Royal Norwich

Royal Norwich Golf Club was founded on 8th November 1893 and The Duke of York (later King George V) conferred the club’s royal title in a letter to Mayor A. R. Chamberlain the following day. The original course was located in Hellesdon, a mere two miles from Norwich city centre, and James Braid made significant alterations to this layout when additional land became available in 1924.

Over time, the course became hemmed in by the ever-expanding city – and crossing the main road that split the course in two meant taking your life into your hands – so a decision was made to sell the property to a national house builder and relocate to the site of the former Weston Park Golf Club where a new 24-hole complex – designed by European Golf Design and built by contractors MJ Abbott – was opened in September 2019 by Ian Poulter.

The 18-hole course is configured as two returning nines and it can be stretched to 7,209 yards from the tips, playing to a par of 73. The 6-hole Academy course extends to 1,375 yards, featuring three par threes and three short par fours, and it’s an ideal place to either unwind for an hour at the end of a working day or to work on a few game improvement tips.

Highlight holes on the main layout include the par three 4th, played to a sand-protected offset green and the right doglegged 6th, which measures all of 446 yards from the back markers. On the back nine, the 608-yard 12th is an absolute beast of a par five, sliding left from tee to green, and the closing hole is another tough three-shotter, with the home green circled by three menacing bunkers.

Architect Ross McMurray had this to say when the layout debuted: “People here want it to be fun, to play in a nice setting, be challenged a little bit but without coming away thinking it had been too tough. It has challenges, though, linked to the fact that some of the site is new and open grazing land with very few trees… some of it is routed through mature parkland, some of it is woodland and some of it is open grazing land, and tying the whole thing together is quite tricky.”

Please note, the course reviews posted below (dated prior to September 2019) relate to Royal Norwich's old James Braid-designed course at Hellesdon.