The Best Golf Courses in England

England’s golf is a quiet conversation between landscape and history — heathland that turns gold in autumn, parkland fairways cut through ancient estate woodland, and a handful of championship arenas that have written themselves into the game’s memory. To play here is to move through the country itself: a morning round in Cheshire’s broad green calm, an afternoon on the Suffolk coast where the wind carries the sea.

What follows are the courses we know intimately and build into bespoke journeys — each chosen not for a ranking but for the experience it gives a discerning golfer. We profile what makes each special, the kind of test it sets, and who will love it most, so your trip is shaped around the golf you most want to play.

No English golf itinerary is complete without The Belfry near Sutton Coldfield, the only venue to have hosted the Ryder Cup four times. Its Brabazon course is theatre in the truest sense — a closing run around water that has decided championships, demanding nerve as much as ball-striking. It is a course for the golfer who wants to stand where the game’s great moments happened and feel the same pressure on the tee.

A short transfer away, Forest of Arden near Solihull offers a championship parkland test threaded through mature woodland and lakes, a layout with genuine tournament pedigree and a more secluded, estate-like feel. Further north, Slaley Hall sits within a vast Northumberland forest — two parkland courses of real substance, often likened to an inland links for the demands they place on the long game. Together these three form the spine of a Midlands-and-North itinerary built for players who relish a proper test.

For golf wrapped in the comfort of a country estate, Carden Park in Cheshire is among England’s most complete resorts — broad, generous fairways set in a 1,000-acre parkland that rewards strategy over brute force, ideal for a group of mixed handicaps who want a memorable round and an exceptional place to return to each evening. Hanbury Manor in Hertfordshire pairs its golf with the grandeur of a Jacobean-style manor, an easy and refined choice within reach of London.

In Lincolnshire, Belton Woods near Grantham and Forest Pines offer expansive resort golf with multiple layouts, giving a group variety across consecutive days without ever changing hotel. These are the courses we reach for when the brief is golf and gracious living in equal measure — unhurried, polished, and beautifully kept.

England’s east and west coasts give a tailor-made trip its sense of place. Thorpeness in Suffolk is a rare and characterful heathland course beside the sea, with its own hotel and a singular, almost timeless atmosphere — heather, gorse and firm turf that plays quite unlike the inland parkland courses. It is a favourite of golfers who collect distinctive places.

On Merseyside, Formby Hall sits in the great golfing country of the north-west coast, a resort layout that complements the famous links of the region beautifully. To the east, Dunston Hall near Norwich and Dale Hill in East Sussex round out the picture — handsome parkland courses that let us extend a trip across the country’s quieter, more scenic corners. The result is an itinerary that feels like a journey through England, not a stay in one place.

Every trip we build is tailor-made: we begin with the courses you most want to play and the standard of golf in your group, then route the journey so each day flows into the next. A classic week might open at The Belfry, move to Carden Park’s parkland calm, and finish on the Suffolk coast at Thorpeness — with private transfers, secured tee times, and stays chosen to match. Trips begin from £175 per person, the accessible start of a journey shaped entirely around you.

Old Thorns in Hampshire, Slaley Hall in Northumberland or Forest Pines in Lincolnshire can all be woven in, and our specialists handle the detail — the right tee on the right morning, the table booked, the car waiting. You play; we arrange everything else.