Alnmouth Village
Established in 1869 the ‘oldest nine hole links golf club in England’ is certainly worthy of inclusion in this list and now rightly features.
The nine holes on this compact Northumberland links are set in a beautiful location, next to a sandy beach at Alnmouth Bay, and essentially play as five holes out and four back in an anti-clockwise loop.
The best golf can be found on the opening stretch, in close proximity to the shoreline, although the unique sixth hole and drive at the seventh are also memorable.
Played across crumpled linksland the first five holes; a strong par-three, played to a brilliant raised green, and four modest two-shotters, all with undulating fairways and interesting green complexes, are as charming as they are challenging, especially with a breeze blowing in off the North Sea.
The blind sixth is somewhat of a surprise as we tee off at sea level and fire blindly uphill over a marker post before we discover a volcano green with just the top of the flag to the seen! It is here where we rub shoulders with the parkland Alnmouth Golf Club, often known as Foxton Hall.
The drive at the next – where one must simply drink in the view - takes us straight and steeply back down as we now head for home alongside the opening few holes but on slightly flatter, less interesting ground but still rumpled links terrain.
With the use of different tees on some holes Alnmouth Village stretches to 6,090 yards long (playing to a par of 71) and is worth a look if in the area.
