Seaton Carew Golf Club

At a glance

Club	Seaton Carew Golf Club
Location	Tees Road, Seaton Carew, Hartlepool, TS25 1DE
Founded	1874, by Dr Duncan McCuaig. The tenth oldest golf club in England
Course	The Micklem, devised by Gerald Micklem from the club’s 22 holes
Architects	Alister MacKenzie (1925 redesign), with later holes by Frank Pennink
Type	Links, among the dunes and marram at the mouth of the Tees
Played from	Yellow tees, 6,287 yards, par 71
Course rating / slope	70.8 / 133
Shape of the par	Three par 3s, thirteen par 4s, two par 5s
Championship history	Brabazon Trophy (1985, 2014), Boys Amateur (1978, 1986), British Mid-Amateur (2001)
Conditions	Dry and bright, wind around 18mph
My score	93 gross, 29 Stableford points, index 11.0

First impressions

There is nothing grand about the approach to Seaton Carew. Tees Road runs along the southern edge of Hartlepool, the clubhouse is a modest brick building beside the car park, and beyond it the ground runs out flat towards the dunes, the mouth of the Tees and, unmistakably, Hartlepool power station. First-time visitors could be forgiven for wondering what they have let themselves in for.

Then you walk into the pro shop, and the tone changes. The welcome was as warm and as genuinely friendly as any I have had at a golf club, from people who clearly know what they have here and are pleased to share it. A few minutes later you are on the 1st tee with the wind up and the marram moving in every direction, and the power station stops mattering almost at once.

Older than almost any club in England

Seaton Carew was founded in 1874 by Dr Duncan McCuaig, a Scottish surgeon, which makes it the tenth oldest golf club in England. It began life as the Durham and Yorkshire Golf Club and took its present name in 1887. The land it occupies was once rough pasture known locally as the Snooks, where people grazed their animals.

Alister MacKenzie reshaped the links in 1925, a few years before he built Cypress Point and Augusta National, and his work is still the heart of what you play. Frank Pennink added holes in the 1970s, and the club now has 22 holes that can be arranged into five different courses. The one to play is the Micklem, devised by the great amateur and administrator Gerald Micklem. The Brabazon Trophy, the Boys Amateur and the British Mid-Amateur have all been played here, and past competitors include Nick Faldo and Justin Rose as amateurs.

The front nine

In a wind of around 18mph the front nine asks for control rather than power, and on the day it got it from me. I went out in 42, seven over, with pars at the 1st, 8th and 9th, 17 Stableford points, and nothing worse than a double.

The 1st is a 346-yard par 4 that eases you in. The 2nd is not so kind: 544 yards, stroke index 2, and into any sort of breeze a genuine three-shotter. The 3rd is a par 3 of 160 yards with pot bunkers set all around the green, and it is the first proper lesson in what the sand here does to a card. I made four and was glad of it.

From there the holes run through low dunes and rumpled fairways where the ball rarely comes to rest on a level lie. The 5th, 372 yards, was my only double going out. The 8th and 9th, both short par 4s of around 340 yards, are where a sensible player with a wedge in hand can steady a card, and I parred both.

Out in 42 in an 18mph wind. Back in 51. Seaton Carew does not take shots from you gradually. It waits for you in the bunkers.

The bunkers

The bunkers are what you remember. Some are round and deep in front of the greens, some are pots set into the slopes, and some are faced with old railway sleepers stacked at an angle, which look magnificent from the fairway and considerably less so from the inside. Stand in one of those and the lip is above head height.

They are not unfair. They are placed where a slightly loose shot finishes, and in a wind that covers a lot of the course. But the penalty is total. Often the only way out is sideways or backwards, and on the back nine I found two of the deepest at the worst possible moments.

The back nine

The inward half is longer, 3,337 yards against 2,950 going out, and it is where the course collected. The 10th is the stroke index one, a par 4 of 373 yards, and a six there set the tone. The 13th, a par 5 of 474 yards, gave me my only par coming home.

Then the 14th. At 373 yards it looks nothing on the card, but it has a reputation as the hardest hole on the course and it was certainly the hardest I played: a nine, and the only hole all day where I lost any sense of control. The 15th, a par 3 of 187 yards, cost two more. The 17th is Snag, a MacKenzie hole with a green set on several levels that is a far smaller target than it looks, and I was pleased to escape with a five. The 18th brings you back towards the clubhouse, and a six there completed a back nine of 51.

Two very deep bunkers did most of the damage coming home. Take them out and the round would have looked much like the front nine. That is the thing about Seaton Carew: it gives you plenty of chances to score, and then it charges you in full for the shots that go astray.

The setting

Seaton Carew is the only great links I know with a nuclear power station on the skyline. Hartlepool power station, the cranes along the Tees and the chemical works by the river are part of almost every inland view, while on the other side are the dunes and the North Sea.

It should not work, and it does. In evening light, with the low sun turning the marram gold and the chimneys in silhouette, it is one of the most striking places I have played golf. The industry is honest about where you are, and the links is far better than anything around it has any right to expect.

Conditioning

Excellent for the end of September. The greens were smooth, firm and quick, the kind of links surfaces where the ball has to be judged onto the front and allowed to run rather than flown to the flag. Fairways were tight and full of movement, and the bunkers were well presented, which matters on a course where you will spend time in them.

The only sign of a long summer was some wear on a couple of tees. Off the short grass the rough and the marram are proper links rough, and a ball that finds them is often a ball chipped back out.

Two honest criticisms

First, the difficulty will not suit everyone. With a slope of 133 from the yellow tees and bunkers that can cost two or three shots at a time, a higher handicapper in a proper wind could have a very long afternoon. Take plenty of balls, and leave the scorecard in your pocket if the wind is up.

Second, the first impression. The drive in along Tees Road and the view of the power station do the course no favours, and some visitors will have made up their minds before they reach the 1st tee. They would be wrong, but it is worth knowing what you are driving into.

The verdict

Seaton Carew is the best golf course I have played. It is a genuine MacKenzie links at one of the oldest clubs in England, it was in better condition than many courses charging far more, and it is run by people who could not have been more welcoming. It is also very hard, especially in a wind, and it will find any weakness in your bunker play.

I went out in 42 and came back in 51, for 93 and 29 points, and I have rarely enjoyed a 93 more. If you play your golf in the North East and have not been, go. If you have played the famous links of Scotland and think the North East has nothing to match them, go sooner.

The card

Played from the yellow tees on Saturday 26 September 2026, wind around 18mph. The Micklem course: par 71, 6,287 yards, course rating 70.8, slope 133. Course handicap 13, 29 Stableford points: 17 out and 12 back.

Four pars, nine bogeys, four doubles and a nine. Out in 42, back in 51: the difference between the two halves is almost entirely the deep bunkers and the 14th.

The scores

Seaton Carew goes straight to the top of the rankings, ahead of Brancepeth, and the reason is design: a MacKenzie links in this condition is a different class of golf, and design and layout carries 40% of the overall. Value is scored on the £35 I paid on the reciprocal. Even scored at a full visitor rate, the overall would still top the table.

Practical information

Seaton Carew Golf Club, Tees Road, Seaton Carew, Hartlepool, TS25 1DE. Telephone 01429 266249. Around 40 minutes from Durham, on the coast road south of Hartlepool.

Visitors are welcome. Check current green fees and tee times with the club. Members of Brancepeth can play on a reciprocal arrangement, and it is worth asking your own club whether it has one.

The club has 22 holes and five layouts. Ask for the Micklem, the layout reviewed here.

Play it late in the day if you can. The light across the dunes in the evening is something else.

Nearby and worth pairing into a trip: Wynyard, around 20 minutes inland, and Brancepeth Castle, around 40 minutes west.

Seaton Carew Golf Club, the Micklem course. Reviewed after a round on 26 September 2026 from the yellow tees. Green fee of £35 paid on the Brancepeth reciprocal arrangement, no other hospitality received. All photographs taken on the day. Stroke indexes from the club’s published card.