Britain & Ireland

England

Durham

Dr Duncan McCuaig founded the Durham and Yorkshire Golf Club in 1874; this was the first golf club in the North East of England and originally it was laid out as a 14-hole course. Other golf clubs in this area were formed towards the end of the 19th century, so in 1887, the club changed its name to Seaton Carew Golf Club. The course was extended to 18 holes in 1891.

Another doctor called MacKenzie came along in 1925 and modified the layout. Ten years later, Dr Alister MacKenzie went on to design Augusta National, home of the Masters. Continuing the doctor theme, the 3rd hole called “Doctor”, a short par three, remains as per its original design and serves as a tribute to Dr McCuaig, Seaton Carew’s founder.

There are now 22 holes at Seaton Carew, following Frank Pennink’s addition of four new holes. The members now have a number of playing options. The Old course, an out and back layout, is the original MacKenzie design. The Brabazon course incorporates 14 of the original holes; Pennink’s four new holes come into play at the turn. The Brabazon, an uneven par 73 (35 out, 38 back), is now considered the championship course and is tougher and longer than the Old course.

In 1985, Seaton Carew hosted the Brabazon Trophy (English Amateur Stroke Play Championship), producing a tie for first place between Peter Baker and Roger Roper.

Don’t be put off by the industrial surroundings of chimneys and chemical works; this excellent golf course is one of the best on the East coast of England, a real MacKenzie treat. There are a few ridges of sand dunes and the fairways undulate gently, but otherwise this is a relatively flat links course, always at the mercy of the wind.

The 17th hole, called “Snag”, is one of many great holes at Seaton Carew. The late Derek Hornby, a historian and author of the 

 poetically describes the 17th. "The seventeenth's dangers are countless, beginning with whin, gorse and dune, the rough and gathering bunkers, and the green's undulating tune, to veer even slightly is fatal, the cost is distressingly high, many the card that's been torn up, just here with home oh so nigh".

Seaton Carew (Old)

There are now 22 holes at Seaton Carew Golf Club - the members therefore have a number of playing options. The club claims that it can make five different 18-hole layouts, but we're bemused as to how and why.

Rockliffe Hall is set close to the meandering curve of the River Tees just to the south of Darlington. It’s undoubtedly the most exciting golf resort to have opened in England’s northeast. Rockliffe Hall, the tastefully restored 18th century country house, is the centrepiece of the resort and it is surrounded by 350 acres of majestic County Durham parkland.

The estate has been privately owned throughout most of its history and the current owner, Steve Gibson, knows a thing or two about football. Not only does he own Rockliffe Hall but also Middlesbrough Football Club, whose training HQ is sited within the Rockliffe property. Gibson commissioned one of England’s oldest and most established golf course design firms to fashion a championship course as an accompaniment to the five-star facility. Hawtree Limited has been in the golf course architecture business since 1912 and it was their associate architect, Marc Westenborg, who was also responsible for the highly acclaimed redevelopment of Dooks Golf Club, who laid out the course at Rockliffe Hall.

Opened in 2009, the multi-million pound course is one of Europe’s longest tracks, measuring a whopping 7,879 yards from the tiger tees. Built with championship golf in mind, Rockliffe Hall is a stern test, not only due to its length, but also due to its strategic and occasionally penal design.

Lakes, wetlands, woodland and bold bunkering (especially around the greens), coupled with deep tangly rough combine to make Rockliffe Hall a supreme challenge. There’s even an island green at the par three 5th, which many consider to be Rockliffe’s signature hole, but the 242-yard one-shot 15th is the most daunting par three on the card, where water cuts in along the hole’s right side… a par here is one to be cherished.

Our advice is to choose one of the five tee boxes carefully and keep any macho tendencies for a different course. Some think Rockliffe Hall is a potential future Ryder Cup venue and we have no doubt that it is a tough enough test, even for the world’s best golfers.

In 2013 Rockliffe Hall hosted the English Senior Open, which Denmark’s Steen Tinning won by one shot from Spain's Santiago Luna. The English Senior Open returned to Darlington in 2014 when Argentine Senior Tour rookie Cesar Monasterio cruised to his maiden European Senior Tour victory - thanks in no small part to carding a course record-equalling nine under par 63 in the second round.

Rockliffe Hall

Opened in 2009, the multi-million pound golf course at Rockliffe Hall is one of Europe’s longest tracks, measuring a whopping 7,879 yards from the tiger tees.

Brancepeth Castle Golf Club is located near the famous, and historic cathedral city of Durham, in the pleasant, leafy village of Brancepeth. The club was founded in 1924, and Harry Colt, one of the world’s finest architects, designed the course on the estate's former deer park.

Brancepeth Castle is a lovely parkland course, set in historic surroundings. The castle dates back to Anglo-Saxon days, unfortunately the club did not have the finances to buy it when it came to market in the early 1980s, and so it has been the castellated home of the Dobson family ever since. St Brandon’s Parish Church, dating back to Norman times, is located near the 18th green. Sadly, the church was devastated by fire in 1998 but has since been restored.

The rolling fairways of Brancepeth are immaculately maintained. The course measures 6,300 yards, so it’s not overly long by today’s standards, but the lowly par of 70, provides a stern test for many leading amateurs. Brancepeth has played host to the final of the English County Championships, the Ladies British Open Amateur Stroke Play Championship and the English Ladies Amateur Championship.

There is a great deal of variation to the holes, and the famous deep ravine, cutting through the course on eight of the holes makes for exciting – and at times terrifying – golf. The suspended walkways, crossing the ravine, are a challenge in their own right. Especially if you are acrophobic!

“There is one monumental hole; the 220-yard 9th,” commented Tom Doak in 

, “playing from an elevated tee through a narrow gap in the trees and across the length of a deep ravine, to a small plateau green clinging to the opposite hillside. Yet I’ve heard others cite the par-3 10th as their favorite.”

The 202-yard 10th, going back across the ravine with the castle at your back, is equally as difficult as the “garden hole” 9th. But don’t take our word for it; you should experience Brancepeth’s fascinations and occasional consternations for yourself.


Brancepeth Castle

There is a great deal of variation to the holes at Brancepeth Castle Golf Club and the famous deep ravine, cutting through the course, makes for exciting golf.

Located a mere five miles to the northwest of Middlesbrough, Wynyard Golf Club is set within part of the Wynyard Park Estate where a number of fairways are tastefully flanked by a modern, upscale residential development.

Opened for play in 1996 and routed through more than 200 acres of mature parkland, Martin Hawtree’s Wynyard course (known as the Wellington) is a modern championship calibre layout that has more than a hint of classical design.

With four tee blocks that stretch out to more than 7,000 yards from the tips (5,764 yards from the forward tees), Wynyard is a tough test that will challenge even the most able golfers – the European Tour used the course in 1999 for their Stage One Qualifying School.

Wynyard truly came of age in 2005 when it was selected as host venue for the now defunct Seve Trophy – a Ryder Cup-styled event with matches between teams from Europe and Britain & Ireland (captains were José María Olazábal and Colin Montgomerie). Seve Ballesteros was unfortunately unable to influence the outcome due to injury – the competition ending Britain and Ireland 16½ Europe 11½.

The Wellington makes good use of the natural elevation changes throughout the property and the course bares its teeth at the 2nd, a 400+ yard par four that doglegs to the right, while at the short par four 5th, the hole turns in the opposite direction. Golfers will try and claim a shot back to par when they head for home at the short par five 10th, but avoid the bunkers either side of the fairway or the birdie opportunity is gone.

#15 heralds the start of the strong Wynyard finish with a classic risk/reward short par four that doglegs left around a pond, where big hitters will be sorely tempted to cut the corner and carry the aquatic hazard. #16 is a genuine three-shotter for most golfers with out-of-bounds threatening left and right before a left side lake comes into play for the second shot. A classic, well-bunkered, short hole arrives at 17 prior to reaching the home hole’s elevated tee, where more bogeys than pars will be carded on this brutal par four.

Wynyard is perhaps not at the forefront of golfers’ minds when searching for a classy golf course to play in England’s northeast, but it should be. It’s not only tough, it’s also enjoyable with a proud and respected tournament pedigree.

Wynyard

Host to the Seve Trophy in 2005, the fairways of the challenging Wellington course at the Wynyard Golf Club are laid out within a 200-acre wooded property where tees and greens have been built to USGA specification.

Hartlepool Golf Club is located on the North Sea coast to the north of Hartlepool and this par 70 course bears the design stamp of Willie Park Jr. and James Braid who reworked some of the holes between the dunes.

 by John F. Moreton & Iain Cumming, “if you can find the course, the entrance being under the railway through a horseshoe arch, you will meet a “mixed” course, partly “links” in the dunes, mostly on quick-draining agricultural land.

Originally nine holes, Hartlepool in 1911 became a full eighteen holes, the designer being Willie Park Junior. In the autumn of 1929 Braid was engaged to provide a bunkering plan, a brief widened to include any alterations he thought fit. Braid, respectful of his countryman’s designing skill, concentrated on the central holes: 9 becoming a dogleg, 10, another par 4, pushed into the dunes and containing a blind second shot, 11 a daunting par 3, which grew to 240 but which is now 216 yards, across a ravine along the shoreline, and 12, also a par 3, played from a high tee, in the opposite direction, to a green down below and well-bunkered. And all his bunkering recommendations were promptly carried out.

Since Braid’s time, changes have been few. A new clubhouse after World War II necessitated renumbering. The selling of the old clubhouse meant the loss of the old 1st, 17th and 18th high up there on the plateau land in the south part of the course. A new 2nd and 3rd were constructed in 1963. The 17th was lengthened in 1983.”


Hartlepool

Hartlepool Golf Club is located on the coast to the north of Hartlepool and this par 70 course bears the design stamp of James Braid who reworked some of the holes between the dunes.

“Few clubs have as rich a history as Tyneside Golf Club, situated at Western Falls, Ryton, just south of the River Tyne,” wrote authors Adrian Green and Tim Wellock in 

. “Believed to be one of the first 50 clubs in England, the original site was adjacent to the railway line on a 60-acre field known as The Willows, with the clubhouse a disused stick house dating from 1879.

The course was laid out by the club’s first professional/greenkeeper Mungo Park, winner of the Open in 1874, who was approached when at Alnmouth, Northumberland.

Once the layout was completed in 1880 Mungo was joined by his nephew, the revered Willie Park Jnr, at the tender age of 16 and he remained there until 1890, during which time he won the 1887 and 1889 Opens.

Willie Jnr, who spent 12 hours a day practising his putting – believing that: ‘The man who can putt is a match for anyone’ – left Tyneside to work alongside his father in the ball and club-making firm of W Park and Sons before embarking on a career in course architecture…

Twelve years after Park’s departure the Tyneside club negotiated a move to Western Falls, where they made do with a hotch-potch of holes until 1910 when Harry S Colt was commissioned to remodel the course.”


It’s not known who designed the original course (or even how many holes were in operation) but all that changed when Harry Colt's course opened in 1911, which is the layout that’s been in play ever since.

Today, the course extends to a little over six thousand yards, playing to a par of 70, with one par five hole featured on either nine. Although most holes are orientated on an east-west axis along the river valley, all the par threes play to a different compass direction: the 195-yard 6th to the west, the 152-yard 9th north, the 172-yard 12th east and the 120-yard 16th south.

Tyneside has recently built a new 6-hole par three course and driving range to complement the main course. The club also partnered with Frank Pont, who specializes in restoring Colt courses, and a 10-year improvement plan has focused on mowing lines, bunker restoration and reshaping a number of green surrounds.

Tyneside

Justifiably proud of its 100-year-old course heritage, Tyneside Golf Club is now working closely with Frank Pont to restore the Harry Colt-designed layout to its former glory.

Home to thirty-six holes of championship golf designed by respected architect Jonathan Gaunt, Ramside Hall Hotel lies next to the little village of Carrville, less than a 10-minute drive from Durham’s famous Cathedral.

The 18-hole Prince Bishops’ course was first to appear in 1996, occupying a forested parkland setting around the 4-star hotel, with sixteen water hazards coming into play.

The adjacent Cathedral course followed eighteen years later, with holes winding across a broad hilltop plateau then into a lovely wooded valley before returning to the parkland estate where the closing holes end back at the clubhouse and hotel.

Gaunt calls the stretch of holes from the 11th to the 14th “Ramside’s Amen Corner,” with the downhill par three 12th inspired by its famous counterpart on Augusta National, but instead of Rae’s Creek, it’s Sherburn Beck that protects the front of the green at this little beauty.

Ramside Hall (Cathedral)

Opened in 2014, the Cathedral course at Ramside Hall Hotel enjoys far-reaching vistas. Laid out over a hilltop by Jonathan Gaunt who christened the stretch from the 11th to the 14th “Ramside’s Amen Corner”.

Located to the south of the colliery town of Stanley, the South Moor & Craighead Course was officially opened on 26 April 1924 by Sir Clive Morrison-Bell, Member of Parliament for Honiton in east Devon. He presented the club with a silver claret jug to mark the occasion and this trophy is still played for annually.

The father of the mine’s superintendent had had his arm amputated by Alister MacKenzie and it was through his introduction that the architect visited the club in 1925 to suggest improvements to the layout.

According to the club, “the supremo suggested major improvements to the course routing. He did so on the proviso that the club could get colliery board approval to extend westwards onto more promising land.

It required the removal of gorse and scrub to create fairways for the challenging holes that still wind their way through some of the most interesting contours of the current course.”

The club has plans that show eighteen holes on its east side in 1924. The following year, MacKenzie developed holes 8-17 as new on the west side then used the east side land to create holes 1-7 and the 18th.

Today, the course extends to 6,293 yards from the back tees, playing to a par of 72 – 35 out and 37 in, with the inward half measuring almost 400 yards longer than the outward half.

Unusually, two of the opening three holes are par threes, at the 161-yard 1st and 147-yard 3rd. Back-to-back short par fours at the 5th and 6th offer reasonable birdie chances, with the 512-yard 12th a tough nut to crack, rated stroke index 1.

South Moor

Established in 1923, the moorland course at South Moor Golf Club was laid out by Dr Alister MacKenzie on the southern outskirts of the former colliery town of Stanley.

The 18-hole Prince Bishops’ course – named after the warrior clergymen who once ruled over the region – was first to arrive in 1996, laid out in a forested parkland setting around the 4-star hotel, with more than a dozen water hazards also in play.

The adjacent Cathedral course followed eighteen years later and holes on that track occupy a broad hilltop plateau then a lovely wooded valley before returning to the parkland estate to end the round back at the clubhouse and hotel.

Feature Prince Bishops’ holes include the short par four 6th (with water threatening the front and right of the green), the severely right doglegging 8th, the bunkerless par three 16th (where water fronts the green), and the par four 18th which plays to a home green that’s well protected by three large bunkers.

Ramside Hall (Prince Bishops')

Designed by Jonathan Gaunt, the Prince Bishops' course opened in 1996, and is named after the warrior clergymen who ruled over the anarchic region following the Norman Conquest.

Originally named Dene Golf Club when it opened shortly after the end of the First World War, the club was then given its new title of Castle Eden Golf Club in 1927. Members in the early days consisted almost exclusively of employees from the local brewery which had been instrumental in establishing the course.

The initial layout consisted of only six holes, set out by a Mr. O.L Rowantree. This course was later remodelled and extended to nine holes by Henry Cotton, who returned again to add another nine holes, one of which included the club’s “signature” par three 17th.

Today, this tree-lined track measures 6,257 from the back tees, playing to a par of 70, with only two par fives on the card, both of which appear on the back nine at the 10th and 14th. The opening three par four holes offer a tough start, playing on parallel fairways that each measure in excess of 400 yards.

Highlights here include the short par four 7th with a heavily sand-protected green, the shortest of the par threes at the 158-yard 11th, and the short par four 18th which offers a reasonable chance of walking off the home green with a birdie.

Castle Eden

Initially called the Dene Golf Club, this parkland course was originally laid out for employees of the Castle Eden Brewery and was renamed Castle Eden in 1927.

County Durham flourished in the 19th century with the growth of the mining industry when large numbers of pit villages were founded throughout the region. With the modern day demise of the coal sector, Durham is undergoing a process of regeneration as it reinvents itself as a tourist destination.

 celebrated its centenary in 2008 so it predated the English Golf Union by sixteen years, as the national governing body wasn’t formed until 1924. Today, the Durham County Union oversees the activities of 45 clubs in the north east of the country.

 was formed in 1922 and many of the early committee members were in post for long periods of time, beginning with the Marchioness of Londonderry, who held the inaugural Presidency until 1959. A number of long serving founders are remembered today by having county competition trophies named in their honour.

The Union’s Junior Coaching programme has produced an exceptional golfer, Graeme Storm, in recent years. Although he never won a County Championship, Graeme was the first Durham County golfer to win the Amateur Championship (in 1999) and compete in the Walker Cup for Great Britain & Ireland the same year.

Our County Durham golf course rankings were updated in 2019. 