All the elements of links golf are on wonderful display in England’s West Country
If traditional links golf is your passion, and having already toured Scotland and Ireland you now want to discover the links of England, where should you visit?
Assuming the trip begins in London, the two most obvious destinations will involve travel in a northwesterly or southeasterly direction: toward the coasts of Lancashire or Kent. Choosing either would be very understandable since Open Championship history beckons. However, if you are an adventurous soul, you might consider a journey to the far southwestern corner of England, to the West Country counties of Devon and Cornwall.
What treats await our intrepid traveler? Legendary tales and spellbinding scenery, for a start. Cornwall is the land of King Arthur, Camelot, and Merlin, and its neighboring county isn’t known as “Glorious Devon” without good reason: Think of thatched cottages, quaint village greens, and a slower pace of life. But how will that passion for links golf be satiated?
The region may not be internationally renowned for its golf courses but they are plentiful, with many situated close to the sea. Moreover, two pairs of courses cry out to be explored: St. Enodoc and Trevose in Cornwall, and Westward Ho! and Saunton in Devon. Each can certainly be described as a “traditional links” and yet it is hard to imagine four more contrasting venues. Which one (or pair) provides the most enjoyable experience is the subject of many a 19th-hole debate. What is definite, though, is that Saunton offers the West Country’s most authentic modern-day championship challenge.
There are two 18-hole links at Saunton: the newer West Course and the older East, the latter being the championship layout. Crafted a century ago by Herbert Fowler, this July it hosted both the Women’s and Men’s Senior Amateur Championships.
Like Royal Portrush, Saunton is approached by way of a winding road that occupies high ground and, when providing a first glimpse of the links, presents a jaw-dropping moment. Below, stretching for several miles alongside Bideford Bay, is “Braunton Burrows,” the most impressive range of sandhills in England, bigger and more spectacular looking, even, than any expanse of duneland in Lancashire or Kent.
The East Course was laid out amidst some of the Burrows’ more subtly contoured terrain, in the foothills of the mountains, so to speak, with the most epic dunes providing striking backdrops rather than gargantuan hazards. One of the most distinctive features is the seamless nature and ingenuity of Fowler’s routing, with never more than two holes running in the same direction.
A course measuring 6,779 yards from the back tees may not sound like a daunting challenge, but then a game here is both a mental and physical test where considered, precise hitting is rewarded more often than length. Swathes of attractive fescue rough—golden-hued in summer and grown tall for tournaments—frame every fairway, while legions of classically revetted bunkers, many quite deep, have been expertly placed on the fairways and around greens to snare imperfect drives and threaten misjudged approaches.
When contemplating the finest holes on the East Course, the varied trio of par threes is routinely lauded: the teasingly short 5th, Saunton’s version of “The Postage Stamp” at Royal Troon; the elegant 13th with its wonderfully contoured green; and the long downhill 17th, where tees perched high in the dunes afford views over the entire links.
The 4th and 8th are often cited as among the best of the par fours; but surely the greatest run of holes on the East Course occurs late in the round, from the aforementioned 13th to the left-to-right curving par-four 18th, a sequence that culminates on a splendid stage-like green beneath the clubhouse terrace.
