A top golfing destination that is often overlooked, South East England offers some of the world’s most distinguished golf courses and luxury accommodations, making it the perfect location for a most memorable golf vacation. Here’s why…
Golf Vacation Tours and Sightseeing London & South East England
Golf Courses
*Prince’s Golf Club
Located at Sandwich on the Kent coastline, the course provides all that is best in modern links golf. The grass in fine in texture, and the fairways maintain a certain springiness throughout the year, the greens run fast and true. Hosted the Open Championship in 1932, which was one by Gene Sarazen and is a regular venue for The Final Open Qualifying for Royal St.Georges. Please note a very limited supply of golf carts are available for hire. Certain restrictions may apply, please advise your Golf Travel Specialist. Visit their website.
*A personal favorite of Gordon Dalgleish, Co-Founding Director of PerryGolf.
Hunstanton Golf Club
Established in 1891, this championship course is located on the North Norfolk Coast in Old Hunstanton. It has hosted several national championships including the English Amateur Championship and English Open Amateur Strokeplay. A traditional links course measuring 6,600 yards off the medal tees with a fairly even balance between the front and back nine. Hunstanton is well known for it’s superb greens, which are lightening fast but very true. Visit their website.
Littlestone Golf Club
Founded in 1888 this Championship Links Course on the English Channel, lies on the edge of Romney Marsh. Although much of the course lies below sea level, there are some spectacular views from the high spots. Littlestone is a two ball only thus your round should be completed in good time. Chosen venue for the Final Open Championship Qualifying when played at Royal St.George’s. Visit their website.
Royal Cinque Ports
Deal, as it is more commonly known, lies along a continuous dune in a narrow strip of land between the English Channel and farm grazing land. It runs out along the seashore and returns inland on a parallel strip to its starting point in a traditional links layout. Deal has hosted the Open Championship in 1909 and 1920 and was to have done again in 1949 until the sea flooded the course. Please note a very limited supply of golf carts are available for hire. Certain restrictions may apply, please advise your Golf Travel Specialist. Visit their website.
Royal Cromer
Founded in 1888 and designed by James Braid. Royal Cromer is a undulating seaside course with a spectacular clifftop location. Due to its position it is subject to high winds which can make the course a real challenge. Visit their website.
Royal St George’s
Located on the Kent Coast of England. The first course in England to host the Open Championship in 1894, it has been a host venue on twelve occasions since that day. A links course full of awkward twists and turns each designed to derail an overconfident approach. The Open returned to Royal St.George’s in 2003 when Ben Curtis came out on top. The course is scheduled to once again host the Open Championship in 2011.
Please note strict handicap limits are set by the club. Men & Ladies 18. A very limited supply of golf carts are available for hire. Certain restrictions may apply, please advise your Golf Travel Specialist. Visit their website.
Royal West Norfolk
A traditional old rugged links course that once seen will never be forgotten. This is golf in its purest form. Brancaster as it is more commonly known is squeezed between dunes and tidal marshland so much so that tee times are affected by the movement of the tides. A great experience for the lover of links golf. Visit their website.
Sheringham Golf Club
Set on the cliffs in an area of outstanding natural beauty, Sheringham is a challenging course for all golfers. The course is laid out on the west side of the town on a strip of rolling, gorse-clad clifftop that lies between the preserved North Norfolk Railway and the North Sea. It remains one of the most picturesque in the region. Please note a very limited supply of golf carts are available for hire. Certain restrictions may apply, please advise your Golf Travel Specialist. Visit their website.
Sunningdale – Old Course
The Old Course, designed by Willie Park, is the more famous of the two courses, but only acquired the title of Old when the New Course, was built in the 1920`s. The Old course, is widely regarded as one of the finest inland courses in England, with 103 bunkers, with pine, birch and oak trees lining the heather culminating with the famous 18th hole and the final green below the ”Sunningdale Oak Tree”.
Please note strict handicap limits are set by the club. Men 18 & Ladies 24. Visit their website.
The Grove
An exciting new parkland course which follows tradition but is accommodating to the strategy and demands of the modern game. Designed by Kyle Phillips of Kingsbarns fame, the Grove follows the slopes, ridges and mounds of the local landscape. The course is set up for hard and fast greens and is mature beyond its tender age. It stretches to over 7,000 yards from the tips but a choice of teeing areas make it playable for all levels. Visit their website.
Walton Heath – Old Course
Set in the Surrey countryside lies on of England’s best heathland courses. Fairways clad in heather and gorse and flanked on both sides by deep woodland of pines and silver birch. The club has a fascinating history, five times Open Championship James Braid was the first professional and members have included Winston Churchill and David Lloyd George. Please note a very limited supply of golf carts are available for hire. Certain restrictions may apply, please advise your Golf Travel Specialist. Visit their website.
The West Course at Wentworth
Opened in 1926, the West Course winds like a vast coiling snake through the big, heavily wooded estate. Since 1964 the World Match Play Championship has been played over the course in the autumn, providing much drama from the world’s best players. Also home to the European Tour PGA Championship. A tough test of golf in beautiful surroundings.
Please note strict handicap limits are set by the club. Men 20 & Ladies 24. Visit their website.
Woodhall Spa – The Hotchkin
Designed by the great Harry Colt. The course is set amongst banks of gorse and broom, backed up with layered canopies of oak, fir and towering silver birch and encapsulated all upon a glorious carpet of heather. Renowned for its formidable bunkers and narrow fairways, a course rewarding of good shots and always presented in pristine condition amidst wonderful natural surroundings. Recently ranked as the best inland course in England. Visit their website.
Golf Accommodations
Congham Hall
Built in the mid-eighteenth century, an elegant Georgian Manor which remained a private house until 1982 when it was sympathetically transformed into one of the finest Country House hotels of its size. It has retained the rare luxury of a very fine country home, where guests are encouraged to ‘feel at home’. Nestling in thirty acres, Congham Hall is surrounded by paddocks, parkland, finely manicured lawns and gardens, orchards and our renowned Herb Garden. Visit their website.
Eastwell Manor
The Manor features 23 tastefully decorated and furnished en-suite rooms and suites, offering space, elegance and sumptuous comfort all set within peaceful seclusion. Each room is individually designed and furnished in a classical style yet has all the modern day facilities that you would expect from a first class family run country house hotel. Dining options include the formal but intimate Manor Restaurant where or quality is the hallmark or enjoy an all day menu at the Brasserie in the Pavilion, sophisticated, informal and modern with the emphasis still on quality. The luxuy spa embodies the very best in health, beauty and fitness in keeping with the unique quality of Eastwell Manor. Visit their website.
MacDonald Berystede Hotel
Built in 1850, this Victorian Manor House has been sympathetically modernized into a grand country hotel. It is set in 9 acres of mature gardens and woodlands and is only 5 minutes from the famous Ascot Racecourse and 15 minutes from Windsor. Contemporary design, plush soft furnishings and luxury en-suite bathrooms all come as standard with the Macdonald Berystede’s hotel rooms, but it’s the little things that make the difference. Complimentary broadband internet access, air cooling, satellite TV and a well-stocked mini bar all combine to make life that little bit more comfortable. Savour the fragrant hush as you step into the serenity of the candlelit Spa at the Berystede Hotel. Six spa treatment rooms, a calming relaxation suite and two nail bars make the Spa a natural inner sanctuary. Whether your idea of ‘foodie heaven’ is a gourmet feast with friends, a romantic meal with a partner or a simple snack with your coffee, the Berystede can deliver! Browse the a la carte or table d’hote menu in the elegant Hyperion Restaurant with its outdoor terrace, or for more casual dining, choose the Wentworth or Oak Lounges. Visit their website.
Stirrups Country House Hotel
Set in the heartland of the Royal Berkshire racing homeland, Stirrups Hotel is an idyllic retreat from the stresses and strains of modern life. Easily accessible from the M4 and M3, the hotel is ideally situated for the leisure visitor, with the opportunity to journey to Ascot and Windsor and close to Wentworth and Sunningdale for golfers. This small hotel is family owned and each of the 30 bedrooms have their own distinctive style and charm. All of Stirrups bedrooms convey a winning combination of style and subtlety, where contemporary amenities enhance the traditional aura through the use of natural woods and pastel colors. Visit their website.
Sample English Golf Trip Itineraries
Start Planning Your Golf Vacation to Southeast England
London & Wales 2014 ~ Golf, Castles, & Royalty
South Wales, Berkshire, & London ~ Walton Heath to Windsor Castle
Hampton Court to Henley ~ Golf & History on England’s Royal River
About the Author: Harrison Gould is the Social Media Marketing Manager of PerryGolf, the leading provider of international golf vacations.
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