Links Golf Club - Newmarket

Set out across a former steeplechase course and polo grounds on the southeast perimeter of Newmarket racecourse, the 18-hole layout at Links Golf Club dates back to 1902. Colonel Stafford Vere Hotchkin redesigned the course in the 1930s and not a lot has changed since then.

There’s a training track named the Gallops surrounding the course and on a couple of holes (at the 7th and 15th) the tee shot has to fly the white rails before reaching the fairway. On several other holes (such as the 15th and 16th), the railings designate out of bounds along one side of the fairway.

The bunkers might not be as deep as those designed by the Colonel at Woodhall Spa but there are plenty of them and golfers will do well to avoid having to play a sand shot at some point during their round here – the full fairway-width bunker in front of the green on the left doglegged 16th is a particularly interesting old-fashioned specimen.

The club is affiliated to the Cambridgeshire Area Golf Union, despite its location in Suffolk, so that’s why the course is assigned a position in our Cambridgeshire Best in County rankings.