North East England

Located close to Hartlepool in the North-East corner of England Seaton Carew, where golf dates back to 1874, has a reputation for being a bleak, chilly and grim links.

Looking out from the clubhouse at Berwick upon Tweed Golf Club you would be forgiven for thinking that the course wasn’t really up to a great deal. You would be wrong. Very wrong.

North-East England is not widely regarded as an area with an abundance of top quality golf courses. However, The Northumberland Golf Club stands proudly as a fine exception.

It may have only been February when I played Dunstanburgh Castle but I strongly suspect this will be the biggest surprise of 2015. What a gem of a links course.

The design of the Lee Westwood “Colt” course, located on the Close House Estate near Heddon-on-the-Wall in Northumberland, apparently tips its hat to the great golf course architect Harry Colt and whilst The Club note that nothing is copied directly they claim that the “rectangular tees” (eh?), the bunker forms, and the variety in par threes are all features conceived from the brilliant architect.

Brancepeth Castle is an exhilarating parkland course played across good turf on the outskirts of Durham.

No review

South Moor is a very thought-provoking golf course in County Durham with a handful of excellent holes that has ties to the famous Dr. Alister MacKenzie who had a hand in designing the course.

Bamburgh Castle most definitely falls into the ‘odd sock drawer’ of golf courses… and that’s a good thing!

No review

It's a long time since I've walked off a golf course and been as impressed and surprised, compared to what I was expecting, than at Newbiggin.

Located close to Darlington in County Durham Rockliffe Hall has all the assets you would expect of a modern, luxury golf resort with first-class facilities.

Hartlepool is a slow burner of a golf course. It takes three or four holes to really warm up but once it does it produces some excellent true links golf.

I was very interested to see Alnmouth Village following a reader’s recommendation after the publication of our article about the best nine-hole golf courses in the United Kingdom.

Warkworth is a delightful Old Tom Morris nine-holer with a lovely ‘linksy’ feel to it.

Seahouses is a golf course that will long live in my memory.