West Midlands of England - Top 10 Golf Courses 2017

England's West Midlands is a region spread across five distinct counties, this landlocked stretch of England is home to some of the finest inland golf in the country. Across all six county rankings combined, more than 60 courses are listed, offering visiting golfers an embarrassment of choice stretching from the Welsh border hills of Herefordshire to the Ryder Cup stages of Warwickshire. The region punches well above its weight architecturally. Harry Colt, Herbert Fowler, Tom Simpson, James Braid and Alister MacKenzie all left their mark here, and Robin Hiseman's modern masterpiece at JCB Golf & Country Club has given the West Midlands a course capable of competing at the very top of the national rankings. With six separate county charts — Birmingham, Herefordshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire and Worcestershire — this update marks the most comprehensive assessment of West Midlands golf ever undertaken. Best West Midlands Golf Courses: County Rankings At A Glance Birmingham Birmingham's golfing credentials are often underestimated, yet the city and its immediate surrounds hold some of the best heathland and parkland layouts in the English Midlands. Sutton Coldfield Golf Club leads the way — a MacKenzie-attributed heathland layout from 1919. Edgbaston follows, Harry Colt's 1936 parkland design routed through a compact site around the imposing Georgian Edgbaston Hall. Copt Heath in Solihull completes the podium, a well-regarded parkland test combining quality turf conditions with understated design. Moor Hall and Sandwell Park round out the top five, the former a parkland in a mature setting and the latter a characterful heathland layout that has quietly maintained its reputation as one of the Birmingham area's most reliable tests. 🏆 Herefordshire – Top 3 Herefordshire is the most remote of the five West Midlands counties, tucked up against the Welsh border, and its golf reflects the landscape: dramatic, exposed and unlike anything else in the region. Kington Golf Club heads the county ranking as England's highest golf course. Designed by C.K. Hutchison in the mid-1920s on Bradnor Hill with no bunkers and rambunctious terrain, it offers panoramic views of the Brecon Beacons, Black Mountains, Shropshire Hills and Malvern Hills. It has developed a serious cult following among well-travelled golfers who appreciate quirky, strategic layouts. The Ross-on-Wye Golf Club sits second, set in rolling countryside near the River Wye, while The Herefordshire Golf Club completes a top three that rewards those willing to venture west. 🏆 Shropshire – Top 5 Shropshire's five best courses span the county from the Welsh border at Llanymynech to the rolling terrain around Hawkstone, offering variety in abundance. Llanymynech is a genuinely unique layout that straddles the England-Wales border. A hilltop test extending to just over 6,000 yards that provides one of the most distinctive rounds available anywhere in the Midlands. Oswestry sits second, a James Braid design from the late 1920s laid out across the grounds of Aston Hall. Church Stretton has risen to third, a high-climbing, view-rich layout in the Shropshire Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Shifnal and Hawkstone Park Golf Club (Hawkstone) complete the five, with Hawkstone in particular set within one of the most dramatic and atmospheric estates in the English Midlands. 🏆 Staffordshire – Top 5 Staffordshire is the strongest single county in the West Midlands, home to approximately 50 golf clubs and a top five that mixes heathland heritage with modern ambition. Beau Desert Golf Club leads — Herbert Fowler's heathland design near Hednesford, described by Bernard Darwin as having echoes of Gleneagles about it, a "Beautiful Wilderness" in name and in character that remains the quintessential Staffordshire heathland experience. Little Aston Golf Club follows, a Harry Colt parkland masterpiece set in 176 acres of mature grounds north of Birmingham, originally laid out by Harry Vardon in 1908 and subsequently reworked by Colt into one of the finest parkland courses in England. JCB Golf & Country Club sits third. Robin Hiseman's design for European Golf Design opened in 2018 and immediately rewrote the expectations for what a modern inland course could achieve. The fourth and fifth positions belong to the two layouts at Enville Golf Club. The Highgate and the Lodge courses continue to impress with its understated quality across both courses. 🏆 Warwickshire – Top 3 Warwickshire's ranking is dominated by two names that need no introduction, but the county's depth beyond those headline acts makes it a destination with more to offer than first glance suggests. The Belfry (Brabazon) leads — the Dave Thomas and Peter Alliss design that hosted the Ryder Cup on four occasions between 1985 and 2002, an astonishing transformation of unremarkable farmland defined by its aquatic drama, particularly at the famous 10th and the emotionally charged 18th. Forest of Arden (Arden) follows, a mature and impressively maintained parkland test that holds its own comfortably in Warwickshire's strongest company, while Ladbrook Park completes the top three, a well-regarded parkland layout that has held its position across multiple ranking cycles. 🏆 Worcestershire – Top 3 Worcestershire's leading courses are set in some of the most pleasant countryside in the Midlands, with Blackwell Golf Club having maintained its county supremacy throughout the entire history of these rankings. Herbert Fowler and Tom Simpson's 1923 design is the enduring jewel of Worcestershire golf. Set across a compact 102-acre estate near Bromsgrove, renowned above all for its par-three holes and is undergoing a long-term restoration programme under Frank Pont's guidance. Kings Norton Golf Club (Red & Blue) sits second. The Worcestershire Golf Club completes the top three, a traditional club set in the shadow of the Malvern Hills. What the Rankings Tell Us A Region Defined by Golden Age Architecture The West Midlands' best golf courses are disproportionately the product of Golden Age designers. Harry Colt's fingerprints are on Little Aston, Edgbaston, Whittington Heath and Trentham. Herbert Fowler shaped both Beau Desert and Blackwell. Tom Simpson co-designed Blackwell. James Braid designed Oswestry. Alister MacKenzie reshaped Sutton Coldfield. Staffordshire's Dominance With Beau Desert, Little Aston and JCB all holding places in the national rankings, Staffordshire contributes more to those standings than any other West Midlands county. The arrival of JCB in 2018 gave Staffordshire a genuine top-tier modern course to sit alongside its established heathland classics, and the county's depth across 14 ranked layouts is unmatched in the region. The Heathland-Parkland Balance The West Midlands offers a compelling mix of course typologies. The heathland courses of Staffordshire provide fast, firm conditions more associated with Surrey or Berkshire than the English Midlands. The parkland offerings of Warwickshire and Worcestershire deliver a different pleasure entirely. The quirky upland character of Kington and Llanymynech adds yet another dimension, making the region one of the more varied golfing destinations in England. JCB's National Impact When Robin Hiseman's design for JCB opened in 2019, it immediately entered the conversation about the finest modern inland courses in Britain. A Decade of Rankings: 2017–2023 2017 – An Inaugural Regional Top 10 Published in June 2017, the inaugural West Midlands regional ranking featured 10 courses across five counties. Little Aston led the ranking, with Beau Desert at two and the Brabazon at The Belfry at three. Blackwell held fourth, followed by Enville Highgate at five. Whittington Heath and Sutton Coldfield appeared at six and seven, with Kington, Edgbaston and Trentham completing the first-ever West Midlands regional Top 10. 2019 – JCB Arrives, Reshapes Staffordshire The 2019 update, published in October, expanded the West Midlands listings to 50 courses across the five counties. The headline news was the immediate impact of JCB Golf & Country Club, which had opened the previous year and went straight in at number one in Staffordshire. Herefordshire remained stable, with Kington holding firm at the top. In Shropshire, Llanymynech retained its county lead. Warwickshire saw little movement in its top positions, with the Brabazon unchanged at number one. Worcestershire remained anchored by Blackwell, with restoration work at the club noted as ongoing. 2023 – Expansion to 65 Courses, New Voices Emerge The third update, released in September 2023, added 15 further courses to bring the West Midlands total to 65 ranked layouts. New panel members identified previously overlooked courses across all five counties. JCB retained its number one position in Staffordshire, while Oswestry climbed to the top of the Shropshire rankings for the first time, displacing Llanymynech. Planning Your West Midlands Golf Trip The West Midlands works particularly well as a flexible touring destination, with most of the leading courses within comfortable driving distance of each other. A Birmingham base puts you within reach of Sutton Coldfield, Little Aston, Beau Desert and Whittington Heath within 30 minutes, and Blackwell and Edgbaston in roughly the same time in the opposite direction. For golfers focused on the best architecture the region can offer, a combination of Beau Desert, Little Aston and Blackwell covers three of the finest Golden Age designs in England. Those willing to venture into Herefordshire for Kington will be rewarded with an experience available nowhere else in England — an upland, bunker-free, links-like test that defies every expectation. The Warwickshire courses at and around The Belfry lend themselves to a resort stay, combining the Brabazon with the PGA National and Forest of Arden, all within easy reach. Shropshire rewards the explorer: Llanymynech's border novelty, Oswestry's Braid pedigree and the drama of Hawkstone Park make for a compelling two or three-day itinerary in the far west of the county. For the complete county-by-county rankings across all West Midlands courses, visit Top100GolfCourses.com. Previous West Midlands ranking articles: 2017 | 2019 | 2023

Welcome to the third of our seven regional updates for England. Last time we featured three counties in the North West of the country and in this edition we head to the West Midlands to reappraise golfing layouts in the counties of Herefordshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire and Worcestershire. We have a new #1 in one of those counties and we’re adding a further fifteen layouts to the fifty that we already listed across the five counties. New members of our county panels have identified a few courses which have been overlooked in the past so we’re more than happy to include these additional tracks in our revised line-ups. Herefordshire Located only a mile from the border with Wales, the 18-hole layout at Kington Golf Club (pictured above) remains the #1 golf track in Herefordshire. Recognised as the highest course in England, it’s a Major C.K. Hutchison design that first opened for play in 1926. With holes set out in glorious National Trust property, Kington offers unrivalled panoramic views of The Brecon Beacons, The Black Mountains, The Shropshire Hills and the Malvern Hills. South Herefordshire The only new entry is South Herefordshire at #5, replacing the Rowan course at Sapey Golf and Country Club which recently changed its golf union affiliation. Situated close to the lovely little town of Ross-on-Wye, South Herefordshire occupies a rolling 135-acre property, operating an 18-hole layout, par three academy course and driving range since 1990. Click the following link to see the newly updated county rankings for Herefordshire. Shropshire Rising two spots to #1 in Shropshire, Oswestry Golf Club (pictured above) was founded in 1903 but the course is a more recent development, designed by James Braid in the late 1920s when the club moved to the grounds of Aston Hall. Course improvements were made in the mid-1980s then a bunker upgrade was conducted in the late 1990s, with six hazards removed, one introduced, three repositioned and forty-nine others refurbished. The Astbury The course at The Astbury in Chelmarsh re-enters our county chart at #6. Unveiled in 2010, this 18-hole golf facility was created by former Judas Priest lead guitarist K.K. Downing. Unfortunately, the course closed five years ago when the business went into administration but it’s now back in business under new ownership, having re-opened in April 2021. Telford The only new entry for Shropshire arrives at #12 and it’s the course at Telford Hotel Spa & Golf Resort, which was originally established by Telford Development Corporation in the mid-1970s before it became a private enterprise in 1980. The property’s changed hands a few times since then, with Q Hotels as the latest owner. Click the following link to see the newly updated county rankings for Shropshire. Staffordshire Retaining its position as #1 in Staffordshire, the 18-hole layout at JCB Golf and Country Club (pictured above) is one of only three in the West Midlands region to be included in our English national rankings (at #40) and it also makes the cut in our GB&I Top 100 at #93. Designed by Robin Hiseman of European Golf Design for tournament play, the course now hosts the annual JCB Tournament on the Legends Tour for senior professional male golfers. Penn The highest of four new entries on the new chart is the course at Penn Golf Club in Wolverhampton which debuts at #11. When South Staffordshire Golf Club relocated in 1908, some members remained behind to form a new golf club, inheriting a 9-hole course that was fifteen years old. The modern day layout extends to 6,457 yards and plays to a par of 70 (35 out then 35 in) on a property of no more than 100 acres. The other new Staffordshire entries are Leek [#12], Walsall [#13] and Bloxwich [#14]. Click the following link to see the newly updated county rankings for Staffordshire. Warwickshire The Brabazon course at The Belfry Hotel & Resort (pictured above) holds on to its #1 status in Warwickshire. Four-time host venue for the Ryder Cup between 1985 and 2002), the Brabazon is a late 1970s design from PGA stalwarts Dave Thomas and Peter Alliss, who somehow managed to transform an undistinguished tract of farmland into one of England’s most remarkable golf courses at what has since become a 54-hole West Midlands golfing mecca. Walmley The highest climber in the updated Warwickshire chart is the course at Walmley Golf Club in Sutton Coldfield, rising four places to #11. The club started out with a 9-hole layout in 1902 but within six years this was doubled in size. Three new holes were developed in the early 1980s by Brian Huggett and David Williams to create the 6,603-yard course that’s still in play today. Stratford-on-Avon There are five newcomers to the listings and the most prominent of these is the course at Stratford-on-Avon at #13.The club moved a short distance to its current location in 1925, when J.H. Taylor designed a new course with James Carter & Co. of Reading building the holes. Jonathan Gaunt embarked on an ongoing bunker renovation project at the club in the winter of 2020, with contractor MJ Abbot carrying out the construction work. The other Warwickshire new entries are Warwickshire (Kings) [#17), Maxstoke Park [#18], Kenilworth [#19] and Shirley [#20]. Click the following link to see the newly updated county rankings for Warwickshire. Worcestershire The Blackwell Golf Club course in Bromsgrove (pictured above) has been our county number one since we began ranking Worcestershire more than a decade ago and it’s still the #1 layout. The club was formed with a 9-hole course in 1893 and this layout was expanded to eighteen holes thirty years later by Tom Simpson and Herbert Fowler. Currently, Frank Pont is working with the club on a 10-year restoration plan. Kings Norton (Red & Blue) Climbing four positions to #4, the Red and Blue nines at Kings Norton Golf Club comprise the 18-hole Weatheroak layout at this 27-hole facility. The club can trace its origins back to 1892 but it relocated to Alvechurch in the late 1960s, engaging Fred Hawtree to lay out three 9-hole circuits, any two of which provide an 18-hole golf course of high quality. Wharton Park The course at Wharton Park Golf & Country Club is our highest new entry, appearing at #10. Designed by Howard Swan, the 18-hole layout sits just outside the attractive Georgian town of Bewdley on the River Severn. Stretching to 6,402 yards, it plays to a par of 71, with holes arranged in two distinct compartments: holes 1-3 and 11-18 occupy ground closest to the clubhouse, with the remaining holes on the other side of a dense forest. The other new Worcestershire entries are Droitwich [#12], Kings Norton (Yellow) at #13 and Evesham [#14]. Click the following link to see the newly updated county rankings for Worcestershire. Jim McCann Editor Top 100 Golf Courses

West Midlands of England – Best in County Rankings 2019 Hard on the heels of the last news item about our re-ranking of courses in the East Midlands region of England, we now publish our latest findings for the West Midlands, presenting fifty courses across the counties of Herefordshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire and Worcestershire. Extending to five thousand square miles, with a population of six million people, the West Midlands region is anchored by the city of Birmingham, England's second largest city. Unfortunately, like the neighbouring East Midlands region, this area doesn’t attract too many visiting golfers. Currently, four tracks in the West Midlands occupy places in the Top 100 for England and one of them also makes it into the more prestigious Great Britain & Ireland listings. It’ll be interesting to see next month if that situation improves when we revise those other important standings. For now, we’re concentrating solely on manoeuvres within the above named county charts in this English heartland location, so let’s crack on and take a look at what we believe to be the best golf course offerings in the West Midlands. Herefordshire It’s a case of “as you were” for this county as all five courses remain in the same position, which means Kington holds on to the top spot in Herefordshire. The course was designed in the mid-1920s by Cecil Key Hutchison – who also had a hand in the development of highly regarded layouts at Gleneagles, North Berwick and Turnberry. Fairways are laid out at altitude on Bradnor Hill, affording sensational views of the surrounding Brecon Beacons, Malvern Hills and Black Mountains. Kington Golf Club Measuring less than 6,000 yards from the back tees, and with no sand or water in play, this short and quirky course features a set of unique and fascinating greensites the likes of which you will never come across elsewhere. In recent years, Kington has slowly but surely built up something of a cult following with well-travelled golfers. Herefordshire Top 5 Golf Courses 2019 Rank/ Shropshire Our No. 1 course in Shropshire, Llanymynech, enjoys something of a split personality because it straddles the border between two different countries. Most of the fairways of this tree-lined track lie within Wales but the club has always been affiliated through the local county golf union with England Golf. Extending to just over 6,000 yards and playing to a par of 70, it’s a terrific little hilltop layout that offers an engaging test of golf from start to finish. Llanymynech Golf Club Astbury, the course built a decade ago by K.K. Downing, the former band member of heavy metal group Judas Priest, has now closed and is due to re-open after refurbishment sometime next year. In the meantime, it’s dropped out of our Top 10 chart for Shropshire, replaced at number nine by the Championship course at Hawkstone Park, which Brian Hugget designed in the mid-1990s. Shropshire Top 10 Golf Courses 2019 Staffordshire With fifty golf clubs located inside its boundary lines, Staffordshire is the strongest of the five counties in the West Midlands, a fact underlined when we compiled a one-off Top 10 table for the region two years ago, discovering that half the chart was comprised of entries from this county. You might imagine any newcomer would struggle to get into the Staffordshire Top 10 but you’d be wrong. In fact, not only has a new design broken into the chart, it’s gone straight in at No. 1. JCB Golf & Country Club JCB Golf & Country Club in Rocester only opened last year but it’s already causing quite a stir in Midlands golfing circles and beyond. Laid out by Robin Hiseman from European Golf Design, it’s a big budget affair that has taken quite a few people by surprise, especially our editor-in-chief, Keith Baxter, who played there a few weeks ago. “Rarely do I describe five holes in any review,” wrote Keith in his post last week, “but at JCB virtually every hole is worthy of narration… I have not seen a better set of green complexes on any English course built after the Second World War… JCB is a fabulous course that’s primed for the Top 100. Which 100? We’ll simply have to wait and see.” All should be revealed in the next few weeks during our current re-ranking process, so standby for further announcements on that front. Whittington Heath was directly in the path of the new HS2 (High Speed Two) rail link, consequently the club is in the middle of a construction program which is expected to complete in April 2020. The course is currently in flux, so it remains to be seen whether or not the refashioned layout when fully open will receive more or less affection than the original. Staffordshire Top 10 Golf Courses 2019 Warwickshire There’s little movement in our Top 15 for Warwickshire, where eight of the Top 10 courses stay in exactly the same position, including the No. 1 layout, the Brabazon at The Belfry. Scene of four epic Ryder Cups between 1985 and 2002, The Belfry is an astonishing success story for the PGA, and for Peter Alliss, in particular. In the late 1970s, he convinced the professional golfers’ governing body to take over a struggling hotel business in Sutton Coldfield then transform the property into its headquarters – and the PGA has never looked back since. The Belfry Brabazon course Dave Thomas, in conjunction with Peter Alliss, designed the Brabazon course and Thomas returned for a multi-million pound makeover twenty years later, ensuring there was a strong level of aquatic challenge, especially on the closing stretch of holes. As modern parkland courses go, this one is right up there with the best and recent reviews on this site have been generally positive, even though one or two peripheral issues have been mentioned in passing. Warwickshire Top 15 Golf Courses 2019 Worcestershire The course at Blackwell is still the No. 1 course in Worcestershire. The club dates back to 1893 but the layout is thirty years younger, having been designed by Herbert Fowler and Tom Simpson in 1923. Frank Pont was appointed a few years ago to breathe new life into the layout, mainly by removing trees that were restricting lines of play and restoring bunkers that had become rather neglected. Blackwell Golf Club Frank told us the in-house team under Course Manager Rhys Thomas is methodically working through a ten-year program that will ultimately see every hole undergo some form of upgrade. When everything’s been done, this classic old track will then be in its best shape ever – and in good time for the club to celebrate the centenary of its design. Worcestershire Top 10 Golf Courses 2019 The next English region to be reappraised is the North West and the three counties to come under scrutiny in that edition are Cheshire, Cumbria and Lancashire. Jim McCann Editor Top 100 Golf Courses