-18.

The most memorable hole arrives at the short par four 17th, which doglegs right and upwards to a well defended, two-tiered green. Out of bounds is marked by a low wall that runs from tee to green 25 yards to the right of the fairway centreline, so golfers are advised to play conservatively if they hope to score four or less at this hole.

Bath

Britain & Ireland

Set out on a former stone quarry that operated on high ground overlooking the town, Bath Golf Club is blessed with free-draining soil...

South West France

France

British expatriates created the original sporting facilities at Golf de Biarritz Le Phare in 1888, establishing an 18-hole golf course for gentlemen, a 9-holer for ladies as well as a croquet lawn, cricket pitch and a number of tennis courts.

The following year, Tom and Willie Dunn were asked to modify the golf courses and their improved design lasted just over thirty years, until Harry Colt was called in to add bunkers and extend the length of a number of holes.

A large portion of the Colt layout was lost during World War II so, unfortunately, the present day course bears little resemblance to the one that was once in play. Measuring a modest 5,400 metres in length, Le Phare is now rated as a par 69 track.

Tree-lined fairways occupy two separate tracts of land, with holes 4 to 9 located on a separate parcel from the remainder of the property and it’s on this slightly detached acreage that you’ll find one of the toughest holes on the card at the 203-metre par three 8th.

The template hole “Biarritz” originated here in France before the ravages of war destroyed it. Known as the “chasm”, the green came into play at the original long par three 3rd hole where a menacing swale dissected the putting surface. Charles Blair Macdonald coined the name Biarritz and the first template copy was built at Piping Rock and replicated in various guises at a number of courses in America, including Yale and Fishers Island.

Biarritz Le Phare

Continental Europe

The original course at Golf de Biarritz Le Phare, which was laid out by Tom and Willie Dunn in 1888, was one of the oldest on the European continent that was subsequently redesigned by Harry Colt in the 1920s...

Dorset

Originally known as the Dorset Golf Club, Lord Wimborne founded Broadstone in 1898 and Tom Dunn designed the course. “Broadstone is, I think, rather an easy course to remember,” wrote Bernard Darwin, in his 1910 book, 

, “which is the same as saying that the holes have each got very definite characters of their own; at any rate, although I have seen them but once, I can play them all quite clearly in my mind’s eye, save only the park holes, which, truth to tell, are not much worth remembering.” Harry Colt was later commissioned to redesign Broadstone, utilising a glorious tract of heathland to the west of the railway line to build seven new holes. Thus, Broadstone became a quintessential heathland course and little has changed since.

The course is laid out on glorious rolling terrain. The elevated homeward nine provides panoramic views of the Purbeck Hills and Poole Harbour. Measuring 6,315 yards from the back tees and 5,467 yards from the forward tees, Broadstone is not a championship layout. Having said this, a number of important amateur tournaments have been held here – including the English Women’s Amateur (1929, 1973, 2010), The Women’s Amateur (1951) and Women’s Home Internationals (1951) – testing some of the very best golfers. And although Broadstone cannot offer length from the tee, it can offer beauty, with profusion of heather, gorse, birch and pines.

In many ways, Broadstone is a shorter, cross between Sunningdale and Walton Heath, undoubtedly Broadstone is an outstanding heathland course and worthy of inclusion on any serious golfing itinerary.

“I feel entirely at peace with Broadstone,” wrote Darwin, “which has some really fine holes, and is as pleasant a spot to play golf in­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­—as breezy, and pretty, and quiet—as anyone could desire.”­­­­­­­­­­

Broadstone

Broadstone Golf Club is laid out on glorious rolling terrain. The elevated homeward nine provides panoramic views of the Purbeck Hills and Poole Harbour.

Cornwall

Founding members formed North Cornwall Golf Club in 1891, playing on common land in Bude known as Summerleaze Downs and their pioneering spirit lives on in the form of a small 9-hole pitch and putt course that stands beside the modern day 18-hole layout.

Bude Town Golf Club (later called Bedes Haven GC) was established in 1921 and its artisan members looked after the course until merging with the main golf club to form Bude & North Cornwall Golf Club shortly after World War II.

The prolific course designer Tom Dunn did a fine job squeezing 18 holes into a tight tract of land between the town and the coastline. Holes 1 to 5 lie on one side of Golf House Road with the remaining fairways fitted into the available ground on the other side of the street.

This seaside course extends to just over 6,000 yards from the back markers and its modest overall length is not surprising when the scorecard shows that the trio of par fives on the layout average less than 450 yards from tee to green.

Just be aware that the only two par fours in excess of 400 yards come at holes 16 and 17 (stroke index 2 and 4) so Bude & North Cornwall is more than capable of landing a late punch on golfers who switch off towards the end of the round.

Bude & North Cornwall

Bude & North Cornwall Golf Club extends to just over 6,000 yards from the back markers but its modest overall length packs a punch late in the round...

Known as Came Down Golf Club since 1924, the club started out with a Tom Dunn-designed 9-hole golf course in 1896 as Dorchester Golf Club. Ten years after its formation, the club enlisted J.H. Taylor to extend the course to a full 18-hole layout, and with this expansion came another change of name, to Weymouth, Dorchester and County Golf Club. When the third and final name change took place almost twenty years later, it was decided to upgrade the course at the same time and so Harry Colt was asked to redesign Came Down, with reconstruction work delayed a couple of years until 1927.

Located on chalk downland between Dorchester and Weymouth, Came Down enjoys wonderful scenic views of the surrounding Dorset countryside. Samuel Ryder used to holiday in this area during the summer and he eventually became a member of the club. It’s said that his vision for the Ryder Cup, to be played between teams of British and American golf professionals, took shape after listening to local pros talk about the expense involved in leaving club jobs temporarily to participate in competitions.

Today’s course features a number of intriguing holes, amongst them a pair of short par fours at the 3rd (“Spinney”) and 17th (Polly’s Pit”). The 407-yard 7th (“Maiden Castle”) is a tough hole – named after the nearby site of what’s believed to be the largest Iron Age hill fort in Europe – where, after a blind tee shot, an approach shot is played to a well-bunkered green that’s benched into the hillside. On the back nine, the 404-yard 16th (“Slingers”) is another difficult hole, with out of bounds to the right of the fairway helping to concentrate the thoughts of many between the teebox and green.

Came Down

With stunning panoramic views, a tough but fair course and a great deal of history, the J.H. Taylor and Harry Colt-designed Came Down Golf Club is a quintessential gem.

Kent

The grounds on which the course was designed were purchased by the Willett family from the Nathaniel Strode estate in 1890. The intention was to build over around 125 acres, but the Chislehurst Commons Conservators blocked this and eventually agreed to a course being constructed on approximately half the planned acreage.

Tom Dunn was appointed as the architect and he created a 9-hole course on property which was officially opened on 21 July 1894 by the Rt. Hon. A.J. Balfour.

During those first few years it was a proprietary club, owned by the Willetts. However, there was a move to establish a members’ owned club and a scheme was put together to buy back the clubhouse and the course.

At the time that the purchase was agreed with the Willets, Easton Devonshire designed an 18-hole course which involved the purchase of another 4 acres of land. The new layout was opened in June 1900, again by Mr Balfour.

James Braid was then called in to upgrade the layout as indicated in the following edited extract which is taken from 

James Braid and his Four Hundred Golf Courses

“In early 1914 Braid travelled down to south-east London to the now leafy suburbs of Chislehurst. His brief was to ‘alter’ the course. It was, and is, an unusual course. Nisbet, 1911, refers to it as ‘very picturesquely situated’ and ‘carefully laid out’ but ‘unfortunately too short for modern long driving’, before praising it as ‘an excellent test of golf’.

Braid lengthened holes 1, 2, 3, 11, 12, 15 and 18, put in five new greens, and added over sixty bunkers. Hawtree, from nearby Sundridge Park, did the construction. On 23rd June 1914 he opened the altered course with Tom Ball who beat him by 8 strokes, 73:65, before they combined in the afternoon to beat Jones, the club professional, and Ross 3&2.”

The eighteen holes are laid out on an extraordinarily compact property extending to only around sixty acres. Amazingly, two good-sized par fives (at the 1st and 14th) and a couple of long par fours (in excess of 400 yards) are somehow squeezed into this confined tract.

There are back-to-back par threes on the outward half at the 7th and 8th and this arrangement of successive short holes is repeated on the inward half at the 12th and 13th. As if that wasn’t enough quirk, there are old-fashioned crossover fairways at holes 1 and 16 and holes 8 and 11.


Chislehurst

Featuring back-to-back par threes on both nines, the small but perfectly formed layout at Chislehurst Golf Club is an old-fashioned Tom Dunn design that dates back to 1894.

North West France

Situated four miles to the west of Dinard, along the sandy shoreline of Brittany’s Emerald Coast at Saint-Briac-sur-Mer, the fairways of Dinard Golf Club date back to the late 1880s when a group of British servicemen established a number of sporting clubs that would cater for the varied leisure interests of their members.

North Berwick professional Tom Dunn was enlisted to set out a course amongst the gorse and broom on a 125-acre seaside parcel of land which was formerly occupied by only sheep and cattle. It wasn’t long before Dinard became one of the most fashionable places to play golf in France, attracting even aristocracy like the Grand Duke of Russia.

Tom Dunn (brother of Willie Dunn, who laid out the course at Biarritz around the same time) was married to Isabella “Queenie” Gourlay, “the greatest professional of her day” and he would later design more than a hundred courses, mainly in England, including the likes of Lindrick and Royal Worlington & Newmarket.

Sadly, the course has been modified many times over the years so much of Dunn’s work has been diluted. What remains constant is the layout’s lack of length because it still measures a modest 5,334 metres from the back tees. With only one par five (at the right doglegged 4th) and five par threes on the card, the course plays to a par of 68.

Because the eighteen fairways are strung out along the English Channel coastline, out of bounds comes into play at many of the holes so accuracy is the watchword at Dinard. One of the feature holes is the 152-metre 13th, “Les Essarts,” which plays uphill from an old World War II concrete fortification to an exposed flag position on a ridge-top green.

 by author George Peper and the editors of GOLF magazine features the 310-metre par four 6th hole at Dinard: “Dunn laid out this seaside beauty in 1887, well before earth-moving equipment was available. The hole’s undulations are wild and untamed, as nature intended. The narrow fairway is the midpoint of a three-step elevation change, sweeping down to the ocean on the right. Mounds up to twenty feet tall can create some interesting stances for the approach, which is played to a steep-faced green surrounded by swales and native rough.”

Dinard

Situated four miles to the west of Dinard, along the sandy shoreline of Brittany’s Emerald Coast at Saint-Briac-sur-Mer, the fairways of Dinard Golf Club date back to the late 1880s...

Berkshire

In 1895, Tom Dunn laid out the initial 9-hole course at Goring & Streatley Golf Club. Twenty-seven years later “minor changes were made to the original nine hole layout under the advice of Harry Colt” according to the club’s history book.

In 1927, J.H. Turner, the professional at Frilford Heath, extended the layout with another seven holes then he returned the following year to add another two holes, completing the design of the new 18-hole course.

Additional land was secured in 1936 to lengthen a couple of holes and build two new ones, the 11th and 12th, then some ground was purchased next to the 15th hole in 1940 which has since been used as a turf nursery.

At the start of the new millennium, all the bunkers were refurbished, paths were reconstructed using rubberised products, and a drainage project – including the installation of a pond on the 8th – was undertaken to improve playing conditions.

Goring & Streatley

Goring & Streatley Golf Club was founded in 1895 and the course was originally designed by Tom Dunn. With fine turf, topographical variation and expansive views of the Thames Valley, it’s an engaging golfing experience.

Norfolk

Several courses in the UK and Ireland are laid out within racecourses – 

 in Ireland spring immediately to mind – but Great Yarmouth & Caister Golf Club takes this interaction of golf and horse racing onto a new level, with golfers having to duck under the rails several times during the course of a round.

The club was formed in 1882 when a 13-hole layout was brought into play but, by the end of the following year, North Berwick-born professional Tom Dunn had extended the course to eighteen holes. After the club merged with near neighbour Caister in 1913, Harry Colt is said to have designed an 18-hole course over land that had been used by both clubs but World War I prevented this development from ever going ahead.

The racetrack was relocated to its present position just after the Great War and a revised course was completed in 1921, with an exhibition match between Ted Ray, George Duncan and local professionals J.B. Batley and Len Holland to mark the occasion. Tank defences laid across the course during World War II were removed when hostilities ceased but, apart from that, the layout has remained intact for almost a century.


The 7th is the only short hole on the outward half, played to a two-tiered green that falls away on either side of the putting surface. On the back nine, the only two par fives on the card at 13 and 15 are sandwiched either side of another terrific par three at the 161-yard 14th, where the green is protected by a rather fearsome looking bunker to the front right of the putting surface.

Great Yarmouth & Caister

Great Yarmouth & Caister Golf Club is the Home of Bogey and the oldest golf club in Norfolk, founded in 1882. Unusually, this North Sea links layout features the Great Yarmouth racecourse as a hazard.

Middlesex

A tranquil and traditional 9-hole golf course lies in wait for unsuspecting golfers at Hampstead Golf Club, just a few miles from central London.

Hampstead

Yorkshire

Huddersfield Golf Club was founded in 1891 and its course was laid out by Tom Dunn, who was one of the most prolific architects of his day. Subsequent revisions to the layout were made by Sandy Herd (the club’s first professional, who won the Open in 1902) and a host of others, including Herbert Fowler, Fred Hawtree and Donald Steel. In 2004, Cameron Sinclair also upgraded all eighteen greens to USGA standard.

Today, the layout extends to 6,514 yards from the back tees. First time visitors teeing off on the tough (and long) par four 1st hole (“Camborne”) may be a little surprised to see golfers on the long par four 9th (“Hall”) cut across their path as the old-fashioned routing crosses over the two fairways at the start and finish of the front nine holes.

The toughest hole on the card (stroke index 1) is played at the 512-yard 5th (“Gernhill”), an uncompromising par five that doglegs right across a row of cross bunkers to a green surrounded by another three sand traps. The 419-yard 12th (“Wells Ing”) is another stiff test, the hole veering sharply left to a green that’s protected by a solitary bunker to the front of the putting surface.

The course has hosted many prestigious competitions, both amateur and professional, down the years. The PGA used to hold the Lawrence Batley Seniors Tournament here and the Ladies Golf Union and English Ladies’ Golf Association have used the course for national and international events, including the Ladies Seniors Home Internationals in 2014.

Huddersfield

With Fixby Hall as the magnificent clubhouse, it's no surprise that Huddersfield is one of Yorkshire's finest and most respected golf clubs.

Lindrick Golf Club is remembered passionately because it was here in 1957 that Great Britain beat the USA to win the Ryder Cup. Victory had been a long time coming; the last time the home team had defeated the dominant Americans was way back in 1933 at 

. After the 1957 Lindrick triumph, the Ryder Cup remained firmly in the grasp of the USA until 1985 when, at the 

, a combined team of GB&I and Europe managed to wrestle the cup from the Americans.

Lindrick Golf Club played host to the 1957 Ryder Cup matches between the USA and Great Britain. Team Captains were Jack Burke (US) and Dai Rees (GB). Yorkshire industrialist, Sir Stuart Goodwin, financed the British Team to the tune of £10,000 and the team selection process utilised a new points system. The result was a win for Britain despite a dominant American 3-1 lead in the foursomes. A 6 ½ to 1 ½ result in the singles was more than enough to seal the first British win in twenty-four years. GB 7 ½ - USA 4 ½. The Ryder Cup was played at 

Clearly, the Ryder Cup put Lindrick firmly on the golfing map, but the Sheffield and District Golf Club, as it was originally called, was actually founded in the 19th century, 1891 to be precise, when a course was laid out by Old Tom Morris and Robert Black ‘Buff’ Wilson. In 1894 another nine holes were added, with the direction of play reversed. Tom Dunn then made some improvements in 1897.

Harry Colt was next to be consulted, followed by new holes and a revised layout from Willie Park Junior in 1907-09.

A Matter of Course: The life of William Herbert Fowler 1856-1941

: "Lindrick Golf Club had been one of Herbert Fowler's earliest clients, in 1907. On his advice, and that of Willie Park, the course had been extended to 6,010 yards. By the 1920s, further modifications were needed. Three holes required balls to be played over the main road which runs between Worksop and Sheffield, a feature which became increasingly unacceptable as motor traffic grew in density. Advice was sought from Fowler and Simpson, and changes were recommened which were implemented between 1923 and 1925. Minutes of the Lindrick club show a fee of thirty guineas."

A couple of years after this, Alister MacKenzie made further improvements and suggested many others. In more recent times, Fred Hawtree, Donald Steel, Cameron Sinclair and Ken Moodie have all altered the layout.

Lindrick Golf Club is laid out on prime common land and the excellent turf has a mixed heathland and moorland feel. It’s a wild but picturesque course with silver birch trees and gorse lining many of the fairways, which are generous and immaculately conditioned. The greens are subtly borrowed, lightning fast and well protected by bunkers. Accuracy, rather than length, is critical at Lindrick. We're perhaps stating the obvious here, but it's much more desirable to play from manicured fairways than dense rough.

There are a number of strong holes, especially on the back nine and the 4th, a short par five of 478 yards, is certainly fun and memorable, with a downhill drive and a blind approach to a hidden green, nestling in a hollow.

According to the writing of Bernard Darwin in his original article for the Times, 

, the “secret and engaging dell” in the area of the 4th green, once bordered three counties - “York, Notts and Derby – and so it was once the ideal spot for prize-fighting. If there was an obdurate magistrate on one side of the water there was probably a complaisant one on the other, and the ring could be reformed without much ado.”

In a more up-to-date publication, the 18th is featured in 

 a 210-yard par three. It’s unusual to end with a par three and cruel to have such an exacting final tee shot, especially if the match is finely poised.

As with so many golf courses of this era, Lindrick, measuring a little over 6,600 yards, is simply not long enough to host today’s professional men’s tournaments. However, in 1966, it was the venue for the British Masters with Neil Coles emerging as the eventual winner and, in 1977, Vivien Saunders took the Women’s British Open crown. Greg Norman somehow took 14 strokes at Lindrick’s 17th, a par four,during the final round of the 1982 Martini tournament and then went on to win the British Masters by eight stokes at 

During the winters of 2015 and 2016, Ken Moodie of Creative Golf Design was busy enhancing various features on the course, building new championship tees, introducing strategic fairway bunkers and reshaping numerous greenside bunkers, which resulted in changes to eleven holes in total.

It was recently discovered that Alister MacKenzie was involved in the construction of the course, working on the layout during 1912-13, when he designed five of the existing holes, including the iconic 18th. He also prepared a 16-page handwritten report on the course and many of his proposals were subsequently actioned.

Lindrick hosted the English Women's Amateur Championship in July 2017 (won by fifteen-year-old Lily May Humphreys), to add to an impressive list of professional and amateur tournaments it has hosted down the years, including both the Ryder Cup and the Curtis Cup.

Lindrick

Lindrick Golf Club is remembered passionately because it was here in 1957 that Great Britain beat the USA to win the Ryder Cup.

“Northwood is the best course on which to be taken ill,” wrote Bernard Darwin, “since it is there that play half the doctors of London. But there is nothing in the golf to make you ill, since, especially in dry weather, it is very attractive.”

Northwood Golf Club started with a 9-hole course that was set out on farmland next to an area known as “The Gravel Pits,” where clay for making bricks had been mined. Within a decade of the course opening, architect Tom Dunn had added another nine holes, acting on advice from J.H. Taylor. A more recent development saw the upgrading of all the greens to USGA standard.

Two sets of returning nines are routed around a heavily wooded estate, complete with a wandering stream that comes into play at several of the holes. Hawthorn bushes, gorse and heather are all traditional features of the course, both strategically and aesthetically. To mark the centenary of the club in 1991, a lovely stone bridge was constructed to span the stream close to the first tee box.

Today, this parkland/heathland track measures 6,473 yards in length and it plays to a par of 71, with many of the fairways doglegging one way or the other to their intended target. There are only three par three holes on the card, the first of which arrives early in the round at the 148-yard 3rd hole. There’s then quite a wait to play the other two short holes as they don’t appear until the 13th and 15th.

Northwood Golf Club

The fairways at Northwood Golf Club are laid out in a wooded estate, complete with wandering brook. The club was founded in 1891 and the course has remained on the same heath-like site ever since.

Surrey

Richmond Golf Club was founded on 5th February 1891 at a meeting in the Greyhound Hotel in Richmond and ten days later members were playing on a course staked out on the Old Deer Park.

Problems with the lease resulted in the club relocating to its current location at Sudbrook Park in Petersham, where Tom Dunn set out a new course less than seven weeks after the first ball had been teed up on the original layout.

Sudbrook Park dates back to the early 18th century, with the mansion house completed in 1728 by John Campbell, the 2nd Duke of Argyll. As far as grand clubhouses go, Richmond’s Grade 1 listed building is right up there with the very best of them

The first programme of major course changes was instigated in 1932. The then 1st tee was moved to make way for a new 18th green and the dangerous cross-over of the 13th and 15th was removed. A new 16th green was also created and the 12th hole was reversed.

Tim Lobb carried out an extensive course renovation which focused heavily on re-bunkering the layout in 2012, with the firm receiving a "Renovation of the Year" award from one American golf magazine.

Extending to just over 6,100 yards, the course isn’t long but narrow, tree-lined fairways and strategically placed bunkers demand respect from whoever plays here. Unusually, there are six par three holes in play, three on each nine, measuring between 156 and 209 yards.

Richmond Golf Club

The Richmond Golf Club was originally fashioned by Tom Dunn in 1890s and 120 years later the course was renovated by the firm of Thomson, Perrett and Lobb which resulted in the layout being awarded Renovation of the Year for 2012.

Suffolk

Royal Worlington & Newmarket Golf Club possibly has the finest nine-hole golf course in the world. It was certainly an incredible achievement to fit nine holes onto such a tiny 40-acre piece of sandy ground and it was the first nine-hole course to be voted onto a Britain & Ireland Top 100 list.

This is a classical golf course, often referred to as Mildenhall and it’s the home of golf for undergraduates at Cambridge University. The turf has all the qualities of a seaside links, free draining and springy. Bernard Darwin loved Worlington and in his book, 

, he wrote: “Worlington is not unlike Frilford in appearance, being extremely solitary, flat and sandy, and dotted here and there with fir trees. There are only nine holes, but of these several are really excellent, and none can fairly be said to be dull.” We agree, it is an engaging little course, but make sure you bring your best putting game – the greens are the highlight.

Tom Dunn, who laid out the course in the early 1890s, reputedly said: “God meant this land to be a golf course”. Some thirty years later, Harry Colt lengthened it and little has changed since. Jo Floyd holds the course record. In September 1949, he went round nine holes in an incredible 28 stokes. He holed his second shot at the opening par five for an albatross two; this obviously put a spring in his step for the rest of the round.

Three and four-ball play is not allowed at Worlington, foursomes and twosomes are the order of the day. Whatever you do, do not let this traditional approach put you off playing this historic nine-hole course; it offers the ideal golf day, especially if you can safely negotiate the infamous short 5th hole.

“One may reach the green with a pitch from the tee,” wrote Darwin, “but what a difficult pitch it is. The green is something in the shape of a hog’s back; immediately on the left of it is a stagnant pool of water, and on the right is a stream, complicated by overhanging willows. To reach the green is one distinct feat; to hole out in two putts, when one has got there, is another.” The stagnant pool has long since gone, there is a grassy hollow there instead, but it’s still one of the toughest bunker-less par threes in the land.

Royal Worlington & Newmarket

Royal Worlington & Newmarket Golf Club is a classic, sometimes referred to as Mildenhall and it’s the home of golf for undergraduates at Cambridge University.

Sheringham Golf Club is located high on the clifftops on an undulating thin sliver of land, which is wedged between the North Sea cliff edge and the North Norfolk Railway. Steam trains and vintage diesels occasionally rattle past the course, which is set within an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The club was originally founded in 1891 and Tom Dunn laid down nine holes, returning in 1898 to extend the course to its present 18 holes.

“At Sheringham we shall be called upon to do only a moderate amount of climbing and some of the very stoutest hitting with the brassey that there has ever been required of us.” Wrote Bernard Darwin in his 1910 book, 

: “The theory of the good length hole has been carried almost to its ultimate limit.” The course measures 6,546 yards from the back tees, factor in the North Sea winds and you’ve got a serious test of golf. It’s almost unimaginable how difficult this course must have been in the days of the hickory shaft and the gutty ball.

The best holes are undoubtedly those that run close to the edge of the cliffs. The 6th “is a very attractive hole,” wrote Darwin, “with the most glorious tee-shot from a high hill, a fine view of the sea, and a fascinating approach shot at the end.” Around the turn, the gorse and the railway line becomes the most significant hazards, which wait with patience to catch anything struck offline.

The English Ladies Close Amateur Championship has been played at Sheringham on three occasions, most recently in 1991, when Karen Stupples narrowly lost to Nicola Buxton. But in the 1920 event, the mighty Cecil Leitch was expected to win, but Joyce Wethered had different ideas. “It was by the way,” wrote Darwin in 

, “near the seventeenth green that there first appeared the traditional railway train which puffed and snorted loudly as Miss Wethered putted out and of which she was so entirely unaware, that, on being congratulated on her imperturbability, she is alleged to have asked, ‘What train?’”

Play Sheringham alongside its near neighbour, Royal Cromer, and you’ll have played two of England's finest cliff-top courses.

Sheringham

Sheringham Golf Club is located high on the clifftops on an undulating thin sliver of land, which is wedged between the North Sea cliff edge and the North Norfolk Railway.

The prolific course architect Tom Dunn was a very busy man during the 1890s, designing layouts at 

 and here at Weston-Super-Mare where his survey report concluded “that on the land situated between the Royal Sanatorium and Slimridge Farm, a Golf Link may be formed second to none in the world. There are a number of natural hazards and the turf throughout is of excellent quality”.

Dunn’s original 9-hole course was extended to 18 holes four years later then the next major change took place in 1922 when Alister MacKenzie was commissioned to alter and modify the layout, resulting in the course that is still in play today, almost a century later.

Weston-Super-Mare Golf Club is a seaside course, lying to the south of Weston-Super-Mare Bay, with wonderful views across the Bristol Channel, past Brean Down, Steep Holm and Flat Holm towards Cardiff and the sandy soil of the fairways allows golfers to use medal tees and normal greens all year round.

The five par threes (at 3, 7, 11, 14 and 17) are all beautifully bunkered short holes (as one might expect from a MacKenzie design, of course) and a trio of par fives complement these one-shot holes, two of which (the 461-yard 8th and 456-yard 13th) are well within birdie range.

“Road Hole,” the 458-yard, par four 15th is the signature hole on the scorecard and it does have similarities with the famous 17th at the 

 as it begins with a blind tee shot with out of bounds down the right and a fairway that leads to an offset green protected by a treacherous bunker at the front corner.

Weston-Super-Mare

Weston-Super-Mare Golf Club is a seaside course, lying to the south of Weston-Super-Mare Bay, with wonderful views across the Bristol Channel...

Woking Golf Club has a charming Old England heathland course, laid out by Tom Dunn in 1893. The club was intended to provide relief for a few golf mad barristers who were sick and tired of playing on muddy clay. We must thank Woking wholeheartedly because nobody thought that heather and gorse-strewn land was viable ground for golf and this was the first experimental heathland layout.

At the turn of the 20th century, there were only a few heathland courses around London and Bernard Darwin described them as “the stars of sand and heather”. He had a soft spot for Woking Golf Club because it’s the oldest and one of the best. He went on to say, “although my judgement may not be strictly an impartial one, I think it is still the pleasantest of all upon which to play, and the golf is undeniably interesting.” Darwin was once a mad barrister himself and also a member at Woking for more than sixty years.

Woking Golf Club is listed in the catalogue of Simpson & Company Golf Architects, but we don't know what work Tom Simpson may have carried out.

There is absolutely no doubt that Woking is located in an idyllic spot and the unusual pavilion clubhouse only adds to the charisma. This is not a championship layout by any stretch of the imagination; the course only measures 6,602 yards from the back tees. But Woking is a mature and strategic layout requiring well-positioned tee shots that must, at all costs, remain out of the heather and in play. We recommend that you leave your driver in the boot of the car to avoid any temptation.

Woking is not riddled with bunkers but those that are there are adroitly positioned. In 1900, a controversy raged when Stuart Paton dug two bunkers into the 4th fairway. The members were mortified that they might be penalised after hitting a good straight drive. Looking back at this, Woking was a pioneer in architectural terms, forcing the player to make a strategic decision, lay up short or bravely aim on the right line.

In 1926, a match involving captain Bobby Jones and the rest of the American Walker Cup team took place at Woking. The Americans were beaten 6-3 by the “Moles Golfing Society”. The British Amateur champion was captain of the Moles. Woking was also once home to the Alba Trophy, a celebrated amateur competition. These days, Woking is used to genteel peace and quiet in Surrey’s suburbia. This is definitely a course for the connoisseur. Or as Darwin said in his 1910 book, 

, "I can only end as I began by asserting that there is no more delightful course whereon to play golf."

Tim Lobb has been the consulting architect at Woking for a number of years. The par three 16th hole was redesigned in 2013 and new forward tees have since been installed on a number of holes. The club is also engaged in an ongoing heather restoration program to significantly improve the course’s environmental impact.


Woking

There is absolutely no doubt that Woking Golf Club is located in an idyllic spot and the unusual pavilion clubhouse only adds to the charisma.

Tom was born into a well-respected East Lothian golfing family. His father and uncle Jamie – Willie Dunn Sr.’s twin brother – were fine golfers and famous for indulging in big money matches against the likes of 

Dunn spent his early years at Blackheath in London, where his father was the professional, before the family moved back to Scotland in 1864, with Willie Dunn Sr. taking up an appointment at the Thistle Golf Club which played out of Leith Links [NLE].

Tom started his professional career as a club maker at North Berwick in 1869 but moved the following year to the London Scottish Golf Club in Wimbledon. He remained as the club’s professional for twelve years, employing two men as club makers and his younger brother Willie Dunn as an apprentice during that time.

Tom married Isabella May Gourlay who, according to the book 

 by Geoff Cornish and Ron Whitten, was a “descendant of the Gourlays of Musselburgh (renowned golf instructors to the Kings of Scotland and ball makers to the Royal Family of Great Britain).”

While Tom and his wife were in England, John Duncan Dunn, William Gourlay Dunn and Isabella May Gourlay Dunn were all born there. The family returned to North Berwick in 1881, with Norah Eleanor Dunn and Seymour Dunn arriving a few years later.

 (published in 1896), the author Rev. John Kerr wrote: “When Thomas Dunn entered on his duties in November 1881, he found the green very much cut up with iron marks and holes all over the place, and the putting-greens and teeing grounds in very bad order.

Having got a sum of between two and three hundred pounds raised by subscription, he set to work with a gang of men to get things put right, and by next season the condition of the course was the admiration of all who played over it.”

Tom played in eight editions of the Open Championship between 1868 and 1886 but he never finished better than 6th place, the position he achieved after his first attempt to win the event.

Dunn returned to London in 1889, to the Tooting Bec Golf Club [NLE], at a time when golf’s popularity was at a high around the capital, and he was in just the right place at the right time to help satisfy the demand for new golf courses.

Prime Minister Arthur Balfour had been given lessons by Tom when he was at North Berwick and when Parliament was sitting Balfour played at Tooting Bec.

He was asked to evaluate three potential sites for a new course near Bournemouth in 1895 and selected the one at Meyrick Park. Within three months, a team of a hundred men and twenty horses had laid out the course at a cost of £2,500. Dunn took over as the club professional and remained in post for five years.

His son John assisted him at Meyrick Park when Tom was out and about designing courses, but John then left for a job in Florida. Tom joined him for a short spell in 1899 though he stayed less than year before returning to England to design the course at Hanger Hill [NLE], where he became the club professional.

In 1902, Tom reckoned he had laid out or reconstructed as many as 137 golf links, mainly in the south of England, though he also claimed to have had a hand in designs as far afield as Cork in Ireland, Dinard in France, and Oratava in Tenerife.

Dunn died of tuberculosis at the Nordrach Clinic in Blagdon, Somerset, in May of 1902 at the age of 52.

He wasn’t the only family member to make their mark in golf. His brother Willie Dunn Jr. worked with Tom and, before moving to America, served as the professional at Westward Ho! and Biarritz Le Phare in France.

Tom’s three sons – John Duncan Dunn, Seymour Dunn and William Gourlay Dunn – were all professionals and clubmakers. Both Seymour and John Duncan followed their uncle Willie to the United States to earn a living in golf.

 to set out the course at Ekwanok Country Club in Vermont in 1899 and he was later employed by the Florida East Coast Railway Company, developing hotel-associated courses.

Seymour, left his post as professional at Royal County Down to take up a similar position with Wykagyl Golf Club in New York. He designed Royal Ostend before leaving for the US, where he also laid out a number of courses and formed a mail order business to distribute golf equipment throughout the country.

William Gourlay remained in the UK, marrying a woman named Nina Grace Chambers. Unconventionally, he adopted her surname and, after emigrating to Canada in 1911, he worked with 

 on the design of the Royal Colwood course in Vancouver.

Tom’s daughter Isabella May Gourlay Dunn – known as “Queenie” – also emigrated to the other side of the Atlantic in 1915 and was said to have worked on the design of a couple of courses in Nevada.

Tom MacWood at golfclubatlas.com:“Tom Dunn was the target of criticism after his death (the critics were mostly silent while he walked amongst them). After reading these later accounts one could easily conclude ‘Poor Tom Dunn’ was his given name.

 when analysing the 1890s singled him out as the symbol for Victorian golf architecture and all the evils it represented. And without question he was guilty of the formulaic use of cross-hazards and the hit-and-run method of staking out a course.

Make no mistake. That was his modus operandi. On the other hand, he was providing an important service at a time when no one really knew what they were doing. As Horace Hutchinson wrote: ‘It was a simple plan, nor is Tom Dunn to be censured because he could not evolve something more like a colourable imitation of the natural hazard. A man is not to be criticized because he is not in advance of his time.’

One wonders if his formative years spent at Blackheath and not at Musselburgh had a detrimental effect. Whatever the case, he should at least be given partial credit for those courses that turned out well, like Woking. Certainly others were involved in polishing those courses but he did conceive their structure and should be credited at the very least for their initial routing, the foundation of all good architecture.”

Tom Dunn was the most prolific course designer of his day. He produced layouts that were inexpensive and serviceable, making it possible for increasing numbers of golfers from all social classes to take up the game. A great salesman, he was quoted as telling each of his clients: “God meant this site to be a golf course” – from The Golf Course by Geoff Cornish and Ron Whitten.

Tom Dunn

Ganton Golf Club played host to the 1949 Ryder Cup matches between the USA and Great Britain. Team Captains were Ben Hogan (US) and Charles Whitcombe (GB). The U.S. Non-playing Captain Ben Hogan raised a concern about the grooves on the clubs of some British players. A meeting was called with R&A Rules Official Bernard Darwin, who concurred that the clubs should be repaired to meet conforming standards. Despite the USA team being without three key players, Hogan’s side claimed victory after dominating the singles, USA 7 - GB 5. The Ryder Cup was played at 

To classify Ganton as a heathland course is a misnomer – one could just as easily categorise it as an inland links, as it’s situated in the rural Vale of Pickering, nine miles from the sea. This sandy, gently undulating site was once a North Sea inlet. Consequently, it has all the characteristics of a links and a heathland course. Either way, Ganton Golf Club is a perfect place to play golf.

The Scarborough Golf Club (as it was originally called) opened for play in 1891, laid out by St Andrews’ Tom Chisholm. The great Harry Vardon became the club’s pro in 1896, the same year he won his first Open title at 

. This immediately put Ganton on the map.

In 1905, Ted Ray, along with James Braid, J.H. Taylor and Vardon implemented major alterations to the layout. Harry Colt, Alister MacKenzie, Tom Simpson and C.K. Cotton made further changes over the next 50 years.

Ganton is surely one of the few inland courses in the British Isles good enough to hold an Open Championship. It would make a pleasant change to break with tradition and hold an Open somewhere inland. After all, Ganton is used to holding important competitions – it hosted the 1949 Ryder Cup, the 2000 Curtis Cup and the 2003 Walker Cup.

The bunkering is quite extraordinary, a real feature of the course. With over 100 cunningly placed bunkers, some of which are simply huge, both in breadth and in depth, whilst others are small. Only lucky (or very good golfers) will avoid the sand traps at Ganton. Bernard Darwin wrote in 

, that Ganton “possesses by far the vastest and generally most gorgeous bunker that is to be found, as far as I know, on any inland course. It is a huge pit of sand, with just the depths and shallows, the bays and promontories of the genuine seaside article. It is so large that, by its unaided efforts, it provides highly effective bunkering for the tee shots to the last two holes; and as regards its dimensions, I shall not be flattering it very grossly if I compare it to the bunker in front of the fifth tee at 

 (without the sea), you’ve got Ganton. Nearly 100 years ago, Bernard Darwin compared Ganton to being “a little like 

; and, generally speaking, it is the type of course that one would expect to find in Surrey rather than in Yorkshire.” Occupying open, windswept heathland, it’s a supreme thinking man’s and woman’s test of golf; the fast greens and firm fairways test the very best players. Various types of thick gorse, heather and broom highlight the course during the spring and summer months.

Three short par fours provide the opportunity of a game of risk and reward for the big hitters. A minor downside is the fact that there are only three par threes but the strength of the par fours more than compensates for this. The 4th hole, a 406-yard par four, requires a solid drive to a wide fairway before an undulating green sited on a raised plateau is unveiled. The approach shot must carry across a gully and avoid a canny bunker on the right-hand side of the green. From the raised 5th tee, a short 157-yard par three, you have a great view of the well-protected green. Only an arrow-straight tee shot will suffice. Stray to the left and you will be swallowed up by one of two bunkers, stray to the right and you'll be trapped by a huge curved bunker, which wraps itself around the entire right-hand side of the green.

Ganton is a friendly club that opens its doors warmly to visitors (providing you have a handicap). If you are a serious golfer and have never played here, we strongly recommend it.