The 5th hole offers a spectacular view and the carry from the white tee over the ravine provides a stiff challenge. The fairway is steep and once across the path runs quickly away to heather and gorse on the left, the fairway inclines steeply to a green that features a bank running round the right side and a drop off on the left. The view back down the hole from the green is beautiful.

The par three sixth at 190 yards demands accuracy. An old wooden fence encases thick bracken to the left, masking the perspective of distance to the green, showing just enough of the sharp raised run off. A slope feeds into the green from the right.

The seventh hole is the first par five you encounter on the course and presents a left-right dogleg featuring the unusual challenge of playing across , a public highway. It requires a demanding drive to the right-hand side of the fairway to allow for the inevitable bounce left on the sloping fairway. Then follows a blind second shot, whether you are attempting to simply find the fairway or attempting to reach the distant green. The green is well protected by heather to the right-hand side with a deceptively sloping approach which will shepherd the ball away to the left. A green of high quality, it is surrounded by mounds and undulations, heather and gorse and has a steep incline on the front quarter of the green. 

The par four, ninth is played to a fairway sloping gently from left to right, the second shot being played uphill on a left-hand dog leg to a sloping green rising from front to back. The green is protected by humps of various shapes and sizes. There is a line of firs to the rear of the green and a halfway hut, all of which form a natural boundary to the adjacent 10th hole.

There is a noticeable shift in the course's character from this point onward, though it's difficult to pinpoint exactly why. The next stretch of holes—10, 11, and 12—seemed to lack the same bite and distinctiveness that defined the front nine. Perhaps this contrast is amplified by the strength of the opening holes, but there’s an undeniable difference in engagement and challenge in this portion of the round.

The par five fourteenth is a memorable, fair but challenging risk reward hole, set against a magnificent backdrop of the South Downs. Driving out of a tight avenue of trees over a grass, gorse and heather rough to a generous, slightly undulating, linksy fairway - the hole begins to drop down as you approach the green, an 80-yard heather cross rough before the fairway narrows on the approach to the green. A well-positioned heather faced bunker on the front left-hand side of the green will gather up any errant shots. 

16, 17 and 18 are a great run of finishing holes and recapture the magic of the front nine. The sixteenth a beautiful par four at 343 yards, offering an elevated tee with a left dogleg over a deep ravine below the fairway. The fairway will push your ball to the right, before an uphill approach to a flat green protected by two gorgeous heather faced, grass bunkers. The seventeenth is a lovely uphill par three.

Of the 18^th Bernard Darwin wrote in 1926: 'Finally, the home hole, a really difficult finishing hole with its carry over heather from the tee, and its narrow opening between bunkers, through which the perfectly struck second shot must be steered.'

Nearly a century later, the 18th at Crowborough Beacon remains every bit as formidable as Darwin described, arguably standing as the toughest hole on the course. This right-to-left dogleg demands precision off the tee, with thick heather and semi rough guarding the fairway. The approach requires both distance and accuracy to find the sloping green as the imposing clubhouse looms.

While its ranking may suggest otherwise, Crowborough Beacon’s subtle appeal should not be overlooked. This course has more to offer than meets the eye and is sure to surprise many.