The Best Links Courses in England

Scotland and Ireland get the links golf headlines. That's fair. But England has a coastline littered with courses that would be national treasures in any other country and are instead quietly excellent, less crowded, less expensive, and easier to book than their Celtic counterparts. The quality at the top end is equal to anything across the border, and the depth of good courses below the famous names is arguably better.

Here's what to play, organized by coast.

The Northwest Coast (Lancashire and Cumbria)

This stretch of coastline between Liverpool and the Scottish border contains the densest concentration of championship links golf in England. The Open Championship rota includes 2 courses here, and the supporting cast is deep enough to fill a week.

Royal Birkdale in Southport is England's finest links and a regular Open venue (most recently 2017, when Jordan Spieth won). The course sits in a valley between towering sand dunes, which means the fairways are sheltered from the worst of the wind but the green complexes are fully exposed. The bunkering is severe and strategically placed, and the par-3 12th (playing to a green nestled in the dunes) is one of the best short holes in championship golf. Visitor access is available on certain days. Green fees: £275+. Book months in advance.

Royal Lytham & St Annes has hosted the Open 11 times and sits in a unique position: it's one of the few Open venues where the sea isn't visible from the course. The links land is real (the soil, the turf, the wind), but houses and a railway line border the property. Don't let that diminish it. The course is a masterclass in strategic bunkering (206 bunkers on 18 holes) and demands precision from tee to green. The 1st hole, a 206-yard par 3, is one of the toughest opening holes in links golf.

Silloth on Solway is the one that links cognoscenti get excited about. It sits on the Solway Firth in Cumbria, about as far from London as you can get in England, and that remoteness keeps it almost entirely off the tourist circuit. Willie Park Jr. designed it in 1892, and the course plays across rumpled links land with natural mounding, blind shots, and greens that read like puzzles. Green fees are under £100. The members will buy you a drink if you tell them you came specifically for the course. They're used to hearing it, and they're proud of it.

Hillside shares a boundary with Royal Birkdale and plays through the same dune system. The back nine, in particular, runs through towering sand hills that create a cathedral-like atmosphere. It's frequently compared to Birkdale, and the locals will tell you the back 9 at Hillside is better than the back 9 next door. That's arguable, but the fact that it's arguable tells you everything about the quality. Green fees are significantly lower than Birkdale's.

Formby is another course in the Southport cluster, playing through a mix of pine forest and links dunes. The Red Squirrel colony on the course is famous (they're protected, and you'll see them on the treelined holes). The course transitions from wooded parkland on the front to pure links on the back, which gives the round more variety than most courses in the area. Formby Ladies is a separate club on adjacent links land and also worth playing.

West Lancashire is in Blundellsands, just north of Liverpool, and it's the under-the-radar pick of the northwest. A genuine links that plays along the shore of the Mersey Estuary, with firm turf, natural contours, and a windswept character that the Southport courses (sheltered by their dunes) don't always have. Green fees are reasonable. It's the course you add on a free afternoon and end up remembering.

The Southeast Coast (Kent)

Royal St George's in Sandwich is the most recent Open venue in England (2021, won by Collin Morikawa) and one of the most polarizing links courses in the country. The terrain is big and dramatic: tall dunes, deep bunkers, dramatic elevation changes, and an undulating landscape that sends balls in unexpected directions. Some golfers love the wildness. Others find it unfair. Both are responding to the same thing: a course that doesn't play like anything else on the rota. Visitor access is available on certain days (check the club's schedule). Green fees: £250+.

Royal Cinque Ports (Deal) is 4 miles from Sandwich and has hosted the Open twice (1909 and 1920), though coastal flooding concerns have kept it off the modern rota. The course plays flat along the shore, fully exposed to the wind, with subtle green complexes that demand more imagination than the dramatic dune courses. It's a thinking player's links. The 16th (a short par 4 called "The Suez Canal" after the ditch that crosses the fairway) is a design gem. Green fees are lower than St George's, and the atmosphere is friendlier.

Prince's Golf Club shares the Sandwich links land with St George's and Cinque Ports, offering 27 holes across 3 nines (Shore, Dunes, and Himalayas). It's the most accessible of the 3 Sandwich clubs and provides excellent links golf at a lower price point. The Himalayas nine, with its dramatic dune ridges, is the strongest stretch.

The Northeast Coast (Norfolk, Yorkshire, Northumberland)

Royal West Norfolk (Brancaster) plays across tidal marshland on the north Norfolk coast. At high tide, several holes are cut off from the clubhouse and the course effectively becomes an island. The green fee includes the experience of checking tide tables before your round, which is not something most courses require. The links turf is among the finest in England, and the course's isolation (the nearest town is a village) gives it an atmosphere of quiet concentration.

Hunstanton is 8 miles from Brancaster on the same stretch of Norfolk coast. A James Braid design that plays along the shore of the Wash with views across to Lincolnshire. It's a proper championship links (it hosts the English Ladies Open regularly) at a green fee that would be laughable for a course of this quality in Scotland. The 7th (a par 3 along the beach) and the 16th (a par 4 that doglegs around the dunes) are the holes you'll talk about.

Ganton in Yorkshire is technically an inland links (it's 8 miles from the coast) built on sandy, links-like soil that plays firm and fast. The course has hosted the Amateur Championship, the Walker Cup, and the Curtis Cup, and the quality of the turf and the severity of the bunkering (deep, revetted faces) make it feel like a coastal course that wandered inland. Harry Vardon was the professional here. The course is consistently ranked in England's top 10.

Bamburgh Castle in Northumberland plays beneath the walls of Bamburgh Castle, which looms over the course from a volcanic outcrop. The views across to Holy Island, the Farne Islands, and the Cheviot Hills are staggering. The course itself is honest and enjoyable without being a championship test, but the setting is the best in English golf. Green fees are modest. The combination of the castle, the coast, and the course makes it worth a detour on any northeast England trip.

Seaton Carew in County Durham is one of the oldest courses in England (founded 1874) and plays on classic links land along the North Sea. The course has a split personality: the front nine runs along the shore, exposed and windswept, while the back nine loops through more sheltered terrain. The "Old" course (18 holes) is the one to play. Green fees are among the lowest on this list.

The Southwest Coast (Devon and Cornwall)

Saunton (East Course) in North Devon is the best links course in southwest England and routinely ranks in the country's top 20. Herbert Fowler designed it in 1919 across Braunton Burrows, one of the largest dune systems in England. The course is long, exposed, and demanding, with a back nine that runs through a corridor of dunes so tall you can't see the neighboring holes. The West Course (the second 18) is also strong and plays through different terrain. Green fees are reasonable for the quality. The beach at Saunton Sands is a 5-minute walk from the clubhouse.

St Enodoc in Cornwall is the course where John Betjeman (the Poet Laureate) is buried in the churchyard alongside the 10th hole. The Church Course features the Himalaya Bunker on the 6th, a sand dune so massive that the bunker face rises 30+ feet above the fairway. It's the largest bunker in England and possibly the most absurd. The rest of the course plays along the Camel Estuary with views of Padstow across the water. The Holywell Course is the second option. Green fees are moderate.

Trevose sits on Constantine Bay in north Cornwall and offers 18 holes of links golf with views across the Atlantic. The course benefits from Cornwall's mild climate (playable year-round) and the surfer-town atmosphere of the nearby villages. It's a good course rather than a great one, but the setting, the value, and the post-round options (Padstow's seafood restaurants are 10 minutes away) make it a strong addition to a southwest trip.

Building a Trip

The northwest coast is the obvious cluster for a dedicated links trip: Birkdale, Lytham, Hillside, Formby, and West Lancashire are all within 30 minutes of each other. Add Silloth if you're willing to drive 2 hours north.

The Sandwich cluster (St George's, Cinque Ports, Prince's) is doable as a 2-3 day trip from London, with the Channel Tunnel and Canterbury nearby for non-golf time.

The Norfolk coast (Brancaster, Hunstanton) pairs well with a slow drive up the northeast to Bamburgh and Seaton Carew.

England doesn't market its links golf the way Scotland does. There's no equivalent of the St Andrews brand or the Highlands pilgrimage narrative. The courses just exist, quietly, along a coastline that's been growing championship-caliber turf for centuries, waiting for golfers who know enough to look south of the border.