Photograph by Wojciech Migda
Heathland & Open Coast
England
Heathland clubs, Open coast, and a county for every fortnight.
On England
England holds two kinds of great golf. The heathland clubs outside London, quiet and severe under pine and gorse, and the Open coast from Liverpool to Cornwall. Most people arrive for one and leave wanting the other.
London at either end of it, if you want it.
From the notebook
No two journeys share an itinerary. These are the places we return to, and the ones we send people to when they trust us.
- Sunningdale, Old CourseHeathland perfection, followed by the best clubhouse lunch in golf.
- Royal BirkdaleThe fairest test on the Open rota, in dunes that mean business.
- St EnodocCornwall's church-in-the-dunes, pure holiday golf of the highest order.
And more we argue about.
Off the course
- The drinkEnglish sparkling from the Sussex chalk.
- The waterSailing out of Salcombe on the Devon coast.
- The tableWhitstable oysters at the source, and a Sunday roast done the way it was intended.
- For the non-playersLondon in whatever measure suits, and the galleries and parks of it.
A week here, roughly
Heathland from a London base, three nights in Sussex or Berkshire, then the coast: Birkdale in the north, St Enodoc in Cornwall. Two shapes of week, and a city at either end of them.
The next step