Royal Cinque Ports Golf Club

The greatest of all golf writers, Bernard Darwin, called Royal Cinque Ports Golf Club "a truly great course" and a long list of great champions, from the Great Triumvarate of Vardon, Braid and Taylor to the all conquering American legends Hagen and Nicklaus through to the superstars of today like Sergio Garcia, have come to pay homage to the wonderful course at Deal. The sand dunes that dominate the course have created fairways where a flat stance is a rarity but Royal Cinque Ports, or Deal, is a wonderful and enduring example of the very best of links golf.

The outward holes run parallel to the beach but try not to be distracted by the beauty of the pebble beach as the beach is in play and a wayward shot might condemn you to playing from it. The Royal Cinque Ports greens are expansive but fast and the bunkers, although fair, present the challenge that one might expect on a historic British links golf course. Royal Cinque Ports has been beguiling golfers for generations. Francis Ouimet, the young amateur who transformed American golf, said "it is without doubt one of the finest courses I have played" and few who have played it since would disagree. The club hosted the 1909 Open won by JH Taylor and the 1920 Open when, in the first championship held after the Great War, George Duncan triumphed over a small field of 54 that included Walter Hagen.

Royal Cinque Ports is one of England’s classic links courses. It may have last held the Open in 1920 but it is still a stern test of golf. The opening drive is one of the toughest on the course with the clubhouse and out of bounds on the right and heavy rough on the left. Deal, as it is also known, is a classic out and back links course that uses the contours of the dunes to great effect. Each of the greens has great slopes and swales on and around them and with the usual quick pace, means that this is the courses main defence. The other is the wind and this must the Open course that is closest to the sea as the front nine runs parallel to the English channel. There are no bad holes on the Royal Cinque Ports golf course and the classic halfway hut at the turn gives you that historic links feeling. Climbing the sea wall to the medal tee at the 11th, you feel the presence of the sea as you start the turn for home. A classic links that has under gone a lot of improvements lately and is relatively easy to get on to, so put it on your list to play.