41 – 50

Welcome to the most prestigious and most definitive ranking of the best golf courses in Great Britain and Ireland.

  

41 Royal Cinque Ports

Two world wars tried to wipe out Deal but it has bounced back both times and has never looked better than it does today.

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42 Western Gailes

It is located on a sliver of land only a couple of fairways wide – it’s hemmed in by Irvine Bay and the ubiquitous railway line – and unusually the clubhouse is in the middle of the course.

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43 Royal St David’s

Laid out on a fine piece of linksland beneath the town of Harlech and with the intimidating medieval castle overlooking every shot, Royal St David’s is regarded as the toughest par 69 in the world. It’s also fabulous value.

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44 Hollinwell

Known as Hollinwell because of the holy well next to the 8th fairway, this is one of England’s finest inland courses. Willie Park designed the original course in 1887

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45 Castle Stuart

Mark Parsinen scored a global smash when he and Kyle Phillips unveiled Kingsbarns a decade ago; and now he’s done it again, this time with Gil Hanse on the shores of the Moray Firth near Inverness.

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46 Royal West Norfolk

Squeezed on a strip between sea and the salt marshes, it offers a wonderful feeling of isolation – helped by the fact that the causeway linking the course to the mainland floods at high tide.

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47 Carne

This remote course in Belmullet was prolific Irish designer Eddie Hackett’s last piece of work before he died – and it is probably his best. It is enormous fun.

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48 Cruden Bay

Blind shots galore and a quirky charm which is seldom bettered in Britain. Old Tom Morris and Archie Simpson designed the course as a railway company sought to match Gleneagles with a ‘Palace in the Sandhills’.

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49 Machrihanish

On arrival in this remote outpost, you will not be disappointed either by the warm welcome or the course. It starts in spectacular fashion with a drive from an elevated tee over the edge of the shore.

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50 St George’s Hill

There are three loops of nine here – the Red, the Blue and the Green – and all were exquisitely designed by Harry Colt. It is one of the prettiest of the Surrey heathlands, taking full advantage of the changes in elevation which neighbouring courses do not benefit from so extensively.

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