British Isles Links Golf - The Most Comprehensive guide to the Links Golf Courses of England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales

About Our Reviews

Our reviews are written from the perspective of a good recreational golfer, with a view to identifying the courses which will be the most fun to play on a golf vacation. This does not necessarily mean the most famous, although at times these will overlap.

As a background note, the most famous links courses in the British Isles are famous for one of two reasons. Either they have hosted the Open Championship, or they appear in the Golf Magazine ranking of the World's Greatest 100 courses. Whilst these are pretty good barometers of a good course, a word of warning about each.

In modern times, there are two key items which make a course suitable to host an Open Championship. Firstly, it must be difficult enough to challenge the world's best golfers, in order that a worthy champion can be identified. Secondly, it must possess sufficient infrastructure to accommodate all the people involved in the Championship on site, plus efficiently get 40 - 50,000 spectators behind the ropes each day. This pretty much discounts courses that cannot be stretched to 7,000 yards and those in remote places.

The world rankings do not have this issue, but they have a couple of shortcomings. Firstly, the Panel only has a limited number of members from the UK / Ireland. As such, the majority will not have played many of the courses beyond those that are already famous. Secondly, the panelists contain many professionals / crack amateurs who may not look at a course through the eyes of the average golfer.

To be sure Open Championship course like Royal Birkdale, Turnberry, and Muirfield will never disappoint, nor have World 100 Courses such as Royal County Down, Ballbybunion or Royal Dornoch. However, be aware that not all that glistens is gold.

A much better guide for the layman to the best courses this side of the Atlantic is the Golf World guide to the Top 100 courses in the British Isles. This has the benefit of greater depth, plus the Panel consists entirely of people who have an in depth knowledge of a wide range of courses. However, this again has a bias as 40% of the vote is based on the difficulty of a course and 10% based on history so it is skewed to long courses that have hosted major tournaments.

Our reviews try and take the following into account:

The majority of golfers who travel across oceans to play our golf courses are good standard recreational golfers, not professional golfers or crack amateurs.
They will play the golf course from the visitors tees, which for a Par 72 course will typically be in the 6,400 - 6,600 yard range.
They may only play a golf course once in their lives, and so will never appreciate many of the subtler architectural points.
They are on vacation, spectacular settings and courses with character are preferable to landscapes that are either dull or ugly

In view of this, I seek out courses that are a challenge, yet at the same time are scenic and most of all fun. To add a little personal perspective, I have a handicap that fluctuates between 6 and 8, and I'm a sucker for courses with some elevation change, dunes, great views and a little solitude. In addition to my opinions, I have added my own rankings. These are based on the "Doak Scale" which the golf architect Tom Doak uses to rate courses. Instead of looking through the trained eye of an architect, I have rated the courses based on overall enjoyment. This takes into account the challenge of the course, the thrill of the holes, the scenery and overall presence of the club. The scale runs from 1 to 10 and is skewed at the higher end so that 3 represents an average course:

1 - A basic course, no reason to play in any circumstances.
2 - Below par,only play if nothing else is available and you are desperate for a game.
3 - Average standard of course, can be used to fill in gaps in your itinerary.
4 - Above par, but not quite good enough to get my seal of approval.
5 - A second tier course in a region, the back bone of many golf trips.
6 - On the whole a first class course, let down by either a few weak holes or a poor setting.
7 - A must play course if you are in the region. Not quite in the elite class.
8 - An elite course within the British Isles, good enough for golfers to cross oceans.
9 - At the very top end of the elite courses in the British Isles.
10 - Universally accepted as being amongst the very best in the world.

Anything scoring 5 and above carries my seal of approval.

At present, I have only awarded a 10 to Royal Dornoch and Royal County Down which I consider to be the two finest links courses in existence. Of the courses on the Open Championship rota, I have awarded a 9 to both Turnberry and Royal Birkdale which I find golfers enjoy most. St Andrews and Muirfield both score an 8. For low handicap golfers they are fantastic, hence their consistently high rankings. However, many "normal" golfers come away a little disappointed, and therefore I cannot score them higher from purely an enjoyment perspective. Royal St George's also scores an 8, whilst the remainder (Royal Troon, Royal Lytham, Royal Liverpool & Carnoustie) get a 7. This reflects the fact that they are high quality courses, but I can find several others without the same reputation that are just as good

I have listed below a few of my personal favourites. Many are less well known than the courses mentioned above, however on my scale they all score 8 and 9. Anyone who plays these is assured a great experience!

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