- 24/05/2025
In this video, the Golf Monthly team take a look at the Top 100 UK & Ireland golf courses. Rob Smith, Jezz Ellwood and Mike Harris all pick two courses outside of the top 25 that you might not already be aware. They discuss what makes these golf courses so good and why they are well worth a visit!
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00Hello and welcome to this video on Hidden Gem Golf Courses. If you're looking for some golfing
00:04inspiration this year then this video is definitely for you. You're going to hear from Rob Smith and
00:10Jeremy Elwood who run our Top 100 Courses panel and Mike Harris the editor of Golf Monthly as
00:15well and I've asked them all to take a look at our Top 100 Courses in the UK and Ireland and pick
00:22two courses that don't feature maybe at the top end of that Top 100 but that are well worth the
00:28visit that you may, may not have already heard about before. We're here at the beautiful
00:34Warpleston Golf Club. Let's get started.
00:47Right so let's focus on some hidden gems. I think it's fair to say that when we talk about our Top 100
00:52Courses there aren't that many hidden gems amongst them because a lot of them are very well known.
00:57So the challenge that I set these three was to take out the Top 25. So you're not allowed to pick
01:01anything that's in the Top 25 but I do want you to highlight some courses that people watching this
01:07video may not have already considered if they're thinking about playing somewhere that's a real
01:11wow golf course. So Jez I'm going to start with you. What's your, two each, what's your first nomination
01:18as a human gem? Okay well I'm going to go with Doonbeg which is in County Clare west coast of Ireland
01:23now called Trump International Golf Links I believe, Ireland. I played it just after it opened
01:30in 2003 I think and I'd played quite a few classic old links by then but never anything
01:36quite like this in amongst the towering dunes and to be honest it just blew me away. It was just a
01:40fantastic golfing experience from start to finish, real wow factor and that sort of sparked my enthusiasm
01:47for modern links with the towering dunes like Trump Aberdeen and Ross O'Penna Sandy Hills and some
01:54some purists probably balk at the idea of a modern links whereas I actually really embrace them and
02:01enjoy them as much as possibly if not more so than some of the older links. Yeah I would throw Castle
02:06Stewart into the mix on that front because I think that's a fantastic golf course. Now Jez what
02:09number is it on the list? It's 47th so so just inside the top 50. And if those people who are
02:16maybe putting a trip together and they want to play somewhere else where else could they play in the
02:20area? Well the obvious one is Le Hinch which is higher in the rankings much older traditional old
02:26links but actually when they built Le Hinch they looked at the plot of land where Doonbeg was subsequently
02:32built and decided to build it elsewhere but it was earmarked for potential golf course sort of a hundred
02:38years before it became a golf course. Okay okay so that's Doonbeg or Trump International Golf Links
02:43Ireland. Mike over to you. So my first one is Wallasey. It's a new entry in the list this time
02:51at number 89. It has been on the verge of getting in for a while I would say but the level of work
03:00that's been going on at Wallasey in the last few years under the stewardship of John McLaughlin who's
03:07course manager there really I think it's fully deserving of its place and interesting I first
03:12played it I think on my stag weekend so talking about 20 odd years ago and I've been back and played
03:19it a number of times subsequently I always felt like it's a really great golf course there's some
03:23very spectacular holes overlooking the sea but they've done a lot of work and they've bought I guess
03:30the standard of some of the weaker holes up and it's a great experience lovely very really really
03:35friendly club. It probably sits in the shadow of Royal Liverpool which is literally just up the
03:41road. Okay so Rob over to you then what's your first nomination? Well like the other two I've gone
03:46for a Lynx but sort of midway between the two so not totally modern but also not traditional I've gone
03:51for Enniscrone in Ireland which is kind of midway-ish between County Sligo and Caen and it was built in
03:58mid-70s Eddie Hackett was the designer. You start off on the most ridiculously open bit of land you think
04:05what's going on here and then you turn immediately into the dunes you then come out of them and you
04:09play down some holes down by the river and then you go back for a, cliche alert, a roller coaster ride
04:14for a few holes with some cracking par fives and some dog legs where you hit down into little valleys
04:19and then you go around the corner up to greens on shelves. It's just enormous fun from start to
04:23finish and it really is a lovely lovely golf course. I think it's quite an important point to make here
04:27about the courses on the top 100 that you want there to be an element of fun don't you and there'll be some
04:33courses perhaps that people think is that really a top 100 course but as you just said there when
04:38you describe it I can see how animated you are with it Rob and you're like well it's such good fun to
04:42play. Yeah absolutely I think fun is an important factor we don't really figure it in to the rankings
04:48or in terms of the criteria the former criteria but you have to bear in mind everyone is looking at
04:52these courses and as they think about the categories that we do have you can't actually divorce that from
04:58fun because you can't think it's a great strategic test if you're not enjoying it so you know fun has
05:03to be a part of it. I think hidden gems is an interesting term because you know if you're in
05:08that area you'll know all about that course but venture further afield and apart from the very top
05:13courses you'd be surprised how view golfers have really heard of some of these very fine courses that
05:19sit you know 50 to 100 or whatever some of them are quite anonymous outside their home areas. Particularly I
05:24when they're off the beaten track is you know a lot of the courses I must say that's probably my
05:28blind spot in top 100 is some of those sort of further flung Irish courses I've never been to
05:34Ennis Crone I would love to go particularly having seen some of the photography of it obviously hear your
05:40description of it. Yeah it's a good point actually wherever you are in the world there will be a hidden
05:44gem golf course somewhere near you that we probably haven't even heard of and we'd love to hear your
05:49description of it so please do leave some comments below. Jez back to you your second course. Well
05:54let's go for my home county West Sussex this is the only top 100 course in my home county and it's
06:00called West Sussex there is another course in East Sussex Rye which is in the top 100 but West Sussex
06:07is just a beautiful Heathland golf course you arrive and it's got this old school clubhouse a big
06:13practice ground and then the first is the only par five on the course so there's always this kind of
06:18right I've got to make the most of this because there's nothing and invariably you don't of course
06:22and then the fourth and fifth are probably two of the prettiest back-to-back holes I've ever played
06:26there's a dog leg around to the left not long but testing enough and then the most beautiful
06:32par three in amongst the trees and you need to make the most of those because the hole after that is a
06:37quite ludicrous par three down the hill 230 240 yards to a green with banks either side and over water
06:45so Mike you went for Wallasey first and Gem what's your second one? So my second one is Parkstone which
06:51is down in Dorset near Bournemouth part of three courses that are down there Ferndown, Broadstone and
06:59Parkstone probably could have picked any of them really Parkstone what I really like about it is
07:03there's lots of variety there some really spectacular holes some nice changes in elevation feels like it's
07:12not overly long there's some really good sporty holes there always thought it's been in fantastic
07:17condition when I've been there love the clubhouse as well it's got amazing view over the 18th which
07:22is a par three to finish with so yeah Parkstone I think which we have ranked at 81 if I remember
07:29correctly is would be my second choice for a hidden gem bonus prize is one of five in the top 100 that
07:35finish with a par three oh if you can name the other four leave a comment below I was going to start
07:40trying but that wouldn't have made much viewing okay very good and so Rob yeah what's your your
07:46last one well my second is my first one was less well known because it's kind of in the middle of
07:51nowhere my other is not so well known because it's surrounded by bigger names which is a kind of a feature
07:57here which we mentioned really I'm going for Western Gales which is number 46 in the the new rankings
08:04this is an old-school length but delightfully play four holes inland heading north then you reach the
08:12coast and you just have a you just run for nine holes all the way down the beach with it some sunken
08:19greens some sort of punch bowl greens it's just a delight if the wind is behaving in the right way
08:25too and then of course you turn for a potentially really tough 14 to 18 back up towards the lovely
08:31clubhouse I think it's got tons of charm um it's less well known because of Turnberry, Prestwick and
08:37Troon which are so close but it really is well worth visiting for anybody who doesn't yet know it
08:43yeah there's a few areas within our top 100 where you can put together a brilliant trip you could go up
08:48to the East Lothian coast or you could go to one of the spots in Ireland to put together it this is
08:52another one you just listed off however many top 100 courses there's a few others actually in that area
08:58too well Dundonald links has gone in there and we actually did that the three of us did that as
09:02a trip a few years ago we played um 72 holes in two days didn't we a two-day trip we went up and
09:08played Dundonald and uh Western Gales on one day and then Troon and Prestwick on the next day really
09:14quite tired when we flew we flew back yeah sure is the third most successful county joint third most
09:20successful county in our top 100 behind Surrey which okay sales and then then Merseyside which if you
09:27break it down is bits of Lancashire and Cheshire and what have you but that's the second most
09:31successful and then it's Ayrshire and I think Aberdeenshire on four wow good knowledge yeah I've
09:37just written about it so very good very good so there you have it hopefully that offers you some
09:41inspiration for if you're putting a golf trip together or just generally if you live in one of
09:45these areas and maybe haven't played one of these golf courses then they are well worth going out to
09:50see for yourself because I think all of us anyone who's in love with golf uh loves the chance of
09:56playing great golf courses and these are fantastic golf courses that are well worth a mention uh so
10:01that's it for now thank you very much uh for watching but for now from Warpleston it's goodbye
Recommended
21:13
|
Up next
1:29
1:52
5:25
2:44
3:43
10:25
9:02
17:23
7:03
12:49
9:08
13:54