Royal Cromer Golf Club

East England, or East Anglia, is one of the most underappreciated golf destinations in the country. From the wild tidal links of North Norfolk to the Golden Age parkland of the Hertfordshire Chilterns, the region spans a remarkable breadth of golf experience across six counties. The rankings across Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Norfolk and Suffolk span well over 100 courses, ranging from genuine national-calibre venues to thriving county clubs that reward the travelling golfer. See the East of England (East Anglia) Rankings What gives East England its appeal is the sheer variety on offer. Norfolk and Suffolk deliver heathland and links golf in equal measure. Hertfordshire punches well above its weight with an extraordinary concentration of Golden Age architecture. Essex presents some of the best parkland courses within an hour of London. Best Golf Courses at a Glance Norfolk Royal West Norfolk Golf Club holds its position as the county's finest course, as it has done for generations. Designed by Holcombe Ingleby in 1892, this tidal links at Brancaster is one of golf's most singular experiences. The clubhouse becomes an island at high tide, and both the 8th and 9th holes are subject to the sea. Few courses in England are more authentic or more demanding in wind. Hunstanton Golf Club holds second place, and remains the most accessible of Norfolk's elite links. With a history of hosting major amateur events including the Brabazon Trophy and the British Amateur, Hunstanton is not merely a county course but a venue of national standing. James Braid was among those to shape its layout, and Martin Hawtree has overseen recent improvements. Sheringham Golf Club sits third, its clifftop setting on the North Norfolk coast providing views that match almost anything in British golf. Royal Cromer Golf Club follows at fourth, another clifftop course with championship heritage and a loyal following among links purists. Royal Norwich completes the top five. Movement within the Norfolk rankings sees Thetford Golf Club rise to sixth, ahead of King's Lynn Golf Club, which slips one place to seventh. Great Yarmouth & Caister holds eighth, Eaton ninth, and Barnham Broom (Valley) rounds out the Norfolk top ten. Suffolk Suffolk's rankings see notable movement at the top, with Aldeburgh Golf Club (Championship) rising to first. Founded in 1884, Aldeburgh is one of England's oldest heathland courses and carries one of the finest architectural lineages in the region — original layouts by Willie Fernie and John Thompson were refined by Willie Park Junior and J.H. Taylor, then further shaped by Harry Colt and C.H. Alison in the 1920s. Mackenzie & Ebert are currently overseeing a significant programme of improvements. With its deep sleeper-faced bunkers and gorse-lined corridors along the Alde estuary, Aldeburgh is as demanding as it is beautiful. Ipswich Golf Club (Purdis Heath) drops to second from its previous top position. Royal Worlington & Newmarket Golf Club holds third, its nine-hole layout on the Breckland heaths widely regarded as one of the finest short courses in the world. Woodbridge Golf Club (Heath) is fourth. Flempton rises to fifth from seventh, one of Suffolk's notable movers in this cycle. Thorpeness Golf Club drops two places to sixth. Bury St Edmunds holds seventh, while Felixstowe Ferry Golf Club (Martello) drops two to eighth. Stowmarket holds ninth and Bungay & Waveney Valley completes the Suffolk top ten. Hertfordshire Ashridge leads the county, as it consistently has. Designed by Major C.K. Hutchison, Sir Guy Campbell and Colonel S.V. Hotchkin and opened in 1932, with further refinements from Tom Simpson, Ashridge sits within the National Trust's Chiltern Hills estate and is regularly cited by architects including Tom Doak as one of the finest parkland courses in Britain. Henry Cotton was club professional here when he won the 1937 Open at Carnoustie. Few clubs in Hertfordshire can match its combination of architectural pedigree and natural setting. The Grove holds second. Berkhamsted rises one place to third — its unique layout without artificial bunkers, shaped in part by Harry Colt and James Braid, remains one of the more distinctive tests in the south of England. Moor Park (High) drops to fourth. Centurion holds fifth. Cambridgeshire Gog Magog (Old) heads the county, a position it has occupied since the club was established in 1901 on the chalky hills south of Cambridge. Willie Park Junior advised on early bunkering, James Braid later made modifications, and Mackenzie & Ebert have overseen recent bunker restoration work on both courses. Gog Magog (Wandlebury) rises to second, ahead of Saffron Walden Golf Club, which drops from second to third. Links Golf Club – Newmarket holds fourth. The most significant development in Cambridgeshire is the debut of Peterborough Milton at fifth — a new entry that reflects an expanded geographic boundary for this ranking cycle and a broader view of the county's playing landscape. Essex Thorndon Park Golf Club leads Essex, holding the top spot with Orsett Golf Club second and Chelmsford Golf Club third. Chigwell Golf Club holds fourth while Abridge Golf Club rises one place to fifth. Bedfordshire John O'Gaunt Golf Club (John O'Gaunt) leads Bedfordshire, with Dunstable Downs Golf Club second and Aspley Guise & Woburn Sands third. Millbrook Golf Club holds fourth and Bedfordshire (Championship) fifth. All five positions are unchanged from the previous ranking. It is also worth noting that Luton Hoo, previously listed in the county rankings, is now closed for renovations. What the Rankings Tell Us Norfolk's Links Duopoly Royal West Norfolk and Hunstanton represent something rare in English golf — two courses within a few miles of each other that would hold their own in any company on the British Isles. The North Norfolk coast from Brancaster to Hunstanton is as compelling a short stretch of links golf as exists in England, and both clubs maintain strict traditions that preserve the spirit of the game as much as the architecture. Suffolk's Architectural Heritage Aldeburgh's move to the top of the Suffolk rankings is a reflection of the ongoing investment in its Championship Course. The Colt and Alison connection — two of Golden Age architecture's most influential figures — provides a foundation that few English heathland courses can rival. With Mackenzie & Ebert's programme of improvements now well advanced and in play for 2026, Aldeburgh is increasingly recognised beyond East Anglia as a course of genuine national significance. Hertfordshire's Golden Age Density Ashridge, Berkhamsted, Sandy Lodge and Porters Park all carry Golden Age credentials within a relatively compact area of west Hertfordshire. The involvement of Hutchison, Campbell, Hotchkin and Tom Simpson at Ashridge, and Colt and Braid at Berkhamsted, means that golfers exploring this part of the county are playing on ground shaped by the most influential architects of the early twentieth century. Cambridgeshire's Expanding Footprint The arrival of Peterborough Milton in the Cambridgeshire rankings reflects a wider trend across the 2025–2026 cycle, as geographic boundaries are revisited to better represent county-wide depth. The Gog Magog complex south of Cambridge continues to anchor the county, with ongoing restoration work by Mackenzie & Ebert ensuring both the Old and Wandlebury courses maintain their position among the best in the east of England. Planning Your East England Golf Trip The natural starting point for any visit is the North Norfolk coast. Royal West Norfolk at Brancaster and Hunstanton are within a short drive of each other, and a two-day visit combining both — with an afternoon at Sheringham or Royal Cromer on the second day — makes for one of the most rewarding short breaks in English golf. The narrow roads, flint-walled villages and tidal marshland give the experience a character unlike anywhere else in the country. See the East of England (East Anglia) Rankings Suffolk rewards those who venture slightly further. Aldeburgh is a natural anchor for a Suffolk trip, pairing well with the unique nine-hole experience at Royal Worlington & Newmarket, Woodbridge and Thorpeness. Aldeburgh is a good base for accommodation, with the wider coastal landscape of the Suffolk Heritage Coast providing things to see and do for a multi-day stay. Hertfordshire is most naturally combined with a visit to the wider London commuter belt. Ashridge is the centrepiece, but Berkhamsted, Moor Park and Centurion are all within easy reach, making the western Hertfordshire stretch a viable destination for golfers based in London. For golfers looking to cover the whole region, a logical route might run from Hertfordshire northward through Cambridgeshire to the Norfolk coast, before cutting south through Suffolk on the return. Six counties, more than 100 ranked courses, and a range of golf terrain that would satisfy most tastes several times over.

Top 10 Golf Courses in Norfolk 2015 Norfolk Best In County rankings updated Norfolk is best known to many as the flat, low lying county in eastern England where The Broads form a network of navigable, lock-free rivers and canals, providing many with a wide variety of leisure pursuits, from those “messing about on boats” to “twitchers” searching for rare birds among the many acres of wetlands. Sandringham is perhaps the most famous stately home in Norfolk and this 8,000-hectare country retreat is a much loved home of the Royal family. Travel a few miles to the north of Sandringham and you’ll arrive at Hunstanton, where the golf gets rather good. Seven miles to the east of Hunstanton you’ll find Brancaster where the golf is even better. Royal West Norfolk and Hunstanton are jewels in the crown of Norfolk golf and both (while very different links experiences) are not only friendly rivals, but also golfing household names. Keep heading eastwards along the coast and you’ll come to Sheringham Golf Club where there’s a fine cliff edge course that’s often incorrectly labelled as a links. Its next-door neighbour, Royal Cromer, is also perched on the cliffs and these two clubs share a similar rivalry to that of Hunstanton and Brancaster. Norfolk rivalry continues inland at King’s Lynn and Thetford where these two forest courses vie for prominence. As far as ranking positions are concerned, there’s not a lot to choose between these three pairs of very different courses. Brancaster edges Hunstanton, not in terms of playing difficulty, but by quintessential charm. The gap between Sheringham and Cromer has recently narrowed but the former remains marginally ahead in our 2015 Norfolk Best In County rankings. King’s Lynn swaps places with Thetford this time round, but once again the gap was remarkably close and both these courses genuinely deserve wider recognition. Further down the table, Great Yarmouth & Caister stays in 7th spot, while local rivals Eaton and Royal Norwich swap places, with Eaton moving up to 8th position. Things are currently on hold for Royal Norwich as the club is planning to relocate from Hellesdon to Weston Park (which re-enters our Norfolk rankings in position number 10 at the expense of Wensum Valley). The idea is that European Golf Design’s Ross McMurray will refashion the course at Weston Park, which will eventually become the home ground for both clubs. To see our new 2015 Norfolk Top 10, click the link. If you have played golf extensively across any English county and would like to have your say, please contact me (keith@top100golfcourses.com). In the meanwhile a big thank you to everyone who contributed to our Norfolk Best In County ranking process. Keith Baxter Editor-in-Chief Top 100 Golf Courses

Golf’s Royal Clubs Architect Scott Macpherson's book on the clubs honoured by the British Royal Family 1833-2013 22nd December 2014 Architect and author Scott Macpherson, a New Zealander now living and working in Scotland, had his first golf book St Andrews: The Evolution of the Old Course published in 2007. To mark the Diamond Jubilee of her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in 2012, the R&A commissioned Scott to write another book about the golf clubs that have acquired their royal title from the British monarchy. The result is a lavishly photographed book crammed full of facts and figures about these special clubs, supported by course related items such as maps, scorecards and full design credit details. It took four years of research, with the author visiting 57 of the 66 Royal clubs still in existence, to produce a wonderful account of just how close the links are between the game of golf and the British Royal family. Not that there’s always been such a harmonious relationship between the sport and the ruling sovereign, right enough. In Scotland, where the game first began, King James II outlawed ‘golfe’ by an Act of Parliament in 1457 – only to have King James IV take up the game forty-five years later after he’d signed the Treaty of Glasgow with Henry VII of England! A number of the clubs listed have had members of the Royal family act as Club Captain or Club President and most of the clubs have had a Royal Patron, though patronage has never automatically given clubs the right to use the royal title and several prominent clubs have fallen foul of that fact down the years. The process of obtaining royal status has evolved over time and applications nowadays would be expected to include a history of the club, details of its administration and membership, recent reports and accounts and information on any other royal or government associations. The standard of the club’s course has not always been a determining factor on whether royal title could be given though Home Office guidelines in the 1919 did state that “the status of the course is a most important factor, and the decision would perhaps depend largely on whether or not the club’s course is a championship one or in the championship class”. Nine-hole layouts like the one at Royal Worlington and Newmarket would probably have failed that particular test if it had been in operation when the club was added to the royal portfolio in 1895. Royal Perth Golfing Society was the first to be given the royal prefix in 1833 and it remains one of only four royal clubs - along with the R&A, Royal Montrose and Royal Epping Forest - to play on a public course. Royal Cromer is the only club to receive its royal designation before it actually opened, with its status announced on Christmas Day in 1887, eight days before the club officially debuted on 2 January 1888. By way of contrast, it took Royal Lytham & St Annes five attempts before its royal title was finally conferred in 1926. Some may be surprised to learn that, in more recent times, the reigning British monarch allowed Marianske Lazne Golf Club in the Czech Republic to use the royal title in March of 2003 and she repeated this investiture a decade later in April of 2013 when Homburger Golf Club in Germany was also given permission to use the royal title. It’s an interesting matter of golfing speculation now to try and figure out which of the many other esteemed golf clubs in Europe (and beyond) are currently lining up their application… If you’ve read and enjoyed John de St. Jorre’s Legendary Golf Clubs of Scotland, England, Wales and Ireland, where seven of the twelve clubs featured have the Royal prefix, then you’ll love this book. It’s only available to purchase through the R&A at the moment (contact Catherine McGirk on +44 (0)1334 460153, email catherinemcgirk@randa.org) but it may become more widely available in due course. The ISBN to look out for is 978-0-9926240-2-6. Highly recommended as a worthy addition to any golf book library. Jim McCann Editor Top 100 Golf Courses of the World