Which Clubs Have Multiple Top 100 Golf Courses?
Quite a number of clubs in the UK&I are fortunate enough to have more than one course.
Here, we highlight the clubs who excel in this regard with multiple golf courses safely inside the latest Golf Monthly Top 100 UK&I course rankings (ranking positions in brackets)...
England
SUNNINGDALE - OLD AND NEW
For rare golfing treats, a day out at Sunningdale may be the pinnacle. Sunningdale Old (9th) and Sunningdale New (10th) are slightly misleading names as even the New is 100 years old. But their magnificent challenges do differ subtly.
Some golfers are undecided as to which is better; many, perhaps wisely, decline to call it. The Old just edges it in our latest list.
THE BERKSHIRE - RED AND BLUE
Not far away, The Berkshire is Home Counties heathland golf at its finest. Both Herbert Fowler courses offer similar tests, with accuracy uppermost on the ‘wanted’ list. The Berkshire Blue course (56th) kicks off with a brute of a par 3 before offering chances to recoup any early losses.
The Berkshire Red (41st) boasts a rare mix of six par 5s, six par 4s and an exquisite collection of six often challenging par 3s.
WALTON HEATH - OLD AND NEW
Walton Heath in Surrey is also home to an Old (33rd) and not-so-new New (57th), with the New well over 100 years old.
If you can hold on to your score over a testing first six on Walton Heath Old, playing to handicap becomes a distinct possibility. Walton Heath New begins more leniently, but you’ll notice some tiny tees way back in the heather on the back nine.
It’s a mildly unnerving 3,964 yards off those ‘purples’, so probably best left well alone.
WOBURN - MARQUESS', DUKE'S AND DUCHESS'
Perhaps the beauty of Woburn is that all three courses have a slightly different feel and flavour.
Woburn's Marquess’ course (73rd) is the newest and highest-ranked, playing over a very grand stage in among the echoing pines. The 7th, with its split fairway is a truly memorable hole, as is the short par-3 3rd in an excellent opening stretch on Woburn's Duke’s course (85th).
And accuracy is an almost ever-present requirement on Woburn's Duchess’ course (93rd), a slightly shorter, very pretty layout that can be tricky to conquer.
SAUNTON - EAST AND WEST
Saunton is one of three links set-ups in this elite group. To describe Saunton East (55th) as stern and uncompromising, and Saunton West (78th) as fun and flirtatious would be overstating the contrast, but it hints at the differences.
Your game needs to be in top shape on the East if the toughest holes are into the wind, while the shorter West lies closer to the higher dunes, creating a series of visually memorable moments.
Scotland
ST ANDREWS - OLD AND NEW
St Andrews Old (2nd) is the most historically significant golf course in the world, with its memorable holes forging out over the hallowed turf from town towards the Eden estuary and then back again from the 12th. It has staged 30 Open Championships.
St Andrews New (75th) is again very much new by name but not by nature, dating back to 1895 thus making it the oldest ‘New’ course in the world. It plays alongside its famous sibling, with Old Tom Morris the man responsible for its creation.
GLENEAGLES - KING'S, QUEEN'S AND PGA CENTENARY
Gleneagles in Perth and Kinross now has all three courses in our Top 100, with the PGA Centenary course (100th) of Ryder Cup and Solheim Cup fame making it in for the first time.
James Braid’s King’s (36th) and Queen’s (50th) have been mainstays since day one. Gleneagles Queen’s course is the shortest course in our Top 100 but plays deceptively long on account of a solitary par 5 and several testing par 4s.
Gleneagles King’s course is a Braid masterpiece with its individual holes well-known to golfers of a certain vintage as a former host of the Scottish Open and BBC’s Pro-Celebrity Golf.
Ireland
ROSAPENNA - SANDY HILLS AND ST PATRICK'S LINKS
When Pat Ruddy’s Rosapenna - Sandy Hills Links (44th) opened to great acclaim 20 years ago, it quickly established itself inside the top 50 of our rankings. It is blessed with drama galore as it weaves through towering dunes by Sheephaven Bay on the Donegal coast.
Now it is joined by our highest new entry, Rosapenna - St Patrick’s Links (61st), a magnificent Tom Doak creation that opened two years ago on linksland where two courses had originally been laid out in the 1990s before lying dormant for some years.
Add in the Next 100…
If you factor in the Next 100, a further three clubs boast 36 holes of very fine golf in our overall Top 200, In addition, the Links Trust in St Andrews, with two courses already in our Top 100, also has its Jubilee and Castle courses in our Next 100.
Those other three are...
