Forty four Open Championships and five thousand years of human history

If you have an appetite for deep heritage, one of the world's great cities and sterling golf, England serves a feast. Think Stonehenge and King Arthur, Dickens and the Beatles, Birkdale and Sandwich. English clubs are routinely well represented in the world 100, nine are so recognized by Golf Magazine's 2005 ranking. Five have British Open pedigrees. All welcome your visit.

The parade along a 50 mile stretch of the Northwest coast is unlike any other in the British Isles. Beginning with ten time Open host Royal Lytham & St. Annes just north of Southport and closing with Royal Liverpool who will host for the eleventh time in 2006, there are six more championship caliber layouts of particular significance. Royal Birkdale is arguably the crown jewel, an eight time Open venue and current world #31. Southport & Ainsdale is a James Braid design and former Ryder Cup host in 1933 and 1937. Hillside, Formby and West Lancashire are regular Open qualifying sites. Wallasey was originally designed by Old Tom Morris in 1891 as a traditional links course dotted with huge, dramatic sandhills.

The collection of heathland layouts in and around London measure as one of the world's finest in such proximity to a great city. Wentworth, Walton Heath and Sunningdale Old are fixtures among world's top 100. An excellent base in the area is The Grove in Hertfordshire, 40 minutes northwest of central London. This venerable country house retreat on 300 acres is now infused with cheeky urban chic, and, a bold design by Kyle Phillips (Kingsbarns). Two worthwhile hours southeast of London is Royal Cinque Ports, a former Open host (1909, 1920) and now a final qualifying site when the championship is hosted nearby at fourteen time venue Royal St. George's.

Wales has earned a bright new spotlight with its award of the 2010 Ryder Cup at luxury resort Celtic Manor. Play there plus exceptional Pyle and Kenfig and South Wales' best, Royal Porthcawl, before you travel again. Steering north along the coast you'll find classic links after classic links: James Braid's Tenby and Pennard (described emphatically by Tom Doak as "one of my all time favorites" and "the site is one of the most spectacular I've ever seen!"), Royal St. David's naturally, plus Nefyn & District which plays out into the bay and back on finger of land likened to the deck of a battleship. Two of Edward I's most impressive castles, Caernarfon and Conwy, built in the late 13th century are well worth a visit.

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