South West England Golf: A Field Report

Exploring an Undiscovered Corner of Golf in England

Connor Evers, PGA

September 11, 2026

6 Minute Read

One of the best parts of this job is getting sent somewhere new. It's even better when it's somewhere H&B hasn't been in years. I just spent a little over a week in the South West corner of England, a part of the map our Members almost never see, and I came home convinced that's got to change.

What I found reminded me of the way Sam Baker talks about the first time he went up into The Highlands of Scotland, or down into Southwest Ireland, back before Americans had found either one in numbers. The golf was already great. It just hadn't been discovered yet.

To be perfectly candid, the South West of England isn't a first trip across the pond sort of destination. In fact, it's probably the third choice for England golf trips alone, and the clubs and hotels down there know it. This is for the Member on trip seven or so. The one who's played the classics and keeps asking the same good question: Where else can I go?

Before diving in, we covered my trip to England's South West in the episode below of our Golf and the Good Life podcast.

Surrey - Beyond the Headliners

I started in Surrey, which isn't new ground for us. The heathland near London is a common stop for our Expeditions, thanks to Sunningdale (Old and New), Swinley Forest, and St. George’s Hill all residing on the World Top 100 list.

What this trip did was remind me how much good golf there is near London, beyond those big names. I played Hankley Common on my arrival day because Nick Papadakes, longtime friend of H&B and PGA Head Professional at Onwentsia Club, had just been over with his members and raved about it. He was right.

The property runs across something like 1,200 acres, and the course only uses a couple hundred of them. I've never seen anything like the scale of it. I was out on my own and got paired up with a member named Richard and his golden retriever, Luna, which pretty much tells you what kind of place it is.

Next came a round at Woking, a historic Harry Colt design with one of my favorite clubhouses across the pond. There's a terrace tucked right behind a reachable par five and a standing local rule that you play the ball wherever it ends up.

Rounding out my short time in Surrey, St Georges Hill is every bit as good as its reputation, with Pimm's and lemonade going in every direction and bunkering worth the trip on its own.

The takeaway as I headed west: English golf is way deeper than its headliners, and almost nobody's looking past them.

The vibrant scenes of Hankley Common.
Photo courtesy of Hankley Common Golf Club

Devon - Where It Starts to Feel Like Vacation

From Surrey I made my way toward the coast, and the first thing that changes is the feel. It gets quieter. Less crowded, less noise. More like you're actually on vacation.

Burnham & Berrow was the first stop and a proper introduction to the region. It often hosts final qualifying for The Open, and it plays like it. For architecture buffs, Alister MacKenzie did some work here back in the 1920s. It reminded me of a lot of Royal Cinque Ports over in Kent. Nine holes out, nine back, a couple of blind shots on the way home, and a closing stretch that makes it pretty obvious why the R&A trusts it with qualifying.

Then I got to Saunton, which made the case for the whole region. We stayed at the Saunton Sands Hotel, which sits up on a hill so that half your view is the sea and the beach and the other half is the dunes running out to the golf. Saunton's a 36-hole links facility, which as far as I can tell makes it about one of one in England.

I played both courses with Jon Sutherland and two of his members, Chris and John, who couldn't have been better hosts. The West is the quieter of the two, tighter off the tee with some stout doglegs and greens that I loved. The East is the championship course, wider and more in front of you, with a closing stretch that's among the best I've played in a long time.

The 16th on the East might be one of the best par fours I've played anywhere. It's a dogleg left, blind fairway off the tee, with a built-up green and a shaved fall-off on the right that pulls the whole hole toward a draw (for a right handed player).

Here’s how I’d draw up your time in Saunton:

Take an early tee time, and get back to the hotel by early afternoon. Grab a massage, walk down to the beach for a couple hours, have fresh seafood at the beachside restaurant, then head up to your room and do it all again the next day. Golf and the Good Life at its finest.

Not far from there is Royal North Devon, better known as Westward Ho! and the oldest golf course in England. I didn't get to play it this trip, but I went by, met the staff, and saw some of the links. There's no irrigation. Sheep and ponies graze the links, and I'd swear there's more livestock on the first two holes than on all of Brora.

The incredible view from the Saunton Sands Hotel.

Cornwall - The Mediterranean of England

Cornwall is found at the tip of South West England, and it's where Londoners escape in the summer. It genuinely felt like the Mediterranean, closer to Martha's Vineyard than anything I expected in England. The clock runs slower out there, and it’s the kind of destination I’d gladly return to without my golf clubs.

We were based out of the Headland Hotel in Newquay, and it's the place to stay. Big thanks to Leigh, the sales manager, and to Richard, whose family owns the hotel, both of whom looked after us. It's an old hotel with real charm rather than wear, with sea views, beach access out the back, a surf school below, a spa, and cottages on the property that open it up to more than just golf groups.

There are two restaurants on site. RenMor served surf and turf that landed in my top three or four meals in all of Britain and Ireland. Then there’s the Ugly Butterfly, the hotel’s Michelin-star restaurant, with its eleven-course tasting menu that was out of this world.

The Good Life offerings in Cornwall are as strong as anywhere across the pond. Camel Valley Winery for a tour and a tasting. Padstow for the dining. Porthcurno beach, which looks like it belongs in the Mediterranean. The Eden Project and St. Michael's Mount are both within easy reach. Most of it sits inside a 20-30 minute drive of the hotel, and there's plenty to keep a group of mixed interests happy for three or four nights.

Then the golf. And I'd play it in this order.

Trevose first. It's wide, forgiving, hard to lose a ball on, with a nautical clubhouse, a resort feel, and a closing stretch that's just a lot of fun. It's the right place to shake off the jetlag and get your legs under you.

Perranporth next. When describing it to my colleague and podcast co-host, D.J. Jones, I said that if Ardglass and Cruit Island had a kid, it'd be Perranporth. It's raw, rugged, and natural. It’s also one of the toughest walks I've taken on any course anywhere, with an abundance of seaviews and a few blind shots. Take a caddie. You really shouldn’t play this course without one.

St. Enodoc last, and more than once if you can swing it. It's that good. The sixth is home to the Himalayas bunker, one of the most famous bunkers in golf. Clyde Johnson from Tom Doak's team has been restoring it toward its original size. It's close to a hundred feet from bottom to top now, and you start seeing it from three holes away, just sitting out there like a giant.

The temptation is to grab driver and try to carry it. Don't. George, the club manager, talked me into a mid-iron off the tee, and the hole is so much better when playing it the way it was drawn up. The back nine winds around St. Enodoc Church, which spent generations mostly buried under the dunes before it got dug out, and holds services again today.

Although it’s already one of the world’s top 100 courses, St. Enodoc is having a real moment in the spotlight. Luke Donald has family ties there, and he turned up to play recently with Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry.

I judge a good golf course if I can remember the holes vividly. And while writing this months after returning from my trip, I can remember holes 1-18 in order at S. Enodoc. I can do that with St. Andrews, Royal Dornoch, Royal County Down and Lahinch. This is in the same repertoire in my opinion from architecture, course design and strategy.

Up and Over the Himalaya Bunker at St. Enodoc.

Getting There

The logistics are friendlier than you'd think. Newquay has its own airport, and you can connect in without ever touching Heathrow. If you do fly into London, it’s about a four and a half to five hour drive to the Headland Hotel, which is basically landing in Edinburgh and driving up to Dornoch.

If I were routing it, I'd land in London, rip the Band-Aid off, and drive straight out to Cornwall. Start at Trevose, work through Perranporth and St. Enodoc, then make your way back east through Devon and finish in the heathland if you've got the days.

The formerly buried church at St. Enodoc.

When You Know, You Know

That's the phrase that kept coming back to me all trip. The South West of England isn't going to be the place everyone rushes to, and the region's at peace with that. The golf's exceptional, the Good Life's plentiful, and you get the authentic version of it. You're not bumping into someone from your hometown at the turn. When we pulled into Perranporth, the locals heard the American accent and wanted to know how on earth we'd found the place.

A real thank you to the folks who made this trip happen: Andrew Cook, Seb Roberts, and Victoria Snow at Golf Tourism England, and Sam and Jeremy at Golf South West, along with every hotel, club, and host who took the time to show us around. Some of the best hospitality I've had in a long while.

For the Member who's played the classics and is asking what's left, this is my answer. It's the closest thing I've found since Northwest Ireland to catching a great region before the rest of the world does.