Top 10 Golf Courses in Warwickshire 2015
Warwickshire Best in County rankings updated
Think “Warwickshire” and you might also think “Castle” (as in Brinklow Castle, Kenilworth Castle or Warwick Castle) or maybe “Canal” (like the Coventry Canal, Grand Union Canal or Oxford Canal) but associating “Golf” with Shakespeare’s county is maybe stretching things a little too far for even the most committed of golfers.
If you enquire about “Sports and Activities” on the official tourist website for the region it may well try to direct you towards a ten pin bowling centre, an ice skating rink or an indoor go-karting track but we think the sporting options within the region should stretch a little further than that.
In fact, with more than fifty golf clubs spread out around the county, there’s quite a wide range of places where you can tee it up if you’re in the area and looking for a game. To that end, we’ve identified what we reckon are the best tracks in the vicinity, allowing us to maintain a list of the Top 10 courses in Warwickshire.
The top three places in our recently updated county chart remain the same for the third edition in a row. Holding on to the number 1 slot is the Brabazon course at The Belfry, where the course is just one of three that are available to play at an impressive 54-hole resort. A four-time Ryder Cup venue, the layout certainly splits opinion with our reviewers - “a good challenge for all golfers” and “one of the great theatres of golf” versus “the condition was appalling” and “everything was tatty and tired” - but we think it’s worth playing for its historical golfing connotations alone.
Close behind at number 2, the Arden course at Forest of Arden is another iconic track in the world of professional golf, hosting both the British Masters (five times between 1997 and 2005) and English Open (on seven occasions between 1993 and 2002) when it was at one time a regular European Tour stop. Designed by Donald Steel, the course is a modern layout that offers a significant challenge, even from the forward tees.
Occupying 3rd position in our newly updated chart, the course at Copt Heath is a wonderful old track designed in 1907 by the two Harrys – Vardon and Colt – where the use of sand, water and trees as intimidating hazards makes this one of the most demanding courses in the region. Since 1981, honorary member Peter McEvoy has hosted a prestigious annual competition for elite under-18 junior male golfers and previous winners have included Lee Westwood and Justin Rose.
At number 4, rising four places, we have Sutton Coldfield, an Alister MacKenzie-designed heathland track that’s unusually characterised by consecutive par fives at holes 5, 6 and 7. Immediately behind this course at number 5 (a climb of two places) comes Coventry, where the original 18-hole Harry Vardon layout was modified by Fred Hawtree in 1972 then by his son Martin Hawtree in the early 1990s, when he upgraded all the bunkers.
A couple of Harry Colt-designed courses make first time appearances in our chart and they are Ladbrook Park at number 6 and Olton at number 8. The third and final new entry occupies the number 9 position and it’s Moor Hall, a J.H. Taylor and Fred Hawtree collaboration from 1932 which is laid out in mature parkland, with an especially testing final five-hole stretch.
We’d like to thank everybody in this region who contributed to our re-ranking process. To view more details of the courses in our Warwickshire Top 10 rankings, click this link. If you’ve played extensively across this region and would like to help us with the next edition of the chart then please drop Editor-in-Chief Keith Baxter an email at keith@top100golfcourses.com. We don’t claim to publish definitive golf course rankings but we do think they’re the most informed.
Jim McCann
Editor
Top 100 Golf Courses
