Coastal Golf in the UK — Britain's Best Seaside Courses

Britain’s relationship with coastal golf is unlike that of any other country on earth. We invented the game on linksland — the thin strip of firm, sandy ground between the sea and the fertile farmland — and the principles of links golf, shaped by wind and salt air and centuries of play, are written into the DNA of the sport. Nowhere else in the world offers such a concentration of great seaside courses within such a small geographic area.

But before we dive into the list, a distinction worth making: not all coastal golf is links golf, and the difference matters. True links courses are built on linksland — the ancient terrain deposited by retreating tides, typically covered in fescue grasses, with few trees, firm fast turf and natural undulations. St Andrews, Carnoustie, Muirfield, Royal Birkdale — these are classic links. Clifftop and coastal parkland courses, by contrast, are built on cliff tops or coastal promontories, with lush turf, trees and spectacular sea views, but without the links tradition of ground game and wind-driven strategy. Turnberry’s Ailsa Course, the clifftop holes at Nefyn in Wales, and Carlyon Bay in Cornwall all fall into this category — wonderful in their own right, but a different kind of experience.

Both are magnificent. Here is the best of both from Britain and Ireland.

Scotland’s Greatest Coastal Courses

Scotland’s west and north coasts in particular offer a concentration of truly great links golf that has no parallel elsewhere in the world. The east coast — Fife and Angus — provides the Open rota classics. The north offers the remote, the authentic and the occasionally sheep-strewn.

Turnberry Ailsa Course, South Ayrshire

Turnberry’s Ailsa Course occupies a headland on the Firth of Clyde in South Ayrshire, with views across the water to Ailsa Craig — the extraordinary plug of granite that rises from the sea — and the mountains of Arran behind. It is one of the most dramatically beautiful golf settings in the world, and the course more than matches its scenery.

The Ailsa hosted what many consider the greatest Open Championship ever played: the famous “Duel in the Sun” of 1977, when Tom Watson and Jack Nicklaus played the last two days in a private match of extraordinary intensity. Watson won by a single stroke. The course has been owned by Donald Trump since 2014 and extensively renovated, restoring the links to something close to its original character. Green fees are approximately £300+ under the Trump Turnberry banner — expensive, but the experience is as good as any golf in the world.

Royal Dornoch, Sutherland

Royal Dornoch is one of the world’s greatest courses. It is also one of the most remote, sitting on the Dornoch Firth in Sutherland, roughly 60 miles north of Inverness. But the remoteness is part of the appeal: there are no crowds, no queues, no self-importance. Just sublime links golf in a setting of heart-stopping beauty.

Donald Ross was born in Dornoch and learned to play on this course before emigrating to America and becoming the most prolific course designer in history — Pinehurst No.2, Oakland Hills, Seminole, and dozens more all bear his influence. The course is consistently ranked in the world’s top ten, often in the top five. Green fees are approximately £85 to £115 depending on the season, which represents extraordinary value for a course of this stature.

The club welcomes visitors warmly, and the town of Dornoch itself — a cathedral city of considerable charm — makes a wonderful base. A week in Sutherland, playing Dornoch, Brora, Golspie and Royal Tain, is one of the great golf pilgrimages.

Crail Golfing Society, Balcomie Links, Fife

Crail Golfing Society, founded in 1786, is the seventh oldest golf club in the world. The Balcomie Links, the society’s original course, tumbles down to the Fife coast at Fife Ness — the easternmost point of the Kingdom of Fife — with holes played right on the rocky foreshore. This is golf at its most ancient and elemental, as close as you can get to the game as it was played in its first centuries.

The Balcomie is not a long course by modern standards, but it is endlessly engaging, beautifully maintained and very affordable. A second course, the Craighead Links, was opened in 1998 and provides a more modern challenge. Crail is less than 10 miles from St Andrews, making it an obvious addition to any Fife golf itinerary.

Brora Golf Club, Sutherland

Brora is not merely a golf course — it is a statement of intent about what golf can and should be. The course was designed by James Braid in 1923 on a stretch of linksland on the Sutherland coast, and it has barely changed since. What sets Brora apart, even among remote Highland links, are the electric fences strung around the greens to prevent grazing sheep and cattle from damaging the putting surfaces. The fairways are often shared with livestock. This is Highland links golf at its most authentic and unreservedly brilliant.

The course is a classic out-and-back design, heading north along the shore before turning home into whatever the Dornoch Firth decides to throw at you. It is a reminder of what golf looked like before earthmovers and irrigation systems. Green fees are very modest — under £60 in most cases — and the club could not be more welcoming.

Nairn Golf Club, Moray Coast

Nairn sits on the southern shore of the Moray Firth, about 16 miles east of Inverness. The links is an open, traditional design that rewards the long hitter in calm conditions and humbles everyone when the easterly wind blows in off the Firth — which it does with considerable frequency. The course regularly hosts significant amateur events, including the Scottish Amateur and the British Ladies’ Amateur, and it punches well above its weight in terms of quality.

Visitors are welcome throughout the season, green fees are very reasonable by the standards of the great Scottish links, and the town of Nairn itself offers good accommodation and a delightful base for exploring the eastern Highlands. The proximity of Inverness and its airport makes this a convenient addition to any north Scotland golf itinerary.

England and Wales

England’s coastline is longer and more varied than Scotland’s, but the concentration of truly great links is lower, partly because so much of the English coast is either developed or inaccessible. What there is, though, is very fine, and the clifftop courses of Wales add a dramatic dimension all of their own.

Saunton East Course, North Devon

Saunton is England’s best-kept secret among links courses. The East Course — the championship layout — sits behind the famous Saunton Sands beach in North Devon, a three-mile sweep of Atlantic-facing shore on the edge of the Braunton Burrows, the largest dune system in England. The golf is outstanding: a proper links, with large undulating greens, natural terrain and the constant presence of the Atlantic wind.

Saunton East is significantly underrated in national rankings, partly because of its remoteness — North Devon is not easy to reach from London or the Midlands — but those who make the effort are rarely disappointed. Green fees are very reasonable by championship links standards.

Westward Ho! — Royal North Devon

Royal North Devon at Westward Ho! is the oldest links course in England, founded in 1864 and played continuously ever since. What makes it unique is its setting: the course is built on the Northam Burrows, a common land where anyone has the legal right to walk. On any given day you may share the fairways with horse riders, dog walkers, and the famous “great sea rushes” — tall, sharp rushes that form natural hazards unlike anything you will encounter elsewhere.

Westward Ho! is not the most manicured course you will ever play, and conditions can be challenging. But it is a piece of living history, and every golfer should experience it at least once. Green fees are very affordable.

Burnham & Berrow, Somerset

Burnham & Berrow is, in the opinion of many knowledgeable observers, the finest links course in England that is not on the Open rota. Set among the sand dunes of the Somerset Levels near Burnham-on-Sea, the course has a character entirely its own — wilder and more dramatic than most English links, with elevated tees, blind shots and greens that demand local knowledge to read correctly.

The club is a traditional private members’ club but welcomes visitors on most days. It regularly hosts significant amateur events and is consistently ranked among England’s best courses. Green fees are very reasonable by the standards of the great English links. If you are planning a links golf trip that does not extend to Scotland or Ireland, Burnham & Berrow is the course that should be at the top of your list.

Pennard Golf Club, Gower Peninsula, Wales

Pennard occupies one of the most dramatic settings in British golf. The course is built on the clifftops above Three Cliffs Bay on the Gower Peninsula — the first area in the United Kingdom to be designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty — and the ruins of a Norman castle stand in the middle of the course, adding a layer of historical theatre that no course architect could have planned.

This is links golf of an idiosyncratic, characterful kind. The greens can be baked hard in summer and the wind off the Bristol Channel is rarely gentle. But the views are extraordinary, the setting is unique, and Pennard is justifiably considered one of the most individual and rewarding golf experiences in Wales.

Nefyn & District Golf Club, Llyn Peninsula, Wales

Nefyn’s famous par three 10th hole — the “Point” — is played from a tee perched at the end of a rocky promontory jutting into the Irish Sea. The tee shot is directly over the sea to a green that sits just above the waterline. It is the most dramatic tee shot in Wales and one of the most extraordinary holes in British golf.

The Llyn Peninsula is remote and beautiful, and Nefyn & District is the perfect reason to make the journey. The club has two courses — the Old and the New — and visitors are welcome throughout the season. Green fees are modest, and the course offers a kind of eccentric, windswept joy that is entirely its own.

Carlyon Bay Hotel & Golf Club, Cornwall

Carlyon Bay is a clifftop parkland course — not a links, but a beautifully maintained seaside course with sweeping views over St Austell Bay. The holes sweep along the clifftops and through woodland, offering a variety of challenges and scenery that rewards repeated visits. Accommodation is available at the hotel, making this an excellent base for a Cornish golf break.

Sheringham Golf Club, Norfolk

Sheringham is often described as clifftop heathland: the course runs along the North Norfolk coast on a plateau above the sea, with the constant backdrop of the North Sea and, on the clearest days, views that seem to extend for ever. It is not a true links — there is too much heathland vegetation, and the turf is softer than a classic links — but it is a wonderful, challenging course in a beautiful setting. The club is welcoming to visitors, and green fees are very reasonable.

Royal West Norfolk Golf Club, Brancaster, Norfolk

Royal West Norfolk at Brancaster is one of the most atmospheric golf clubs in England. The course sits on a peninsula on the North Norfolk coast, accessible via a road that floods at high tide — a feature that lends the club an air of splendid isolation at certain times of day. The links runs between the saltmarshes of Brancaster Staithe and the dunes fronting the beach, with a character that is entirely its own.

The club is relatively private and selective, but does admit visitors on weekdays. Booking ahead is essential, and the combination of the golf, the setting and the drive across the causeway makes this one of the most memorable experiences in English golf.

Ireland and Northern Ireland

The west coast of Ireland in particular produces links golf of a wildness and quality that has no parallel elsewhere in the world. The courses feel ancient, elemental and completely unlike anything built by modern designers with access to earthmovers and GPS equipment. They are, in the truest sense, natural golf courses.

Royal County Down, Newcastle, Co Down

Royal County Down is, by the consensus of almost every serious ranking, one of the three or four greatest golf courses in the world. The Mourne Mountains rise behind the first tee; the links stretches out along Dundrum Bay; the gorse blazes yellow in spring; the golf is severe and magnificent. You cannot see where most drives are going from the tee. The greens are surrounded by deep natural hollows and sharp ridges. The course demands every shot in your repertoire and several that are not.

Green fees for visitors are approximately £250+ — significant, but this is a pilgrimage that any serious golfer should make. The club is in Newcastle, County Down, a pleasant seaside town about 30 miles south of Belfast, making it easy to combine with a Belfast city break or a circuit of Northern Ireland’s outstanding golf offerings.

Royal Portrush, Dunluce Links, Co Antrim

Royal Portrush returned to the Open Championship rota in 2019 and produced one of the most emotionally charged Open victories of recent years, when Shane Lowry lifted the Claret Jug in front of a delirious home crowd. The Dunluce Links is a magnificent course on the Causeway Coast, with views across to the Scottish coast on clear days and the dramatic basalt cliffs of the Antrim shore framing several holes.

Green fees are approximately £200+ for visitors. The wider Causeway Coast area — including the Giant’s Causeway, the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge and the famous Bushmills distillery — makes this a wonderful destination in its own right.

Lahinch Golf Club, County Clare

Lahinch is one of the great treasures of the Irish west coast. The Old Course was originally laid out by Old Tom Morris in 1892 and captures the wild, rolling character of the Clare coastline with great intelligence. Several holes are played among enormous sand dunes that provide natural amphitheatres; others open out to the Atlantic with a directness that takes the breath away.

The club is lively, sociable and welcoming, with a strong tradition of Irish hospitality. Green fees are very reasonable by the standards of a world-class links, and the village of Lahinch — a popular surfing spot as well as a golf destination — offers excellent food and accommodation.

Ballybunion Old Course, County Kerry

Tom Watson, five times Open Champion and one of the greatest links golfers who ever lived, famously described Ballybunion as “a test of golf that truly seeks out the best golfer.” Herbert Warren Wind called it simply “the greatest golf course in the world” after his first visit. Strong opinions, but they are widely shared.

The Old Course at Ballybunion is built on magnificent duneland on the north Kerry coast, with the Atlantic Ocean visible from almost every hole and the wind a constant, capricious companion. The turf is firm and fast; the fairways twist and climb through the dunes; the greens are perched, angled and guarded by natural hollows. It is an experience that is simply not available anywhere else on earth.

What Makes Coastal Golf Special

Several things distinguish coastal golf from inland courses, and understanding them will help you get the most from your visit.

Wind is the fifth club. On a links course, the wind is not a nuisance — it is an essential part of the design. Courses that play relatively straightforwardly in still conditions become entirely different examinations when a 20-knot breeze comes in off the sea. This is intentional: the wind changes the effective length and difficulty of every hole, ensuring that the course remains a challenge regardless of how well it has been “solved” by modern equipment.

Ground game matters. True links courses are designed to reward the low, running shot as much as the high, floating approach. The firm, fast turf means that the bump-and-run is often more reliable than the high pitch, and learning to use the ground contours to feed balls towards pins is a skill that is genuinely rewarding to develop.

Conditions are different. Coastal golf is often played in conditions that inland golfers find disconcerting: the fairways can be harder and faster than expected; the rough can be longer and more punishing; the greens can be firmer and more resistant to stopping the ball. Bring a low-spinning ball, consider a wider range of approach shots, and enjoy the experience.

Planning a Coastal Golf Break

Within three to four hours of London, you can reach Burnham & Berrow, Royal West Norfolk, Brancaster, Saunton, Westward Ho! and Sheringham — a rich selection of coastal golf without leaving England.

Scotland rewards a longer trip. Fly to Edinburgh for St Andrews, Carnoustie and Crail; fly to Inverness for Dornoch, Brora and Nairn; fly to Glasgow for Turnberry, Troon and Prestwick. A week based in any of these areas will yield several days of truly outstanding golf.

Ireland is best approached with a proper itinerary. The traditional “Wild Atlantic Way” golf circuit — typically taking in Lahinch, Ballybunion, Waterville and Dooks in Kerry and Clare — is one of the great golf holidays in the world. Northern Ireland’s Causeway Coast (Portrush, Portstewart, Royal County Down) can be done as a long weekend from most UK airports.