Course reviews
Every course, played and scored
Newest first. County Durham, Northumberland and Teesside, plus the occasional round further afield. Every review is scored the same way, and the North East courses feed the rankings.
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County Durham
Seaton Carew Golf Club
Founded in 1874, reshaped by Alister MacKenzie, and played among the dunes at the mouth of the Tees with a nuclear power station on the skyline. The best golf course I have played.
9.0 out of 10 -
County Durham
Brancepeth Castle Golf Club
A Harry Colt original from 1924, laid out in a deer park, cut in half by a ravine, and played in the shadow of a medieval castle. One of the least shouted-about great courses in the North of England.
8.6 out of 10 -
Northumberland
Bellingham Golf Club
Founded in 1893, doubled to eighteen holes in 1996 by a club secretary who designed the new nine himself, and set in the North Tyne valley between Hadrian’s Wall and the Scottish border. The best value round in the North East.
7.7 out of 10 -
County Durham
Wynyard Golf Club
Martin Hawtree’s Wellington Course hosted the Seve Trophy in 2005 and still plays like a championship venue. Thirty years on, is it the best inland test in the North East?
7.9 out of 10 -
Northumberland, Two courses
Slaley Hall
Two championship courses on a thousand acres of Northumbrian forest and moorland. The Hunting has hosted Montgomerie, Westwood and Goosen. The Priestman has the views. Which one should you actually play?
8.0Hunting7.3Priestman
