Royal Norwich - Norfolk - England

Royal Norwich Golf Club was founded in 1893 and despite urbanisation the course still occupies its original site in Hellesdon which is located a mere two miles from the city centre. The club owes much to John J.W. Deuchar who drafted the original plans. The great James Braid remodelled the course in the mid 1920s and little has since changed.

“Let us glance at Hellesdon, remembering that we are now on something like historic ground, since Hellesdon has bred the native Open Champion that we so badly wanted to stem the progress of the American invader.” Wrote Bernard Darwin in A Round of Golf on the LNER. “The soil is light and sandy, and the lie of the land pleasantly undulating. There are patches of gorse here and there, just enough to give a golfing flavour to the view, without making life too prickly a business.”

Despite its age, Royal Norwich is no shorty. The course measures a healthy 6,506 yards from the medal tees, with par set at 72. But with only three par fives and the same number of par threes, you need to be on song to better your handicap. The course opens up, rather unusually, with a par three. This is the only hole on the front nine on the westward side of the Drayton Road. It’s certainly not the most difficult opening hole, but the first shot on any course is often the most difficult, especially in the mind. To make matters worse, the 1st is sandwiched between the 18th green, the clubhouse and the putting green.

The 8th is one of our favourite holes and this is the only original remaining 19th century hole. This 408-yard par four requires a solid drive down a pretty valley. The two-tiered green site is set with trees on either side, inspiring the hole’s name: “The Glade”.

Royal Norwich is certainly an entertaining and engaging course with a fine collection of holes and some fascinating history. It’s well worth seeking out and worthy of a detour, but make the trip soon as plans to move Royal Norwich Golf Club to a new location was backed by its members in February 2014.

The proposal to relocate the club from Hellesdon to Weston Park, near Lenwade, was voted for by more than 80% of its members following an agreement with a housing developer. In March 2017 the club announced the completion of the sale of its land to developer Persimmon for £17m and confirmed that the existing Hellesdon golf course will remain open for the next two years.

Seeding of greens and fairways at Weston Park started in September 2017, so the new 7,500-yard Royal Norwich golf course, designed by Ross McMurray of European Golf Design, should be open by 2019 after a lengthy grow-in period.

Developer Martin Goymour said: “The project, upon completion, will benefit members at both clubs and enable Weston Park to be transformed into Norfolk's premier golf club.” Unless the sea swallows Royal West Norfolk and Hunstanton we feel Mr Goymour’s comments are perhaps optimistic.